You should really just make this your sig line.
Is English your third language? When they rushed him, his hands were empty. There is eyewitness testimony that they didn’t yell anything before they shot him, and both eyewitness testimony and surveillance camera evidence showing that they outright lied when they initially said he was sitting at the table with other people. Quit trying to change the story to make yourself feel better, Smapti-What they reported they said was not a one syllable “Freeze!”. It was “Put your hands up! Put your hands up! Put your hands up!” When did the police say this, Smapti?
Last summer I did a stint in reserve duty as an “operations sergeant” - basically a dispatcher - in an infantry battalion serving in the West Bank. If someone called me up and told me they saw a Palestinian waving an AK-47 around, I’d send a patrol over and tell them to investigate and verify the report, and if the report was found to be accurate, to attempt to resolve the matter without violence. I certainty wouldn’t expect them to storm into town with their machine guns blazing.
Let me repeat that: the actions of the Cleveland Police seemed rash and excessive * to an Israeli soldier serving in the Occupied Territories.* Consider the implications of that statement.
Woah! Asking an authoritarian conservative to choose between a police officer and a member of the military? It’s downright cruel to force a Sophie’s choice like that on someone.
Whoa.
ETA: Whoa or Woah?
The idea that someone who’s job it is to literally blow up the houses of innocent civilians, regardless of whether they’re occupied, can criticise anyone else’s view on justified violence is laughable. As is the idea that the Israeli army understands the concept of restraint or human rights.
Woe! I meant whoa. Please excuse my typewo.
There’s the easy out to the dissonance! Discount faster than Crazy Al’s Electronics!
Much respect to you (not to exclude other contributions), in approaching this thread. It’s absolutely astounding what lengths people will go to, to deny or justify this stuff.
This is also why I remained skeptical about the idea of body cameras. We already have multiple videos of such events (and not just now, but dating back over decades), and people still play this game where they parse and pick details in order to justify misconduct or murder. Apparently, if you don’t stand on one leg, touch your nose, and spin at the end of a tap dance sequence, it’s grounds to be killed. Just fucking dance and you’ll live.
Again, much respect for putting the energy into it.
I thought that was a damn fine Christopher Walken imitation.
No-one’s attempting to justify murder, rather the exact opposite. We’re pointing out that it’s not murder unless and until someone proves it’s not justified.
German efficiency. This 6/85 = 7% kill rate would make American cops envious. It becomes 17% when warning shots are ignored, which might be a fairer comparison. Do American cops waste bullets for warning? Are American cops trained to fire until their weapons are empty?
[QUOTE=We Talked to People Who Knew 12-Year-Old Tamir Rice About His Death at the Hands of Cleveland Cops]
Of course, it’s well known to Clevelanders that their cops don’t exactly walk on water. In 2012, at the end of a chase, police—including one who stood on the hood of the car, shooting through the windshield— fired 137 bullets into the vehicle of two passengers, Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.
[/QUOTE]
137 isn’t a round number. Did they retain some extra ammunition in case a 12-year old showed up with a toy?
Yes, I sound bitter. It baffles me that any American could not be.
ETA:
Steophan? In the example do you think the cops could have asked Russell and Williams, after the 100th bullet, if they wanted to surrender yet? Maybe?
And why did the police do any of that? What was it that motivated them to engage this person?
Maybe the same thing that motivated their fellow police officers into firing 137 bullets into a vehicle driven by two unarmed people earlier that year? What motivates you into defending these lying murderers?
Bravado, stupidity, fear, laziness - take your pick. Probably a mixture of all of them.
Hey, Smapti-What motivated those two cops into not rendering first aid to that dying child?
This 1 1/2 to 2 seconds bullshit is astoundingly stupid. There’s an officer who always gives 20 seconds to people in similar situations.
Any kid could’ve ran away in that time span. 
But, in all seriousness, fuck these dumb cops. They completely overreacted and murdered this kid. Maybe they weren’t up to the job in the first place. This is why dealing with cops is always a crap shoot-- you might get the trigger-happy high-school dropout who’s dispatched to your rescue. Not the Andy Griffith type guy you were expecting.
The cops had no idea there was a video. Maybe they were eliminating the “only” witness to their fiasco.
I’d like to quote this on my FB page.
My God, you’re an expert at avoiding answering questions if you realize that doing so would imply that the victim was in the slightest way responsible for their fate.
Why were the police in that place at that time, and why did they choose to engage that child instead of just continuing to drive? Did the kid take any actions, at any point whatsoever, that merited police attention? Or did the cops just see a black kid and decide to wager five bucks on who could shoot him first?