Fox News guest runs defense for police officer who shot Atatiana Jefferson in her own home
Andrew Stoltmann: “Let’s just wait, take a deep breath, before we convict this officer”
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From the October 15 edition of Fox News Outnumbered Overtime
HARRIS FAULKNER (HOST): What is the problem going forward for the Fort Worth police department?
ANDREW STOLTMANN (FOX NEWS GUEST): Well, the Fort Worth police department has a pretty big issue on his hands. Any time you have a citizen who is killed by a police officer, that's an issue. But let's just all wait a minute, OK? Everybody wants to rush to judgment to convict this police officer. You have someone pointing a gun at a police officer at 2:23 in the morning, in a really, really bad neighborhood. He shoots. Should he have identified himself? Of course, but they don't have to. They have to make split second decisions in the moment. And I'm not saying he handled it correctly, in the right way, but let's just wait, take a deep breath, before we convict this officer.
FAULKNER: When you -- so that's a different subject, though, right? I mean that's going to make its way through the court. What you are talking thought about is the community relationship with this interim police chief, his officers, and the citizenry. Do you think the decisions that have been made so far reflect anything about that?
STOLTMANN: It's a new era. Right now when you have somebody shot like this, it's different, because there are activists out there, the family all wants an immediate conviction, and that is just not how it works. Remember, we can both think of multiple cases over the last 20 years where the optics look really bad, right? The Rodney King beating, those officers were found not guilty. We had an officer in Georgia just last week who was videotaped shooting an African American gentleman in the back, videotape, and he was found not guilty. So again, he may have done something wrong, but I realize the police chief has to cover the, you know, the back side of the department. But in the same sense, let's all just relax and take a deep breath.