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.
Oh look, a good Nazi!
Looks like the trash is taking itself out these days!
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.
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.
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 well
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.
Only so he could go to heaven
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).
Last sentence is chef’s kiss.
If anyone is interested, the Weird Little Guys podcast did an episode on him.
I’m starting to think those rioters had some issues.
Maybe not the best decision making skills
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.
Most American headline ever.
Naw. There’s no mention of the cop shouting “Murica! Fuck Yeah!”
Mission failed successfully?
Every one of those fucking traitors should shoot themselves.
I don’t think I will be mourning the death of any jan6 insurrectionist.
I think it’s important to point out that this is not justifiable because he was a jan 6 rioter, but because he was reaching for a gun.
It’s a small distinction, but an important one, as justifications can easily stretch to encompass things they shouldn’t. If it’s ok for an officer to kill someone at a traffic stop solely because they were at the riot, then it won’t be long before it’s justification for killing someone at a protest, or just for speaking out.
So good riddance to bad rubbish in this case, but be wary of dismissing a police officer killing someone just because we don’t like them.
It’s not OK for a cop to shoot him because he was at a riot. It’s OK for a cop to shoot him because he’s a traitor that tried to steal democracy away from the nation. He was an enemy of the state and the people.
The only good nazi is a dead nazi, and I hope his fate befalls every single one of those traitors.
The police officer even sprinted after him and tried to wrestle him down so he can’t get the gun. Kinda feel bad for the police officer. Which doesn’t happen often.
Police officer: “And I took that personally.”
“Paid leave and I get to kill someone!”
