# 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:** 711
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14202 "2018-08-11T17:41:27Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > [Police aren’t the only ones with dangerous jobs.](http://www.fox19.com/story/38764112/rumpke-driver-hit-critically-hurt-in-middletown) I click on that link and it says site does not exist. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14203 "2018-08-11T18:04:27Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I click on that link and it says site does not exist. _Shrug_ Works for me. I have no idea what could be up with it. [Maybe this one is better.](https://www.whio.com/news/local/careflight-responds-possible-pedestrian-strike-involving-dump-truck-middletown/Z8pnvCKgHtH5Tw8xEKxbnI/https://www.whio.com/news/local/careflight-responds-possible-pedestrian-strike-involving-dump-truck-middletown/Z8pnvCKgHtH5Tw8xEKxbnI/)(Same story, different outlet.) Anyway, point is, police are not the only ones with dangerous jobs. In fact there are many who have much more dangerous jobs who do not get to kill people to make them safer. ---
**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 12, 2018, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14204 "2018-08-12T03:55:26Z")
[Baltimore cops still not getting it](https://apnews.com/89832b3223c845028f29dd9b828ddeb5/Baltimore-officer-suspended-after-punching-incident-recorded): > [@](#): > > A Baltimore police officer was suspended Saturday after a video surfaced online showing him repeatedly punching a man and knocking him down over steps on a sidewalk in a recording that lasts about 30 seconds and the city’s interim police commissioner said “deeply disturbed” him. > > The video begins with the officer standing in front of a black man who has his back to a wall. The officer, who is also black, can be seen shoving the man in the chest before the officer starts throwing punches. The man tries to block punches from the officer but doesn’t appear to fight back. The man is pushed over some steps by the officer who continues to throw punches, and the video ends with the officer on top of him. > > “I’m deeply disturbed by the video that surfaced online earlier today,” interim Police Commissioner Garry Tuggle said in a statement. “The officer involved has been suspended while we investigate the totality of this incident. Part of our investigation will be reviewing body worn camera footage.” > > Tuggle is asking any witnesses to contact the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility at 410-396-2300. There’s more: > [@](#): > > Warren Brown, an attorney for the man who was knocked down, identified his client as Dashawn McGrier. Brown said his client faces charges for allegedly assaulting the officer in June, charges McGrier is contesting in court. Brown said the officer saw McGrier on Saturday and tried to provoke him as a result of their June encounter. > > “He is charged with assaulting that officer then, and so here this officer now is like, you know, going after him,” Brown said. > > Brown said a court date is set for Aug. 22 on the assault charges, and he said video of that encounter between the two men also exists, though he has not seen it. Brown said he has scheduled a Monday news conference to discuss plans for filing a complaint against the officer. ---
**Author:** ![UCBearcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/77aa72/32.png) [@UCBearcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UCBearcats)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14205 "2018-08-12T04:32:07Z")
All of these cops that pull shit like this, should get the same thing done to them. Tasered, beaten, kicked to the head, shot, and even killed. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14206 "2018-08-12T09:27:28Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Getting a search warrant for the victim’s house, after her demise, was a nice touch. [Justine Damond investigators search home for drugs | Daily Mail Online](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4730618/Justine-Damond-investigators-search-home-drugs-Minneapolis.html) > > Guess they couldn’t find anything to get Noor off the hook. That seems to be a standard practice nationwide. That nurse in Denver who was arrested for refusing to give the police a blood sample from an accident victim? That was something similar - he was injured in a high speed pursuit when they guy they were chasing ran into him. Though he was a bystander, they wanted some first on him, so they were running a background check and trying to get a blood sample to check for drugs or alcohol - something to cast shade on him before they could get blamed. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14207 "2018-08-12T17:25:04Z")
> [@UCBearcats](#): > > All of these cops that pull shit like this, should get the same thing done to them. Tasered, beaten, kicked to the head, shot, and even killed. Street justice? Vendetta? It’s happened before in history. It’s what you get, when there is NO other justice. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14208 "2018-08-12T17:51:30Z")
[Baltimore police suspend officer who was shown in video repeatedly punching man](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/baltimore-police-suspend-officer-after-being-caught-camera-punching-man-n899986) > [@](#): > > A Maryland police officer who was caught on camera repeatedly punching a man has been suspended by the Baltimore Police Department, officials said on Saturday. If I’m reading the article correctly the officer was suspended on the same day the incident occurred, so kudos on the Commissioner for not waiting until this became a media shitstorm to start dealing with it. Unfortunately, yet another thug with a badge story. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14209 "2018-08-12T18:45:10Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > If the manager was not between the cops and the subject, how could the manager have been hit when they were firing at the subject? She was either directly between them, OR she was not in the line of sight and the shot was way off target. By being off to the side of the guy, possibly behind some object. The shoot doesn’t need to have missed by a mile, but to have missed in the direction in which the manager happened to be. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14210 "2018-08-17T13:39:10Z")
Apparently black passengers carrying guns tend to sit in the passenger seat. Choosing that seat is like asking to be harrassed or arrested. In the following video, posted in another thread, it’s rather unclear why cops pulled the car over in the first place, but once they saw a black passenger in the passenger seat the cops knew their lives were in danger and acted appropriately. > [@Living while black in America](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/living-while-black-in-america/817611/783): > > [Dude manages to keep composure while cops try to set him up for a crime](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHIYFAc-l00&feature=youtu.be) The cop asks the driver four times if it’s his car. The driver answers four times that it’s a rental car. After all this insolence, the cop had little choice but to hand-cuff the driver. They pat down the passenger with a gun but — where’s the gun? They search the car thoroughly. Where’s the gun? Where’s that faint small of marijuana coming from? No planting of false evidence by these noble man and woman in blue. But the most beautiful gun here was the gun the passenger-without-a-gun didn’t have. That gun’s non-existence was so beautiful that it may have saved the lives of one or two blacks in Iowa. _ **Yaaayyy guns!** _ These would-be gun-toters were delayed only 12 minutes on their trip to the gun store, or wherever they were going, but, [in this video which YouTube recommended for those who’d just watched “Dude keeps composure”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuG30df_EE8) a female possibly trying to smuggle a bomb was delayed almost an hour and missed her flight. The woman was apparently carrying a bomb in a bottle of her own breast milk, or so the diligent TSA officials thought. But the TSA was on to her — she’d tried the same ruse a week or two earlier. The terrorist pointed out that TSA’s own regulations call for alternate inspection of breast milk, but the TSA agents went above-and-beyond the call of duty, carefully insisting on the X-ray inspections anyway. Don’t we need more TSA inspectors like this, willing to bend the rules to Make America Safe Again? Worried that the undiscovered bomb might be on a timer, the TSA agents kept the possible bomb-maker and her bomb in the special detention cell for half-an-hour before proceeding with the inspection, putting their own lives at risk from a sudden bomb explosion rather than letting her board the plane and put all its passengers at risk. ```auto Contrast these episodes with the lackadaisical policing I saw just a few days ago in rural Thailand. The police knew methamphetamine was being consumed and possibly sold from the poor squatter's house near my own home. Police went in to confront the criminals and noted a bedridden almost-paralyzed woman the criminals were tending daily. I'm sure the diligent and brave police in the U.S. would have tazed grandma a few times to see if she was faking, then left laughing with everyone else in handcuffs. Do the Thai cops do that? Nope, gross dereliction of duty was the order of the day. Seeing the elderly woman needed her care-givers, the cops left empty-handed; the criminal methheads were free to continue eating their pills (when they could scratch together enough money to buy one). These soft-hearted cops even handed grandma the equivalent of $10. ***Corrupted*** so easily by a little bit of pity — how utterly contemptible. No wonder Americans discussing a possible move to a less-developed country are happy to emphasize the sterling qualities of conscientious law enforcement officers in the U.S. in contrast to the police corruption in a place like Thailand. . ``` ---
**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 18, 2018, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14211 "2018-08-18T00:17:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Martha Al-Bishara is an 87-year old Syrian immigrant with dementia who doesn’t speak English while she was was reportedly on private property near her own home in Chatsworth, Georgia, cutting dandelions with a kitchen knife when investigators received a 911 call about her. The caller apparently said that Al-Bishara wasn’t a threat. > **[News - Heavy.com](https://heavy.com/news/)** > > Today’s top breaking news, delivered without bias or snark. The police ordered her to drop her knife; she didn’t–so naturally they Tased her. After being Tased and arrested, Al-Bishara was charged with trespassing and obstruction. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14212 "2018-08-18T15:22:47Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > [News - Heavy.com](https://heavy.com/news/2018/08/martha-al-bishara/) > > The police ordered her to drop her knife; she didn’t–so naturally they Tased her. > > After being Tased and arrested, Al-Bishara was charged with trespassing and obstruction. > [@](#): > > “An 87-year-old woman with a knife still has the ability to hurt an officer,” he said to the Daily Citizen-News of Dalton. > > He added, “There was no anger, there was no malice in this,” Etheridge said. “In my opinion, it was the lowest use of force we could have used to simply stop that threat at the time.” Seriously? If you are terrified of an 87 year old woman, you have no business being on the police force. Hard to say if there was anger or malice, though I would not be so quick to rule them out. Pure and unadulterated cowardice, lack of capability of judgement, and complete absence of any form of empathy, however, are on full display. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14213 "2018-08-18T18:50:38Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Seriously? If you are terrified of an 87 year old woman, you have no business being on the police force. > > Hard to say if there was anger or malice, though I would not be so quick to rule them out. Pure and unadulterated cowardice, lack of capability of judgement, and complete absence of any form of empathy, however, are on full display. Being a bully seems to be prerequisite for police work; many bullies are also cowards. According to the 'Net and BLS, here are the ten most deadly occupations in America; the numbers show fatal injuries per 100,000 and absolute number of deaths. 1 Logging workers 135.9 91 2 Fishers and related fishing workers 86 24 3 Aircraft pilots and flight engineers 55.5 75 4 Roofers 48.6 101 5 Trash and recycling collectors 34.1 31 6 Iron and steel workers 25.1 16 7 Truck and sales drivers 24.7 918 8 Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers 23.1 260 9 First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers 18 134 10 Grounds maintenance workers 17.4 217 Law enforcement occupations do not appear on the list. (I’m surprised fire fighters are also missing from the list.) ```auto BTW, **k9bfriender** — *Congratulations!* I see in another thread you are now a member of the *Ilk*. Can I come to your meetings or do I have to learn the secret handshake? (I don't remember whether I was ever admitted to the Ilk or not, and Dear Esquire is no longer speaking to me.) ``` ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14214 "2018-08-19T16:01:39Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > That seems to be a standard practice nationwide. That nurse in Denver who was arrested for refusing to give the police a blood sample from an accident victim? That was something similar - he was injured in a high speed pursuit when they guy they were chasing ran into him. Though he was a bystander, they wanted some first on him, so they were running a background check and trying to get a blood sample to check for drugs or alcohol - something to cast shade on him before they could get blamed. They do it to discredit the victims and the witnesses against them. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14215 "2018-08-19T16:05:07Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > **Seriously? If you are terrified of an 87 year old woman, you have no business being on the police force.** > > Hard to say if there was anger or malice, though I would not be so quick to rule them out. Pure and unadulterated **cowardice, lack of capability of judgement, and complete absence of any form of empathy** , however, are on full display. Exactly. Get off the force, get out, and give up the “right” to carry a weapon. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14216 "2018-08-27T20:21:28Z")
Here’s a couple of incidents that I don’t think have been covered yet. [Black man in Indianapolis arrested for loitering while working on his car in the parking lot of the apartment complex where he lives.](https://www.theroot.com/video-police-arrest-black-man-for-loitering-at-his-own-1828627434) [Kansas City-area security guard fired for going into a bar and ordering a “Trayvon Martini”](https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article217073610.html): > [@](#): > > [Black bartender] Bandaloop says that Dargy ordered the “martini,” and upon seeing Bandaloop’s shock, began describing the ingredients: watermelon juice and one shot of vodka, “because it only takes one shot to put him down!” Bandaloop quoted Dargy as saying. > > Bandaloop says he refused to serve Dargy. > > “Herein lies the big problem,” Bandaloop wrote. “He’s paid by the neighborhood to walk around with a pistol and ‘police’ the area. This is a huge issue with me. Who can trust this man in any interaction with an African American? How can this man make sure any mixed cultures are ‘secure’?” ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14217 "2018-08-28T16:09:51Z")
Disbelief runs deep on the street where Baltimore police detective was found shot to death [https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/disbelief-runs-deep-on-the-street-where-baltimore-police-detective-was-found-shot-to-death/ar-BBMwVBw](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/disbelief-runs-deep-on-the-street-where-baltimore-police-detective-was-found-shot-to-death/ar-BBMwVBw) Cop found shot to death. Police department rules it a suicide. Cop was due to testify against other cops the next day. Witness says he hear 3 shots that day. > [@](#): > > The detective was shot the day before he was supposed to give testimony before a federal grand jury investigating Baltimore’s corrupt Gun Trace Task Force. Suiter was not a target of that investigation, police have said. It is possible that man who was scheduled to testify in a police corruption case could commit suicide. But the department he was going to testify against should not have ANY part in that investigation or determination. That’s a no-brainer, right? > [@](#): > > “Police supposed to be testifying against other police that day and all of a sudden he turns up dead,” Mellerson said. “That is the type of stuff gangs do.” Yes, that is the type of stuff gangs do. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14218 "2018-08-28T16:30:53Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Witness says he hear 3 shots that day. The guy just wanted to be sure he killed himself. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14219 "2018-08-28T17:29:25Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Witness says he hear 3 shots that day. > [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > The guy just wanted to be sure he killed himself. He was just following his training, with a perfect failure drill. Double tap to the torso, and then when that didn’t stop him(self), he put one in his own head. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14220 "2018-08-28T17:30:02Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Disbelief runs deep on the street where Baltimore police detective was found shot to death > > [MSN](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/disbelief-runs-deep-on-the-street-where-baltimore-police-detective-was-found-shot-to-death/ar-BBMwVBw) > > Cop found shot to death. Police department rules it a suicide. Cop was due to testify against other cops the next day. > > Witness says he hear 3 shots that day. That seems like a fairly easy thing to verify. According (allegedly) to [the police report](https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2018/08/27/baltimore-police-detective-sean-suiter-suicide-investigation/), he was shot with his own service revolver. I would hope an autopsy could establish how many times he was shot, and how many bullets were gone from his weapon. Were any other bullets recovered from the scene? Was it a contact or near-contact wound? The article mentions there was surveillance video from the scene - what does it show? Was there anybody else around? Witness testimony is one thing - physical evidence is another. Of course there are always going to be people who say he was shot from the grassy knoll, but there isn’t much that can be done about that. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/14221 "2018-08-28T17:42:51Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > That seems like a fairly easy thing to verify. According (allegedly) to [the police report](https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2018/08/27/baltimore-police-detective-sean-suiter-suicide-investigation/), he was shot with his own service revolver. I would hope an autopsy could establish how many times he was shot, and how many bullets were gone from his weapon. Were any other bullets recovered from the scene? Was it a contact or near-contact wound? The article mentions there was surveillance video from the scene - what does it show? Was there anybody else around? > > Witness testimony is one thing - physical evidence is another. > > Of course there are always going to be people who say he was shot from the grassy knoll, but there isn’t much that can be done about that. > > Regards, > Shodan What police department wrote that police report? What police department gathered that forensic evidence? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=710) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=712)