The Shooting of Renee Good
Was it murder? Or self-defense?
The shooting of Renee Nicole Good was tragic. But was it murder? Or self-defense?
Two days ago on January 7, Renee Good was fatally shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Minnesota Reformer broke the story, posting Caitlin Callenson’s video of the shooting, comparing it to “the murder of George Floyd”.
The video starts with Good parked in the middle of the street deliberately impeding ICE. An ICE agent approaches, telling Good to “Get out of the car. Get out of the car. Get out of the fucking car.”
Good ignores the officer commands and the officer attempts to open the car door. Good reverses the car and then drives the car forward in the direction of another ICE agent, Jonathan Ross. Ross quickly fires three shots through the car windshield at Good.
Officer Ross was immediately labeled a “murderer” by activists and onlookers at the scene. “Don’t let the murderer leave! Don’t let the murderer leave! You guys are the fucking criminals! You don’t get to tell us what to do. Fucking criminals!”
Today, a new video recorded from Officer Ross’s POV shows a quiet Ross recording Renee Good calmly telling him, “That’s fine dude, I’m not mad at you.”
Then we see and hear Renee’s wife Rebecca taunting Ross, “You wanna come at us? “You wanna come at us?”
As Renee is repeatedly told to “Get out of the car,” her wife Rebecca yells at her to “Drive, baby! Drive! Drive!”. Renee then quickly backs up, accelerates the vehicle forward, and appears to hit Ross with the vehicle, as she is shot and drives away.
Ross yells “Whoa!” as he seems to be struck by the vehicle and fires three shots in rapid succession. “Fucking bitch.”
After witnessing her wife’s death, Rebecca is heard screaming in a livestream, blaming the cops for carrying live ammo: “Why did you have real bullets?!”
Then Rebecca blames herself.
“It’s my fault. I made her come down here. It’s my fault.”
A third camera angle of the shooting also looks like the agent was struck by the car as Renee Good drives away, veering to the side of the agent.
A fourth camera angle of the shooting obtained by CNN, shows another detail obscured in the original video. Ross did not walk in front of the car. Rather, as he walks towards the car, Renee backs the car up into a position that put Ross directly in front of the vehicle.
Last year, Officer Ross was injured by a vehicle as he tried to arrest a convicted sex offender on an immigration order. It's not clear this past incident would be admissible in court, but it does provide some insight into what Ross may have been thinking.
Whether or not this previous incident is deemed admissible in a trial regarding this weeks shooting, it does provide some relevant background into what Ross may have been thinking.
Deadly force is legal if one reasonably believes it necessary to prevent imminent death or serious bodily harm.
So, now that you've seen all the videos...
What’s your verdict?
It's interesting that people somehow think that impeding ICE agents who are armed with guns won't accidentally go sideways. I appreciate that people want to protest, and I support their right to do so peacefully, but I don't understand why anyone would think behaving in any way that might remotely be viewed as threatening wouldn't potentially have bad consequences.
I'm sorry she was shot and killed, and I'm sorry for the ICE officer who killed her. But it seems to me the situation could have been avoided by not harassing the agents in this way.
As I understand the law, officers are encouraged to deescalate, and specifically, to get out of the way of a moving vehicle rather than deliberately stepping in front of it and then using deadly force. they are also advised not shoot at a "fleeing vehicle," unless danger to life is "imminent."
The "imminence" was manufactured by the officers.
Some are saying that Ms. Good got what was coming to her for refusing officer's orders. That's like saying, "refusing officer's orders is a capital offense."
It's also like saying, "we are fine with officers being judge, jury and executioner."
I know from being an activist related to cases in my own town that all an officer has to say to be found not guilty of "excessive use of force" is to utter the magic words, "I feared for my life and for the lives of my fellow officers."
These two officers escalated a situation and created on their own the "imminence" that likely will exonerate them. The only hope for a finding of excessive force by these ICE officers is if the usual laws governing most local law enforcement about deescalation and moving vehicles do not apply to them.