If the kid is telling the truth, and he did nothing wrong, and the cops are lying/exaggerating his behavior, is there any possible way this come out in a satisfactory way to you?
Frankly, there is no way this comes out that I could give a single fuck about. They aren’t my bastard cops after all.
I simply pointed out that by the facts presented in the OP there were simply far too many unknowns to warrant the level of RO.
It’s part of a trend (unfortunately, a very, very long trend) of black people being treated worse by the police than white people. I’m sure there are some small number of given instances among these in which the cops didn’t do anything wrong. But it’s a very troubling trend, and it’s not really all that surprising.
I believe that, for some cops, even some cops that don’t do or say anything racist in their lives, they’re slightly more likely to be twitchy around a black male suspect, and slightly more likely to draw their gun or other weapon, and slightly more likely to use force due to their heightened anxiety, when a suspect is black. This is probably true for some black cops as well, considering that black cops don’t seem to be exempt from this trend. But it’s a major problem, and it makes things more dangerous both for cops and for the public at large. Better training on conflict de-escalation, and greater empowerment for cops to not use force in situations in which no one is in danger, might help fix this trend.
My first thought on reading the article that wasn’t presented was how the police entered the house in the first place. One more reason to never answer the door.
Oh, and of course the only possible explanation is racism. And slavery.
It’s actually in the video. The side door was left open. DeShawn went in through that side door. A neighbor called 911 reporting a break in. The 3 officers went in through the same side door and confronted him. An argument ensued, and the kid admits he was angry. After that it’s a bit fuzzy, but pepper spray was used. Eventually the mom came home and cleared things up and the parents met with the Wake County police chief (though I can’t find details on who that is in a quick google search…just a Sheriff, so not sure if that’s the same person). I also can’t find anything on the 3 officers involved…or really any other details at all on this.
Because only saintly people deserve not to be pepper sprayed in their own homes?
He could be the most obnoxious, vulgar person in the world and still be on the right.
Saintliness isn’t the standard for limiting use of force by the authorities.
It would be stupid, I grant you.
Weird? As in “no criminal would ever use such a lame-ass story”?
No so much. Criminals have used far dumber stories than that. I’m sure we have a former police office on the boards who can confirm that.
On the plus side, the didn’t shoot him.
If the cops did what cops ALWAYS do with black people, they probably ordered him to get on the ground and submit to handcuffs. And, to use the cops own vernacular, the cops probably spoke in an “aggressive” tone. If I was 18, in my own house, and not doing anything wrong and a cop gave me such an order in such a tone, I’d probably be a little belligerent too.
How fuckin horrible is it that in our country, that’s genuinely a silver lining to the story that deserves mention. Yep, maybe they broke into the home of a black dude and maced him in his own home because he was angry face at the cops who broke into his home, but at least they didn’t break into the home of an innocent black dude and murder him where he stood, so there’s always that! Progress, motherfuckers!
+1 Came here to say as much.
If I lived there, told them that and they were snide and offensive in disbelieving me, you damn bet you I’d get a little belligerent. I belong there, it’s my castle, they are the intruders and the aggressors.
And oh dear god, would I sue the fuck out of them, file every complaint I could, publicize their actions every goddamned place I could.
You keep exaggerating, and I can’t tell if you are doing it for effect or just because you are so outraged that you refuse to bother actually following what little sketchy evidence we have. The cops didn’t just break into this guys house and menace or threaten him/mace him randomly on a whim or for fun or profit. They were responding to a 911 call about a possible B&E by a black male and found a black teen in a house with pictures of white people on the walls. Said teen admits he was angry. This was kind of a bizarre situation here, and we don’t know what all went down. The cop who shot at and wounded the black kid at the gas station in the last Cops are Bad thread was pretty much unjustified panic fire and completely ridiculous, but this one? There is a lot of RO and jerking knees, but thus far I’m not seeing that the cops were completely out of line, and maybe not out of line at all depending on what actually happened.
We know the teen wasn’t violent.
In what situations is it okay to pepper spray a nonviolent teen in his own house who is not breaking the law? This isn’t as bad as shooting him, but that doesn’t mean everything is hunky dory. We should expect more from the cops.
Sure–they broke into his house in exactly the same way he was reported to break into his house, and did so not because it was a whim, but because they live in a racist goddamned area and saw a black kid being where they thought he shouldn’t be, based entirely on his race. Of course this is a story about racism, and it’s absolutely disgusting how desperate people are to be like, “Oh, well, maybe it wasn’t racism, maybe it was magical reason X that we just don’t know yet!”
Of course it was racism. I’m not exaggerating, I’m going by what we know, and what we know is it was a racist action in a racist area of a racist country.
When I was 18 (and stupid…er…than today), I would have done the same thing. I can totally see where this kid was coming from and can totally put myself in his place. The difference was, in my time and where I grew up the cops would have used billy clubs or shot me down like a dog and then gone off for donuts and coffee, then shook down a few prostitutes.
But that doesn’t mean that the cops were in the wrong in what they did either. They might have been, no doubt…but then again, they might not have been either.
As to the rest, I’m not sure if your lawsuit would happen…guess we’ll see if this family sues and if they win. Perhaps some additional details about what actually happened will come out.
I mean, goddamn. You think someone calls the cops and says, “I saw a teenager going in the open door of my neighbor’s house, and I don’t know the neighbors but maybe he’s breaking in,” the cops are going to take that call seriously? You think the neighbor is gonna make that call if the teenager is white? You think the cops maybe, just maybe, took the call seriously because the kid going in the open door was black and the cops think of that area as a white neighborhood?
How is this so fuckin difficult?
He’s probably lucky they didn’t ask him for ID. Reaching for his pocket after being asked to seems likely to be interpreted as a hostile action.
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We know the teen wasn’t violent.
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We do? Also, being uncooperative and abusive could justify using non-lethal force in this situation, as far as I know. Again, the cops were responding to a 911 call about a black male breaking into a house…and when they went in, there was a black male in the house who refused to do what they told him to do.
When the cops don’t know the teen is in his own house and are responding to a 911 call about a break in and the teen is uncooperative? I’m just guessing here, but I’m pretty sure they can use non-lethal force if they judge the situation warrants it.
Was their judgement correct? Damned if I know. And you don’t either, since we both know jack shit at this point.
It’s difficult for me to grasp whatever point you think you are making here. Are you saying the neighbors were racists? Maybe they were, maybe not. Would the neighbors call if they saw a white kid breaking into a house that they didn’t know? Well…yeah. They would in my neighborhood. Is a black kid that they don’t know anything about breaking in going to stick out more than a white kid doing the same thing? Oh, hell yes it is. Is that wrong? Yeah, it is. Life is like that.
Aside from the use of pepper spray, which we don’t know the details on, what exactly do you think the cops did wrong here? Should the dispatcher at the 911 call center have said ‘well, the neighbors are probably racists for reporting a black man breaking into the house, so let’s ignore this’? Should the cops have gone in on the call, seen the side door was open, seen a black kid in the house, heard him out about that it was his house, and just left?
You are jerking your knee, IMHO FWIW. Magical reason X?? You don’t think it’s plausible that the cops, responding to a 911 call about a breaking and entering and finding a black kid in a house obviously owned by a white family might think, just maybe, that a crime might be being committed?? That it’s magical thinking to even consider that?? Good grief.
I freely admit that racism might and probably did play a role in all of this, but that it would take magical thinking to even consider any alternative, and that I’m desperate to white wash all of this? Because, you know, us Hispanics NEVER have issues with the police, right? 
What should have happened was that the cops detain the kid until they can make a positive ID with the occupants of the house. Its perfectly fine to get mad when detained in your own house, that’s a situation where cops need to give a little leeway in case they are wrong: guy says its his house and he’s fucking pissed, you try to calm the situation down instead of escalating it knowing that he might be right and justified. As a cop, they shouldn’t always assume they are right or the worst of the situation. Do it for immediate dangers but not when people are rightly agitated
Of course certain posters sides with police over a black kid, that’s understandable, they’re racist but are afraid to admit it out loud.