Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

July 5, 2011

Sergio Reyes admitted that he fatally shot Los Angeles resident Avery Cody, Jr. two years ago today. Reyes, who claimed Cody was armed, supposedly took cover behind a newspaper rack and fired his own weapon in self-defense. Reyes also claimed he never had any contact with the body.

Unfortunately Reyes?s story was contradicted by other evidence. Witnesses insist that Cody didn?t have a gun. Security video of the episode proves that Reyes did not take cover, and that he did have contact with Cody?s body. That last point is critical because it might explain the presence of a .38-cal. Revolver, which was most likely planted at the scene.

Reyes, of course, was a police officer. Cody was a 16-year-old Compton resident who was shot in the back as he fled from Reyes. Cody was never accused of a crime. After a perfunctory inquiry, the LA Sheriff?s Office found the shooting justified. Now it has offered a $500,000 taxpayer-subsidized settlement to buy off Cody?s family.

This case is just one of many illustrating the need to hold law enforcement officers to exactly the same standards of criminal and civil liability that apply to all other citizens who use deadly force.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.