# 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:** 98
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1941 "2015-04-22T14:14:58Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > [Police try to make an arrest at the wrong house, let the dog out, then try to shoot the dog on a crowded Brooklyn sidewalk](http://7online.com/news/caught-on-camera-officer-shoots-at-dog-in-crowd-of-people-during-arrest-in-brooklyn/666840/). Well, what do you expect? It was a black dog. (That’s pretty poor police procedure, BTW.) ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1942 "2015-04-22T18:00:58Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > [Police try to make an arrest at the wrong house, let the dog out, then try to shoot the dog on a crowded Brooklyn sidewalk](http://7online.com/news/caught-on-camera-officer-shoots-at-dog-in-crowd-of-people-during-arrest-in-brooklyn/666840/). So, it was the wrong house, the person they were there to arrest wasn’t there…and they arrested someone in the house anyway, for “disorderly conduct”? What “conduct” would that be? Yelling at the cop for trying to shoot their dog and endangering their neighbors, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1943 "2015-04-22T18:51:04Z")
There is a case in the local area where a couple of days ago, a couple were warming up their car in preparation to taking their 8-year-old son to school, and the boy was asleep in the back of the car. A guy jumped into the running car and took off with it and an Amber alert was issued. The boy and the car were found a couple of hours later, and everything fine, right? Nope. ## Video has emerged of eight cops spending precious time handcuffing the parents and yelling at them while the mother is hysterical asking them why they aren’t out looking for their child. Another case: An Ohio cop is being sued for leaving a man handcuffed at night in the middle of the street after he had pepper sprayed him in the face, while he took off running after the handcuffed guy’s boyfriend. Neither of them had committed any crimes, but the cop didn’t like their attitude. The cop and the running boyfriend were hit by a car and the boyfriend is now on 24-hour-bedcare with a brain injury. > **[Ohio cop left a gay man handcuffed in the road where he was badly injured —...](https://www.rawstory.com/2015/04/ohio-cop-left-a-gay-man-handcuffed-in-the-road-where-he-was-badly-injured-and-now-he-may-have-to-pay/)** > > An Ohio police officer may be held liable for injuries suffered by a gay man he left handcuffed in the road after questioning, an appeals court ruled.The 6th District Court of Appeals ruled last week that Jeffrey Kamerer, a Wells Township police... ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1944 "2015-04-23T00:41:29Z")
This showed up on my Facebook newsfeed: [The Skin I’m In](http://www.torontolife.com/informer/features/2015/04/21/skin-im-ive-interrogated-police-50-times-im-black/?page=all) Reading it made me so angry. And sad. Sad that this is happening in a country I sorta thought was better than that. It’s really hard not to be even more cynical than I naturally am. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1945 "2015-04-23T02:49:21Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Yes, but bear encounters are different. Mountain lion encounters are almost never accidental, you encounter one because it has been stalking you, which is similar to police encounters. You encounter a bear because it was doing its own thing and you stumbled upon it. Except in really unusual situations. Black bears yes. I understand that polar bears actually will stalk humans. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1946 "2015-04-23T12:33:00Z")
Grizzlies also stalk, I believe v ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1947 "2015-04-23T13:11:13Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Grizzlies also stalk, I believe v Holy Fuck! A stalking Grizzly got to Acsenray. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1948 "2015-04-23T13:56:24Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > You encounter a bear because it was doing its own thing and you stumbled upon it. Actually, I didn’t stumble upon it, I ran into it and bounced off it’s forehead. My daily routine was a 10K run in the bush, which included crossing a couple of beaver dams. Beaver dams are made of wood and sticks. The sticks have sharp ends from having been chewed off of trees by beavers. A lot of those sharp ends are pointing up out of the dam, so it is necessary to carefully watch your foot placement. Unfortunately, if you are watching where you step, you are not watching further along the dam. Black bears are nearsighted, and often are looking at the ground for food, rather than for people running a them, for let’s face it, not much, let alone a person, runs at bears. So there we were, each oblivious to the other, making our ways across a narrow beaver dam, when oof, I ran into it and bounced off it’s forehead. It was a bit of a WTF moment for both of us. I bounced back and landed on my ass on the dam (and was jabbed by a few sticks), stood up, and backed my way to my end of the dam. The bear snorted when I ran into it, and then looked at me, but did not move until I had backed away about ten feet, at which time it continued walking along the dam toward me. When I reached the end of the dam, I backed up along the shoreline for a bout twenty feet, the bear reached the end of the dam, turned and looked at me for a couple of minutes, then then ambled off in the other direction. Anyway, why the seemingly off-topic digression? Well, it has occurred to me that you are safer running head on into a black bear than a black person is running into Smokey the Bear. ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1949 "2015-04-23T14:23:55Z")
That’s actually a good point. ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1950 "2015-04-23T14:48:51Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Well, it has occurred to me that you are safer running head on into a black bear than a black person is running into Smokey the Bear. Well that’s cuz [Smokey](http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/files/2011/09/50581-hi-smokey_busshelter060811-1.jpg) has a shovel to bury the body. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1951 "2015-04-23T18:26:28Z")
[Baltimore police union calls Freddie Gray protesters a “lynch mob.”](http://www.salon.com/2015/04/23/police_union_throws_a_self_pity_party_in_baltimore_freddie_gray_protesters_are_a_%e2%80%9clynch_mob%e2%80%9d/) :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1952 "2015-04-23T20:05:10Z")
Apparently a local judge didn’t want Robert Bates’ manslaughter charge (for killing Eric Harris) to keep him from enjoying a nice Caribbean vacation. Wow. It is without a doubt in my mind that this man will not see a day of jail-time. Hell, he might even get to keep his job. [ > [@](#): > > Robert Bates, the Oklahoma volunteer sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed an unarmed man earlier this month, is heading to the Bahamas on vacation with the blessing of a local district court. Currently freed on $25,000 bond, Bates says he thought he was firing his taser when he fatally shot Eric Harris. The 73-year-old appeared before a judge on Tuesday to enter a not guilty plea on a charge of second-degree murder. While he was there, he also requested that he and his family be allowed to take a “previously planned vacation” to the Caribbean. The judge agreed, stipulating that Bates just needed to be back for his July 2 court date. ]([http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/tulsa-cop-facing-manslaughter-charges-allowed-take-caribbean-vacation](http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/tulsa-cop-facing-manslaughter-charges-allowed-take-caribbean-vacation)) ---
**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:** [April 23, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1953 "2015-04-23T20:09:29Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Baltimore police union calls Freddie Gray protesters a “lynch mob.”](http://www.salon.com/2015/04/23/police_union_throws_a_self_pity_party_in_baltimore_freddie_gray_protesters_are_a_%e2%80%9clynch_mob%e2%80%9d/) :rolleyes: If there’s a dangerously violent mob in Baltimore, it’s made up of the ones wearing the uniforms. [The Brutality of Police Culture in Baltimore (Atlantic Monthly)](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-brutality-of-police-culture-in-baltimore/391158/) ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1954 "2015-04-23T20:22:22Z")
[The judge who let Robert Bates go to the Bahamas is himself an honorary sheriff’s deputy, his daughter works for the sheriff’s department, and he has a years-long friendship with the sheriff.](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/23/1379738/-Tulsa-judge-who-gave-Deputy-Bob-Bates-permission-to-go-to-the-Bahamas-is-a-longtime-deputy-himself) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1955 "2015-04-23T20:59:26Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > [The judge who let Robert Bates go to the Bahamas is himself an honorary sheriff’s deputy, his daughter works for the sheriff’s department, and he has a years-long friendship with the sheriff.](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/23/1379738/-Tulsa-judge-who-gave-Deputy-Bob-Bates-permission-to-go-to-the-Bahamas-is-a-longtime-deputy-himself) The late, great Elmore Leonard wrote stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1956 "2015-04-23T21:01:14Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > If there’s a dangerously violent mob in Baltimore, it’s made up of the ones wearing the uniforms. > > [The Brutality of Police Culture in Baltimore (Atlantic Monthly)](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-brutality-of-police-culture-in-baltimore/391158/) #JustAFewBadApples ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1957 "2015-04-23T21:11:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Baltimore police union calls Freddie Gray protesters a “lynch mob.”](http://www.salon.com/2015/04/23/police_union_throws_a_self_pity_party_in_baltimore_freddie_gray_protesters_are_a_%e2%80%9clynch_mob%e2%80%9d/) :rolleyes: "and that’s _our_ job, dammit! " ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1958 "2015-04-24T01:27:37Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Apparently a local judge didn’t want Robert Bates’ manslaughter charge (for killing Eric Harris) to keep him from enjoying a nice Caribbean vacation. Wow. It is without a doubt in my mind that this man will not see a day of jail-time. Hell, he might even get to keep his job. > > [URL=“[http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/tulsa-cop-facing-manslaughter-charges-allowed-take-caribbean-vacation](http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/tulsa-cop-facing-manslaughter-charges-allowed-take-caribbean-vacation)”] I don’t see a problem with this. The entire point of posting bail is that you can lead an ordinary life between arrest and trial. Bates is a pretty low flight risk and he’ll either forfeit $25K or have bounty hunters chase after him if he flees. You could be a murderer or rapist and you still get bail just like everybody else. ---
**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:** [April 24, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1959 "2015-04-24T01:33:55Z")
But you don’t generally get the judge driving you to the airport for your trip out of the country either. ---
**Author:** ![OwnRules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@OwnRules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OwnRules)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/1960 "2015-04-24T17:20:05Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > But you don’t generally get the judge driving you to the airport for your trip out of the country either. Goes much deeper than that: [**Tulsa’s Killer Is Sheriff’s Sugar Daddy**](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/14/tulsa-shooter-was-sheriff-s-sugar-daddy.html) > [@](#): > > …“He made an error,” Glanz told the Tulsa World. “How many errors are made in an operating room every week?” > > Glanz also showed a Tulsa World reporter cellphone photos of him fishing with Bates, a millionaire insurance executive. “Bob and I both love to fish,” he said. “Is it wrong to have a friend?” > > Still, former officers with the sheriff’s department told The Daily Beast that Bates was a “pay to play” policeman. The businessman donated thousands of dollars worth of vehicles and equipment to the force. > > **“Bob Bates came on board because he had all this money,” one former reserve deputy said, adding that the sheriff and other higher-ups would “go on these cruises in the Bahamas and in Mexico all the time.”** > > “[Bates] foots the bill,” the deputy added. “The sheriff just gave him free rein because he was treating him right. He bought his way into this position.” > > Another former full-time deputy said Bates was “getting glad-handed” around the office because of his wealth. > > “This is your typical Southern good ol’ boys system,” he said, adding that before the shooting Bates planned to take Glanz on a fishing trip to Florida. – bolding mine. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=97) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=99)