Was Robert LaVoy Finicum’s Death By Shooting An Act Of State Violence?


Oregon’s armed militia standoff was questionable from the beginning, and the outcome that has left Robert LaVoy Finicum shot dead by law enforcement isn’t any less divisive.

It’s easy for some to dismiss LaVoy and his crew’s shaky-at-best claims about public land, to write off Finicum as some racist old man making threats against the government. For people angry about the nearly 1,000 deaths of civilians at the hands of police officers last year (which disproportionately affected black men), it can even feel like a victory against those who brushed off the death of Tamir Rice, but are going ballistic about the shooting of Finicum.

death of LaVoy Finicum
Some of have said that Robert LaVoy Finicum got what he deserved, but did officer really have to shoot? (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

That’s a temptation that should be forcefully ignored. Yes, Finicum was the only one of the group who didn’t enter Oregon police custody alive. Yes, LaVoy had spoken mere days before his death about preferring to be shot rather than “locked in a cage.” Still, those who are generally critics of police killings need to more closely scrutinize these points. The damning tidbits bear a resemblance to many of the other statements released in fatal shootings by police, such as the one that officers who shot Tamir had “reasonable belief” that the 12-year-old was armed, or that Michael Brown charged at Darren Wilson. Things that, while relevant, don’t justify the murder of another human being by state violence.

Still, it would be difficult to say that the cases bear much else in common. LaVoy, after all, was part of a concentrated effort that made several public threats of violence against law enforcement. Police had every reason to believe that he was going to act on them. Furthermore, Finicum had backup, unlike Rice or Brown.

Yet other circumstances surrounding LaVoy’s death might warrant even less sympathy for the FBI agent who killed him. Finicum wasn’t being closed in on by a lone cop, there was an entire FBI and Oregon police force set up to take him in. Fully armed and protected, it seems dramatic to assume that they were in any form of active danger. LaVoy, after all, never actually touched his handgun, according to Oregon’s lead FBI agent Greg Bretzing, reported The Atlantic.

“On at least two occasions, Finicum reaches his right hand toward a pocket on the left inside portion of his jacket. He did have a loaded 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun in that pocket.”

None of our opinions on this specific incident really matter. We don’t get to vote on whether or not Finicum deserved to die. LaVoy was an adult, nearly 55, and, as noted above, had made much more conscious choices to put himself in the situation that killed him. But dismissing the tragedy of the event, look into what’s at its heart: American law enforcement needs to be trained not to shoot to kill, complete with a threat of prosecution for the unnecessary murders of civilians.

In any community, in any situation, law enforcement needs to held to a higher standard than the average person for decisions leading to the end of someone’s life. Killing a civilian is not justifiable by an existential threat (i.e. he may have been reaching for a gun.) in any case — no matter how little you might sympathize with the person who got shot.

shooting of LaVoy Finicum justified?
Why remembering that other killed by police were human beings, we can’t forget that Robert LaVoy Finicum was either. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Even if you believe that Robert LaVoy Finicum should be in jail right now, it seems hypocritical to think he should be in a coffin if you’re against police violence in other contexts. By the FBI’s own admission, LaVoy was severely outnumbered and had not so much as a weapon in his hand. In a moment of fear and confusion, he may have darted for his gun — but that doesn’t mean his killing was justified.

[Image via Joe Raedle/Getty Images]

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