I wish I could plaster this post all over the internet. I should forward this to the NAACP.
I suppose this will be short-lived speculation, but what if the guy suffocated under the weight of all those cops trying to subdue him? He did apparently call out for help in a failing voice.
That’s a real ethical puzzler for me. How do you assess culpability when one of the offending parties already paid for his part of it with his life, and the others may have been unaware of how they were killing him?
Well, I could be wrong. He might have been on PCP. I’ve seen enough Cops to know that makes people odd. I’m glad he kept his clothes on.
In this case quite easily. Hint: it lies with the the big fat hypertensive schmuck hopped up on goofballs that charged and swung on a cop without any provocation whatsoever.
Awww, thanks **World Eater![\B]
There are some legitimate gripes that many black communities around the country have with their police. This just ain’t one of them. And crying wolf with stuff like this might disincline the majority to believe the activists when REAL racist stuff happens.
Please don’t forget that those who worship at the altar of perpetual victimhood need people like this man. All that matters to them is the fact that he is black and he is dead. Everything after that will be spin and misrepresentation.
I’m trying hard not to get caught up in the spin and misrepresentation. What I’m trying to say is that if that dude suffocated under the weight of six cops then that’s yet one more thing the police have to be careful about in the future.
I have a pang of sympathy for the police, who have difficult, dangerous, and often thankless jobs. But if that guy suffocated that means that the police really did kill that guy. Killed him under extenuating circumstances for sure, but it underscores yet another vulnerability in the way the police can conduct their business. Something is going to have to be done about it.
That’s what’s really puzzling to me. How do you treat those cops? If you let them go without a reprimand, a significant sector of the public goes stark raving mad about it. If you punish them, you’re punishing them for reasons which probably can’t reasonably be considered to be within the scope of their duties.
This has the potential to be a real big shit sandwich, with an extra spicing of politics.
The cop they call Reveeeeeeeen!
Given that he was apparently struggling the whole time they probably felt they couldn’t get off for fear of their mortal lives.
Great, more fuel for the activists.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,104721,00.html
Homicide, ugh.
Ruling the death a homicide “should not be interpreted as implying inappropriate behavior or the use of excessive force by police,” he said.
Let’s guess what will stick out in the public mind: Homicide? or “should not be interpreted as implying inappropriate behavior or the use of excessive force by police”
By the way Rhum, that just helped my cause. 
How in the world could it have been a homicide if there had been no “inappropriate” behavior?
“Homicide” is the killing of a person by another person.
Justifiable homicide is not "murder, manslaughter, or – negligent – homicide, for example, which are punished by the law. Self defense is one justification for homicide.
In sum: murder, manslaughter, negligent homicide, or the like are illegal.
“Homicide” means the cause of death was human. That’s not good for the cops at trial unless deadly force was justified. It sounds like there might have been a serious blow or blows.
From Merriam-Webster Online:
Notice how there is no inherent fault or blame in “homicide” technically. Of course, modern usage and interpretation may vary.
In reality, IMO, it suggests that the heart attack was not the only fatal injury the man sustained. I’d guess that one of the cops caved his skull in, not to put too fine a point on it.
Because of his sheer weight, had he been cuffed without a struggle, he would have had a difficult time breathing. I doubt it would have killed him though. Add a few cops and a knee on his back? Well it’s a distinct possibility.
However, the homicide ruling is suspect. The true definition of homicide is the killing of one human being by another. That technically is true. I would have I wonder why it isn’t negligent homicide?
Maybe the coroner does not have the distinctions in his report that a court charge does; maybe he has ‘homicide’ ‘suicide’ ‘accident’ ‘disease’ ‘other natural causes’–pick one and only one.
The negligent homicide/manslaughter thing will be decided later. Nobody is saying that the cops INTENDED TO KILL this guy. I hope. I feel for the DA–the evidence seems clear to me that primary responsibility for this mess belongs with the dead man, between his actions, poor health, and ingestion of drugs, so the cops shouldn’t even be charged. But politically, I’m sure he doesn’t dare not charge them.
Except there were no marks on the head, just the legs and butt.
Gee, I don’t know, I sort of breathed a sigh of relief when I read that article. Sounded to me like the coroner is trying to say, “the guy’s heart freaked out on him.”
In which case I retract my hypothetical situation above and return to “fuck 'im–crazy bastard invited it upon himself.”
Maybe the police should have imposed sanctions on him.:rolleyes: