The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[Valmy]

I'll agree that the police response seems heavy-handed, but let's not ignore the complicity of the rioters and looters here.

Dude the cops lost control by gassing peaceful protestors and shit went down.  The cops job is to preserve law and order not destroy it themselves.  I guess I don't get the argument that saying the cops are responsible for the breakdown is ignoring the breakdown.

[derspiess]

I'm diggin' the Black panther police hat dude

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk7sAvqqEJU

[Valmy]

Incidentally, I suspect the folks in Fergusson are not what the open carry advocates have in mind.

I don't know.  Most of the nutty right wingers I see tend to be on the folks in Fergusson's side.  Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, who Spicey cruises and stands with, have said so.  This may be another horrible symptom of irrational fear of the black man but publicly everybody seems to be against the cops on this one.

[derspiess]

I don't have a problem with law abiding people open carrying, regardless of race. 

I do frown on people flaunting it, but that's a different discussion.

[DontSayBanana]

I've heard the phrase "county mountie" used here in Canada, but it's use in the US seems bizarre.  Since, you know, you don't have any mounties.

We Americans prefer our irreverent references to cops be rhyming.  Hence "local yokel" and "county mountie."

[alfred russel]

Incidentally, I suspect the folks in Fergusson are not what the open carry advocates have in mind.

I don't know.  Most of the nutty right wingers I see tend to be on the folks in Fergusson's side.  Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, who Spicey cruises and stands with, have said so.  This may be another horrible symptom of irrational fear of the black man but publicly everybody seems to be against the cops on this one.

Possibly because there is a democratic governor and democratic president (not that the president matters)?

[CountDeMoney]

For some reason I always lost people using gendarme, even though Judge Gerstung would do shit like set court dates for Bastille Day.

"Your trial date is set for this Bastille Day.  You do know when Bastille Day is, don't you?"
*cut to defense attorney furiously flipping through DayRunner*

[Tonitrus]

Yeah, the county mounties seem to have a nasty reputation in their own right.

I've heard the phrase "county mountie" used here in Canada, but it's use in the US seems bizarre.  Since, you know, you don't have any mounties.

Probably because we watched Smokie & the Bandit II as kids. 

[derspiess]

Hmm...
http://m.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/michael-brown-a-suspect-in-robbery-of-cigars-from-store/article_52c40b84-ad90-5f9a-973c-70d628d0be04.html?mobile_touch=true

[CountDeMoney]

Yes, an unarmed shoplifter certainly requires as much deadly force as an unarmed teen.

Too bad he wasn't pulled up in the street for shoplifting.

Though now I've seen photos of the kid in contrast to your standard tiny Pakistani old guy, I can see the officer's reasoning in the application of deadly force during a Code BFN scenario.


PD could've saved themselves a lot of bullshit this week in releasing this info.  There is no reason to conceal it.

[Valmy]

I thought it was well known he had shoplifted it was the whole 'shot while unarmed thing' that was the problem.

[Malthus]

I thought it was well known he had shoplifted it was the whole 'shot while unarmed thing' that was the problem.

It's a matter of perception.

"Giant caught almost red-handed after strong-arm robbery gets shot by cops in confrontation" has a different tone to it than "kid minding his own business walking down the street gets murdered for no apparent reason by (racist?) cop".

[Berkut]

What difference does it make whether he just robbed a store or not?

It isn't like it would be ok to shoot him based on that.

[Malthus]

What difference does it make whether he just robbed a store or not?

It isn't like it would be ok to shoot him based on that.

Obviously not.

It simply changes the public perception of the incident.

We must still wait for the actual facts to be sifted. But the intital scenario sounded like a case of the cops harrasing and profiling a wholly innocent man - in short, that the cops initiated the confrontation (maybe because they were racist). Now, it seems more like they were doing their jobs. We still need to know exactly what went down, but the cop's story - which I understand is that the guy they shot went for his gun - is sounding a trifle more likely, if the guy is a criminal caught nearly red-handed, than if he is just some random guy.

None of which will change the facts if it turns out the guy was shot in the back from a distance - it is hard to see how that could be justified under *any* possible scenario.

Also, the real story here is probably police over-reaction to rioting and protests. That doesn't change, if the intital cop was guilty or innocent.

[Valmy]

What I originally heard was that he had shoplifted and ran from the cops and they shot him.  The cops inexplicably had no dashcam which is just crazy.  The can afford a freaking APC and automatic rifles but no dashcams?