A California sheriff said in a video that it was "better financially" to kill suspects on the street than to wound them because of the cost to take care of the injured person, the Bakersfield Californian reported.
The Kern County Detention Officers Association released the video Monday, in which Sheriff Donny Youngblood made the comments 12 years ago during an endorsement meeting the union had with Youngblood during his first campaign for sheriff, the newspaper said.
The union is backing Youngblood's opponent Justin Fleeman in the 2018 election, according to the Californian.
"You know what happens if a guy makes a bad shooting on somebody — kills them?" Youngblood said on the video, asking a question about more extensive officer training than in the past, the newspaper wrote. "Three million bucks and the family goes away."
Youngblood added, according to the Californian, that it is a "totally different ballgame" when it happens in a jail with multiple officers.
"It's no different than when a deputy shoots someone on the streets, which way do you think is better financially? To cripple them or kill them, for the county," Youngblood asks on the video, per the newspaper.
When one voice answers, "kill them," Youngblood answers: "Absolutely. Because if we cripple them we get to take care of them for life, and that cost goes way up."
Youngblood told the Californian that his comments were taken out of context and centered around the 2005 case where the actions of deputies doing a "bad thing" cost the office and the county money that could have gone to raises and manpower.
"I stand by the intent of what I was trying to get across – that just because someone doesn't die doesn't mean we escape with less money or unharmed," Youngblood told KBAK-TV Monday. "Do I wish I would've said it differently? Absolutely. When you listen to the verbiage, it doesn't sound good. But I think the people of this county know that's not what I mean."
KBAK-TV pointed out that despite the comments, the Kern County Detention Officers Association endorsed Youngblood in 2016.
Union president Kevin Dees told the Californian that Youngblood's comments were callous. He told the newspaper that it only endorsed Youngblood in 2006 because they considered the "lesser of two evils."
"That seems to be something you'd hear back in the '60s," Dees told the Californian. "I don't believe that any of those comments reflect the thoughts of any of the men and women who put their life on the line for the public every day."
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