CONCORD, N.H. —
State investigators said Tuesday that a fatal police shooting in Thornton last year was justified.
Officials from the New Hampshire attorney general's office said Thornton police Officer Matthew Yao was justified in using deadly force when he shot and killed 37-year-old Ethan Freeman in October 2020.
"All of the other evidence gathered from the investigation supports the conclusion that Officer Yao did reasonably believe that he faced the imminent use of deadly physical force from Mr. Freeman at the time that the officer fired his pistol," said Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinkley.
At a briefing on Tuesday, officials displayed body camera video from Yao that captured three interactions between him and Freeman that day, including the fatal encounter at Freeman's apartment.
Officials said the body cam was critical in the case because they were able to match what the officer said to investigators with what was actually seen on the video.
At the apartment, officials said, Yao encountered a naked, bloody and irrational Freeman who, while inside, was holding a broken piece of furniture. In the video, Freeman threatens to kill Yao, jumps out a window and, while unarmed, advances on him.
"Officer Yao believed that when Mr. Freeman, who he heard had threatened his life, ultimately reached him, he would attempt to take his gun and shoot him," Hinckley said.
Slavshit
Sandshit
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Good work Officer Yao, you did everything you could.
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Damn, he really did try
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I dont really always understand this ,maybe you can help me out .. All that police have to do ( to de-escalate ) is simply just leave .In this case ,he IS the agitating force. I would understand if there is women,children or animals in danger BUT this Guy is smoking crack in his own house alone..So ,ok ?
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I can't tell if you are serious or not
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you're retarded
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This officer was so chill. This is textbook verbal de-escalation, making things interpersonal by using the suspects name, and being approachable when talking to them instead of confrontational. Unfortunately, there was nothing to stop what this suspect intended on doing in this moment. Unfortunately he lost his life most likely due to drugs fucking up his decision making causing harm to himself. Officer Yao did everything he could to deescalate the situation and still is an example for how an officer should conduct himself.
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every other cop in the world could have taken this man down without incident. but americans just murder them instead
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Lol I don't know if you've ever left whatever gated community you live in, but in most of Europe the cops just wouldn't show up for this. Petty crime like this is basically legal because lone officers can't defend themselves if the guy turns dangerous and they don't have the numbers to send out more than one for stuff like this.
https://old.reddit.com/r/unitedkingdom/comments/17jrhmc/too_dangerous_for_police_to_take_on_bike_theft?sort=controversial
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"Hey what's going on?"
"I have a fucking asshole that's bleeding out like a chimney."
That is quite the visual. They should have taught that in those D.A.R.E. classes.
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I believe it was "chicken", not "chimney".
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I remember watching this shit before, dude is so fucked lmao. The cop trying to talk him down actually had a run in earlier that day at the hospital and tried to help him out. Shit is all wack.
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This dialogue is amazing.
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I love the cop's responses. “Hey! :(“
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officer: "You got any weapons on you right now?
"
Methan: "yeah let's go.
"
officer: What'dy'a got?
"
Methan: "My d1ck in my hand. You up for all of that b1tch?!
"
officer: "HEY! :(
"
this has to be my faviroute part of the video.
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"And I have a dick that's hard- that's not hard-"
"Do you have any weapons on you?"
"Yeah, lets go."
"What do you got?"
"My dick in my hand. You got a problem with that, bitch?"
"Hey, it's officer Yao, dude >:("
Quite the weapon, Ethan.
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wow Ethan great moves keep it up
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Great, now I got that theme song in my head while I watch a naked, bloody loony get gunned down.
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mf just flops out of that window like a turd
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Mr. Freeman?
This must be an alternative reality where he sold his crowbar and HEV suit for crack and resorted to looting houses to feed his crippling crack addiction.
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m in that chapter of forget abt freeman but i thought that freemaw was with g man not a crack head
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resident evil boss type entrance
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Hm, that's a cool house. Run down, but it's big (for one person anyway), looks unique and is seemingly away from other people. Give me good plumbing and stable internet, and I'll take it.
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Officer yao seems so nice... tried to reason with him and everything
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this reminds me of that vid where the dude in the the tank and his dad keeps yelling at him to get out
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this is why Half Life 3 never released
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Ethan done fucked up.
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one of the best officers i've ever seen, tried to reach an understanding of the situation, tried to calmly reassure ethan, communicating with a friendly tone even when ethan escalated before threatening his life, gave him several warnings to ensure ethan was aware of the consequences but still had to make a decision. well done, officer yao.
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dicks out!!
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"Naked methhead-gram for Officer Yao!"
"Sign here please."
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Looks like something out of walking dead
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god damn ethan
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Such a nice cop
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"Rate my naked fit"
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Police should receive mental compensation
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I hope this officer is still on the force. He really really tried.
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the fact the officer was talking to the guy like he was a child and he was still stupid enough to charge at him
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Crackhead with a nice car? probably had a good job before he turned crack.
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I love the fact Yao sounds genuinely upset by what Ethan's saying.
Ethan: “Come back- come in here you fuckin' bitch.”
Yao: “Hey man.”
Ethan: “What's wrong with you, you fuckin' cunt?”
Yao: “Hey…
You don't hear me talking to you like that.”
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Ethan acted like a fucking zombie!
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Ethan was funny 😁
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“Sticking out your gyatt for the rizzler 😍😩🕺“
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This isn't a jab at the cop by any means, he seemed like he was doing his best. I'm just wondering. Isn't this the type of scenario tasers are for? The guy didn't look like he had a weapon and he was approaching slowly. What escalated this situation from non-lethal to leathal? Is there a protocol for that? Like is he supposed to just shoot him instead of I dunno, walking backwards? He really just didn't seem all that dangerous.
I live in Canada and I've had to evade more threatening bums than this one with no gun. That's not a flex, it's just pretty easy to out-maneuver someone who's that fucked up. But I dunno, maybe if I had a gun I'd just pop em and be done with it.
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Tasers are great when you've got back up, but the failure rate is high enough not to risk it alone. (especially vs juiced up crackheads)
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I heard that cops should have their tasers on their one hand while pistols wielded on another
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Literally never happens
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I'm getting more of a methhead vibe than crackhead
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Link to a youtube vid of the first encounter at the hospital with this dude, wont let me download it to post.
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itsn´t easier just tasing those idiots ?
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Isn't it better to get rid of them for good?
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Snapshots:
ghostarchive.org
archive.org
archive.ph (click to archive)
https://www.wmur.com/article/thornton-police-shooting-deemed-justified-attorney-generals-office-says/35853474:
ghostarchive.org
archive.org
archive.ph (click to archive)
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Snappy I can find you under so many many posts
Why ....
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Snappy is everywhere all the time. Snappy is me. Snappy is us.
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:O
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Freeman? Wow, Gordon Freeman? No?, Oh, Ethan Freeman? Who the F are you? Pop, pop, pop, and byebye Ethan.
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unarmed man. pig had long enough to switch to non lethal weapons he's just a little bitch
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Non lethal weapons don't work on crackheads you moron
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