Summary
Matthew Huttle, a 42-year-old pardoned January 6 rioter, was fatally shot by an Indiana deputy during a traffic stop 6 days after Trump granted clemency to over 1,500 Capitol attackers.
Huttle, previously sentenced to six months in prison, was pulled over for driving 70mph (113km/h) in a 55mph zone and faced arrest as a habitual traffic offender.
According to newly released body camera footage, Huttle said “I’m shooting myself” before reaching for a loaded gun in his car, prompting the deputy to fire.
Prosecutors ruled the shooting “legally justified.” His death adds to mounting legal issues among pardoned rioters.
Instant Win American Bingo Card:
B. Loaded handgun in the car. I. Total disregard for road safety. N. Convicted criminal pardoned by convicted criminal president. G. Mental health crisis resolved by cop shooting. O. Legally justified homicide.
We’re doing great. Good job all around, no notes.
The cop prevented the driver from committing suicide.
Hero.
For reals though, ain’t no way I’m letting a clearly deranged j6er grab a gun near me no matter what he says. Definitely a clean shoot (as evidenced by the fact they immediately released the bodycam footage).
Ftfy
Instant Win American Bingo Card:
B. Loaded handgun in the car.
I. Total disregard for road safety.
N. Convicted criminal pardoned by convicted criminal president.
G. Mental health crisis resolved by cop shooting.
O. Legally justified homicide.
We’re doing great. Good job all around, no notes.
More wasteful government spending. Guy said he was gonna shoot himself, why waste ~40 cents?
deleted by creator
Can’t ruin the cop track record of shooting people who weren’t threatening them. Shoot ‘em before they can do it themselves.
I’m starting to think those rioters had some issues.
Good shot, officer. Nothing of value was lost.
Police officer: “And I took that personally.”
“Paid leave and I get to kill someone!”
Most American headline ever.
Rest in Piss, Bozo. Shouldn’t have been a dipshit Nazi.
Lemme know where he’s buried so I can use it as a public toilet.
Looks like the trash is taking itself out these days!
It’s Final Destination 1488, coming to theaters not any time soon
No big loss there.
He’d still be alive if trump hadn’t pardoned him.
Then I suppose the pardon did some good for the world. Shame it did more bad though.
Karma is a bitch…
Police Activity posted the bodycam footage.
It’s under 7 minutes and when the shooting happens it’s blurred out. It’s relatively tame from a gore point of view, but it’s still a video of someone being shot so watch with care.
Here’s my synopsis of the footage for people that don’t want to watch it themselves, you can skip the preamble if you just want to understand the shooting. In my opinion the officer acts reasonable, friendly, and professional throughout.
Preamble
- Officer pulls the guy over for going 70 in a 55
- Guy offers up unprompted that he’s a J6 defendant that was recently pardoned
- Officer doesn’t seem to care one way or the other asks for license
- Guy says he’s coming from church and his mother’s grave. He doesn’t have a license and has been trying to get a hardship license, produces an expired license
- Officer asks how often he’s been caught driving suspended
- Guy says “in my life”
- Officer clarifies “recently”
- Guy indicates not much
- Officer goes back to his patrol car to run the guys information.
Shooting
- Officer asks the guy out of the vehicle, they go to the rear of his vehicle
- Officer explains that he’s reached habitual traffic offender status because of driving suspended.
- Guy begs for leniency
- Officer explains its now reached the point of being a felony and he has no choice but to arrest him.
- Guy says he’s not going back to jail
- Guy runs away from the rear of the vehicle and jumps back into the drivers seat
- Officer gives foot chase back to drivers door, he provides verbal commands to stop
- Before the officer can reach the guy, he says “I’m shooting myself” and reaches for something in the passenger seat.
- Officer says “no no no” and fires three shots at the guy.
This is shown from his bodycam and also from his dashcam.
A felon retreated into a vehicle, stating he wouldn’t go back to jail, produced a firearm, and threatened violence. Was the guy lying about shooting himself, was his plan to fire the firearm at himself or the officer? Based on my view of the video, the officer acted within his lawful authority, was polite and professional, and only used force consistent with what the situation required. But I’d encourage you to watch the evidence and make up your own mind.
There are a ton of bad cops and awful shootings. I don’t like J6 but I don’t see this as justified because the guy is an asshole, but justified because of his actions at this traffic stop.
Officer says “no no no” and fires three shots at the guy.I say the same thing when I see some asshole about to steal my kill in Call of Duty
Honestly feel really bad for the guy. He goes to end his own life and gets murdered for it. He was right at the edge of what he could handle and the traffic stop and arrest was enough to put him over the edge.
Whether this sounds crazy or not, I possess the empathy enough to understand exactly how this person felt in his last moments.
Why do you cry for someone who achieved their goals?
- Lived life on his own terms. ✅
- Didn’t want to return to jail. ✅
- Wanted to be dead. ✅
Wanting to be dead is usually a temporary goal. Not always, but usually. It’s unfortunate that with this situation, there was no way to find out if it was a temporary wish this time.
I implore you to study the paradox of tolerance.
The fact he brought up his pardon umprompted as if he thought it would be his get out of jail free card makes it hard for me to feel empathetic. Especially since there’s a real possibility some cops have let him off scott-free in the past just because of his involvement in J6.
Suicide by cop is definitely a thing.
I think it’s important to point out that this is not justifiable because he was a jan 6 rioter, but because he was reaching for a gun.
It’s a small distinction, but an important one, as justifications can easily stretch to encompass things they shouldn’t. If it’s ok for an officer to kill someone at a traffic stop solely because they were at the riot, then it won’t be long before it’s justification for killing someone at a protest, or just for speaking out.
So good riddance to bad rubbish in this case, but be wary of dismissing a police officer killing someone just because we don’t like them.
It’s not OK for a cop to shoot him because he was at a riot. It’s OK for a cop to shoot him because he’s a traitor that tried to steal democracy away from the nation. He was an enemy of the state and the people.
The only good nazi is a dead nazi, and I hope his fate befalls every single one of those traitors.
It is astonishing to see the amount of cheering on of a cop shooting someone who just announced they were going to kill themselves.
In any other circumstance, you’d all be up in arms over this. I am ashamed to be a part of this community sometimes. There are zero circumstances where a police officer should shoot someone dead unless their life is literally at risk.
Uh the officer’s life was at risk.
Are you implying the cop should have let the guy grab his gun?
Guy was a J6 rioter. By definition, stupid and crazy. Prone to making bad decisions, including a vocal declaration of suicidal intent to a police officer. What stops the guy from putting the gun to his head, then thinking “hey wait, I’m on Team Trump! Surely he’ll pardon me for this too!” And then shooting the cop instead?
Should the cop have run away? Now you’ve got a J6 rioter with a gun in a stolen police cruiser.
Please run us through the scenario in which it’s a good idea to let the mentally unstable rioter grab his gun.
And I’m not cheering the cop, either. I’m betting the cop is a fellow Republican, because…cop… but also because he foolishly trusted the J6 rioter to act reasonably and rationally. When the information presented by his computer stated this individual has a rap sheet and this situation was going to become an arrest, cop could have properly and immediately performed the arrest by standing between guy and car door then cuffing guy, thus not allowing guy the opportunity to make another stupid decision.
Cop treated this 70 in a 55 like it was a normal boring 70 in a 55 by a normal boring citizen, and this is what happened.
You’re making up a wild scenario that never happened. When people are suicidal, you try to help them, not shoot them to make sure they get what they’re looking or.
I’ll cheer anytime a traitor to the people dies, liberal.
These are people who have been fed lies and propaganda their whole life, your neighbors, and family. Way to prove my point.
Also if a bystanders life is at risk. That would be the ideal implementation in a similar system IMO anyways, I don’t think this is the way we should be dealing with problems as a whole though, e.g. every cop having a gun is unnecessary and harmful.
Hypocrites showing their true colors. It’s never been about wether the shooting was justified or not but rather how they feel about the victim.
The “othering” of opponents is how human deal with conflict and prepare themselves for violence since time immemorial.
Dehumanization is a really slippery second step. Fascists aren’t the only people that find themselves doing it.
This isn’t meant as an excuse, just an explanation. IMO, this fatal shooting is not an act to be celebrated.
Yeah, I really dislike how easy it is to dehumanized people. Regardless of this guys shitty politics, or what he did in the past, he didn’t deserve to be shot dead during a traffic stop.
I am so glad to see this comment. I certainly won’t mourn personally over them, but I’m not going to toast their death either. It’s gross.
