The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[Sheilbh]

New Jersey police marching with protesters: https://twitter.com/AMPZ222/status/1266834970187685889?s=20

Incidentally these and other similar examples are great. But I suspect they're not easily replicable, because it feels like they are the result of fairly long-term engagement with the community which has cultivated good relations.

[Syt]

New Jersey police marching with protesters: https://twitter.com/AMPZ222/status/1266834970187685889?s=20

Incidentally these and other similar examples are great. But I suspect they're not easily replicable, because it feels like they are the result of fairly long-term engagement with the community which has cultivated good relations.

I read that Camden has been running a program to that effect for years now, also drilling their police hard that force is the last option after everything else has been exhausted.

[Syt]

Columbus, OH: woman and two others stand in the street in front of police line, 10, 15 meters away. She's holding up a sign. They get shot at with rubber bullets: https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1267113315613806592?s=20

Dallas: girl walking home with groceries, shot in the face by rubber bullet.





Boy shot in the eye in Sacramento: https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1267029301389492224?s=20

San Antonio: guy standing out of the way, filming police walk by, gets shot twice with rubber bullets by cop aiming straight at him, drawing blood: https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1267119621951217667

NYC: Protester with hands up has his mask pulled down and gets pepper sprayed: https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1267016644842287104?s=20

Plus more. Full thread: https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1266952661791674370?s=20

[Syt]

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-05-30/la-reporter-tear-gas-police

Times reporter recounts being hit with tear gas and rubber bullets by Minnesota police

MINNEAPOLIS —  When Minnesota police advanced on peaceful protesters gathered at an intersection outside the Fifth Precinct late Saturday, I didn't expect them to fire on reporters.
I was wrong.

At about 8:30 p.m., a group of about two dozen Minneapolis police and sheriff's deputies appeared from behind a chain link fence opposite protesters. They were in riot gear and grasping batons.

A young African American woman approached the police, arms raised. An officer sprayed her in the face with something that smelled like pepper spray, and the woman ran to seek help from fellow protesters. A young African American man approached the officers, outraged, but another man pulled him back to the main group.

The police retreated back behind the fence. But moments later, a much larger phalanx of officers in riot gear emerged to block the street.

That left me stuck between the police and protesters, up against the precinct's brick wall. But I was with a group of other reporters, photographers and cameramen. The wall had small alcoves where we could duck for cover as police passed and advanced on protesters.

But that's not what happened.

"This is the Minnesota State Patrol," a trooper announced through a bullhorn, notifying protesters they were in violation of the curfew and should disperse.

I figured he wasn't talking to us, that the press were exempt, just as during the COVID-19 pandemic we are exempt from quarantines and allowed to travel. We were wearing our credentials. The Times photographer I was with, Carolyn Cole, even wore a flak jacket labeled "Press."I was wrong.

The officers started by firing tear gas indiscriminately into the street. We watched, cameras rolling. But instead of passing, the officers turned, backed us up against the precinct wall and fired.

"Press!" I shouted, waving my notebook an arm's length from an officer in riot gear advancing through the smoke.

The officer said nothing, just kept firing. Cole was hit in the face. Other reporters piled on top of me against the wall. That, plus my goggles and mask, shielded me from most of the gas.

But officers kept firing. We realized we had to run, too. We were not exempt. They were treating us as scofflaws.

We tried to move along the wall, but it wasn't clear where the officers wanted us to go. They issued no order, just fired. Cole, the photographer, shouted that she was unable to see because she'd been hit. One of the cameras was still rolling, and my sister, who lives nearby with her family, heard me shouting on television, "Where do we go?"

The local cameraman filming it was arrested and later released after also displaying his credentials.

None of the officers responded. Instead, they chased us along the wall and into a corner. Smoke billowed around us. Canisters kept dropping. I was hit in the leg with what I believe was at least one, maybe two rubber bullets.

I didn't realize it, but I was bleeding from several wounds to my leg. Blood covered the face mask of a reporter next to me, who was so stunned someone had to tell him he was hurt.

We were up against another wall. I scaled it and ran to the nearest open door — a senior apartment complex that had allowed a few fleeing protesters to hide. We cowered as officers prowled outside the front window, chasing other people. I called Cole, who had been taken in and treated by a neighbor a few blocks away.

An 18-year-old protester sheltering with me gave me a ride to the neighbor's house, and she gave us a ride to seek treatment. As we left, we passed another group of police. They fired a pellet gun at her car, which left red paint on the passenger window. Once we reached a wealthy suburb that hadn't seen protests, police just waved us through.

I've covered protests involving police in Ferguson, Mo., Baton Rouge, La., Dallas and Los Angeles. I've also covered the U.S. military in war zones, including Iraq and Afghanistan. I have never been fired at by police until tonight.

[Solmyr]

STEPHANOPOULOS: Your own government is warning that domestic terrorists from the far-right are involved in these riots as well. It's not just antifa.

NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER O'BRIEN: "Listen, everything I've seen & the reports we're receiving is that this is antifa."

O'Brien on CNN: "No, I don't think there's systemic racism... 99.9% of our law enforcement officers are great Americans."

Saw a good post on this today: If you have 10% bad cops and 90% good cops, and the good cops don't turn in the bad cops, then you have 100% bad cops.

[Syt]

Frankly, I'm appalled by the police conduct. There's some examples of police engaging with protesters and real solidarity, but the violence drowns it out.

Of course a rough response is expected to riots and looting. However, the cases of peaceful or non-threatening protesters being pelted with rubber bullets or attacked is shocking, as are what seem like deliberate attacks on the press at this point. There seem to be elements among the police who relish this and seize the opportunity to let off some frustrations themselves or settle some scores; at the very least the seem to want to send a message and don't mind escalating things further.

[Oexmelin]

Of course a rough response is expected to riots and looting. However, the cases of peaceful or non-threatening protesters being pelted with rubber bullets or attacked is shocking, as are what seem like deliberate attacks on the press at this point. There seem to be elements among the police who relish this and seize the opportunity to let off some frustrations themselves or settle some scores; at the very least the seem to want to send a message and don't mind escalating things further.

Absolutely.

Colletta initially denied knowing Hall and denied that she had ever come into contact with him on the night of his arrest, the indictment says, and lied when saying he was "brought to the ground very gently."

The indictment says the officers exchanged a series of messages during the days of protest duty.

In one Sept. 15, 2017, message, Myers writes "let's whoop some ass."

On Oct. 5, 2017, Hays writes "going rogue does feel good."

Boone later replies that "it's gonna be a lot of fun beating the hell out of these (expletive) once the sun goes down and nobody can tell us apart!!!!" On Sept. 17, he wrote that it was "a blast beating people that deserve it."

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/4-st-louis-police-officers-indicted-accused-of-beating-an-undercover-colleague-during-stockley-protests/article_4a82d209-b3cd-565e-9a97-309cf1c2a5af.amp.html?fbclid=IwAR0Dv3nJl5WoXfU9mLLFs2zkbSjBDO-TQPHtf-O0beByj-sNk6-gMwAzqcE

[Sheilbh]

Yeah, I've no doubt there's loads trying to do a decent job and it's tough - yadda yadda yadda. But I've not been able to keep count of the number of videos I've seen of police in different forces behaving appalingly and with no sense that they should be trying to hide it, it's like they feel they've got total impunity.

[Syt]

It's especially galling in contrast to protests a few weeks ago.

[Monoriu]

Living in Hong Kong these days, there is a very real possibility of encountering the riot police.  In fact I interact with the police on a daily basis when I need to convince them they should open the gate for me to drive into the government HQs. 

The first rule I live by is don't photograph or film them under any circumstances.  It is just provocation if you do so.

Secondly, not that this has happened to me, but if I ever see riot police in full gear approaching me from a distance, I would leave the area as quickly as I can.  Move in the opposite direction of where the riot police is approaching.  I should convince them that I am leaving as quickly as I can, not standing in front of them, not confronting them, not fighting them.

Third, always address a police officer as "Sir" or "Madam".  When I open my mouth, those are the first words that come out of it.  I can tell police ranks by looking at their shoulder patches, and I use the honorifics regardless of their seniority. 

Fourth, if police stops me and searches me, I will comply totally.  No arguments whatsoever.  Don't demand an explanation. 

[Oexmelin]

Shut up Mono. Go jerk off to your authoritarian fantasies somewhere else.

[Ancient Demon]

It looks like some people here can't tell the difference between peaceful protests and riots.

[Ancient Demon]

Trump has tweeted that they would designate Antifa a terrorist organization...

It's about time, this is long overdue.

[Monoriu]

https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1266952661791674370?s=20

I clearly heard the officers ordering everybody to get inside.  Why didn't the filmer comply? 

[Oexmelin]

Trump has tweeted that they would designate Antifa a terrorist organization...

It's about time, this is long overdue.

culminating with the right's foaming at the mouth about antifa and conspiracy theories