# Controversial encounters between law-enforcement and civilians - the omnibus thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 10, 2014, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942 "2014-10-10T07:35:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 294
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5861 "2015-08-06T17:48:51Z")
[QUOTE=Snowboarder Bo] Why do we allow toy guns to even be sold if holding one in public is a crime? **Is** holding a toy gun in public a crime? [/QUOTE] Probably not, but why risk it? You’re better off brandishing a real one. Then you’ll not only be completely blameless, but you’ll become a champion of oppressed gun lurvers everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5862 "2015-08-06T20:25:10Z")
So the next time you have an urge to twirl a toy gun on your finger inside the confines of your car, do the smart thing: bring a real shot gun into Walmart and rack a few shells in there instead. One creates a “public concern” and the other doesn’t. This is just common sense, people. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5863 "2015-08-06T20:45:44Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > So the next time you have an urge to twirl a toy gun on your finger inside the confines of your car, do the smart thing: bring a real shot gun into Walmart and rack a few shells in there instead. One creates a “public concern” and the other doesn’t. This is just common sense, people. Police responded to both calls. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5864 "2015-08-06T20:55:38Z")
[VICE has the story and the video](https://news.vice.com/article/dashcam-video-of-cop-killing-black-man-seeking-help-after-car-crash-shown-at-trial). [Here is a direct link to the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlag-XziRfc). I see Ferrell walking calmly towards the officers, then for some reason at about :07 he accelerates. Much yelling and gunshots follow, all of it off-camera. The VICE article says there is other dashcam footage that will likely be played at trial. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5865 "2015-08-06T21:48:57Z")
[LA Times fires editorial cartoonist Ted Rall over “polite encounter” with police.](http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-oe-rall-20150728-story.html) Ted was fired because his encounter as a pedestrian with a motorcycle cop in 2001 did not jive with the evidence presented by the LAPD according to his editor, Nicholas Goldberg. In the meanwhile, [others](http://boingboing.net/2015/08/06/the-la-times-fired-a-journalis.html) [investigated](http://www.gregpalast.com/cops-gun-down-un-armed-journalists-career-la-times-fires-ted-rall-evidence-blows-up-in-newspapers-face/) the evidence more deeply and concludes that Ted was indeed speaking the truth. It goes downhill from there. So far, the LA Times has not responded to the new information as of this posting. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5866 "2015-08-07T00:07:31Z")
The Ted Rall story has been blowing up all over the internet the past couple of days since Rall posted the enhanced audio. Sure seems like he’s got more evidence on his side in both that incident and in his notions of what kind of people the LAPD really are, IMO. (And now we know that at least one guy at the LA Times is a schmuck too.) Ted Rall and Dan Perkins are my two current fav political/social cartoonists, so I’d hate to Ted take a fall for this. Even if the LAPD version was 100% accurate, this doesn’t seem to rise to the level of Brian Williams-type embellishment to me, but that could be my own bias. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5867 "2015-08-07T00:57:11Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Police responded to both calls. Problem solved. That solved the problems, did they? The kid with the toy got handcuffed; the rednecks with the shot-guns got Twitter followers. Hardly an equitable state of affairs for both calls (only one of which was an actual dangerous situation in the first place). ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5868 "2015-08-07T15:50:29Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > That solved the problems, did they? The kid with the toy got handcuffed; the rednecks with the shot-guns got Twitter followers. Hardly an equitable state of affairs for both calls (only one of which was an actual dangerous situation in the first place). Life isn’t fair. In fact, sometimes, life’s a bitch. You seem to forget that the shotgun toter was arrested. Twitter followers are still Twitter followers. Bless their hearts. :eek: I find your use of the term “rednecks” to be offensive. You know the PC liberal/progressive rule about just one person finding something offensive, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5869 "2015-08-07T16:29:03Z")
No, but I know the Jack Batty rule. Guess how many shits I give. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5870 "2015-08-07T17:02:59Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > No, but I know the Jack Batty rule. Guess how many shits I give. One per post, but I’m just guessing. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5871 "2015-08-07T18:35:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Zachary Hammond was on a first date when he was fatally shot by a police officer in his car during a drug bust in South Carolina, his family says. > > At the time the 19-year-old was shot and killed, his date, Tori Morton, was eating an ice cream cone, according to the family’s attorney, Eric Bland. > > Morton, 23, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana — all 10 grams of it — which, according to police, was the reason undercover agents set up the drug buy. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/06/an-unarmed-white-teen-was-shot-dead-by-police-his-family-asks-where-is-the-outrage/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/06/an-unarmed-white-teen-was-shot-dead-by-police-his-family-asks-where-is-the-outrage/) When will people learn: going on dates with members of the opposite sex is dangerous! ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5872 "2015-08-07T18:50:32Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > One per post, but I’m just guessing. You’re a little high. As I always suspected. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5873 "2015-08-07T19:29:31Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > [http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/06/an-unarmed-white-teen-was-shot-dead-by-police-his-family-asks-where-is-the-outrage/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/06/an-unarmed-white-teen-was-shot-dead-by-police-his-family-asks-where-is-the-outrage/) > > When will people learn: going on dates with members of the opposite sex is dangerous! I liked this tweet that was included in the article: > [@](#): > > #ZacharyHammond isn’t going to get the outrage he deserves because it would force folks to admit their consistent defense of police is wrong > > — jamilah (@JamilahLemieux) August 3, 2015 ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5874 "2015-08-08T14:18:38Z")
[Arlington, Texas this time](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5bdef5a5da684401bca8c595032e9180/texas-college-football-player-shot-police-was-unarmed). [Anyone want to guess the skin colors of the deceased and the cop who shot him?](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/unarmed-texas-college-football-player-shot-dead-article-1.2318872) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5875 "2015-08-08T14:56:59Z")
> [@](#): > > ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — A police officer in suburban Dallas shot and killed a college football player during a struggle after the unarmed 19-year-old crashed a car through the front window of a car dealership, authorities said. When will our barbaric society stop acting like Driving Through The Front Of A Building While Black is a crime or something? ---
**Author:** ![theR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5876 "2015-08-08T15:01:26Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > When will our barbaric society stop acting like Driving Through The Front Of A Building While Black is a crime or something? I’m not sure why you keep commenting. We already understand that you want the police to be judge, jury, and executioner. Some of us actually like suspects, particularly unarmed suspects, to live long enough to actually be indicted and tried in a court of law. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5877 "2015-08-08T15:04:41Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > When will our barbaric society stop acting like Driving Through The Front Of A Building While Black is a crime or something? So it was automatically a crime in progress and the suspect got what he deserved, is that it? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5878 "2015-08-08T15:09:48Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > So it was automatically a crime in progress and the suspect got what he deserved, is that it? There’s not enough information in this article to come to a conclusion. Your leap to “White cop executes innocent black youth because **RACISM** ” is the unfounded one. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5879 "2015-08-08T15:10:49Z")
> [@theR](#): > > Some of us actually like suspects, particularly unarmed suspects, to live long enough to actually be indicted and tried in a court of law. Your lot keep throwing the word “unarmed” around like it’s some sort of magic talisman that grants someone immunity from the consequences of their actions. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/5880 "2015-08-08T15:20:55Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > [http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/06/an-unarmed-white-teen-was-shot-dead-by-police-his-family-asks-where-is-the-outrage/](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/06/an-unarmed-white-teen-was-shot-dead-by-police-his-family-asks-where-is-the-outrage/) > > When will people learn: going on dates with members of the opposite sex is dangerous! I, for one, am shocked that no one here wants to call out the blatantly racist cops who are hunting down and executing people for Driving While White. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=293) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=295)