The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[Razgovory]

It was a great move on the prosecutor's part, when you don't want to indict a police officer.

Right.  If he had just announced he was not going to press charges all hell would have broken loose.

I wonder if the grand jury had chosen to indict would there still have been a riot.  I mean, people who show up to a protest with firearms, lighter fluid, and gasoline often have ill intent.

[OttoVonBismarck]

It was a great move on the prosecutor's part, when you don't want to indict a police officer.

Right.  If he had just announced he was not going to press charges all hell would have broken loose.

Maybe, maybe not. I personally think the option that would be most just (while not perfect) and most conciliatory would have been for McCulloch to step aside for a special prosecutor appointed by the Governor. A prosecutor not from the same county and someone with basically an unassailable, "I hate fucking pig cops and want to bathe in the blood of their children" reputation who also probably should be black. Likely if that person was a competent attorney they'd have to come to the conclusion Wilson would not be beatable at trial due to the witness evidence which appears contradictory (or supports Wilson's version of the events) and the physical evidence (which largely supports his version of events.)

I think if people riot after that then they were going to riot no matter what. With McCulloch's show grand jury designed from the get go not to indict a riot was guaranteed. It may have been guaranteed no matter what, admittedly.

[Eddie Teach]

Then you missed my post about the Sharpton news conference.

You watch more Sharpton then Seedy does.

So we should trust that derspiess knows the fellow better than Seedy then. 

[CountDeMoney]

Wow.  Just wow.  Letting an officer dispose of and process his own evidence, no measurements taken at a shooting scene, no taping of interviews and no photographs taken.  And why the fuck not, it's only a dead negro.

Unorthodox police procedures emerge in grand jury documents
By Tom Hamburger and John Sullivan
Washington Post


When Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson left the scene of the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown, the officer returned to the police station unescorted, washed blood off his hands and placed his recently fired service revolver into an evidence bag himself.

Such seemingly un­or­tho­dox forensic practices emerged from the voluminous testimony released in the aftermath of a grand jury decision Monday night not to indict Wilson.

The transcript showed that local officers who interviewed Wilson immediately after the shooting did not tape the conversations and sometimes conducted them with other police personnel present. An investigator with the St. Louis County Medical Examiner's office testified that he opted not to take measurements at the crime scene.

"I got there, it was self-explanatory what happened," said the investigator, whose name was not released, in his grand jury testimony. "Somebody shot somebody. There was no question as to any distances or anything of that nature at the time I was there."

The investigator, described as a 25-year veteran, did not take his own photographs at the scene of the shooting because his camera battery was dead, he said. Instead, he relied on photographs shot by the St. Louis County Police Department.
The medical examiner and Ferguson Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

When Wilson returned to the police department after the shooting, he was permitted to drive by himself. No one photographed his bloodied hands before he washed up at the station because "there was no photographer available."

Later, injuries to Wilson's head caused by punches he said were thrown by Brown were photographed by a local detective at the Fraternal Order of Police building, not at police headquarters.

An FBI agent interviewed by the grand jury said he did tape his interview with Wilson. The agent, who was not identified, said Wilson washed up immediately after the shooting because he was worried about the danger presented by some one else's blood, not about preserving evidence.

"His concern was not of evidence, but as a biohazard or what possible blood hazards it might attract," said the agent, who like other witnesses was not identified by name.

At the crime scene, the medical examiner did not see stippling, the residue of gunpowder on clothing that can indicate shots fired at close range. Eventually an autopsy found evidence of stippling.

In the extended interviews, prosecutors do not come across as particularly aggressive or curious. But they do question police procedures on a couple of occasions, including the failure by Ferguson and St. Louis County investigators to tape their interviews with the officer after the shooting.

Why not tape these answers? a detective with St. Louis County was asked. "It is just common practice that we do not," the detective said.

Prosecutors also asked why Wilson was permitted to handle evidence in the case himself. "He had informed me that after he responded to the police station, he had packaged his weapon and then he directed my attention to an evidence envelope,'' said the St. Louis County detective. Is it customary for the person who was involved in such an incident "to handle and package their own gun as evidence?" the detective was asked.

Not according to the rules of the St. Louis County Police Department, the detective said. But Ferguson may have had its own rules, the detective said. He was not aware of "any policies or procedures they have in place" on the topic.

"Darren Wilson had told me that he had packaged the weapon and it was currently in that evidence bag," the detective told the grand jury. "Now, at that point in time I never checked to verify that, it was done later," the detective said.

The accounts occasionally revealed inconsistencies. For example, two investigators who interviewed Wilson immediately after the incident said Wilson told them only one shot was fired by Wilson from inside the Chevy Tahoe police cruiser.

But in his testimony, Wilson said two shots were fired inside the car, among several misfires.

The shots and misfires preceded the fatal shooting of Brown on the street a few moments later. The shots were fired from the car after Wilson said Brown had reached in to the vehicle, swinging at the officer and grabbing for his revolver.

Wilson described Brown as having the intimidating size of "Hulk Hogan." At one point, he said, Brown pushed his revolver down toward the floor, eventually forcing the firearm into the officer's thigh. Wilson said Brown appeared to be trying to squeeze the trigger. Eventually, Wilson described getting free of Brown's grip and raising his weapon toward his attacker. The first attempts by Wilson to get off a round at his attacker failed, he said, as the gun only clicked without firing a bullet.

Wilson ultimately said he fired two shots inside the vehicle. After one shot fired he noticed shattered glass and saw blood on his hand, an indication, he said, that Brown had been hit.

However, a Ferguson police officer and a detective with the St. Louis County Police said that Wilson told them only shot was fired inside the car. The two officers – one a 38-year veteran of the Ferguson police force and the other a county detective -- were among the first to talk with Wilson after the fatal shooting. Wilson and the other officers said the weapon failed to fire multiple times inside the vehicle.

There was also confusion in the official police testimony about whether Brown was carrying cigarillos at the time of his encounters with Wilson.

[Admiral Yi]

Maybe, maybe not. I personally think the option that would be most just (while not perfect) and most conciliatory would have been for McCulloch to step aside for a special prosecutor appointed by the Governor. A prosecutor not from the same county and someone with basically an unassailable, "I hate fucking pig cops and want to bathe in the blood of their children" reputation who also probably should be black. Likely if that person was a competent attorney they'd have to come to the conclusion Wilson would not be beatable at trial due to the witness evidence which appears contradictory (or supports Wilson's version of the events) and the physical evidence (which largely supports his version of events.)

I think if people riot after that then they were going to riot no matter what. With McCulloch's show grand jury designed from the get go not to indict a riot was guaranteed. It may have been guaranteed no matter what, admittedly.

The governor is a cracker too.

Appointing a Black Avenger special prosecutor suffers from the same drawback as just charging the copper and proceeding to trial: it sets a precedent that street violence affects the workings of the criminal justice system.

Also, Holder already tried to play the "black guy on your side" card and that got him nowhere. 

[garbon]

Mono would be pissed!

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/11/25/more-protests-expected-in-nyc-following-ferguson-grand-jury-decision/

Protesters Block Lincoln Tunnel, Shut Down FDR Drive Night After Ferguson Decision

Protesters angry about the grand jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri first shut down an entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel during the evening rush Tuesday, then shut down both sides of the Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive.

The FDR was shut down in both directions at East 6th Street as of shortly before 9 p.m. as the protesters marched, police said. The eastbound Queens-Midtown Tunnel was also closed because of the protesters, police said.

The throng expressed outrage at the decision not to indict Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.

Joe Biermann reported that as many as 3,000 people marched up the FDR Drive. They later gathered for a protest rally at First Avenue near 42nd Street and the United Nations, and afterward headed back to Times Square for the second time in the evening.

At the rally, someone got on top of a bus shelter and began speaking through a bullhorn as a huge group gathered around.

Protesters also tried to go over the Williamsburg Bridge, but police would not allow them to do so, according to witnesses. Some shoving between protesters and police was also observed.

Protesters did later begin walking over the Manhattan Bridge.

A protester on the East Side of Manhattan was also seen lighting an American flag on fire.

A couple of hours earlier, protesters also marched to the Lincoln Tunnel and attempted to walk through, CBS2 reported. Police blocked the protesters at 41st Street and Eleventh Avenue, and traffic was left at a standstill.
CBS2's Tony Aiello reported the standoff eventually came to an end and the protesters decided to march north on Eleventh Avenue, and went instead to Father Duffy Square in Times Square. But a driver reported being stuck for half an hour.

Aiello reported on Twitter that protesters were warned three times to get out of th

One man was seen scuffling with police as they tried to take him into custody.

...

[Sheilbh]

See that's how you riot.

[Razgovory]

The governor is a cracker too.

Mean son of a bitch.  You ought to see the letters he gets.

[garbon]

I didn't know anything was happening but my mother just texted to check in. I was like I'm drinking wine and watching Star Trek:TNG.

[CountDeMoney]

I didn't know anything was happening but my mother just texted to check in. I was like I'm drinking wine and watching Star Trek:TNG.

Afraid you'd be out there rioting, too?

[Valmy]

Weirdly there was nothing on campus today.  I guess I should be glad it is Thanksgiving holiday so all the usual activists are on vacation.

[garbon]

I didn't know anything was happening but my mother just texted to check in. I was like I'm drinking wine and watching Star Trek:TNG.

Afraid you'd be out there rioting, too?

No, I think she was concerned I might have been caught out while it was happening.

I've only protested really once and that was a gay protest, so does that even count?

[CountDeMoney]

No, I think she was concerned I might have been caught out while it was happening.

My Mom used to do stuff like that all the time. 

"I heard there was a shooting."
"That was two counties away, and it was last night."
"I know, I was just worried..."

I've only protested really once and that was a gay protest, so does that even count?

I've seen gay protests, and if all protests were like that, the world would be a much happier place.

[Tonitrus]

Every time someone gets tenderized by a bear up here, I am sure to hear about it from my mom. 

[CountDeMoney]

Every time someone gets tenderized by a bear up here, I am sure to hear about it from my mom. 

Those poor bears!