# 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:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/81 "2015-04-30T06:22:43Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’m 57 and […] I’ve never killed anyone Pansy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/82 "2015-04-30T10:37:51Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > Reminds me of a notorious case in the UK. Back in 2012 a 61 year old blind man was walking along the street. Having had two recent strokes he was moving at a speed he described as a snail’s pace. He heard shouting and feared there were muggers about to attack him. > > Sadly it was worse. There was a police officer on the lookout for a man reported to be carrying a samurai sword. He saw the white cane the blind man was using and unleashed a 50,000 volt taser **into the back** of the harmless and, as mentioned, slow moving gentleman. Then cuffed him. > > An enquiry took about a year and decided no criminal charges would be made against the police officer. Another six months after that and the police officer was ordered to apologise to the victim. If it is important the victim was white. > > [Tasered blind man: PC Stuart Wright ordered to apologise - BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-26729965) > > Note there was a bloke caught that night “on suspicion of carrying an offensive weapon” but in the end he wasn’t charged (no pun intended) with anything. > > TCMF-2L The big difference, for the victims, is that the British police weilding weapons when they shouldn’t are much less likely to shoot an actual gun. A taser can kill, and it can certainly cause distress - the victim in this case should get compensation - and perhaps he did; if it’s given under the police criminal injuries board it’s often in closed court, which is an issue in itself. But it’s less likely to kill than a gun. I’d note that the other bloke wasn’t actually ‘caught that night “on suspicion of carrying an offensive weapon”’ because “caught” means he actually did it. All this means really is that that they arrested someone else who didn’t actually have an offensive weapon. Maybe that suspicion was reasonable and maybe not. There’s no suggestion that the person arrested did actually have a weapon but was let go. In the context of this case all it means is that the police carried on looking, which is not a bad thing; they hadn’t suddenly decided that this blind man was Rutger Hauer and had magic sword-fighting powers gifted to the blind. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/83 "2015-04-30T10:59:55Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > The big difference, for the victims, is that the British police weilding weapons when they shouldn’t are much less likely to shoot an actual gun. [Sometimes just a baton is enough](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ian_Tomlinson). > [@](#): > > The video shows a group of officers approach Tomlinson again – the same group of officers, according to The Times – outside a Montblanc store at the southern end of Royal Exchange Passage, near the junction with Cornhill. Tomlinson was walking slowly with his hands in his pockets. An eyewitness, Alan Edwards, said Tomlinson was saying, “I want to go home. I live down there. I’m trying to get home.” > > The footage shows one officer appear to lunge at Tomlinson from behind, then strike him across the legs with a baton the officer was holding in his left hand. The same officer then appears to push Tomlinson’s back, causing him to fall. On 8 April Channel 4 News released their own footage of the scene, which shows the officer’s arm swing back to head height before bringing it down to hit Tomlinson on the legs with the baton. A different video obtained by The Guardian on 21 April shows Tomlinson standing by a bicycle rack, hands in his pockets, appearing to offer no resistance, when the police approach him. After he is hit, he can be seen scraping along the ground on the right side of his forehead; eyewitnesses spoke of hearing a noise as his head hit the ground. [April 2009] > [@](#): > > In the context of this case all it means is that the police carried on looking, which is not a bad thing; they hadn’t suddenly decided that this blind man was Rutger Hauer and had magic sword-fighting powers gifted to the blind. Rutger Hauer? Surely you mean [Zatoichi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatoichi)? ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2015, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/84 "2015-04-30T11:18:24Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > …All this means really is that that they arrested someone else who didn’t actually have an offensive weapon. Maybe that suspicion was reasonable and maybe not. There’s no suggestion that the person arrested did actually have a weapon but was let go… SciFiSam. The “other bloke” I referred to, i.e. not the blind 61 year old who was tasered in the back while walking at a snail’s pace but the 27 year old was described as in my original link as > [@](#): > > A 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of being in possession of an offensive weapon, but on the advice of the CPS was released without being charged, Lancashire Police said. Which I took to mean he was toting a sword but not charged. An earlier BBC version of the same story has > [@](#): > > A man carrying a samurai sword was later arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly. cite [Tasered blind man Colin Farmer to sue Lancashire Police - BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-20031625) I took the story to mean he was arrested the same night, carrying a sword and not charged with anything. TCMF-2L ---
**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 30, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/85 "2015-04-30T15:10:34Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Rutger Hauer? Surely you mean [Zatoichi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatoichi)? [Same thing.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Fury) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733/86 "2015-05-01T00:48:40Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I’m 57 and I own a handgun and a shotgun. \*\*I am not a cop. \*\*I’ve never killed anyone, be it murder, negligence, accident, depraved indifference, luck of the draw, or whatever. > > Just as a data point. But not in this thread. Here it’s just a non sequitur. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-people-getting-killed-by-police-under-questionable-circumstances-the-omnibus-thread/718733.md?page=4)