Lawsuit: Cops Stood By While Elderly Woman Was Stabbed 68 Times; Cops: Hey, We Yelled At The House

[fooferdoggie]

so cops don't protect us?

This isn’t a good look for the Las Vegas Metro PD, even if it’s completely supported by court precedent. No matter how often law enforcement agencies sling around the phrase “protect and serve,” they have almost no legal obligation to do either of those things.

Sometimes a “failure to intervene” allegation might undermine a cop’s attempt to secure qualified immunity for violations committed by other cops, but when it comes to crimes being committed against regular people, cops simply aren’t legally obliged to stop crimes in progress even when they’re already at the scene.

But this lawsuit is hoping a court might find otherwise. Whether or not it does, it will definitely expose some cops for what they are: lazy opportunists who aren’t really in the life-saving business. Even if the officers are found to be on the right side of judicial precedent, they’re not going to come out of this looking like people who should be employed as police officers.

Las Vegas police officers stood outside listening as a 74-year-old woman was stabbed 68 times and killed by one of her sons in her home, a lawsuit filed Saturday alleged.

How the Metropolitan Police Department responded to the event prompted the woman’s other sons to file a lawsuit alleging, among other things, negligence and wrongful death.

[…]

Bonilla was arrested and booked on one charge of murder of an elderly or protected person. After pleading guilty in 2023, he was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.

Pablo Bonilla — someone well known to Las Vegas law enforcement — murdered his mother in a most horrific manner. Then he walked out the door and surrendered to the law enforcement officers who just basically hung out outside of the house and waited for the murder-in-progress to resolve itself.

They can’t even say they tried everything they could to prevent this murder from happening. The officers’ report makes it clear they did nothing more than shout in the direction of the house from the safety of their cop car. And in all my years of reporting on police misconduct, I have never seen this particular description of officers’ (in)action:

Lawsuit: Cops Stood By While Elderly Woman Was Stabbed 68 Times; Cops: Hey, We Yelled At The House

This isn’t a good look for the Las Vegas Metro PD, even if it’s completely supported by court precedent. No matter how often law enforcement agencies sling around the phrase “prot…

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[Yoused]

so cops don't protect us?

An ordinary citizen, I think, is obligated to render aid within the scope of their ability. But the police are not ordinary citizens. In fact, they cannot catch a bad guy until the bad guy does something bad, so it would seem they actually have to let crimes happen.

 

[Cmaier]

An ordinary citizen, I think, is obligated to render aid within the scope of their ability. But the police are not ordinary citizens. In fact, they cannot catch a bad guy until the bad guy does something bad, so it would seem they actually have to let crimes happen.

generally speaking, no, you don’t have to render aid unless there is some other reason that you are obligated to do so. (examples: you *caused* the problem, or you have a special relationship with the victim (e.g. parent/child), or you’ve done something that causes other people not to intervene (“i’ve got this!” and then you..don’t)). There are statutes in some jurisdictions that require certain people to render aid in other situations. Often this is things like off-duty doctors, etc. But often all these laws do is provide liability shields so that such people are encouraged to help without having to worry about liability if they screw it up.