I usually don't share videos of this length; but, I might as well combine the facts of the case with the commentary of a real lawyer and author.
First of all, thank the primordial ooze from which all life sprung that Jason Kloepfer is still alive. I hope that he becomes a very rich man, and sues the county for all they've got.
That said, this makes most examples of police violence seem palatable -- and they're never palatable.
Nothing about this seems plausibly defensible when you combine the details.
Okay, the claim is that there was a 911 call about gun shots and a hostage situation (if this turns out to be SWATing, the person who made the call should be facing attempted murder charges.). The thing is, the call came in six fucking hours before the shooting! What the hell were the cops doing for six hours during an alleged hostage situation with shots fired?
So, then the cops drop a robot into the home.
Video footage shows Kloepfer in bed, asleep, with his girlfriend -- as one would expect at 5am. Presumably, the video on the cop's robot showed the same footage as the nanny cam. They knew that they were asleep.
Then, the cops shouted at him to come out with his hands up, and that they just wanted to talk.
Kloepfer probably made the mistake of having the police robot in his hand (I guess it's good advice to have nothing in your hands during a police encounter; but, how could he be sure that it was the police before opening the door?)
Well, remember the Michael Brown thing, and "Hands up, don't shoot!" which turned out to be a complete lie? Kloepfer didn't have time to say "Don't shoot!" before the cops shot him.
That's bad enough, right?
Well, it gets worse.
The police lied in official statements following the shooting. The surveillance camera footage from the home show the cops examining the scene after the shooting -- one spouts and expletive, and the other reminds the other cops of the cameras. This is presumably the police knowing that they just shot (at the time, probably killed) an innocent man, and didn't want to incriminate themselves on their body cameras, while being unaware of the camera in the house.
The department knew that Kloepfer wasn't being belligerent, nor resisting, nor a threat when they released a statement claiming that he was. In fact, they claimed that there was verbal exchange upon opening the door -- there wasn't.
Okay, that's bad enough now, right?
Oh no, the county is charging Kloepfer with resisting arrest now; so, after six weeks in the hospital, and having his gut shot to shit by the cops, he's looking at jail time.
What's more is that the police were clearly using rifles, at fairly close range, and clearly missed Kloepfer more than they hit him. That would mean that the cops in Cherokee County are less accurate with rifles than I am with my snubby, and that is a miracle that they didn't shoot his girlfriend.
Tell me where the defense for the police actually is here.
By the way, this is a source that is generally generous toward police.