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California Sheriff, Donny Youngblood, faces re-election crises after shocking tape emerges of him saying it’s “better financially” for deputies to kill suspects rather than wound them

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><div id&equals;"ra-wrap">&NewLine;<header id&equals;"ra-headers">&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>Conservative California lawman&&num;8217&semi;s election bid de-supported by other law enforcement unions<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood reminded he has encouraged extrajudicial killings by cops as he seeks re-election<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>Youngblood allegedly comparing the costs of killing someone versus wounding&comma; said it was &&num;8220&semi;better financially&&num;8221&semi; for deputies to kill suspects rather than wound them<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>The sheriff now says his words were taken out of context&comma; that he &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;never inferred that we should shoot to kill”<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;"><strong>Wishes he had used different words<&sol;strong><&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<&sol;header>&NewLine;<div id&equals;"ra-body-wrap">&NewLine;<article id&equals;"ra-body">&NewLine;<h6>&NewLine;<strong><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-291423" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;04&sol;Donny-Youngblood-Kern-County-Sheriff-3&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Donny Youngblood - Kern County Sheriff 3&period;jpg" width&equals;"732" height&equals;"548" &sol;>Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood&colon; Dogged by his past statements &&num;8211&semi; it&&num;8217&semi;s &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;better financially&&num;8221&semi; to kill suspects than wound them&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>The sheriff of a California county with an outsized number of police shootings once said that it was &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;better financially&&num;8221&semi; to kill suspects than wound them&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood was looking for an endorsement in 2006 when he posed the question&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;When a deputy shoots somebody&comma; which way is better financially&quest; To cripple them or kill them for the county&quest;”&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Kill them&quest;” someone off camera asks before Youngblood answers &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Absolutely&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;Because if you cripple them you have to take care of them for life and that cost goes way up&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;As it stands&comma; Police in Kern County&comma; California&comma; have killed more people per capita than in any other American county in the past decade&comma; earning for themselves the sobriquet of being the country’s most lethal law enforcement officers<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><strong> <img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-291419" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;04&sol;Family-and-friends-mourn-James-de-La-Rosa-who-was-shot-to-death-by-four-police-officers-while-unarmed-in-2014&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Family and friends mourn James de La Rosa who was shot to death by four police officers&comma; while unarmed in 2014" width&equals;"1300" height&equals;"867" &sol;>Family and friends mourn James de La Rosa an unarmed victim of a four man police shooting team in 2014<&sol;strong>&period;<&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;facebook&period;com&sol;KCDOA&sol;videos&sol;1714953028581523&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">The damning video was released Monday<&sol;a> by the Kern County Detention Officers Association&comma; one of three officers’ unions that had endorsed Youngblood’s upcoming election opponent and chief deputy Justin Fleeman&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Officers said that the county force&comma; once labelled &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;America’s deadliest police&comma;&&num;8221&semi; was &&num;8220&semi;in desperate need of positive changes&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Seventy-eight years after Kern County’s leaders banned the book &&num;8216&semi;The Grapes of Wrath&&num;8217&semi; from their schools and libraries&comma; in which the author John Steinbeck’ portrayed their policemen as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;divested of sympathy or human decency or understanding”&comma; according to Kern County law enforcement&comma;  the man supervising a police force noted for it&&num;8217&semi;s abetted killings&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-291421" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;04&sol;Kern-County-detention-officers-1&period;png" alt&equals;"Kern County detention officers 1&period;png" width&equals;"878" height&equals;"1409" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;Three years ago the British paper&comma; The Guardian&comma; profiled the county after 13 people were killed by police in 2015&period; The county had less than 900&comma;000 residents at the time&comma; but more fatal shootings than New York&comma; which had nine the same year&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The expose was triggered by stories of police cover up of &&num;8216&semi;bad shoots&&num;8217&semi; in the central California county&period; In one memorable case&comma; Aaron Stringer&comma; a senior Bakersfield police officer once lauded after saving a colleague in peril&comma; but later tarnished by his arrest for a hit-and-run while driving under the influence of prescription drugs&comma; reached under the bloodied white sheet and tickled the toes of one victim of unjustified police shooting&comma; James De La Rosa&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;When&comma; a junior officer reported the repugnant act to commanders&comma; Stringer jerked the head to one side and joked about rigor mortis&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I love playing with dead bodies&comma;” said Stringer&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;It was only one in a catalog of mindless acts by a police officer in this rugged territory&comma; where law enforcement officers routinely kill more people per capita than any other county nationwide&comma; according to a 2015 <a class&equals;"u-underline in-body-link--immersive" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;theguardian&period;com&sol;us-news&sol;ng-interactive&sol;2015&sol;jun&sol;01&sol;the-counted-police-killings-us-database" data-link-name&equals;"in body link">Guardian investigation<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><strong><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-291422" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;04&sol;Police-fatal-shooting-chart-2015&period;png" alt&equals;"Police fatal shooting chart &comma; 2015" width&equals;"685" height&equals;"1019" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;A 2015 Guardian report on homicide per capita across counties&comma; nationwide<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>For the time period surveyed by The Guardian&comma; law enforcement officers in Kern County&comma; which has a population of just under 875&comma;000&comma; killed more people than the New York Police Dept killed across the five counties of New York City&comma; with almost 10 times as many residents and a police force about 23 times larger&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;One senior Bakersfield police officer&comma; by himself&comma; had been involved in at least four deadly shootings in less than two years&period; Another officer separately shot dead three people within two months in 2010&period; Other law enforcement officers in Kern County had been involved in deadly beatings of unarmed men&comma; sex crimes against women and reckless car crashes resulting in criminal convictions&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;They have some fine officers here&comma; but unfortunately they have some bullies and thugs who often run the show&comma;” former Kern County public defender Henry Mosier said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6>&NewLine;<strong><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-291417" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;04&sol;James-de-La-Rosa-&period;jpg" alt&equals;"James de La Rosa" width&equals;"418" height&equals;"433" &sol;><br &sol;>&NewLine;Victim&colon; James of De La Rosa&comma; shot by cops &comma; unarmed&comma; with his hands held high<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>A couple who witnessed the 22-year-old De La Rosa&&num;8217&semi;s death at the hands of  law enforcement officers from the country’s deadliest cop killer county&comma; said they watched officers shoot De La Rosa after he exited his car and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;threw up his hands”&comma; keeping them outstretched&period; It appeared he was saying &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;What’s up&quest;” or even &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I’m here&comma; come arrest me&comma;” one of the witnesses said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In contrast the officers claimed otherwise&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;They said they shot him because was he was reaching for his waistband&comma;” said De La Rosa’s brother Joe&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Why would an individual reach for his waistband if there is no weapon there&quest;” asked the victim&&num;8217&semi;s sister&comma; Serena&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;That makes no sense&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;In what was a familiar pattern&comma; the officers involved in the shooting of James De La Rosa were quickly cleared of wrongdoing by an inquiry carried out by their own commanders&comma; as has long been standard for fatal shootings by the Bakersfield police department and the Kern County sheriff’s office&comma; the two biggest law enforcement agencies in the county&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><strong><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-291424" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;04&sol;Donny-Youngblood-4&period;gif" alt&equals;"Donny Youngblood 4&period;jpg" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"800" &sol;>Donny Youngblood is routinely accused of participating in the cover up of bad policing<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;article>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div id&equals;"ra-wrap">&NewLine;<div id&equals;"ra-body-wrap">&NewLine;<article id&equals;"ra-body">Adding to his baggage Youngblood in 2015&comma; made headlines when he defied the <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;catrustact&period;org&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">California Trust Act<&sol;a>&comma; a law signed by Gov&period; Jerry Brown that restricts cooperation between local law enforcement officials and federal immigration agents&period; His stance riled the governor and California’s immigrant-rights groups&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Last year Youngblood asked the county Board of Supervisors to adopt a resolution that would <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;latimes&period;com&sol;local&sol;lanow&sol;la-me-kern-county-sanctuary-20170420-story&period;html">declare Kern a &&num;8220&semi;law and order&&num;8221&semi; county and<&sol;a> not a &&num;8220&semi;sanctuary&&num;8221&semi; county&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Of the identified 54 fatal shootings in the time frame of a decade&comma; by Bakersfield police and Kern County sheriff’s deputies&period; At least 49 of the 54 were publicly ruled justified by panels of senior officers from the same department as the officers who fired&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Monday&&num;8217&semi;s highly damaging video&comma; reportedly taken during an endorsement consideration interview&comma; also saw Youngblood turn the loss of life at the hands of the police into a matter of dollars and cents&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;When a guy makes a bad shoot on somebody and kills them&comma; &dollar;3 million dollars and the family goes away&comma;” he said&comma; comparing it to a jailhouse beating where many officers are present&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Youngblood then went on to compare the costs of killing someone versus wounding&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The sheriff told <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;bakersfield&period;com&sol;news&sol;detention-deputy-union-releases-election-hit-piece-video-shows-youngblood&sol;article&lowbar;129e3396-3c55-11e8-9559-7726275eb270&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Bakersfield&period;com<&sol;a> after the video release that his words were taken out of context and that he &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;never inferred that we should shoot to kill&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;He added that he wishes he had used different words&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;article>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;

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