# This story right here is why I will always hate police officers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 19, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504 "2014-07-19T02:29:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FBJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@FBJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FBJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/1 "2014-07-19T02:29:54Z")
Makes no sense at all. So unnecessary > **[GRAPHIC WARNING: Two cops pulled off streets, Staten Island DA looking into...](https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/staten-island-da-man-death-nypd-chokehold-article-1.1871946)** > > A crisis over an unarmed man who died on a Staten Island forced Mayor de Blasio to delay his Italian vacation. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/2 "2014-07-19T02:39:53Z")
What an original thought. ---
**Author:** ![FBJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@FBJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FBJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/3 "2014-07-19T02:50:27Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > What an original thought. read the story and then talk to me ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/4 "2014-07-19T02:52:53Z")
> [@FBJJ](#): > > read the story and then talk to me No. Give me the TLDR version and prove to me that it A)is true for more than 50% of police officers and B)you really think we’d be better off without them. But seriously. “some cops did something horrible, therefore I hate all cops” is kinda old and trivializes what happened to the victim, assuming he was truly innocent (I didn’t read the story). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/5 "2014-07-19T02:57:18Z")
Saying _“a police officer shot somebody which is why I will always hate police officers”_ is no different than saying _“a black person shot somebody which is why I will always hate black people.”_ You can hate the individuals who do something wrong but when you start hating everyone because of what some individuals do, then you’re a bigot. ---
**Author:** ![FBJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@FBJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FBJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/6 "2014-07-19T02:58:19Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > No. Give me the TLDR version and prove to me that it A)is true for more than 50% of police officers and B)you really think we’d be better off without them. > > But seriously. “some cops did something horrible, therefore I hate all cops” is kinda old and trivializes what happened to the victim, assuming he was truly innocent (I didn’t read the story). I learned that being TALL, BLACK, and BIG means “Guilty” ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/7 "2014-07-19T03:00:18Z")
> [@FBJJ](#): > > I learned that being TALL, BLACK, and BIG means “Guilty” I learned that you don’t have an argument to present and you’re really just looking to drop a link and have a bunch of people agree with you. Facebook may be a better platform for you. ETA, I was going to say that unless you meant ‘to a cop (or to that cop), if you’re tall, big and black it means your guilty’ but the way you worded it it made you sound racist. Oddly, Little Nemo beat me to it in a different way. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/8 "2014-07-19T03:06:38Z")
Is “two sentences at a time interspersed with giant pictures that barely have any contextual relationship to those sentences” how the NYDN writes _all_ of their articles? Because yeesh, this is nigh unreadable in this format. What I gather from this is that the police tackled a man _for some reason_ (you’ll note that they never actually describe the circumstances that lead up to it), used a submission hold on him while they were doing so, that he later died possibly because of an asthma attack brought on during the incident, and that Al Sharpton is mad about it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/9 "2014-07-19T03:06:40Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Give me the TLDR version A man called Eric Garner was being arrested in New York City. He refused to follow orders to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed. The police officers used force to subdue him and one of them put a chokehold on Garner and Garner died. I don’t think at this point it’s been medically confirmed that the chokehold caused Garner’s death but that’s a reasonable guess. It’s illegal for the police to use chokehold because they are dangerous. And nobody is apparently disputing that Garner was selling illegal cigarettes and resisted arrest. So my personal opinion at this point is that the police in general acted legitimately. They had valid reason to arrest Garner and use force when he resisted. The police officer who used a chokehold, however, was clearly wrong - he should face at least departmental charges and possibly criminal charges. But other than the chokehold there does not appear to have been any general attempt to harm Garner. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/10 "2014-07-19T03:09:02Z")
OP is a fucking troll and probably a sock puppet. Go away. ---
**Author:** ![FBJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@FBJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FBJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/11 "2014-07-19T03:09:34Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Is “two sentences at a time interspersed with giant pictures that barely have any contextual relationship to those sentences” how the NYDN writes _all_ of their articles? Because yeesh, this is nigh unreadable in this format. > > What I gather from this is that the police tackled a man _for some reason_ (you’ll note that they never actually describe the circumstances that lead up to it), used a submission hold on him while they were doing so, that he later died possibly because of an asthma attack brought on during the incident, and that Al Sharpton is mad about it. watch the video ---
**Author:** ![FBJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@FBJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FBJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/12 "2014-07-19T03:11:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > A man called Eric Garner was being arrested in New York City. He refused to follow orders to put his hands behind his back to be handcuffed. The police officers used force to subdue him and one of them put a chokehold on Garner and Garner died. > > I don’t think at this point it’s been medically confirmed that the chokehold caused Garner’s death but that’s a reasonable guess. It’s illegal for the police to use chokehold because they are dangerous. And nobody is apparently disputing that Garner was selling illegal cigarettes and resisted arrest. > > So my personal opinion at this point is that the police in general acted legitimately. They had valid reason to arrest Garner and use force when he resisted. The police officer who used a chokehold, however, was clearly wrong - he should face at least departmental charges and possibly criminal charges. But other than the chokehold there does not appear to have been any general attempt to harm Garner. he never resisted arrest. You didn’t see him holding his arms up? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/13 "2014-07-19T03:16:51Z")
Even if that one group of cops acted it the worst possible way, it’s massively idiotic for that to be a reason to hate all cops. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/14 "2014-07-19T03:20:58Z")
> [@FBJJ](#): > > watch the video I shouldn’t have to watch a video in order to understand a newspaper article. This is badly written. ---
**Author:** ![FBJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@FBJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FBJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/15 "2014-07-19T03:22:51Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Even if that one group of cops acted it the worst possible way, it’s massively idiotic for that to be a reason to hate all cops. because all cops seem to be doing this all over the country thanks to cell phone videos ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/16 "2014-07-19T03:24:24Z")
> [@FBJJ](#): > > because all cops seem to be doing this all over the country thanks to cell phone videos No. Very few cops are doing this but you hear about almost all of them thanks to cell phone videos. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/17 "2014-07-19T03:28:55Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > OP is a fucking troll and probably a sock puppet. Go away. That’s not in question. As far as I can tell, Eric Garner was being arrested for selling untaxed cigarettes (if you watch the video, ignore the commentary about breaking up a fight, Garner himself mentions “I was not selling anything” so he knew why he was being arrested). The police were trying to handcuff Garner, a huge man, and he didn’t comply. An officer jumped his back and applied a chokehold. Personally, this looks like another instance of police escalating an issue, though I’m at a loss as to how else to arrest someone the size of Garner when he decides not to let you arrest him peacefully. Also, while I know it is illegal, is this the best way to handle someone selling untaxed loose cigarettes (even a repeat offender like Garner)? Though that is more a question for legislature and/or the DA’s office - it really isn’t the officers’ call. Chokeholds are banned from use by the NYPD under any circumstance and have been for nearly 20 years, just for this reason. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/18 "2014-07-19T03:29:04Z")
As I have said before, I don’t hate cops; but, as a group they do not impress me. This story is another example of why. ---
**Author:** ![FBJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@FBJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FBJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/19 "2014-07-19T03:29:58Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > OP is a fucking troll and probably a sock puppet. Go away. excuse me??? ---
**Author:** ![FBJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e8cbc/32.png) [@FBJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FBJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504/20 "2014-07-19T03:31:10Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > That’s not in question. > > As far as I can tell, Eric Garner was being arrested for selling untaxed cigarettes (if you watch the video, ignore the commentary about breaking up a fight, Garner himself mentions “I was not selling anything” so he knew why he was being arrested). The police were trying to handcuff Garner, a huge man, and he didn’t comply. An officer jumped his back and applied a chokehold. Personally, this looks like another instance of police escalating an issue, though I’m at a loss as to how else to arrest someone the size of Garner when he decides not to let you arrest him peacefully. Also, while I know it is illegal, is this the best way to handle someone selling untaxed loose cigarettes (even a repeat offender like Garner)? Though that is more a question for legislature and/or the DA’s office - it really isn’t the officers’ call. > > Chokeholds are banned from use by the NYPD under any circumstance and have been for nearly 20 years, just for this reason. so that cop should be fired [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-story-right-here-is-why-i-will-always-hate-police-officers/693504.md?page=2)