Reader: Rev. Jonathan Ayers' Family Needs a Civil Rights Suit to Get Justice

• What I don't get. The undercover police stopped Jonathan identified themselves as policemen to question him. He jumps in his car, turns erraticall,and drives away speeding? I don't understand that. The gas station was crowded with people, it was 2:30 pm in the afternoon. Don't get me wrong the police could have shot the tires or something, to shoot him is pretty bad.

• I realize God says turn the other cheek - but if this were my son - I would say goodbye to my family and then take out each of these 'officers' i.e. murderers, my self. Utter bullshit. Anyone who watches the VIDEO realizes it. Your adrenaline would kick in and the murderers simply jump from the car with guns drawn and go, literally, ballistic. No one would be able to register they are police. The murderers lives were not threatened. Pathetic. Ayers is with God (heaven) and these officers will be eternally separate from God (hell) unless they man up and tell the truth and take the consequences. Eventually people will get tired of murderers in uniform and take justice into their own hands against them - especially when they realize the courts are corrupt and the murderers will be defended by the state instead of held accountable. Watch the video - images don't lie - they murdered him.

• I just have to say this since no one else is... The "police officers", using the term lightly, involved in this incident did make some obvious mistakes which led to the poor demise of Mr. Ayers. The first thing is that, even if undercover, should produce a VISUAL representation that they are POLICE...like I dunno a FRIGGIN T-SHIRT or VEST. Second, the police knew this gentleman was NOT a PERSON OF INTEREST, yet they wished to question him about his interaction with the "coke peddler". Thats fine, let him pull out of this busy/crowded intersection, then have a regular marked squad car pull him over and detain him for questioning. This would avoid the major complication of exposing several "undercover" drug agents in broad daylight at a crowded gas station in what the police refer to as a "drug neighborhood". Second it would allow Mr. Ayers to be detained without the possibility of involving other pedestrians/citizens. The other thing the cops did wrong was they jumped out of their vehicle and immediately crowded Mr. Ayers car while yelling and pointing guns. When Mr. Ayers reacted, they were confronted with a deadly weapon (Mr.Ayers car) and so had to react themselves, but this situation could have been avoided if the officers had maintained a safe distance from the car. Suspects escape everyday and I don't hear of too many cops dying because someone drove off and got away. In fact, on many high speed pursuits, the officers are called off the chase, to avoid the dangers to others on the roadways. Simple safety over satisfaction. What happened here was gross misconduct and negligence on the part of the PD, if they are not willing to take this responsibility, then they risk losing the trust and respect of the very citizens they have sworn an oath to protect. As for you that blame Mr. Ayers for "putting himself in that position", let me remind you of the Bible story of the old beggar sitting on the side of a road, and he's passed by everyone but a poor herdsman, who offers him a ride on his camel, only to find that the old beggar is really an Angel in disguise, sent by God to test the observance of man in his law of love thy neighbor. Rev.Ayers was doing what pastors are designed to do, minister God's word to those who need it most. How dare you criticize this man for doing God's work, you need to take a page from his book and do something to help someone else. With all the violence in the world today, we depend on our law enforcement to protect us and keep us safe, while maintaining a code of conduct that should serve as a model for all citizens. When this is dissolved I fear the violence will consume us all. I leave you with two quotes from the late great Martin Luther King Jr. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." "Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

• Read the "True" story of this amazing young man @ Justice4Jonathan.net

• Mark: The truth is that law enforcement and our judicial system have been going down hill for over 30 years now. And the Rev. Ayers case just proves it. Rev. Ayers died to give true justice to the police...all those who pretend to support good but are actually evil themselves. The time for justice is at hand. Jesse Ventura on Conspiracy Theory on Wednesday nights on TruTV and others will make this clear to many. God will use them to expose most of law enforcement's true loyaties. They are not the ultimate power. And their time for justice will be at hand. Woe to the police who live by the gun for they will die by it as well. My advice to the family is don't say I will pay evil for evil, wait for the Lord and He will do it for you (Proverbs 20:22). In just a very short time, the World will be shocked at God's rath upon His people and the police will be smack in the middle of it...

• Mark - There can't be a "long history" of any kind of action on behalf of this particular drug task force at it was only a few months old at the time of thei incident.

• Mark.....What Police Dept. are you referring too? Also, where do you get your information about there being a "long history of this action"? Just curious......

• ALERT!!!!!!!!-TO THE FAMILY- REQUEST THE BACKGROUND OF SHOOTINGS BY THIS POLICE DEPT. THERE IS A LONG HISTORY OF THIS ACTION AND THIS MUST BE STOPPED!!!!!!!!!!JUST FOUND OUT IF THE DA HAD THIS INFO THINGS WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT. BUT THEY WERE TOLD JUST WHAT THE DEPT WANTED THEM TO KNOW. WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!!!!!!

• I HAVE WATCHED THIS CASE FROM THE START AND PUT MYSELF IN BOTH PLACES AND IT IS OBVIOUS THAT JONATHAN WAS SCARED AND IN FEAR OF HIS LIFE AND DID WHAT ANY OF US WOULD HAVE DONE UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, AS FOR THE TRIGGER HAPPY COPS THEY WERE SET OUT TO KILL SOMEONE THAT DAY AND DID, IF THEY WERE IN FEAR OF THEIR LIFE AS STATED THEY SHOULD HAVE SHOT THE CAR THE TIRE THE MOTOR BUT NOT THE INNOCENT FATHER OF AN UNBORN CHILD. THERE IS NO JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD ONLY CROOKED POLITCAL POWERS,AND IF THERE IS A GOD IN HEAVEN THOSE COPS WILL KNOW HOW INJUSTICE FEELS. BUT THE MORE I FIND OUT ABOUT THE JUSTICE SYSTEM THE LESS I BELIEVE IN GOD BECAUSE IF THERE WAS A GOD HE WOULD NOT ALLOW PEOPLE LIKE THAT IN AN AUTHORITIVE POSITION.

• "tripp southern"..".Your comment equating the gunning down of a potentially innocent bystander by these Police Officers with someone who "made a mistake" at their work getting fired is the most thoughtless and flippant thing I've heard in some time." ...That was not my intent...I believe this is a very serious matter. A life was lost and several families' lives have been destroyed. I was trying to answer what I thought was a "one-sided", emotional, statement of what should be done to ALL the officers involved. I was trying to give another perspective to the tradgedy. We all need to be aware that the Grand Jury has found no fault with the officer's actions. That don't change the fact that a life was lost. From my own expierence, I can tell you this is a loss for this officer and his family. As to "sandy" remarks.....if you are the same "sandy" who just posted the LIE about me on another topic, then I have no use for you or your opinion....on the other hand if your're not that "sandy", then I will answer your post. I don't care if your husband is a "retired Captain from the Sheriff's office. I KNOW what I'm talking about, because I've been through it. If you want to believe the ONE side of this tradgety, without even considering the OTHER side of it, then knock yourself out.....As to my being a "liar" or a "security guard".......lady, you have no idea what you're talking about. So sad.......

• Tripp Southern well said. My husband is retired as a Captain for our local Sheriff's Dept. oobuckshot is either a lier about being a cop or he was a security cop. Something went terrible wrong that day. That man should have never died. Law enforcement dropped the ball. God bless the family

• To oobuckshot: WTF? Your comment equating the gunning down of a potentially innocent bystander by these Police Officers with someone who "made a mistake" at their work getting fired is the most thoughtless and flippant thing I've heard in some time. As if these guys were cashiers who short-changed a customer or bakers who burned a batch of cookies. A human life is not something taken so lightly. I dare you to look at the picture of Rev. Jonathan Ayers and his wife and say that out loud. If you have a shred of humanity left in your heart you should feel a pang of guilt somewhere around the "Kind of harsh" part. If the shoe was on the other foot and this poor man had mistakenly shot an undercover cop (equally as bad in my mind as what happened to Rev Ayers), what would your feelings be then? The same? Would you feel that the civilian simply made a mistake and should be let off the hook? Doubtful, and neither would I for the record. A human life is not a something that should be brushed aside like that. It is not the same as a car engine ruined by a sloppy mechanic or a batch of bread burned by a tired baker. These officers should be held accountable if they made a mistake and procecuted. But if they were honestly defending themselves then they should thanked and commended for what they had to do.

• Ok, Let's clear up something right here and now.....I'm NOT defending the officers involved in this tradgedy. But, if you want Police officers that are "perfect" and NEVER make mistakes, then as a 35 yr. veteran Police Officer myself, I will tell you it's NOT going to happen. PO's are actually human beings who do their best 100% of the time. But, because they're human, they can't be right 100% of the time. Also, I don't know what kind of work you do, but imagine if you made a mistake, you get fired and everyone who supervised and ever trained you gets fired too......Kind of harsh, don't you think? This is a tragedy and there's enough blame to go around.

• It boggles my mind that police officers who are supposedly specially trained for this type of situation opens fire on an unarmed man who (in their words) "is not associated with their investigation". Am I going to be shot when I stop at a gas station that happens to be the location of an undercover drug sting? What if the Jonathon happened to be deaf and did not understand what the officers were saying? Let's use a little common sense here...the officers were in plain clothes, in an unmarked vehicle, in a bad neighborhood, Mr. Ayers had just taken money out of an ATM, the police got out with their guns drawn so quickly that they didn't even bother putting their vehicle in park, and to top it off they discharged their weapons in a public place near flammable material...and they are "legally justified"???!!! Give me a break - not only should these police officers be fired, but their superior officers and the officers who trained them should be fired as well. This whole case smells like a huge cover up. It amazes me that there are actually people defending these officers...

• I'm not from Stephens County, but really close by. oobuckshot is right, no justice if law suit is heard in Stephens County. Dead people can't testify, but all the folks who knew Jonathan can and will. Cops and those associated with cops were the only "witnesses" allowed to speak to the Grand Jury, many of whom are too closely tied to these cops to be objective. Jonathan's family should seek a federal law suit.

• And to you Elle: Just because the officer was exonerated by the Grand Jury's findings, doesn't mean its over because "the officer didn't break any laws". Believe me, he and his fellow officers, are in for a long drawn-out process of law suits. His professional life as a police officer is basically over. He will never be the same. I don't know this officer personally, but I know of similar situations, and it NEVER turns out good. I can also assure you this officer would do just about anything to have never had this happen.............

• This is a sad, sad situation. There are no "winners" here. I feel for his family and his church. I feel for the officer and what he's going through. Whether or not he was "legally justified" does not make it any easier for him, (or his family). We need to pray for all involved....

• The news reports on this matter indicate that the grand jury only heard from the police officers involved and other "expert" law enforcement witnesses. It seems a little odd to me that none of the impartial witnesses present at the scene were brought before the grand jury. . . and it somewhat unsettling that a bunch of law enforcement officers would come out with guns drawn against a person who they had not first identified. If I were put in the same situation as Pastor Ayers, I believe I would have run for my life and acted just as he did. These officers were negligent and careless and should not be trusted with guns. It appears that the foxes were guarding the hen house at this grand jury proceeding !

• The DA released the information from the grand jury, so I expect the press will change their slant in the face of the true evidence. There's no basis for any case; however, I'm sure the family's attorney will push for it, as he doesn't get paid unless they sue. No one involved in this case would mind if they want to pursue Federal court. It won't make a difference, since the officer didn't break any laws.

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