Make no mistake Christopher Dorner had issues. You might even say he was just plain bad. He certainly made some crazy, horrible decisions. But while yes, he killed people and hid out in the world he had a lot done wrong to him....he just went the absolute wrong way to get his message out.
He has been portrayed in the media as having always been somewhat of a troublemaker. This is, for the most part, untrue.
In 2002, Dorner and a classmate found a bag containing nearly $8,000 that belonged to Enid Korean Church of Grace in Enid, Oklahoma. They turned it in to the police. When asked their motive, Dorner said "it's an integrity thing." "The military stresses integrity," Dorner said. "There was a couple of thousand dollars, and if people are willing to give that to a church, it must be pretty important to them." Dorner said his mother taught him honesty and integrity. That doesn't sound like a man with anger issues.
Dorner joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 2005, completing police academy training in 2006. In August of 2007. He and his lead partner Teresa Evans encountered a mentally ill homeless man named Christopher Gettler and after some confrontation Dorner took the man down on the ground to place him under arrest. Dorner says that at that time Teresa Evans kicked Gettler in the face, leaving a mark. The arrested man Gettler confirms this. Gettler's father saw the mark on his son's face.
Christopher Dorner then, rightly, went to his superiors and filed an excessive force report claiming the above. After supposed adjudication the board not only rejected the claim.....they FIRED Dorner by saying he was lying. They ignored the testimony of Christopher Gettler because he was mentally ill. They ignored his father because....well he's his father. The witnesses at the scene either wouldn't say anything or were to far away. No action was taken against Officer Evans, whom Dorner had accused of excessive force and who accused Dorner of misconduct during a patrol...although the only proof she had of this WAS HER WORD.
First off he hardly had been on the force a year...how much trouble was he? As shown in previous actions he had always been honest. He's a grown man. He knows if he "crosses the blue line" to make a complaint...he better be damn sure he's doing the right thing. He was. Cops who actively and on camera beat suspects SEVERELY are suspended, yet Dorner is fired? For making a valid complaint? Could maybe a factor have been that Dorner is black and his partner Evans was white? What the LAPD did was wrong but they have been doing things wrong for years so why this should be any different.
Here's where Dorner messed up.....royally. He should have gone to the media. He might have had a chance...a small one tho....to maybe get something started. Hell, maybe he tried. You have to think that even if his story got published it wouldn't have made a ripple really and may have endangered his life. What could he have done? What would you have done?
So he decided's enough's enough and writes his manifesto. See here for the full one: http://laist.com/2013/02/07/christopher_dorners_manifesto_in_fu.php
He then went and shot a number of people who didn't deserve it, acted like a frightened ass and ran. This was wrong. This was bad. He should have been found and arrested. The so-called "manhunt". He should have been detained, gone to trial, been found guilty and been sent to prison for a long, long time.
But it wasn't just that he shot people. It wasn't even that he shot a daughter of someone. It's that he shot a cop. Nothing else matters because he shot a cop. When did cops become Jesus? Why are they different or better than us? A person is a person is a person. Dead is dead. Pretty much the same dead. Whether a cop, a woman, a child, or a grandma. I'm not saying Dorner and hundreds of others are right in shooting a cop. I'm saying that the treatment should be the same whether it be a cop or not.
Dorner then went a little nuts and ran and hid and groveled and did everything that we hope we never have to do. Thousands of people are looking for him and they want to kill him. Yes, they SAY they want to arrest him and adjudicate him but HE KILLED A COP so all bets are off in reality.
So now he gets caught, has a shootout, wounds one, kills another , hijacks a car, gets in an accident and then runs into the woods. All very, very bad. He has turned into not a good guy AT ALL.
He gets to a cabin which at the most is 4000 sq feet and holes up there. Cops come and a shootout starts. AT THE BEGINNING of this shootout a voice can be CLEARLY heard on tape/radio saying"Burn it! Burn the house down! Burn him!" They then lobby 7 smoke bombs( called...you guessed it....burners). Let me repeat that.....SEVEN. Can you say overkill? I knew you could.
Can you guess what happens next? The house burns to the ground. During this conflagration one shot is heard. This would be the sound where Dorner shoots himself. He either does that or comes out to be hit in a hail of bullets....or...he burns to death.
They meant to get him. They meant to kill him. And as one report says now (and they don't want to let you know) is that when the fire reached an epic peak, cheers and laughter were heard from the peanut gallery.
Let me be clear. Let me be very, very clear. What Christopher did was very, very wrong. He should have been hunted, arrested, brought to trial and adjudicated. If he couldn't be persuaded to be taken of his own free will then, yes, maybe deadly force was warranted.
BUT
He knew(as you know) they would NEVER let him live. This was a certainty. This is why he had the shootouts. This is why the LAPD did not even TRY to have a negotiator brought in. This is why every single cop in LA went out searching for him.
LAPD fucked up. They KNEW they fucked up. And that was going to be end of it. Christopher Dorner had other plans. They didn't know about his "manifesto" til it was too late to stop it. As Dorner writes:
I know most of you who personally know me are in disbelief to hear from media reports that I am suspected of committing such horrendous murders and have taken drastic and shocking actions in the last couple of days. You are saying to yourself that this is completely out of character of the man you knew who always wore a smile wherever he was seen. I know I will be vilified by the LAPD and the media. Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil that I do not enjoy but must partake and complete for substantial change to occur within the LAPD and reclaim my name. The department has not changed since the Rampart and Rodney King days.
Read his Manifesto. This is not Unabomber crap. He speaks intelligently and thoughtfully and you can tell that, yes, he wanted to clear his name, but he also knew no one would hear him unless he blew up the world. He knew that for every 10 bad seed cops out there...there was a good seed. He knew that black in LAPD was not what you wanted to be.
What Dorner did was wrong. What the LAPD did was wrong. Both should be held accountable. Dorner is dead. His accountability is over. It's now time for the LAPD to step up to the plate and admit what they did, and what they did to hide it. They won't. Dorner and his story will be just another footnote in history that starts" Cop killer Christopher Dorner....."
"A name is more than just a noun, verb, or adjective. It's your life, your legacy, your journey, sacrifices, and everything you've worked hard for every day of your life as and adolescent, young adult and adult. Don't let anybody tarnish it when you know you've live up to your own set of ethics and personal ethos."
"The question is, what would you do to clear your name?"
----Christopher Dorner.
Remember the victims. INCLUDING Christopher Dorner.
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