although ironically, I don't want the cop to get the death penalty at all
[News] The USA Police State will never satisfy its lust for beating, gassing, and imprisoning minorities
- Thread starter Charlie Don't Surf
- Start date
Well, he was standing outside his car in the video, so it didn't look like he had his seat belt on to me.
Open and shut case, ain't it?
Dave
Staff member
TIL @ThatGrinningIdiot is, in fact, LeQuack!
The issue is that most officers are trained to go into nearly every situation assuming the person they are talking with, not matter how small a stop (especially if he is black/minority), is just a slight move away from turning into a hail of bullets or sudden stabbings. It reminds me of this old hilarious police training video. I wouldn't be surprised if the thought process of the cop in the video was that the black man was five seconds away from doing exactly what that Canadian redneck did in the first few moments of this video. Also, watch out for Asians, we all know they charge at you with baseball bats / machetes when you tell them they have a tail light out.
Listen, there is no reason a cop can't be careful, but that man above didn't even get a chance to turn around before the cop started wailing at him with deadly bullets. There has to be some measure of restrain unless the situation you are walking into you know up front is an ugly one (spousal abuse, hostage situation, etc.)
Listen, there is no reason a cop can't be careful, but that man above didn't even get a chance to turn around before the cop started wailing at him with deadly bullets. There has to be some measure of restrain unless the situation you are walking into you know up front is an ugly one (spousal abuse, hostage situation, etc.)
Last edited:
BE MORE CANADIAN!
3 to 6 months of an academy, on top of an associate's or bachelor's degree in law enforcement.[DOUBLEPOST=1411743819,1411743708][/DOUBLEPOST]You don't go back into the car with out telling the cop exactly what you are going to do. The cop should have taken another second to be sure when the kid came back out of the car, that he did not have a gun.
I agree with throw the book at him. I said as much. Doesn't mean I can't still feel empathy for him.
Dave
Staff member
False. He's a young black man with a fairly nice car. That means it's stolen and he's a criminal thug. And he "aggressively lunged" back into the car, so he was obviously going for a gun to "pop a cap in a pig's ass". So he deserved to be shot at four times but only hit once. /s
Yeah...This whole thing is just stupid. The guy was getting out of his car to go into the convenience store when the cop asked him to get his license. Yes, the guy shoud have said, "It's in the car, I'm going to get it." but I don't think the cop would have allowed that, either. He went into the situation thinking the guy was a criminal when it was a simple seat belt violation.
And four shots at point blank range and only hitting once in the leg? I think that's fortunate for the victim, but come on! They train you to go for center mass. I know pistols are more difficult to shoot than most people think, but this guy is a trained officer and should have a better aim than that!
Clearly not trained very well, if his first response is to open fire.
This situation is nothing like the suicide by cop guy. This police officer shot an unarmed citizen who was in no major violation.
This isn't even in contention like the stand your ground murders. This is straight up either incompetence by the cop at the least, blatant racial profiling at the worst, and this sort of thing should not be tolerated or shrugged off. Sure this cop is a human being, but he also made his own bed, so he damn well better lie in it.
BTW, I'm going to go out on a weird and controversial limb here and say that this type of behavior is exactly why Al Queda has won. You may say "come on Bowielee, that's quite a stretch", but it's not. Ever since 9/11 we've become so xenophobic and paranoid that everyone's jumping at shadows. It's like people lack any sort of rational sense about judging how dangerous another person is or isn't. We're so afraid of even each other now that people are defaulting to a mindset that everyone is carrying a gun so I should shoot first, ask questions later. It shows in how militarized the police force has become, by how extreme the gun control arguments have become (on both sides). We're running scared (and here's where I REALLY get into tinfoil hat territory), and big business and the media(which are pretty much one in the same) are milking it for all it's worth and exacerbating the problem.
This isn't even in contention like the stand your ground murders. This is straight up either incompetence by the cop at the least, blatant racial profiling at the worst, and this sort of thing should not be tolerated or shrugged off. Sure this cop is a human being, but he also made his own bed, so he damn well better lie in it.
BTW, I'm going to go out on a weird and controversial limb here and say that this type of behavior is exactly why Al Queda has won. You may say "come on Bowielee, that's quite a stretch", but it's not. Ever since 9/11 we've become so xenophobic and paranoid that everyone's jumping at shadows. It's like people lack any sort of rational sense about judging how dangerous another person is or isn't. We're so afraid of even each other now that people are defaulting to a mindset that everyone is carrying a gun so I should shoot first, ask questions later. It shows in how militarized the police force has become, by how extreme the gun control arguments have become (on both sides). We're running scared (and here's where I REALLY get into tinfoil hat territory), and big business and the media(which are pretty much one in the same) are milking it for all it's worth and exacerbating the problem.
I'd agree with all that.
Six month sound awefully short for police training.
Guilt and second-guessing yourself can scar you for life as effectively as any bullet. Ask any soldier/EMT worker/other PTSD sufferer.
It could've been avoided, sure, but it's still a tragedy on both ends.
--Patrick
Dave
Staff member
That's longer than training in the Marine Corps.
This.
Was it posted here, or did I read it somewhere else? I remember reading a nice article about why military experience is not necessarily a good trait to have for police officers. The gist of it was that military training teaches you to kill. That is your muscle memory development, whereas police training trains you to first and foremost protect. It seems a lot of former military dudes go on to be cops, which I think is ultimately a bad thing.
I can't imagine what it feels like to be a cop, though. It seems like a delightful mix of treading a fine line of cautiousness and courteousness. In the military, you follow orders and you shoot to kill. There's really no gray area. I think being a police officer entails so much more (for less recognition). What I think a lot of cops forget though is that they are public servants - just as much as every other civil job out there. This is especially true of cops that are former military with a "get some" attitude drilled into them.
The cop at the quickie mart here was 100% in the wrong, but I can kinda empathize if his training has him assume everyone is a potential threat. Honestly, how many stories are there where a good cop was murdered at a routine traffic stop. What a shitty way to go. If you think about that video, it is conceivable that if that pulled a gun, the cop would have been dead (unless of course, he was as shitty a shot as the cop). Cop should have hung back at his squad car, but then again, he wasn't acting with intent to serve the public. He was indeed racially profiling that man to begin with.[DOUBLEPOST=1411823309,1411823261][/DOUBLEPOST]
I can't imagine what it feels like to be a cop, though. It seems like a delightful mix of treading a fine line of cautiousness and courteousness. In the military, you follow orders and you shoot to kill. There's really no gray area. I think being a police officer entails so much more (for less recognition). What I think a lot of cops forget though is that they are public servants - just as much as every other civil job out there. This is especially true of cops that are former military with a "get some" attitude drilled into them.
The cop at the quickie mart here was 100% in the wrong, but I can kinda empathize if his training has him assume everyone is a potential threat. Honestly, how many stories are there where a good cop was murdered at a routine traffic stop. What a shitty way to go. If you think about that video, it is conceivable that if that pulled a gun, the cop would have been dead (unless of course, he was as shitty a shot as the cop). Cop should have hung back at his squad car, but then again, he wasn't acting with intent to serve the public. He was indeed racially profiling that man to begin with.[DOUBLEPOST=1411823309,1411823261][/DOUBLEPOST]
See above for why police training should probably be longer than military.
And that's part of it; I know some people don't want to go for the race thing, but there's a reason I posted it in this particular thread. If it had been my stepdad, for example, a middle class blue collar white guy who routinely forgets to put his seatbelt on, no shots would've been fired. He would've been ticketed and we'd have never heard about it.
This is a minor thing, but what if instead of changing the "guilty" party's race to white in the example, it's "what if the cop WASN'T racist?"
Since this video came out, I've seen some discussion in places on 'how to act around police,' with advice such as "don't make quick, sudden movements, don't reach into your pocket without declaring your actions," etc etc. These are all things I've heard before, and things I do in the times I have to deal with police, like traffic stops, but I suddenly had a realization that made me kinda sad. That this advice is considered common knowledge suggests that the population as a whole should fear police, basically treating them as if they're this:
Well, yeah. You should be scared of the police, because they can ruin your life in so many ways and end your life with zero repercussions thanks to the blue shield. Darren Wilson is still free after everything that happened with and in Ferguson.
I must be mixing up my huge, evil entities that are fuckin' everyone up
Changing the race as an example is to point out the racism; saying there shouldn't be racism is a goal/ideal, but not an example.
One thing that has been gnawing at me. Why is the officer's first reaction on a frelling SEAT BELT VIOLATION to go for his gun? Not to mention, the whole incident happened on private property. What jurisdiction would he have even had to make a stop? Do you ticket someone when they haven't yet pulled out of their driveway? Is a convenience store parking lot much different?
Which is why I think he was poorly trained--not just for bad aim, but for everything leading up to it.