The 2020 George Floyd/BLM/Police Brutality Protests Discussion Thread

Wow, that's pretty terrible that there's such a low conviction rate on that. Manslaughter pretty much covers mistakenly killing someone due to negligence. I don't think Potter intended to kill Wright, I don't think there was malice in her actions, but I do think she killed him due to negligence on her part to check and see what she was reaching for.
 
Joey D
Wow, that's pretty terrible that there's such a low conviction rate on that. Manslaughter pretty much covers mistakenly killing someone due to negligence. I don't think Potter intended to kill Wright, I don't think there was malice in her actions, but I do think she killed him due to negligence on her part to check and see what she was reaching for.
Click to expand...
If I'm reading the article right, of the fifteen instances the Times reviewed, both instances where the victims were killed resulted in the officers convicted of manslaughter charges. But then the article goes on to say there were three cases of fatal shootings, so I'm not sure. It's not a great conviction rate but at least the killer cops were found guilty as far as I can see.
 
Last edited:
7952842E-F364-49FF-8F3C-A8E91E6DD97F.jpeg
 
Scaff
To be honest the top part of the list could be anything, up to and including thin air.
Click to expand...
Sure, but then there are a number of instances in which law enforcement officers shoot the subject of a traffic stop, often fatally, for literally complying to the request for their driver's license.

Of course Philando Castile springs to mind. Castile did the right thing by notifying the officer that he was in possession of a firearm, for which he was permitted, and the officer shot him as he complied to the request for license and registration, even as Castile said he wasn't reaching for the firearm. Minnesota is a notify-when-asked state, and I know this is super cynical, but Castile probably should have withheld that information until it was necessary to acknowledge the firearm's proximity.

Castile is huge because the officer was acquitted, but there's also that viral video with the white Dodge Durango and the victim asking "why did you shoot me?" That officer was convicted and sentenced to five(?) years in prison. There was also an incident involving a veteran some years back, I think in Alabama, but I can't remember the details...it happens entirely too frequently.

I'm trying to remember if the right villified Castile. That's just where we are right now. I suspect some stupid ****er did, but it could well have been because of protests over the incident rather than the color of Castile's skin.
 
Last edited:
Northstar
Reminds me of this Key & Peele skit.

Click to expand...

That really shouldn't be funny...

...

...

...but it is.

Edit: Funny isn't really the right word. I didn't laugh because it hits too close to home. Let's call it catharsis.
 
Last edited:
TexRex
Sure, but then there are a number of instances in which law enforcement officers shoot the subject of a traffic stop, often fatally, for literally complying to the request for their driver's license.

Of course Philando Castile springs to mind. Castile did the right thing by notifying the officer that he was in possession of a firearm, for which he was permitted, and the officer shot him as he complied to the request for license and registration, even as Castile said he wasn't reaching for the firearm. Minnesota is a notify-when-asked state, and I know this is super cynical, but Castile probably should have withheld that information until it was necessary to acknowledge the firearm's proximity.

Castile is huge because the officer was acquitted, but there's also that viral video with the white Dodge Durango and the victim asking "why did you shoot me?" That officer was convicted and sentenced to five(?) years in prison. There was also an incident involving a veteran some years back, I think in Alabama, but I can't remember the details...it happens entirely too frequently.

I'm trying to remember if the right villified Castile. That's just where we are right now. I suspect some stupid ****er did, but it could well have been because of protests over the incident rather than the color of Castile's skin.
Click to expand...

IIRC, any vilification against Castile at the time was because of him reaching down to get his information, and that it led to him being shot (could be wrong, it's been a while since I've looked at the Castile case). Of course, that ignores the fact that Castile mentioned he had a gun, had his SO and child in the vehicle, and the offending officer's partner who was on the passenger side of the vehicle was also heard saying that Philando wasn't going for his gun.

The thing that really pissed me off about the whole situation is that not only was his firearm legal, but Castile was also a member of the NRA. The NRA, in response, put out a tweet to the effect of "we have to wait on all information to come out before saying anything," and went radio silent afterwards. Didn't even mention his name. Call me a cynic, but I'm pretty confident that if it was an, shall we say, "ideal" member of the organization, they would've come out guns blazing (no pun intended).

Northstar
Reminds me of this Key & Peele skit.

Click to expand...


I hate myself for laughing at that. :lol::irked:
 
NotThePrez
The thing that really pissed me off about the whole situation is that not only was his firearm legal, but Castile was also a member of the NRA. The NRA, in response, put out a tweet to the effect of "we have to wait on all information to come out before saying anything," and went radio silent afterwards. Didn't even mention his name. Call me a cynic, but I'm pretty confident that if it was an, shall we say, "ideal" member of the organization, they would've come out guns blazing (no pun intended).
Click to expand...
Hey, I'm a cynic. I'm a cynic masquerading as a realist while longing to be an optimist. But then the line between cynicism and realism has gotten awful blurry, so I don't think my odds are particularly favorable.

TexRex
There was also an incident involving a veteran some years back, I think in Alabama, but I can't remember the details...it happens entirely too frequently.
Click to expand...
I've misremembered some of this.

Active duty airman Michael Edwards Davidson was shot by an Opelika, AL officer who arrived on the scene of a minor traffic collision with a tractor trailer. Edwards Davidson and the driver of the truck had agreed to exchange information prior to the officer's arrival. Edwards' Davidson's SUV was parked on an embankment, making egress difficult with the door pushing against him. The officer ordered his hands up and he was in the process of complying as he exited the vehicle, but stumbled and attempted to stabilize himself before raising his hands fully, but the officer was already sufficiently spooked to fire multiple shots in Edwards' Davidson's direction with the truck driver in the background at moderate distance scrambling to get clear. Edwards Davidson hits the ground and cries out, states that he's in the US Air Force and holds his wallet as high as he can while he writhes around. He appears to void his bowels.

There's dashcam video of the incident. No, I'm not going to post it.

Edwards Davidson survived. The officer was cleared of wrongdoing. Edwards Davidson filed a lawsuit against the law enforcement agency and municipality citing insufficient training. The court denied Edwards Davidson compensation beyond legal fees and the ruling was affirmed upon appeal. Because of qualified immunity, a lawsuit against the officer himself is for nought.

The situation needs to be improved. I truly believe that improvement is possible short of extremes that have been proposed. I don't hate cops. I don't envy them their job, but it is still a job. I think cops need to be trained better. I think cops who do wrong should be held accountable. I do hate aspects of the fraternity. I hate that the system is broken and cops who do wrong are protected against attempts at holding them accountable. That they choose to operate in their capacity, whether they fulfill their duties or not, should not be a pass to violate the rights of those whose rights they are expected to protect.

Edit: Wrong name. One of the articles I perused misstated his name once and it got stuck in my head.
 
Last edited:
Garland rescinds Trump-era memo curtailing consent decrees

Attorney General Merrick Garland has officially revoked a Trump-era memo that limited the use of consent decrees by prosecutors in pushing for changes at police departments and other agencies in abuse and misconduct investigations.

In a Friday memo to all U.S. attorneys and Justice Department leaders, Garland wrote that the agency will “return to the traditional process that allows the heads of litigating components to approve most settlement agreements, consent decrees, and the use of monitors in cases involving state and local governmental entities.”

“This memorandum makes clear that the Department will use all appropriate legal authorities to safeguard civil rights and protect the environment, consistent with longstanding Departmental practice and informed by the expertise of the Department’s career workforce,” Garland said Friday.

Consent decrees, court-approved legal agreements reached without litigation, have previously been used following civil rights investigations to force the implementation of mandated reforms.

Such decrees followed the federal investigations into the Ferguson Police Department after the killing of Michael Brown and in Baltimore following the police custody death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.

In November 2018, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo that limited the use of consent decrees, and his first Senate-confirmed successor, William Barr, accused the Obama administration of overusing the legal agreements.

Democrats have pushed back, arguing the move was part of a pattern of the Trump administration limiting the ability of the Justice Department’s civil rights division to conduct extensive probes of police departments.

Conversations on civil rights issues and justice reform have gained increased momentum in the past year, especially in the civil unrest prompted by the police killings of George Floyd and other Black individuals.

The defense team for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin rested its case this week in his ongoing murder trial in connection with Floyd’s death.

Chauvin, who was captured in graphic footage from last May kneeling on Floyd’s neck for roughly nine minutes, invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, confirming that he would not testify.

Democrats have hoped that President Biden’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s civil rights division, Kristen Clarke, will help revive the department’s justice reform efforts, including the use of consent decrees to ensure oversight of police departments accused of systemic misconduct.
Click to expand...
 
Brooklyn Center didn’t implement a curfew tonight and thus far have let the crowd police themselves. So far it seems they’ve remained peaceful and de-escalated people trying to cause problems.

Hopefully it remains peaceful.
 
...It was bound to happen sooner or later. As a matter of fact, I'm kind of surprised that it took this long.

A 29-year old South African shot and killed by US police during a suspected "burglary".

The Honolulu police says he was being violent towards the officers, even going so far as to injure them, but people close to the deceased are saying, and I quote from the article directly, such a thing is "complete ********."

This news has been causing a bit of a minor stir down here. Wonder how it will play out.
 
In the Mohammed Noor/Justine Damond case the issue was more clear cut for me at least. This Brooklyn Park woman/cop didn't have the physical nerve to be out on the street/ "in the trenches" on active police duty in my opinion but maybe she's innocent of murder at least as it was obviously a mistake. Somali cops, female cop trainers with no skill or nerve.....affirmative action here in good ol' Minnesota.... :banghead:

It doesn't shock me that some cops make darn close to six figures, they need to be much better. These cop positions are all politically motivated via personal connections and affirmative action the way I see it. And they are lucrative state/ county jobs..... Wasnt it Pat Robertson that said cops are too low paid or something?! What compared to him hahaha.
 
Last edited:
Rich S
In the Mohammed Noor/Justine Damond case the issue was more clear cut for me at least. This Brooklyn Park woman/cop didn't have the physical nerve to be out on the street/ "in the trenches" on active police duty in my opinion but maybe she's innocent of murder at least as it was obviously a mistake. Somali cops, female cop trainers with no skill or nerve.....affirmative action here in good ol' Minnesota.... :banghead:

It doesn't shock me that some cops make darn close to six figures, they need to be much better. These cop positions are all politically motivated via personal connections and affirmative action the way I see it. And they are lucrative state/ county jobs..... Wasnt it Pat Robertson that said cops are too low paid or something?! What compared to him hahaha.
Click to expand...
I make as much as your average officer here in GA, around $35K. It's not really a lot even with GAs lower cost of living.
 
HenrySwanson
How other cases where people "mistook guns for tasers" have gone.
Click to expand...

I just finished watching Fruitvale Station, which is movie based on Oscar Grant III, one of the people mentioned in the article. The person who killed him was convicted for involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison. He was out on parole after 11 months.

From the article:
But when a transit officer fatally shot Oscar Grant III in Oakland, Calif., in 2009, prompting protests nationwide, prosecutors charged the officer, Johannes Mehserle, with second-degree murder. They reviewed surveillance video that showed him pulling out a firearm and shooting Mr. Grant, who was lying face down on a train platform.

“What we had was ‘A shoots B,’ that’s all we know, it’s second-degree murder,” Tom Orloff, who was Alameda County district attorney when Mr. Mehserle was charged, said in an interview.

Mr. Mehserle would later argue in court that he meant to use a stun gun, a contention prosecutors challenged.

Mr. Orloff said that had prosecutors known Mr. Mehserle was going to make that argument before charging him, “it would have made it more likely that a manslaughter charge was filed as opposed to a murder charge.” Mr. Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Mike Rains, a lawyer in California who represents law enforcement in criminal and civil cases, including Mr. Mehserle, said officers mistake firearms for stun guns because they are on “autopilot,” and the officers should not be held criminally culpable.

He said many officers in such cases have been trained to draw the stun gun with the same hand as their firearm. He said they typically have fired only one shot with the firearm, indicating a mistake — if they intended to use the firearm, he said, they would likely have fired multiple shots.

“They aren’t thinking, they are reacting,” he said.

Several of the victims and their families in weapon confusion cases filed civil lawsuits against the officers who shot them after charges were denied. Courts have long set a high bar for permitting suits against officers in situations where they were performing their official duties under the theory known as qualified immunity. But courts have appeared more generous in cases of mistaken shootings, often setting immunity aside and allowing suits to move forward.
Click to expand...
 
Question, what do you do with a 5' tall, 80lb old lady with Dementia and sensory aphasia who slips away from her carriers, forgets to pay at Wallmart and then goes off to pick some wild flowers?

Answer (US Police Version): You repeatedly throw her to the ground and hog-tie her, being sure to do it enough to cause a fracture! Oh and make sure we leave it six hours before getting her any medical help.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qj8...ementia-picking-flowers-bodycam-footage-shows
 
Last edited:
Scaff
Question, what do you do with a 5' tall, 80lb old lady with Dementia and sensory aphasia who slips away from her carriers, forgets to pay at Wallmart and then goes off to pick some wild flowers?

Answer (US Police Version): You repeatedly throw her to the ground and hog-tie her, being sure to do it enough to cause a fracture! Oh and make sure we leave it six hours before getting her any medical help.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qj8...ementia-picking-flowers-bodycam-footage-shows
Click to expand...
It would have been okay if she'd just complied... :rolleyes:
 
And now we have the cop who made up reasons to stop people and then planted drugs and guns on them!

400 cases may end up tossed and a racial bias appears to be the reason behind it, as the vast majority of his stops were, you guessed it, black drivers.

"During the investigation, not only did Freitag confess that the stops were “pretext” for searching vehicles for drugs and guns, prosecuting attorney Steve Descano said Freitag’s stops displayed “potentially racially biased motive and racially biased impact,” according to The Post.

“They looked at 1,400 stops. When you’re looking at the stops, a very clear pattern emerged,” read a court filing from Descano, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney. “The officer involved has a long history of improper and unjust stops with a racially disparate impact,” Descano told WTOP."

https://news.yahoo.com/more-400-vir...zEGE8khml4T1_u_UnAi2ojYLHSYTsM-8JbVjh5bZz8Q_w
 
Last edited:
Scaff
And now we have the cop who made up reasons to stop people and then planted drugs and guns on them!

400 cases may end up tossed and a racial bias appears to be the reason behind it, as the vast majority of his stops were, you guessed it, black drivers.

"During the investigation, not only did Freitag confess that the stops were “pretext” for searching vehicles for drugs and guns, prosecuting attorney Steve Descano said Freitag’s stops displayed “potentially racially biased motive and racially biased impact,” according to The Post.

“They looked at 1,400 stops. When you’re looking at the stops, a very clear pattern emerged,” read a court filing from Descano, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney. “The officer involved has a long history of improper and unjust stops with a racially disparate impact,” Descano told WTOP."

https://news.yahoo.com/more-400-vir...zEGE8khml4T1_u_UnAi2ojYLHSYTsM-8JbVjh5bZz8Q_w
Click to expand...
On the one hand, yay. On the other hand, this doesn't look great for the people who were supposed to be overseeing his arrests and checking that they were justified. It makes you wonder how many other bad cops in similar positions are getting away with this. I wonder why he resigned from Fairfax County PD.

Here's a historical case from 2018 of systemic corruption in Baltimore. They set up a Gun Crime Task Force to take guns off the street but instead they carried toy guns to plant on suspects in case they shot them while they were unarmed, logged overtime when they weren't working and robbed and plundered citizens.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/2/16961146/baltimore-gun-trace-task-force-trial
 
Last edited:
Judge blasts U.S. Rep Maxine Waters for 'abhorrent' comments about Chauvin trial

Why on Earth would open your mouth and give the defense any reason for an appeal or a mistrial? Waters' comments were unjustified at this time and should've been saved until after the verdict. I know she's saying what many people are thinking, but at such a critical juncture in the case why would you even give a sliver of ammunition to the defense?

With that said though, if the verdict is anything other than guilty, cities are going to have a bad time. While most protestors will be peaceful and respectful, things will get out of hand really quick since a handful of people can whip up trouble pretty fast. As soon as the looting and rioting start, you just know the police aren't going to distinguish between the peaceful protester and a hooligan, they're just going to assume everyone is guilty, from the person carrying away a TV from Target to the old lady taking her dog for a walk.

I also worry about what happens if the verdict is guilty too. You just know that a bunch of pro-police, Trumpians are itching to have another excuse to parade around acting like the Gravy Seals' Meal Team Six wearing their XXXL tacticool gear.

We've even been told not to report to work downtown due to potential unrest, which is sadly becoming somewhat of a frequent occurrence.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

GranTurNismo
  • Poll
Defund the Police?
5 6 7
Replies
182
Views
9K
DK
DK
Famine
  • Locked
Gran Turismo 7 Update 1.54 Prediction & Discussion Thread
11 12 13
Replies
371
Views
79K
Lomic
Lomic
Jimlaad43
2020-21 Formula 1 Off-season thread
4 5 6
Replies
177
Views
16K
Dolph Drago
Dolph Drago
Silver_Wolf
F1 2020 General Discussion Thread
10 11 12
Replies
335
Views
28K
Jezza819
Jezza819
JohnBM01
The Year in Motorsports: 2020
Replies
12
Views
2K
HopAlong
HopAlong

Latest Posts

Back