Not his first rodeo.
Via The Hay Ride:
Here’s Alton Sterling, the guy they’re making a cause celebre out of.
9/09/96 aggravated battery
10/31/97 2nd degree battery
1/06/98 simple battery
5/04/00 public intimidation
9/20/00 carnal knowledge of a juvenile
9/04/01 domestic violence
5/24/05 burglary of an inhabited dwelling place
7/11/05 receiving stolen things
9/12/05 burglary of inhabited dwelling place
3/17/06 simple criminal damage to property, simple robbery, simple theft, drug possession, misrepresentation during booking, simple battery, aggravated battery
4/12/06 aggravated battery, simple criminal damage to property, disturbing the peace, unauthorized entry
4/04/08 domestic abuse battery
6/03/09 resisting an officer, drug possession, receiving stolen things, possession of stolen firearm, illegal carrying of a weapon with CDs, sound reproduct without consent
10/12/09 illegal carrying of weapon, marijuana possession
8/13/15 failure to register as a sex offender
4/08/16 failure to register as a sex offender
6/14/16 ecstacy and marijuana possession
None of that makes it OK if the cops shot him while he was subdued. And that’s the argument here; if he was subdued at the time he was shot, it’s a bad shooting and the two cops involved, Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II, need to face criminal charges for it.
But if not, and he was actually reaching for the gun he had on him, which would have been an illegal gun and it wouldn’t be the first time he had an illegal gun on him when the cops arrested him (and it wouldn’t be the first time he was resisting arrest, either), then there isn’t much to argue about here.
What this arrest record shows is not the story the family and the “community” is trying to paint, of a “misunderstood” poor father trying to earn a living selling CD’s. He got arrested three weeks ago on drug possession – that’s hardly somebody trying to turn his life around. His arrest record shows that, charitably, he was a wannabe drug dealer but wasn’t very good at it.