Frankly, police departments do just about diddly-squit when sued, quite
often. Where has it gotten us, exactly? It’s not their money. You
really have to remember that, because they don’t forget.
We got to this point of the culture of violence and institutionalized
racism in police forces across the country, suing the pants off of various
municipalities, counties, states, and even occasionally the Fed. Quite
obviously, lawsuits are not enough. Furthermore, even when attempts are
made to prosecute criminal police behavior, most especially murder, anyone
want to stop and recollect how that goes nearly every time? Well?
The ONLY way you are going to see lasting change, is to make it socially
intolerable for those in power to condone this type of police misbehavior.
Period. Otherwise, a fascist police force serves the needs of the wealthy
and powerful amazingly well, thenkyew, and it’s only going to get worse.
Really? Cannot comment specifically on US municipalities, per se, but many elsewhere are partly or wholly self-insured for some classes of risk (and knowing what I do about insurers, I doubt many would underwrite this sort of liability other than at eye-watering rates, given many municipalities’ representatives’ predilection for getting it wrong, for various classes of “it”).
Exactly. While legal action, both civil and criminal, is certainly
appropriate, so far, honestly, it hasn’t been effective. Losing other
people’s (our!) money doesn’t really bother the rich and powerful all that
much, folks. If you don’t make it personal, many simply do not give a
f*ck. You think the Chee-To-In-Chief minds spending other peoples’ money
at all, as a perfect example? If so, you haven’t been paying attention at
all -.-’ .
There’s also apparently dashcam video of the crash which seems to show the officers pretty far back from the fleeing suspect. Who then appears to deliberately swerve head-on into the semi. (I’m not linking it because I don’t like posting video of fatalities)
The cop whose video this is, was basically treating Payne like a dumb dangerous animal. "You can talk to him, just let him take her to the car."
Don’t want to antagonize the unstable, armed maniac.
I don’t blame you, and the consideration is appreciated.
If the suspect driving the pickup truck intentionally swerved into a head-on collision, and they have proof of that via their dash-cam, then the LEO’s rationale for obtaining a blood sample from the other driver makes even less sense.
I don’t disagree that whatever the original motive may have been, escalating this conflict was the result of a hissy fit just because the officer in question didn’t get to have his way.
If they hadn’t said he was a truck driver in a second job, I would say how else would the ‘peace officers’ haul around all the inventory for their drug dealing business or all the loot they’ve stolen in civil forfeitures?
But there is one scenario that makes sense. They’re trying to set him up, frame him. Either they need a patsy or someone in the department (apparently another department from his) is pissed off at him and saw an opportunity to abuse their power for a personal vendetta.
That sounds about right. The fact that they were so violently adamant about it seems to fit a setup.
Again, if they have dashcam footage showing that the dead driver veered into the oncoming truck, why would they even need to go to such lengths?
Seems like a really idiotic way of ‘covering one’s ass’… by drawing even more unnecessary attention to it.
The personal grudge theory also seems unlikely; the officers in pursuit of the fleeing suspect could not have predicted who would be involved in the collision.
I’m not sure which idea is more disturbing-
A cover up to avoid the consequences of a high speed chase, or that the commanding officer and Payne were both unaware of the decade old laws against blood draws without a warrant, and this is SOP, complete with the shitty attitude. Either way the story is fishy as hell.
This. The firemen and nurses I’ve met (off duty) tend to have an air of competence and confidence, while the cops I’ve met are more likely to seem brash and cocky.
Corruption and coverups are disturbing but all too common, unfortunately.
I’m more mortified by the latter; that these so called officers of the law don’t even know the current laws, and expect compliance with no questions even when they are dead wrong.
I see it as personal in the sense of seeking evidence to ensure punishment of the driver, to the fullest extent. Who knows, it could be pre-existing and a longer story, but this chapter seems pretty clear cut. A death penalty conviction or even a long sentence requires a lot of evidence, and you have to put aside a lot of questions the defense can bring up, like was the truck driver impaired and can you prove that. In a moment like this, for a fellow officer, they’re going to cover all the bases. They are presuming his consent to give that evidence, and incorrectly so. The longer they wait, the less a blood test tells them.
Doing it right can be so frustrating, that cop has such a low tolerance for such frustration!
Did they give him ethanol, amphetamines, methampheamines, benzo’s, etc?? for pain. No evidence he was on those, also no evidence he was not. Tox screen can tell drugs apart.
