Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

“He never intended to mistreat anyone, but was only reacting to a situation and the challenges that it presented,” Ms. Bishkin said. “He apologizes to all who were offended.”

He pulled a gun on children. I can't stop thinking about how much worse it could have gotten.

It goes a lot deeper than taking offence.

standard non-apology apology

I feel sympathy if he was stressed out, but he didn't just take it out on some kids. He specifically took it out on the black kids, while apparently ignoring the white kids.

According to his statement, he took it out on one white kid too. So there you go, racism is over.

Apparently steroid abuse is a big problem among cops. I mean just look at how different his composure is than the other cops and the teenagers. It's like he's full of just barely contained rage. He just doesn't seem to be in any normal frame of mind at all.

http://www.theonion.com/article/insecure-frustrated-bully-with-something-to-prove--33427

It is so depressing to see white supremacists come out of the woodwork again to "support the police". I mean, if you check these people's tweets and affiliations, they're into extreme gun politics and real Klan-type "defend our white neighborhood" stuff. And these police groups say NOTHING about it, so I have zero sympathy for them. Look who defends their crybaby attitude!

http://i.imgur.com/tSqbdZp.jpg

latest gotcha moment by the pro-police crowd for that really horrible attack on the police station in Dallas last night: http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/fredricka-whitfield-cnn-apology-dallas-gunman-controversy-1201519467/

even though context makes clear that she was clearly saying the attacks were audacious and fearless, not praising them (and although they're often used that way, brave and courageous aren't technically inherently 'positive' adjectives). Poor choice of words, for sure, and an apology is warranted, but of course the whole net's in an uproar over what was likely a spur of the moment statement that didn't come out the way the anchor intended.

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150618/washington-heights/video-of-chicago-police-officer-firing-into-car-of-teens-released-by-judge

"You don’t start firing into a car full of unarmed people,” Berman told the Reporter. “You just don’t do that.”

hmm dunno if the evidence supports ya here yr honor

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2015/06/19/whitehall-ohio-4-year-old-accidentially-shot-by-columbus-police-officer.html

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/19/nicholas-thomas-shot-in-back-police

two blocks away from last night, the police shot a guy in the head after he flagged them down and then "extended a towel-wrapped arm towards them". The cops told him to put down the gun and then shot him. Anyway, unarmed OF COURSE.

video showed him with a big head wound and the cops flipping him over and cuffing him. He's still alive somehow.

thats terrible :(

trying to be very "objective" from where I'm sitting behind a computer, reading nomar's words, pointedly not-watching the video

... but "Being objective" pretty quickly turns into, "Making excuses based around the premise that a police officer's job is especially dangerous & they have to worry about things a normal person wouldn't; like din't you ever see that 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' about the guy who's trying to jump from a hotel room downtown, & the police officer who's trying to talk him down, where the twist is that the police officer was sleeping with the man's wife, & the man knew who he was & staged the whole thing in order to have the officer fall to his death when, at the end, suspecting nothing, he finally steps out onto the ledge in order to help bring the fellow in?"

on the bright side: at least the second officer didn't ALSO start firing #babysteps

more info on nomar's story: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-man-with-towel-on-arm-shot-in-head-by-lapd-20150620-story.html

unconfirmed but I'm also hearing that the man had burned his hand on an overheating engine, flagged down officers for help, they thought he had a gun, etc etc. all just rumors though.

(xp) "at least one officer" fired shots -- so maybe there is no bright side

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/24/baltimore-officer-tweets_n_7655204.html

ta for that, must admit police shitting in ppls houses is news to me

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/06/25/an-interview-with-the-baltimore-cop-whos-revealing-all-the-horrible-things-he-saw-on-the-job/?hpid=z3

this fucking bullshit
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/26/1396855/-Video-of-Philadelphia-man-holding-his-infant-daughter-arrested-for-not-paying-her-trainfare

supposedly that guy had just attacked his child's mother and taken the kid. who knows what happened precisely, but it sounds more complicated than the initial reports let on...

from the escaped prisoner story

The shooting occurred about 3:20 p.m. after Sgt. Jay Cook saw a suspicious man walking down a roadway in the Town of Constable, according to the state police. The sergeant ordered Mr. Sweat to stop, but he broke into a run and the sergeant, a firearms instructor, opened fire

definitely great police tactics in general

baltimore police commissioner canned

Kevin Davis did a pretty good job when he was chief of my county, as far as I know. Increased community outreach. Wonder if he'll be able to do good in bmore.

i am not optimistic anything good will happen in baltimore re: the police department, for all eternity. batts needed to go but our mayor is so useless. she can't do anything without coating it in uselessness.

ffs

http://nypost.com/2015/07/14/nypd-union-head-on-the-citys-obscene-eric-garner-settlement

I couldn't even properly read that

ugh

Nope

holy *shit* that's awful.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-federal-judge-orders-release-of-videos-20150714-story.html?14369191098620#page=1

wtf?!! these guys were tying to help their friend who made the call about the missing bike. this is too much anymore. i have no reason to believe that cops aren't just scared thugs with guns and a badges.

what the fuck are they so damn scared of that all of them have their guns drawn? this is fucked . oh i forgot in their minds we are all criminals they just haven't caught yet.

Not nearly as bad as most the other things on here, but enraging nonetheless:
former officer mocks police with email thanking the service for paying him while he was suspended

https://www.facebook.com/sandra.bland.5070/videos/10100617026077324
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/nytnow/online-campaign-questions-official-account-of-sandra-bland-death.html
this shit is straight terrifying

This is following a pattern similar to my great-grandfather's lynching in 1948.

died by "self-inflicted asphyxiation," according to sheriff's deputies, who have turned the investigation over to Texas Rangers.

oh im sure they will do a great job "investigating" their buddies

Hey guys guess what
http://www.salon.com/2015/07/16/video_shows_that_african_american_woman_who_died_in_custody_did_not_assault_an_officer_as_police_claimed/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

http://www.wbez.org/news/city-fires-investigator-who-found-cops-fault-shootings-112423

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/20/us/sandra-bland-arrest-death-videos-maps.html

^assume this is going to be updated as the case progresses.

http://investigations.myajc.com/caroline-small-shooting/

Warning: in addition to this being another story of unnecessary lethal police force followed by the expected corruption, coverup, stonewalling, etc, this article itself has really weird and unreliable formatting, at least on the two devices I've used to access it, and the landing page may very well be an autoplaying video of the shooting.

https://twitter.com/deray/status/623661175323033601

~8 min. dash cam footage of sandra bland stop

Nothing about this Bland case makes sense to me. It doesn't make sense that somebody would just hang themself out of the blue. And with a plastic bag -- who would even know how? But I also don't understand what the competing theory is if there's really video showing nobody coming in and out between her last communication and her death.

A lot can happen in 90 minutes