Not one single decision or act by the policeman in that video is professional. He’s a coward and amatuer.
I would assume that you’ll agree that some cops are dangerous people, even if not all or most, and that it’s reasonable to flee from some dangerous people.
So there exists some non-zero amount of situations in which it’s entirely rational and reasonable to run away from a police officer. Maybe this was one of them.
How do you know? Maybe he would have been beaten, maybe worse, maybe not. Maybe he saw something in the cop’s eyes that signaled he was (correctly) dangerous, and fled.
It’s extremely hard to judge someone badly for literally fleeing a murderer. That guy might have known something at the time that you don’t – fleeing might have been an entirely rational move, considering that the cop immediately shot him afterwards.
If people believe a police officer would randomly shoot a black person that is calmly responding to instructions and offering no resistance. I don’t have a response to that. That level of cynicism and distrust in our police is something that I can’t begin to comprehend.
Every police shooting case that I’ve read about has involved some degree of resistance by the suspect. Fighting or struggling with the officer, refusing to show their hands, aggressive movements or trying to run. There’s always something that escalated the situation. That doesn’t necessarily mean the cop can shoot. Each case has to be looked at carefully and reviewed by the DA.
I’m not saying a bad cop has never shot a completely compliant suspect. Mistakes happen and police do get charged. Like the cop that reached for a taser and grabbed his gun. He’s in serious trouble.
The officer will need to explain given there is no way the stopped motorist could possibly run faster than the officer’s radio can transmit.
At least around our jurisdiction when someone is fleeing from the police one of the very first steps is for the officer to radio in the information so back up units can assist. And if the fleeing person/vehicle has been identified then police will simply go around later rather than initiate a chase.
Besides how much better would it be if the police wouldn’t summarily execute you for “reasons”.
Yet undoubtedly, sometime in American history, this almost certainly has happened. Probably multiple times. Through most of American history, cops could probably very easily get away with killing certain people (mostly black people) routinely for no legitimate reason.
Times are definitely better now, but that doesn’t mean that any left over fear is entirely irrational.
The Sean Groubert shooting didn’t involve any of this, unless you consider “reaching to comply with the cop’s instructions” as “aggressive movements”, and with that criteria, there aren’t many actions that couldn’t be considered “aggressive movements”.
How do we know this was a “mistake”? How do we know this wasn’t intentional?
I think that there are cops out there who, when they interact with someone resisting, think “I finally get to shoot someone.”
Different people have entirely different experiences. It’s entirely reasonable, based on personal experience, that some people might have legitimate cause for that level of cynicism and distrust.
Well, there was that young boy in Cleveland who was playing in a park.
A retired cop friend-of-a-friend, when asked about situations like this, responded that “20% of cops want to be superheroes, and the best cops in the city – 60% just want to do their jobs and go home safe – and 20% are bullies who get off on power and violence”. I don’t know if the numbers are that stark (and that bad!), but I think some portion of police officers enjoy exercising power and violence over others, and that’s their primary motivation.
Yeah, I notice that you think there should be “consequences” for people who aren’t like you, but no consequences for people who are like you.
I think everybody agrees this shooting is extremely outrageous. I haven’t seen a video this incriminating before. This ex cop (he was fired today) will be in prison quite soon.
Do you? I don’t see outrage from you. I see victim blaming and just asking questions.
Herein may lie the problem. Aside from the fact that I’m sure you don’t believe that “some degree of resistance” means someone’s entitled to wound or kill you, it seems you presume what you read is true. The problem is that what you’re told flows from what is relayed by the police after the fact. We all know how human nature is to lie even when there is no serious consequence that will come of being caught in the lie. Police are no more or less likely to have integrity than anyone else. (On the benign end, you will rarely hear about a police officer giving himself a ticket for running a red light, etc., just as you will rarely hear about a citizen who asks the next police officer (s)he sees to issue such a ticket.)
“I’m not saying a bad cop has never shot a completely compliant suspect. Mistakes happen and police do get charged.”
I’m sure you don’t mean to make the two inseparable, but criminal acts don’t necessarily involve a “mistake” (criminally negligent), but indeed intent. Now whether the person started out with that intent or it was formed within a second or two (as in the current story to include where the cop paused and then shot the guy for, what, the eighth time).
What folks seem to need to wrap their head around is that it’s wrong to presume that police are any more or less likely to be capable of criminal behavior … the need to rid oneself of the fallacy that cops are more or less likely to be law-abiding than the average person. Indeed because of their position, they are more free to engage in criminal behavior without having to worry about the consequence of average Joe/Josephine citizen. Same goes for other types of folks in a position of power, and not just because “power corrupts …”
That’s so cute.
I just say this in a purely observational sense but I guess you’d have to be white and middle class. And that doesn’t even need to be a question. Out of interest, how would you view the police now without the recent series of videos - anything changed? Do you understand you live in entirely a different country?
This would be the Broken Tail-Light Fallacy.
No, I would jsut spell badlt.
:rolleyes:
I was once in a car between two North Little Rock police cars that were shooting at each other.
We responded for an add for a used aquarium. The guy was a policeman, and very, very ignorant about fish. He claimed that a twenty gallon aquarium was a thirty Stupid or larcenous?
And they let him carry a firearm.
Every profession has bad people in it. They give everybody a black eye. The quicker we get body cameras on every police officer the better. I think it should be a national priority. Don’t wait for every police dept to find the money. I don’t care what it costs. Give the states the money to purchase this technology and put a body camera on every cop that works outside with the public. Any cop caught working on the streets without his body camera should be fired. It should be part of his uniform.
Then we can put an end to the public’s distrust and accusations. Whatever happens will be on tape, word for word. It will make it easy to prosecute the bad cops and get them off the streets.
That is a change in position for me. I would have never supported forcing cops to wear cameras 20 years ago. Public confidence in government is crucial. We can’t have an ugly incident every time there’s a cop shooting. Body cameras will restore trust. Make a national web site and post them after any alleged police misconduct. People can decide for themselves if it was justified or not.