A Schenectady County grand jury has cleared three city police officers of criminal wrongdoing in the fatal 2011 shooting of an armed man on a city street, according to individuals familiar with the decision.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Officers-cleared-in-fatal-shooting-4101075.php#ixzz2ESmYjsqi

Watching Carney press conference about this shooting. He sais cops didn't see the gun thrown while the guy was running as their focus was on Rivera
and centering their target, so they had lost their peripheral vision. They shot off 14 shots, two struck Rivera, one in the hip area the other near the
shoulder. The other shots went into houses, car window etc.

Gun found near fence had no fingerprints as it was textured and DNA could not include or exlude Rivera.

Carney said Rivera was intoxicated.

JMO why couldn't they aim for his legs?  Never mind their aim wasn't good at all  

Not bashing the police per se as they had a situation, but seems to me that they put lifes at risk more than Rivera did.

Gun that Rivera "had" was broken and unusable.

I just thank God no children in the area that could have been hit.

Quoted from rpforpres

Watching Carney press conference about this shooting. He sais cops didn't see the gun thrown while the guy was running as their focus was on Rivera
and centering their target, so they had lost their peripheral vision. They shot off 14 shots, two struck Rivera, one in the hip area the other near the
shoulder. The other shots went into houses, car window etc.

Gun found near fence had no fingerprints as it was textured and DNA could not include or exlude Rivera.

Carney said Rivera was intoxicated.

JMO why couldn't they aim for his legs?  Never mind their aim wasn't good at all  

Not bashing the police per se as they had a situation, but seems to me that they put lifes at risk more than Rivera did.

Gun that Rivera "had" was broken and unusable.

I just thank God no children in the area that could have been hit.

You've watched too much A-team, where no one gets killed.

Never watch A-team and too many get killed in real life.

Had no way to know gun was inoperable.  Had Rivera shot - he would have been firing into State Street traffic.  Police did not pick the location.

Only 2 hits in 14 rounds fired, I know cops aren't known for their shooting skills but Jesus what a mess.

Visitor, of course cops didnt know gun wasn't operable. I'm not defending Rivera on his actions, just that 14 shots fired that Carney admitted struck all
over the place and only two hit the target in "peripheal" vision.  

If Rivera was outside a person's home trying to break into the home with a broken gun and the homeowner chased him and fired 14 shots protecting his home - would he/she be cleared for criminal wrongdoing?

Quoted from visitor

Had Rivera shot - he would have been firing into State Street traffic.

He didn't shoot.

I'm going to 'side' with visitor on this one. I am not one of those "all first responders are heroes" types, far from it. In this particular instance, I can't fault the cops. They had to deal with the situation as they found it. The only person who had any control over the outcome that day was Mr. Rivera. He brought the gun into play. The police were summoned to the area by someone concerned over an armed man running around the neighborhood. They get there, the man in question again had a chance to control the outcome. He could have surrendered at that point. The police are trained about what to do when that happens.
Mr. Rivera made the choice to keep it going. Yes, it would have been better, MAYBE, if cops with more experience and training could've been responded, but these officers had to deal with what they had.
If someone is shooting at you, or you believe he is about to, you wouldn't aim for his legs. You aim for the bigger target, and yes, you do shoot to kill. Even if you could shoot someone in the leg, or graze his trigger finger, or whatever (which can't be done, that is Hollywood make believe stuff), you wouldn't do that. Because he is still armed and can still kill YOU.
Once bullets start flying, all bets are off, no one has any control any longer. I agree, the public was endangered that day, but what could've happened differently, given that cops are fallible humans like the rest of us. If these men were Navy Seals caliber, they sure as hell wouldn't be working for the SPD.
I 'd like to bring up another situation that happened recently. Remember when a Mr. Bowman, I don't remember his first name, was doing nothing wrong when he was confronted and shot dead by an angry, gun- carrying jerk? What if, magically, we could have a do-over, but we had to ask his family first, would you want the police to be called in time, even if it meant that the jerk with the gun might get killed, and it could be a risk to others in the area? I'm guessing in that scenario most people would want the police to respond. My point is, you can't measure people not harmed because the police shot someone. Mr. Rivera had an inoperable gun, we know that now, but no one except Rivera knew that. He was a grown man.
Another wordy point I'd like to make, I have a family member who comes from a place where guns are very restricted. He decided, while in this country, to purchase some kind of gun that isn't a real gun, a target pistol or something. Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, who knew about his purchase warned him be VERY careful how you display that thing as in the wrong place, even a toy can get you killed. My point being that every adult in America, even Mr. Rivera, knows that running around a residential area with any kind of gun can result in tragedy.

Quoted from CICERO

If Rivera was outside a person's home trying to break into the home with a broken gun and the homeowner chased him and fired 14 shots protecting his home - would he/she be cleared for criminal wrongdoing?

assuming the homeowner's gun was legal....good point.....anyone????

Quoted from Madam X

My point being that every adult in America, even Mr. Rivera, knows that running around a residential area with any kind of gun can result in tragedy.

I'll play devil’s advocate.  

How did the police know Rivera wasn't licensed to carry a pistol in NYS?  What was the probable cause for the police that made them decide to open fire at a man running AWAY from them?  Rivera didn't fire a shot and wasn't in the act of committing a crime other than a phone call from a concerned resident reporting an armed man, and running from the police. I would argue that the police made A LOT of assumptions leading to the death of an innocent man.  Unless you believe running from the men in government costumes a crime that deserves a sentence of death.

Devil's advocate, that is a valid point, but I would say that the cops made a guess about the legality of the gun based on the assumption that a legal pistol owner wouldn't be displaying it on the street or take off instead of merely explaining when the cops arrived. Also you can't be running around scaring people with a legal gun and then running off when the cops show up without placing yourself in harm's way either.
The question about shooting someone trying to break into your home, in New York you can't chase them once they are outside running away and shoot them. Inside your house, yes you can shoot.

Grand Jury - a group of independent citizens looked at this and exonerated the officers.  You want to hold a seperate mock trial on this site, have at it.

In Texas in 2007, a man named Joe Horn shot and killed two men who had been burglarizing his neighbor's property. Changes had been made to what is called "castle law" which removed the so-called "duty to retreat" which would have required Mr. Horn to retreat, if possible. He was cleared of any wrongdoing.