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The Cameron Cloward Case Out Of Utah Is A Nice Snapshot Of How Confusing Modern Police Work Is
Cameron Cloward was 36 years old. He lived in Salt Lake City. Apparently, per his family, he was autistic. He also, at the time of the incident that ended his life, was apparently homeless.
Here is the raw footage on the situation:
So therein, he apparently stabs a clerk at a Chevron, who calls the cops. Initially I saw this story reported as him having “a machete,” but apparently he just had a pocket knife. (That’s a big difference.)
He’s wandering around the edges of the Chevron when cops arrive, and there’s a lot of screaming and “put the fucking knife down!” and “we’ll fucking shoot you!” Etc, etc.
Finally, Cameron advances a little bit on one of the cops, and he gets shot. He is now deceased.
Well, his brother Morgan got an audience with the Chief of Police in SLC, and that’s within this report:
There is obviously a lot to unpack about this situation, but let me try to skirt the edges:
Why was this kid homeless? The first and fundamental problem I have with this story is his brother Morgan going on the defensive about the cops, but — and I “back the blue,” but contextually — the family knew he was living on the streets? All the cops did in the moment was respond to an incident call. It’s actually more the family’s responsibility than the cops’ responsibility at the front end of this story.
Overkill shooting: Ultimately, the goal of a cop in these situations is to gain compliance. I think what average people don’t understand (myself included) is why cops keep…
