Maine Cop Kills Unarmed Boy

In Waldoboro, Maine, police officer Zachary Curtis attempts to arrest belligerent teenager Gregori Jackson, who is a passenger in a car that Curtis just pulled over for a traffic violation. Somehow, after a scuffle, the young man pulls loose and flees into the woods next to the road. Officer Curtis pursues the suspect, and manages to shoot him several times in the head and chest, killing the unarmed eighteen-year-old on the spot.

The local paper reports that

Curtis was a reserve officer who has served with Waldoboro police since February 2006. Curtis had received 100 hours of training.

Make of that what you will, but it looks for all he world like a boy is dead because a rookie officer relied on testosterone instead of training, and on bullets rather than common sense. Tragic no matter how you slice it.

Comments

[Tom R.]

Careful on the criticism of the officer.

Every struggle an officer gets into is an armed struggle, because the officer has a gun. If the perpetrator gets ahold of the gun, which is what most struggles devolve into, a fight for control of a weapon, there is a greater than 80% probablility that the perpetrator will murder the officer with the officer's own gun.

The perpetrator MAY not have been armed going into the fight, but the officer has a baton, mace, pistol, knife, and possibly other weapons that if the perpetrator was able to obtain control of, would mean deadly force would be justified.

Wait for the details to come out.

The take away - don't resist arrest, don't assault police officers. Believe me, anyone willing to assault a police officer to begin with has something in his head that he can WIN the fight. And what do you think "win" means when fighting someone who has a gun?

That kid made a stupid mistake that cost him his life. Too bad. It was his mistake and he made it. I have been to too many police-officer funerals to care much about the perps anymore. All that kid had to do was sit in the car like his two buddies who walked away.

Found your site through Malkin's link to the Ali interview from Reason. Was the interview conducted in Engliah or Dutch? Just curious.

[john m.]

Hey, I can't pass up the opportunity to point out the obvious in this case, which I am still interested in. The cop had limited training. He was young (24). He didn't wait for backup. The kid was intoxicated from drinking, not loaded up on PCP. The cop had some training. What training did the kid have? How much did he weigh and how good a fighter was he?
I just don't buy the cop's story. According to the cop's testimony the kid was hiding under a log and then the kid hit him with a log. Then, according to the cop, the kid was on top of him, strangling him. I think it's bullshit.
Cops like to say they go with their gut instinct, which I'm sure helps. My gut instinct tells me this cop is a lying sack of shit.
He was all hot-to-trot about getting into some action, because how much action is there in Waldoboro, Maine? Not much! He probably watches action movies and cops shows and when he drove around in his cruiser he wasn't looking for traffic violations. He was looking for trouble.
Rambo-Cop shot an unarmed KID.

[Kyle]

Greg Jackson did not weigh more than 160 pounds and he was drunk. The officer shot him with no reason what so ever. If he cannot get a 160 pound 18 year old intoxicated kid off of him then he should not be on the police force. He is just a very trigger happy man and should not be allowed to wear a badge again.

[jesse h.]

look...the cop that killed greg shood be fuckin hung for wut he did...what happend pretty much sums the word 'bullshit' up.
sumthing needs to change with the untouchable police force and well all around government...this county is going to hell...
zach curtis....if only my friends and i cood have a moment where we get sum choice words out with u, u son of a bitch.

[GOD]

Zachary Curtis you and Gregori were not alone in those woods that night.I saw everything that happend.You will pay for the murder and the lies that you told.You will not get away with this.One day Greg.

[Kyle]

Greg Jackson was one of my best friends and for that trigger happy son of a bitch Zachery Curtis I hope he gets whats coming to him.

[Pissed-off Mainer: Maine fucks the people that keep it running.]

"This type of shit happens every day"- Snoop Dogg/Slick Rick

Now I am not actively involved in politics of any kind.but I am From Maine. I have lived here for 25 years.

Maine cops fucking profile. Period.

Point in case:

Me and my brother were driving down Rt302 (Cop infestation, Sheriff and State) to go to Windham to get some food.

There was yet another "Checkpoint" to fuck the working man over, just trying to drive to work to pay fines off.

There was a Geo Tracker in front of me. The State officer, standing in the middle of the road, waves him by.

As soon as the cop sees my brother's Base-ball cap, walks Towards us (I am going 50MPH) just to signal us to turn into the death trap.

Giovanna Bechard News 13, was on scene.
She was pretty much sucking some cop's Dick when I pulled in.

"I always go the speed limit, I never talk on my phone, BLAH, BLAH"

Anyways, we were profiled, trapped in the cop-induced tax trap, waiting for the cop to tell me my license is expired from some shit three years ago, or whatever.

We were good after the check.

I was talking shit to every one of the copp there.

"Bye! Thanks again! Nice to see you guys! Good luck finding "Criminals!"

Cliff notes version:

Maine Cops generally Patronize Maine people like Neanderthals.

Guilty until you pay your fines. Not Innocent until proven guilty like it should be.

FUCK MAINE COPS!

Zachery Curtis Die a horrible, horrible death, you fuck!

Maybe strand yourself out in the woods, drunk, and get shot in your back and head in the dark...

[Dennis Friel]

Curtis...I just found out what you did an hour ago. I've been in Federal prison for the last three and a half years so I never heard of this shit...NOW I KNOW. I'm going to have your case re-opened and have a REAL INVESTIGATION done and have you REALLY PROSECUTED. Don't think you've gotten away with this you fucking ignorant pig, you have the "littyle man" syndrone and feel as though you have to kill to make you appear tough....we'll see just how fucking TOUGH YOU ARE ASSHOLE. You're going to get a HUGE taste of the misery you've caused...you're in deep shit. If Maine wants to protect you there's a dozen or so NATIONAL SOLUTIONS... you KID MURDERING PIECE OF SHIT.

[Dennis Friel]

In answer to the obvious PIG that stood up for the other PIG who murdered that poor kid-"let me say this about that".The pig had no need to chase the highschool kid into the woods to begin with. If the pig really wanted the kid for anything of REAL importance he could have picked him up at school the next day or at home some time...it wasn't necessary to chase him into the woods and murder him. He was SUPPOSE TO call in back-up before he chased the kid...he didn't,,,and WHY? He didn't want anyone witnessing his murder.
As far as the other PIG saying that all fights with a pig is a fight with an armed person...well, if the stupid PIG can't keep his own weapons on him he shouldn't be carryinhg them around to begin with! That's just an EXCUSE so pigs can shoot unarmed people! Daaaah,,,,he cudda gut MY gun! you IGNORANT MURDERING PIGS! Remember, you'll probably never get those guys (or GIRLS) who stole your lunch money when you were a kid in school...so just try to forget about it and go on with your lives. Ya know, no one ever said the curtis PIG was shooting a fleeing felon or had and legal reason for doing so...and he made FUCKING SURE he had no witnesses. To think that this STUPID IGNORANT MURDERING PIG is still A PIG is perposterous!!! What kind of system would leave something like THAT in there?! The taxpayers are paying IGNORANT PIGS to murder kids and they do NOTHJING ABOUT IT???!!! So Tom R....you condone murdering kids?...I guess we all got YOUR number too. I say that any individual responsible for leaving that murdering PIG on the force ought to be FIRED and replaced by a REAL person...or people. WAKE UP WALDOBORO....WAKE UP MAINE!!!

[Jeremy]

Well the whole "reserve officer" thing is pretty common in Maine. I think people don't realize this because we're on the east coast but Maine is a very sparsely populated rural state, so...most officers are part-time reserve ones.

That said, Maine cops are useless idiots. Whether harassing a gas station cashier for free pastries and coffee (and threatening to "prove" he sold to someone who was drunk if he doesn't give in) or letting their drunk cousin who just hit the curb drive 20 miles home, they're too busy abusing their authority to do any actual police work. You'll hear the politicians here proudly say how we have such a low murder rate, well that's because we have an incredibly high "mysterious death" and "hunting accident" rate. Maine cops couldn't solve a crime if you inked your fingerprints all over the scene and left a detailed account with pictures.