Analysis of FBI Video of LaVoy Finicum’s Death

TND Exclusive:  Prepper Jack

I have reviewed the video released by the FBI.  You can access “.mov” file versions of the video rather than YouTube copies for higher resolution.  Click here for the FBI press release issued on Thursday.  Here are some of my initial observations.

It appears that LaVoy Finicum and his group left the first stop after 4-5 minutes, leaving at a high rate of speed. They were then stopped by the road block. The SUV veered left and appeared to hit an agent. That alone could have easily precipitated a one sided fire fight with OSP and FBI opening up with everything they had, much like local LEO do when one of their members is assaulted by a driver using a vehicle as a deadly weapon.

Leaving aside gross violation of Firearm Safety Rule #4, done during the short period when the two agents shoot Finicum, I have to say that both Finicum’s group and the OSP/ FBI showed great restraint in their actions. This is going to be a critical factor in the after action analyses but rest assured, there will be voices on both sides who are going to claim otherwise, particularly on the actions of the agents who appear to shoot a surrendering Finicum.

I can’t say with 100% certainty that Finicum was NOT reaching for his gun.  He might have been saying “Shoot me, Shoot me” in a suicide by cop action. He might have been in a condition of panic, moved his hands around in confusion, as the agents yelled commands for him show them his hands; get on the ground. or we’ll shoot you. There are bare seconds as this action unfolded. Each side had fractions of seconds to respond to a dynamic and terrifying situation.

Lack of audio leaves one guessing what was said. This was almost like a movie shot in the 1920’s, before the advent of sound tracks We’re missing the talking crawl at the bottom of the screen, unable to fill the missing parts of the story on screen, and off.

After Finicum was down, several flash bangs were seen going off around the SUV. These are powerful explosive charges, intended to blind and disorienting their targets. Anyone in the SUV would already be in a highly emotional and charged state, seeing their friend shot, possibly a few rounds hitting their vehicle and pumped up from the stop, chase and crash that just occurred. The agents would be in a very agitated state, with orders to stop the occupants, knowing they’re armed and also told that some would not give up without a fight.

The flash bangs were followed up with pepper balls, seen as puffs of white on the SUV. I DO NOT see a fusillade of rounds hitting Finicum’s SUV. That is where part of the story veers from what appears in a recent verbal account by Victoria Smart when her testimony was recorded and posted to YouTube the day before the FBI released their drone footage (click here to access the audio).

Watch the tinted windows. A series of rounds would shatter these windows, allowing you to see inside the SUV. Throughout the rest of the video, the side windows appear intact, as does the driver’s window. That type of glass would show very distinct bullet entry patterns. Rounds hitting metal would create visible metal scars where the white paint explodes away from the metal. 20-30 rounds hitting the side of the white paint would show up as a pattern of dark scars very visible from the drone flying overhead.

I’d say the drone as at 150 feet up, judging from clarity and the height of trees relative to the viewing angles, close enough to see the effects of rounds hitting the SUV. 100 plus rounds of high velocity pistol, rifle and shot gun 00 buck would have shredded the SUV. The impacts would rock the truck. It’s unlikely that anyone inside would have survived. 9mm rounds easily penetrate a soft skinned truck as will 00 buck. I’ve tested that before, using an abandoned car as a target. Small caliber rounds easily penetrate the thin metal skin of a passenger vehicle.

The occupants of the SUV also showed great restraint. Sometimes a fire fight like this ends up with some or all the occupants opening up with their rifles and pistols. There were several weapons found in the SUV. I think these well meaning people, generally of peaceful manner yet stalwart in their commitment to their cause, were probably scared half to death, blinded and disoriented by the flash bangs, disabled by the pepper balls, and pretty much unable to respond with anything more than surrender. Yet the way the scene was secured seems strange. Agents were wandering around, some with their weapons down or at the low ready as the occupants left the truck.. People were allowed to exit with hands up but were not taken down and handcuffed immediately.

The occupants of Finicum’s truck are not soldiers like special forces who are conditioned to take incoming rounds and the disorientation of a fire fight. They are just like us, ordinary people who are faced with overwhelming firepower and commitment by law enforcement to stop them, maybe at any cost. With even a slight change in the scenario it could have changed in an instant to something like a killing field with agents unloading every gun at their disposal.
As a side note, anyone trying an aggressive action will find they are going to face this sort of response. If LEO has enough advance warning, they will call in every resource available up to and including MRAPS and Stryker vehicles.

I jokingly talk about the Ron White School of Fight Club.
Rule #1:  Never talk about Fight Club.
Rule #2:  If you don’t know how many they’ll bring to a gun fight, know this: They’ll bring enough.

Ammon Bundy started an action that many will salute and with which they will find common cause. Some will criticize his actions as foolhardy and unwise; a fight that was started at the wrong time, at the wrong place for perhaps the wrong reasons. The reasons we fight for liberty and our freedoms are as individual as our DNA. The desire to throw off the restraints of the state; the desire to resist the incursion on our House of Liberty are stronger in some than others.

Ammon and Ryan Bundy, brothers; Carol and Cliven Bundy; their mother and father, their friends and families; bravely stared down the craggy hard edged face of the State at Bunkerville. The State blinked first. Finicum was on horse back during the standoff at the Bundy Ranch on April 12 2014. He looked into the teeth of the state as it bared its fangs. He’s seen that war up close.

Part of me can understand why he continued the fight and why he was willing to give his life in this cause. His life might have been spent in vain, shot down in the snow on a country road as some would say.  It’s not vain though. If he sought martyrdom in his cause and the fight to regain the liberties and freedoms we’ve seen eroded over the decades, then his death will not be in vain.

The state might find that this incident is the flash point that sparks the liberty movement to greater action. We are far more likely to see this as the tipping point where patience is replaced with action. We’ve seen dozens of incidents where civilians; black, white, brown and red, who were slain by overly aggressive police. That’s occupied enormous amounts of airtime in the last several years and will little effect except to inflame the populace. Whatever happens here in the alternative and main stream media, Finicum’s death will not be in vain by those who treasure liberty, finding common cause and common ground in the land under our feet, allying our hearts and minds with the Bundys; the Finicums, their friends and families. I expect that this will put steel in the spines of many who have, to date, sat on the fence, saying to themselves that it’s not their fight, it’s not next door, it’s someone else’s duty to face down the State.  The State has thrown down the gauntlet. It’s our duty to pick it up.

Source: http://thenewsdoctors.com/analysis-of-fbi-video-of-lavoy-finicums-dealth/