“Lab tests showed the gun had been wiped clean,” reports the St. Petersburg Times. “No fingerprints were on it — not Victor’s, not anyone’s.” Either the mortally wounded teenager — despite being nearly cut in half by Ard’s cruiser — managed to wipe the gun clean in the seconds before he died, or Ard planted a “drop gun” to provide a retroactive pretext for his pursuit of the teenager.
After seeing the video, an investigator for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement asked Ard if he had planted the gun. The subject was promptly dropped when Ard denied that he had done so. [More]
No need to wonder what the cop was doing for the 40 seconds the dashcam showed him hunkering down by the body. Despite no evidence that he committed any crime and a life history that suggests he was an OK kid, the dead boy got what was coming to him and the officer followed protocol.
[Via Zachary G]