Well, time for my $.02. And that is as much as my opinion is worth.
These cops were in plainclothes, with an unmarked police car. From what I read right after it happened. The people in the car probably thought a group of thugs was trying to take them. Sure the people in the car may have contributed a bit, but for all they knew they were talking crap to another group of people like them.
The cops screwed up, an innocent man is dead. Losers all around. The cops put themselves into the position when they could have probably walked away and reported the incident later. I don't know. To me, it seems that the cops didn't know when to back down and got in over their heads. They knew they were cops and perhaps under the stress of the situation forgot that they were plainclothes and that everyone else DIDN'T know that.
Doesn't matter what I think, a man is dead and nothing is going to bring him back.
The cops testified they ID'ed themselves. These were seasoned plainclothes detectives. Do you believe them or the 3 recidivist felons, ALL of whom were drunk, and one of whom admitted that he smoked pot EVERYDAY for 6 years. not to mention their extensive criminal history involving guns and drugs, AND their 50 MILLION dollar lawsuit (each) that would go down the toilet if they admitted the cops did ID themselves?
Let's placate the liberal cop haters. End ALL plainclothes operations. Put the cops back in uniform and direct them to respond to 911 calls. Let the savages see how life is like without the cops trying to rid their neighborhoods of thugs like Bell and his friends. That's the way it's heading anyway. NONE of my friends still on the job are being aggressive anymore. Much easier to let them kill themselves and take a report. Had they not had a fair minded judge, they could have been looking at 25 years for doing their job!