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No-win situations

Oct 6

Written by: Sheridan
10/6/2008 8:22 PM

It has been a little more than a week since the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Marcell Johnson by LPD Officer Luis Pagan after a nighttime traffic stop. These facts are known. Johnson tried momentarily to flee the traffic stop but finally stopped. Some cocaine was found in his car, but no weapon. Johnson was shot in the neck and chest and died at the hospital. Given the absence of a weapon, it is easy to say that Officer Pagan was never in danger, but we also remember that Nik Green stopped and unarmed drug offender who ended up killing Trooper Green with the trooper's own gun. We know that the Johnson family and many members of the community were angered by the shooting, but we also know that the majority in the community immediately will give a police officer the benefit of the doubt over a convicted drug dealer, and who can blame them? We know that once before the DA tried to convict an officer of shooting a citizen and the jury found him not guilty. It is hard to imagine 12 men or women in Lawton not giving Pagan the benefit of the doubt. But is also hard to imagine Johnson's family and friends will ever believe anything other than that the cards were stacked against him.

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4 comments so far...

Re: No-win situations

We the family of Marcell Johnson no matter what his past record was it is no reason for him to be shot and killed when the officer life was not in danger and for us to trust in the police everyone should be in doubt because if you have ever comitted any type of crime does not give the police the right to shoot and kill someone i thought you were innocent until proven guilty and Johnson did not get that chance because his life was took from a rookie, trigger happy officer and if the shoe was on the other foot his family would be saying the same damn thing.

By nicole marsh on 10/21/2008 6:06 PM

Re: No-win situations

for the the Lawton Police Dept trust and know my lil brother will RIP and we are gonna make sure of that just because the DA ruled does not mean at all that we will leave it as this you will hear from us again and we promise you we will get the long end of the stick because Jesus is on our side and he will prevail.

By nicole marsh on 10/21/2008 6:10 PM

Re: No-win situations

Well the DA has finally decided not to prosecute the cop, and though it might not be fair to Schulte, does anyone think this was not a predetermined conclusion? Did anyone seriously expect the officer to be prosecuted? There will probably always be doubt about the purported cell phone in Johnson's hand and the cocaine found next to him, but if the toxicology shows he had drugs in his system, there can be little doubt about that. The fact that he was high and driving, does prove he was endangering the lives of others, but in this legal system is not cause for execution. There have been regrettable acts of retribution against police officers. It seems clear that it would be prudent if Officer Pagan never again served in an LPD uniform. The Johnsons' attorney says that he's been denied the full OSBI report. This is inexcusable. The entire report should be posted online so the entire community can draw its own conclusions. It's the only way to restore confidence in the LPD.

By Sheridan on 10/22/2008 11:26 AM

Re: No-win situations

This is a horrible accident and it is a time in history when people are full of fear. I would really like to see the OSBI report. I don’t want people high on drugs running the streets but I fear even more a hair trigger police department because they have power. Power to control and power to harm.

By Elaine on 10/24/2008 12:09 PM

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