The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[11B4V]

Tim needs to follow Lettow's example and take on a Korean bride.

Yes, and scorn the ways of Timmayness.

[CountDeMoney]

He won't be indicted, and that town is going to burn.

[derspiess]

He won't be indicted, and that town is going to burn.

What is your opinion?  Based on what you know, should he be indicted?

[CountDeMoney]

He won't be indicted, and that town is going to burn.

What is your opinion?  Based on what you know, should he be indicted?

I don't like the fact that an unarmed individual was shot in what looks--to me at least--an officer-escalated situation;  and if he was indeed challenging two suspects wanted in a robbery (which is still up in the air definitively), he did it the wrong way.

Sources have told the Post-Dispatch that Wilson has told authorities that before the radio call he had stopped to tell Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, 22, to quit walking down the middle of the street. They kept walking, and he then realized that Brown matched the description of the suspect in the stealing call.

Wilson then asked dispatch for backup and backed up his SUV next to Brown and Johnson.

You're behind the wheel of a car, that's perhaps the most defenseless position you can be in.  Maybe I was always a little more sensitive to that for being a lefty, but you don't challenge active suspects from your car window like you're ordering from the drive-thru.  You get out of your car and approach.  If they bunny, well, then we're off.

Wilson said Brown attacked him, sources said, and that they struggled over the officer's gun before Wilson was able to fire twice, hitting Brown once. Brown ran away.

Wilson has told authorities that he called, "Shots fired, send all cars," on his radio, but during the struggle his radio had been jarred and the channel changed.

The Post-Dispatch reviewed radio calls made during that period on all St. Louis County police channels, the fire channel used by Ferguson and other channels publicly archived online and could not locate the call. At least one channel on the Ferguson police radio is "receive-only," meaning that the call may not have been broadcast.

After the call, Wilson pursued Brown on foot.

According to sources, Wilson has said that Brown turned and charged, and that Wilson then fired once, paused when Brown appeared to flinch and fired again, multiple times. He said he then radioed for an ambulance.

But this tidbit came out recently, which I found very interesting:

The calls released to the Post-Dispatch don't include the point when shots were fired, but an unidentified man who said he was trying to make a video message using the app Glide near where Wilson encountered Brown said he captured the gunshots.

Glide verified that the recording — which includes what sounds like a volley of six shots, a brief pause, and then another four or five shots — was taken at the time of the shooting. The St. Louis County prosecutor's office spokesman said if the recording was validated by the FBI, it could prove to be a key piece of evidence in the case.

Maybe Wilson's recollection was off, adrenaline does that.  Or maybe not.

Somebody that big, sometimes the only way to stop them is to shoot them.  But my problem with this scenario is that a teenager, no matter how big or tough he is, is going to go down on the first shot. He's a kid, not a dusted-out tweaker in a rage feeling no pain, nor is he a hardcore ex-con cop fighter with a hard-on to score another teardrop tat.  And thieving kids run from the cops, even ones that think they're tough enough to slap around immigrant store clerks.  They don't turn around, charge and fight for an officer's firearm.  Especially when they're already shot.  Not over a box of Swishers.

Maybe cigar-stealing teens in Ferguson are more bad ass than those slinging vials for gangs in West Baltimore so my personal experience could be out of line and this kid could've been a budding Marcellus Wallace, but the whole situation around this shooting just doesn't add up to me.  You have your righteous shootings and then you have your bad shootings--and this one just smells like a bad shooting. 

That would warrant an indictment, if only to bring the whole thing to trial.  But even the prosecutors don't want one, so it's not going to happen.  It's just one big, sad mess.  But it's obvious that Ferguson has a lot more problems with their police department and how it deals with its community than this incident.

[derspiess]

Even if he isn't indicted, I don't see how he can ever go back to work there.  How on earth do you resolve that situation?

Also I'm surprised they didn't go ahead and make the announcement today, before the cold snap passes by.

[Razgovory]

He won't be indicted, and that town is going to burn.

It's been cold, and there is snow on the ground in Missouri.  Maybe that'll cut down on the rioting.  I thought they should wait till mid January and release the findings when there is a foot of snow on the ground.

[Razgovory]

You've got to be kidding.

I don't quite follow what those pictures are suppose to represent.  I don't see how that's evidence of being in the Klan.  Good way to get someone killed though.

[derspiess]

He won't be indicted, and that town is going to burn.

It's been cold, and there is snow on the ground in Missouri.  Maybe that'll cut down on the rioting.  I thought they should wait till mid January and release the findings when there is a foot of snow on the ground.

Should warm up a bit later this week, though. 

[Sheilbh]

"Because slavery happened, does that mean we owe black people something?"

http://www.whitenessproject.org/

i don't get it

ok?

Probably a bit of a tangent now, but I recommend Richard Dyer's White on this, which aims to racialise whiteness. It's very good:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/White-Essays-Culture-Richard-Dyer/dp/0415095379

[derspiess]

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/11/17/nixon-activates-missouri-national-guard/

[CountDeMoney]

Even if he isn't indicted, I don't see how he can ever go back to work there.  How on earth do you resolve that situation?

Yeah, even if he's not indicted or fired, he'd have to move elsewhere.  Or become a consultant.

[Scipio]

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/11/17/nixon-activates-missouri-national-guard/

He's no Richard Nixon.

[jimmy olsen]

That's one down.

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2014/11/ferguson_corrections_officer_charged_with_raping_inmate_in_city_jail_in_2013.php

Crime
Jaris Hayden, Former Ferguson Corrections Officer, Charged with Raping Inmate in City Jail

By Jessica Lussenhop Mon., Nov. 17 2014 at 2:20 PM
24 Comments   

Categories: Crime, Ferguson

A former City of Ferguson corrections officer has been charged with the rape of a jail inmate. The incident occurred back on October 9, 2013, but the charges against Jaris Hayden -- for felony sexual contact with an inmate and permitting an escape -- were just filed on November 5 of this year.

The indictment came just a week and a half before the victim, identified only as J.W., filed a suit in federal court against the City of Ferguson as well as Hayden. She was in custody for driving with expired plates and giving a police officer a fake name.

"When you read the case, you're going to see there's claims against Ferguson that state that Ferguson's department has customs and practices that are so bad that those practices cause those incidents," says W. Bevis Schock, the attorney representing J.W.

Hayden began work as a corrections officer for Ferguson in May 2012. On October 9, 2013, he booked and fingerprinted J.W. when she got to the jail. According to the lawsuit, he told her she "smelled good" and that "this will teach you a lesson."

The court document goes on to say that when J.W. -- who was several months pregnant at the time -- complained she was having pain and discharge, EMTs checked her vital signs but then left it up to Hayden whether or not she'd be released into their custody. The EMTs left without taking J.W. with them. After J.W.'s boyfriend posted her bail, Hayden was allegedly having J.W. sign papers for her release when she said, "I will do anything to go home."

(Note: The next paragraphs of this story include explicit descriptions of sexual violence.)

According to the complaint:

    By that remark J.W. did not intend to deliver the message that she would have sex with Hayden in exchange for release...J.W. was in great fear. Hayden was in a position of complete power over J.W. Hayden said "Follow-me," and took her down various hallways. Hayden took J.W. into a boiler room in the City of Ferguson jail. Hayden then unbuttoned his pants, removed his penis from his pants.

The complaint alleged that Hayden forced J.W. to perform oral sex on him and had vaginal intercourse with her before ejaculating in his hand. J.W. managed to "capture" a few of Hayden's pubic hairs during the incident. Hayden then allowed J.W. to leave by a side door, and to "run and stay close to the building" to avoid security cameras. According to the document, J.W. immediately went to a Subway across the street and got a bag to put the pubic hairs in. She also went to the emergency room where she was visited by police.

According to the complaint, the hairs J.W. saved were a match to Hayden's DNA.

The Ferguson city clerk responded to a request for comment with this statement, confirming that about a month after the incident Hayden was fired:

    Following the filing of a lawsuit on Friday, the City of Ferguson can confirm that Jaris Hayden was previously a corrections officer for the City of Ferguson. Immediately upon learning of the complaint against Mr. Hayden, the City undertook an investigation which resulted in Mr. Hayden's termination from employment. In addition, City officials and employees cooperated with federal authorities with respect to the matter. Mr. Hayden was terminated on November 19, 2013. He had been a corrections officer for the City of Ferguson since May 25, 2012.

On November 5, 2014, the county prosecutor charged Hayden with four felonies: two for sexual contact with an inmate, one for permitting the escape and one for a "public servant acceding to corruption." Schock says the length of time between the initial incident and the arrest of Hayden was because authorities were waiting to receive the DNA results, plus the fact that the investigation was being handled by federal, not local, authorities. And according to Schock, the timing of the arrest, charges and the federal lawsuit is related to the unrest after the shooting death of eighteen-year-old Michael Brown.

"It was just sort of percolating along in the fed's system. When the Brown thing happened, everything got a little more focus on what happens in Ferguson," says Schock.

Hayden posted bail and is at home according to his attorney, Scott Rosenblum.

"We're going to evaluate the evidence and enter a plea of not guilty," Rosenblum tells Daily RFT. "That's his position."

Read the federal lawsuit and the indictment below:...

[derspiess]

[Martinus]

How about #dontshootunarmedkids?