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.
More wasteful government spending. Guy said he was gonna shoot himself, why waste ~40 cents?
Yeah, you totally can believe this kind of guys. His word is the truth itself. Like Trump’s word of honor.
The State: “Hold up, that’s MY job!”
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.
He was almost certainly lying. He was going to try to shoot and run. He demonstrated repeatedly that he didn’t care about the well being of anyone except himself.
I felt bad for his dog in the back seat of the van when he got shot.
Lol the cop is like say less ill do it for free
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.
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.
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.
Honestly feel really bad for the guy
You shouldn’t, they were a Nazi traitor to our country
He goes to end his own life and gets murdered for it
If he was actually gonna off himself then this is also a good thing: cop gets karma points for taking out a Nazi rather than the Nazi themselves
He was right at the edge of what he could handle
…because he was a traitorous Nazi, important context
arrest was enough to put him over the edge
Maybe if you’re nervous about the law you shouldn’t do 50% over the speed limit while also being a known regular bad driver
possess the empathy enough to understand exactly how this person felt in his last moments
As do many of us, we just don’t feel it was nearly bad enough for him compared to what he deserved
Yea I feel bad for him too, you can tell when the officer tells him he has no choice to arrest him that he’s realizing how badly he just messed up.
In his mind he was about to lose his pardon and go back into the prison system.
But to me that also makes me think the officer is justified in his use of force. People that think everything is ruined are unpredictable and he was reaching for violence. While he was saying he was going to turn that violence on himself, there’s no particular reason to trust what he’s saying. I think there’s a very real possibility he gets the gun saying “I’m shooting myself” but then once he has it maybe shooting the cop sounds a bit better.
If I’m the officer I’m not rolling the dice to see if he points the gun at his head or mine.
And as much as I can empathize with the feeling of fear and loss in that moment, ultimately he made a bunch of choices that led to that. He did whatever he did to get his license suspended, he drove on a suspended license, and even in this instance he broke the speed limit knowing that the results of even a minor infraction could lead to the loss of his freedom.
At some point he has to be responsible for the consequences of his actions.
I’ve been on the edge before, called the police on myself and it caught me interesting that my movement he did reach for a weapon when I went to hand over the knife, so I should feel empathy. I feel empathy for the officer who was in a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation, but…
I don’t know. I’m out. This is a person who 1: Willingly joined in a coup to attempt to overthrow an election to 3: AFTER getting pardoned, get pulled over with a suspended license enough times for it to be a felony (I don’t know about y’all, but it’s kinda rare for me to get pulled over. And the times I have… I’ll 100% admit I was way over, generally because I’ve missed the speed sign) 4: His FIRST interaction with an officer is how he was a Jan 6 pardon like it’s a get out of jail free card. This shows he has zero actual fucking remorse for what he did and instead hoping the cop is on his side. 5: Go to his car and reach for a gun.
This is a man who has shown an actual pattern of not caring about anyone’s safety but himself. His upset moment is when he’s affected, but anyone else, damn them.
It’s why I can’t blame the cop in this one. This was a man in an unpredictable scenario who has shown these very things in decisions. Man could have easily said “I’m shooting myself” and instead shoot the cop. In EMS I’ve worked alongside too many cops, and I’ve talked to some who’s had to shoot, most of them it bothers them. It should, honestly I’d question the ones that take a life and aren’t haunted by it. This cop just dealt with a man reaching for a gun and the last thing he heard from the man is telling him he’d end his own life and the cop did it for him. So I can’t help but to think that this is a Jan 6er who’s managed to fuck up yet another life.
Suicide by cop is definitely a thing.
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.
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
Oh look, a good Nazi!
The only good Nazi…
Check out the story of John Rabe. Hes the closest i would concidder go be a “good” nazi. He attempted and in some cases maneges to protect chinese civilians during the “rape of nanjing”.
Removed by mod
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.
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.
The cop prevented the driver from committing suicide.
He was almost certainly lying. He was gonna try to shoot and run.
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).
Only so he could go to heaven
Last sentence is chef’s kiss.
I did not find the footage disturbing. Good riddance. to the neo-Nazi POS.
I’m starting to think those rioters had some issues.
Maybe not the best decision making skills
Looks like the trash is taking itself out these days!
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.
So far… Maybe they’ll all turn into classic examples of why you shouldn’t lick Nazi boots.
I mean they’re being terribly slow about it, but I hope for a full set of “some ways to die” stories. This is at least the 2nd one I’ve heard.
Police officer: “And I took that personally.”
“Paid leave and I get to kill someone!”
Every one of those fucking traitors should shoot themselves.
