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There only seem to be two narratives floating around about #GarrettFoster. He's either wholly innocent & did absolutely NOTHING wrong, or he was a full-on aggressor who shot at a totally innocent driver. People are seeing & believing what they WANT to. Here's my breakdown:
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The driver pulls up to the intersection and a ton of people (protesters) are going down the street. He was likely extremely irritated about this, as anyone rightfully could be, but I'm not claiming to know his mindset or intentions (as many others are doing).
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The light was red, and he was turning right, which you can do. That is not "running a red light." His car does turn quickly, but not into a crowd; there's no one in his path. He comes CLOSE to some people, but he clearly drove into a tight stretch with no people.
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If he wanted to drive into a crowd of people he wouldn't have turned; he would've just gone straight and barreled through the crowd in front of him.
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It doesn't follow that driving into protesters was his intention, especially considering how quickly into his turn he applied the brakes.
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It's possible that the driver:
-was in a rush
-was extremely irritated about the protesters in the road
-saw a small opening he determined he could drive through
-turned too fast and almost hit some people because of carelessly going too fast, not because he wanted to
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-was in a rush
-was extremely irritated about the protesters in the road
-saw a small opening he determined he could drive through
-turned too fast and almost hit some people because of carelessly going too fast, not because he wanted to
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He applies the brakes at 0:33/0:34 in the video. Within a half-second people are already moving to swarm his car, and in less than five seconds his is completely surrounded. People are literally turning around & crossing the intersection to get to his car.
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At some point during that swarming Garrett Foster is on the driver's side of the vehicle. He's the individual with the hat in the red box. He is clearly holding his rife, an AK-47.
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In that photo his rifle isn't pointed at the driver. It's at the low-ready position, a hold he's familiar with likely due to his military service. The blue arrow follows his rifle, the orange arrow indicates where it would be if he was aiming at the driver.
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That doesn't say he didn't aim at the driver, just that in the instant that photo was taken he WASN'T THEN.
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Within five seconds of stopping his car, the driver was swarmed. Shots are fired, five in total, the crowd scatters. It takes the driver about five seconds from that point to drive away. He is shot at three times by someone in the crowd.
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Something to note regarding the notion that the driver was trying to plow through a crowd of protesters: his right turn signal is on, as can be seen in the clip above.
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Though it's possible, I believe it's implausible that anyone who wants to plow through a crowd of people would make the effort of turning on a turn signal. Tons of people don't even do that on streets clear of pedestrians but full of other cars.
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Shortly after firing at Garrett the driver called the police to tell them what happened. He stopped as he was instructed to do, and APD picked him up, questioned him, then released him.
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The report confirms what we see in the video: that the driver STOPS once he sees people in front of him, further reducing the validity of the claim he wanted to plow through protesters, or that he actually did as many are (falsely) claiming.
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The report also confirms that Garrett approached the driver's window while he was armed. He MAY have pointed it at the driver. At the moment I have no evidence to confirm or deny that he did. It also notes that the crowd that swarmed the car was hitting the car.
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What's extremely important is this line:
multiple witnesses that described multiple versions of the incident
Even witnesses aren't on the exact same page as to what happened.
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multiple witnesses that described multiple versions of the incident
Even witnesses aren't on the exact same page as to what happened.
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My summarized interpretation:
Very irritated driver turns right too quickly through an opening in the crowd, comes up on people & brakes. Car is swarmed very quickly, he sees someone w/ a rifle outside of his window, fires in what he believes is self-defense & drives off.
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Very irritated driver turns right too quickly through an opening in the crowd, comes up on people & brakes. Car is swarmed very quickly, he sees someone w/ a rifle outside of his window, fires in what he believes is self-defense & drives off.
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None of what I'm saying is to say I'm taking any "side" in the matter. My intent is to give some nuance and detail to what is being discussed as either black or white with no grey. There is more to this than one guy 100% good and other guy 100% bad.
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Garrett didn't need to die. He should be alive right now and with his wife. I also understand why the driver felt threatened, especially with the way protesters are attacking people in their cars as of late. Tensions are WAY TOO HIGH, and everyone is on edge.
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People want it to be black & white simple. It's not. My thread is all personal opinion/interpretation. Wait for a full investigation before deciding what the truth is.
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