# White people getting killed by police under questionable circumstances - the omnibus thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 28, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733 "2015-04-28T18:29:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/21 "2015-04-28T19:48:52Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > You’re addressing someone who continued claiming that sending the ambassador to France was an insult even after the French government said there was no insult. Posting links without posting why they’re relevant is par for the course. Here is a real-life example that shows why sending an ambassador instead of a cabinet minister is a slap in the face: > **[Fury in Russia as Israel declines to send high-level official to WWII...](https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4648781,00.html)** > > Israel's envoy to Moscow will represent Jerusalem at ceremony marking 70 years since victory over Germany, leading to Russian assessment that the decision not to send a higher-ranking dignitary is related to Putin's sale of S-300 missiles to Iran. The Foreign Ministry eventually decided to send Minister of Immigrant Absorption Sofa Landver. But this weekend it declared that Israel’s ambassador to Moscow, Dorit Goldner, would be sent instead. Russian media outlets reporting on this decision called it a slap in the face to Moscow. Members of Russia’s parliament were also angered by the Israeli decision. Yes, it is an insult. In spite of all the apologists in the thread claiming that sending an ambassador is “just as good”. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/22 "2015-04-28T19:49:58Z")
^See? > [@running\_coach](#): > > But it can’t make you think. Exactly right. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/23 "2015-04-28T19:50:00Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Gonna quote from any of your links, Terr? Because, you know, links are to _support_ something you’re saying here. If you’re not saying anything about them, I don’t have any reason to click through. …the links are to stories of the sort that you asked for. This thread is obviously a passive aggressive response to something that has gotten your undies in a knot: but without context it looks like you are getting snotty with someone who has provided exactly what you have asked for. Which makes you look like the dick, not anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/24 "2015-04-28T19:54:09Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > The Foreign Ministry eventually decided to send Minister of Immigrant Absorption Sofa Landver. But this weekend it declared that Israel’s ambassador to Moscow, Dorit Goldner, would be sent instead. Just skimming over this, I wondered, “What the hell is an absorption sofa?” ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/25 "2015-04-28T19:58:09Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Just skimming over this, I wondered, “What the hell is an absorption sofa?” 🙂 (In case you really wondered - Sofa is short for Sofia. Not sure why the minister uses the diminutive instead of full first name). ---
**Author:** ![Cowboy8467](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Cowboy8467](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowboy8467)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/26 "2015-04-28T20:03:55Z")
There is one legitimate case I can think, and I’m only aware of it because it happened in my county. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-unaccountable-death-of-john-geer/2014/09/05/29d36d96-339a-11e4-a723-fa3895a25d02\_story.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-unaccountable-death-of-john-geer/2014/09/05/29d36d96-339a-11e4-a723-fa3895a25d02_story.html) > [@](#): > > AT POINT-BLANK range, a Fairfax County police officer a year ago fired one shot, killing an unarmed man standing inside his home. The man, John Geer, was distraught and had been drinking — his longtime girlfriend had moved out and called police when he threw her things into the front yard — but he held no hostages, brandished no weapons and, so far as we have learned, posed no serious threat either to police or to public order. (Mr. Geer did own guns, which he apparently told police.) > > Shot in the chest, he was left to bleed to death inside his doorway while police officers, remaining outside the house, did nothing for an hour. Five and a half hours after the shooting, his body remained sprawled on the floor where he died. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/27 "2015-04-28T20:30:06Z")
The Kelly Thomas killing, hello. > **[Killing of Kelly Thomas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Kelly_Thomas)** > > Kelly Thomas (April 5, 1974 – July 10, 2011) was a homeless man diagnosed with schizophrenia who lived on the streets of Fullerton, California. He died five days after being severely beaten by six members of the Fullerton Police Department whom he encountered on July 5, 2011, in what was later described as "one of the worst police beatings in \[US\] history." > Medical records show that bones in his face were broken and he choked on his own blood. The coroner concluded that compression of the thorax... In this case they have a video of a cop telling Thomas he plans to beat him, while Thomas is just sitting there posing a threat to no one. The cop and his buddies then beat Thomas to death. The jury cheerily acquitted them. Thomas was, after all, homeless, so who cares, right? ---
**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:** [April 28, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/28 "2015-04-28T20:40:21Z")
Well, this just proves it, doesn’t it? The cops are institutionally racist against white people, and every time they see a white person causing trouble they say to themselves “Finally I get to kill me a honkey today”. Right? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/29 "2015-04-28T21:34:10Z")
Wrong. Whitey gets a pass because he feels guilty about that whole slavery thing. The guilt for that overshadows the guilt of petty crimes. Blackie has never apologized for the slavery thing, and that speaks volumes about his character. Sorry, I’m still kinda new to this whole racist schtick, but at least I’m trying. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/30 "2015-04-28T22:08:51Z")
We already have this thread [\*\* Controversial encounters between law-enforcement and civilians - the omnibus thread.\*\*](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736919) , it includes all civilians, Why does Whitey get his own thread? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/31 "2015-04-28T23:06:31Z")
Summing up the instances offered so far: > **[HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News](https://www.huffpost.com/)** > > Read the latest headlines, news stories, and opinion from Politics, Entertainment, Life, Perspectives, and more. > [@](#): > > [March 16, 2014] It is the first confirmed criminal investigation of Albuquerque police by federal officials, who more than a year ago launched a civil rights probe of the department over allegations of excessive force and a spike in police shootings. Since 2010, police have been involved in 37 shootings, 23 of them fatal. […] > > Albuquerque police fatally shot James Boyd, 38, in the Sandia foothills following an hours-long standoff and after he threatened to kill officers with a small knife, authorities said. He died after officers fired stun guns, bean bags and six live rounds, authorities said. > > But a helmet-camera video showed Boyd, who claimed to be a federal agent, agreeing to walk down the mountain with them, gathering his things and taking a step toward officers just before they fired. > **[Kelly Thomas case: why police were acquitted in killing of homeless man](https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/0114/Kelly-Thomas-case-why-police-were-acquitted-in-killing-of-homeless-man)** > > Two former California police officers who beat a mentally ill homeless man unconscious were acquitted Monday. The case had sparked public outrage. > [@](#): > > On July 5, 2011, at 8:23 p.m., the Fullerton Police Department received a call reporting a “homeless” man – “disheveled and shirtless” – who was “looking in car windows and pulling on handles of parked cars” at a bus depot, according to the Orange Country District Attorney’s office. Six officers, Mr. Ramos and Mr. Cicinelli included, responded. > > At first, all was calm. The officers ordered Thomas to sit on the curb and put his hands on his knees. He eventually complied but also appeared to be confused, at times vocally belligerent, the district attorney’s office said. > > Then, in circumstances that will likely remain unclear, the altercation turned violent. The defense said that Thomas did not follow police orders to sit still; the prosecution said that Thomas did not understand and could not follow those orders. [25 February 2014] DQ'd for purposes of this thread because the victim was not actually killed (he was shot during a traffic stop by a police officer who apparently mistook the cane he was picking up for a gun). > **[University of South Alabama student Gil Collar seen in video before fatal...](https://www.nydailynews.com/2012/10/11/university-of-south-alabama-student-gil-collar-seen-in-video-before-fatal-shooting-by-campus-police/)** > > MOBILE, Ala. — Video of the fatal shooting of a naked Alabama college student shows him with his arms outstretched and his palms open seconds before a campus police officer fired. The Mobile … > [@](#): > > [October 2012] On the video, Collar walks slowly toward a campus police station door once and then walks away. Seconds later, he walks back to the station and pounds violently on a glass window. He then walks away from the police station again before an officer, Trevis Austin, comes out with his gun drawn and pointed at the naked student. Collar approaches Austin with his arms outstretched and palms open toward Austin. > > They move around the porch, with Collar kneeling at one point, then getting to his feet and again walking toward Austin. The officer keeps backing away from Collar, his gun pointed at the student, as Collar approaches. The two move into the yard, where the view of the camera is partially blocked by the porch columns and lighting. Less than 30 seconds after Austin came out of the building, the video shows Collar falling after having been shot. > **[Man shot by Dothan police officer has died](https://dothaneagle.com/news/crime_court/man-shot-by-dothan-police-officer-has-died/article_bb63771c-90f4-11e4-936d-73a715876dfd.html)** > > The man shot by a Dothan police officer outside the Dothan Animal Shelter on Tuesday afternoon has died. > [@](#): > > [December 2014] Police say Lawrence had gone to the animal shelter to turn over a stray animal, but became disorderly when told he could not leave an animal without showing identification. Police say Lawrence was a sovereign citizen, which is a group of people whose political ideology often leaves them at odds with the government. > > Lawrence was told repeatedly to calm down, according to police, then was advised he was being placed under arrest. An altercation then occurred and Lawrence was shot in the abdomen. All four killings were, at the very least, questionable. But it still appears from the data as a whole that black people are disproportionately more likely to be fatally shot by police, as [this October 2014 ProPublica analysis](http://www.propublica.org/article/deadly-force-in-black-and-white) indicates. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/32 "2015-04-28T23:13:48Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > But it still appears from the data as a whole that black people are disproportionately more likely to be fatally shot by police, as [this October 2014 ProPublica analysis](http://www.propublica.org/article/deadly-force-in-black-and-white) indicates. As [John Lott](http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/john-lott-dangerous-distortions-cops-shooting-black-men-article-1.2030545) has documented, ProPublica analysis is full of fail. After adjusting for murder rates, black male teenagers are still killed by the police 2.3 times as often as whites. This is a considerable difference — but again, over-representation of urban areas in the data set could be a big part of the explanation. Screaming “racism!” may attract a TV audience. But uncritically spreading bad information is downright dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/33 "2015-04-28T23:23:38Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > We already have this thread [\*\* Controversial encounters between law-enforcement and civilians - the omnibus thread.\*\*](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736919) , it includes all civilians, Why does Whitey get his own thread? Homey the Clown! I’ve missed ya man. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/34 "2015-04-28T23:23:42Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > As [John Lott](http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/john-lott-dangerous-distortions-cops-shooting-black-men-article-1.2030545) has documented, ProPublica analysis is full of fail. Actually, your linked article doesn’t quite say what you claim it does. Lott does point out the poor quality of the data, which the ProPublica article had already acknowledged. But Lott’s main objection is that he thinks the racial disparity in police killings ought to be normalized for racial disparity in crime rates, which the ProPublica article didn’t undertake to do and didn’t claim to have done. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/35 "2015-04-28T23:30:47Z")
This unarmed Optometrist was murdered by police in what basically was entrapment after a detective befriended him in a bar and was try to get him for low level gambling over football games: [http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/05/01/in-virginia-death-penalty-for-gambling/](http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/05/01/in-virginia-death-penalty-for-gambling/) ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/36 "2015-04-28T23:32:18Z")
Wait he’s Italian, maybe that’s not white enough ---
**Author:** ![camille](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/22d042/32.png) [@camille](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/camille)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/37 "2015-04-28T23:34:44Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > We keep hearing about all these black people getting killed by police under debatable circumstances. > > There must be similar incidents happening where the victims are white, right? > > Assuming there are, that’s what this thread is for. Is it **Terr** ’s birthday? We could have just chipped in for a cake, no? ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/38 "2015-04-28T23:35:51Z")
[http://reason.com/blog/2012/05/14/why-did-a-culpepper-cop-kill-a-retired-s](http://reason.com/blog/2012/05/14/why-did-a-culpepper-cop-kill-a-retired-s) Cop kills retired Sunday school teacher in church parking lot, he claims she rolled up her window and drove off with his arm caught, at least one witness completely denies that’s what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/39 "2015-04-28T23:36:19Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Actually, your linked article doesn’t quite say what you claim it does. Lott does point out the poor quality of the data, which the ProPublica article had already acknowledged. But Lott’s main objection is that he thinks the racial disparity in police killings ought to be normalized for racial disparity in crime rates, which the ProPublica article didn’t undertake to do and didn’t claim to have done. And it should have done if it was an honest and non-sensationalist presentation of data. And the quality of data is not just poor. It is basically non-existent. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/40 "2015-04-28T23:39:00Z")
> [@pool](#): > > This unarmed Optometrist was murdered by police in what basically was entrapment after a detective befriended him in a bar and was try to get him for low level gambling over football games: > > [http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/05/01/in-virginia-death-penalty-for-gambling/](http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/05/01/in-virginia-death-penalty-for-gambling/) [January 2006] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733.md?page=3)