Did Albuquerque Police Kill This Homeless Man? [NSFW]

Sunday, March 16 Albuquerque Police were dispatched into the New Mexico foothills to respond to a man camping illegally. The man was 38-year-old James Boyd and after about four hours the police hit him with a flash grenade then shot and killed Boyd. Was this murder or a justified shooting in the foothills of New Mexico?

First, for full disclosure Boyd had a wrap sheet including assault on a police officer, he punch a female cop in the face breaking her nose in 2010. He also had a history of mental illness and had spent a little time in a couple of mental health facilities.

None of this should surprise any of you as most homeless have some sort of mental health or police issues in their record. Just go to the Justice Center and ask I’m sure they have detailed records on most of the homeless in Grand Junction.

So, James Boyd was camping either on private land or public lands that did not permit him to camp there. At least four officers armed to the teeth and a K9 unit were dispatched to deal with this lone man.

Looking at the video it does not appear that James Boyd had a weapon in his hands at least until they blurred out his image. It also appears that he was starting to walk down the hill when he was hit with the flash grenade.

I have two big problems with this video. First, why didn’t one of the officers just pull a taser gun and render Boyd harmless with one quick shot if he was that dangerous? The other issue is at the end when one of the police sounds like he says “booyah” after Boyd is shot and killed.

Look I understand that being a cop is very scary at times and they really don’t know what type of situations they are walking into, but that is their job and they are trained to deal with this type of stuff.

So did the police kill this man or was this shooting justified? According to the officials, this shooting was justified as the officers have been released of any wrong doing.

[KRQE]