Not what you wrote…
…Not everyone shot by the police is innocent. … Yeah I think this one with the sword smells fishy.
I do. I’ll give you a hint…
11 Likes
I’m mistaken about the distance? That’s your counter point? You are unfucking believable.
I will spell it out for you. The police clearly started the pursuit at more than 21 feet. The only way a black man in a comic outfit with a 2.5 foot fake sword could have ever been a threat to them is if they fucked up. Which they did.
4 Likes
What I don’t understand - the cops who drove up to the 12yo kid - the car comes careening into frame and they start to get out, talking to the kid, and he “goes for his gun”.
Why didn’t they park on the street, calmly, and use a freaking loud speaker to talk to the kid. Again, calmly.
Why must these cops escalate everything?
14 Likes
This is a lot like the cop who ordered the driver who is outside his car to get his driver’s license, and then shot the guy when he goes into his vehicle to retrieve said documentation.
What we see here is a guy wearing a sword (that apparently was a toy) running from cops with weapons drawn. Both his and the cop’s actions seem reasonable from their respective POV. He’s thinking “why are these crazy MFers pointing guns at me” and they’re thinking “why is this crazy MFer running from us with a samurai sword.”
5 Likes
Even the robot cops are white.
3 Likes
Sadly, either way, my post is valid.
1 Like
This seems to belong in this thread as well.
Certainly the case in Utah.
Edit: Probably should link to the originating article:
12 Likes
Couldn’t agree more. And in more civilised parts of the world, the police don’t do it either …
18 Likes
Just wait until the cops start shooting at people pointing cameras at them.
3 Likes
I think that it’s worth looking at police executing black people in the same way you might look at deaths from tobacco. It is hard to say that one specific person died directly because of their tobacco use with no other contributing factors. Our society has been able to step back from that, and see the huge statistical trends that show the damage of tobacco use. In the same way, any individual instance of police violence is going to have conflicting accounts, ambiguous evidence, etc. If you take a step back, though, the problem is painfully obvious.
10 Likes
You’re not even mistaken about the distance. The 21-foot “rule” only applies if
a) you don’t already have your pistol out, pointing at the ‘suspect’, and
b) your buddy/partner/alibi doesn’t also have his pistol out, also point at the ‘suspect’.
Besides which, drawing a 2 1/2 ft sword is considerably more time consuming (and unweildy when drawn) than a stabby knife. And, in fact, in order to actually weild a sword effectively the weilder needs to maintain some distance.
tl;dr: 10’ is more applicable here than 21’
8 Likes
[quote=“Icky, post:19, topic:47018, full:true”]
I have to disagree with you about the 12 year old. … When the officer told him not to move, the child reached for his waist band. … The most dangerous person with a gun is a child. … he made very poor choices that you left out of your comment for the sake of your argument.[/quote]
Have you ever shot with a pistol? It’s a pretty difficult skill to achieve. Anyone can look intimidating with one, but actually hitting a target beyond about 15m is actually quite hard. Add in adrenaline and the chances of a hit go way down. Add in the fact that he was a young kid apparently holding a big-ass gun, and his chances of hitting anything are microscopic. Basically, they had nothing to fear, even if the kid’s gun had been real.
And yes; those are complex judgements to make on the spur of the moment, but that’s exactly what cops are paid to do - evaluate complex problems swiftly and come to the correct conclusion. Clearly these cops failed in that basic task.
Furthermore, what on earth compelled them to think they had to resolve the situation RIGHTFUCKINGNOW!!! ? Is they some Union of American Cops (UAC) rule that says that all situations have to be resolved within 30 seconds of arriving that the scene? Chill the fuck out. Take a few minutes to situate yourself, and use that time and the additional information it will provide to improve your decision making.
14 Likes
Some of the Facebook comments to this particular post (on BoingBoing’s Facebook post) are FUCKING TERRIBLE.
These (and others just like it) were left in a public post using real names.
“Innocent people don’t run from the cops…js”
–
“Black white brown yellow. If the po-lice yell or go at you, especially if you have anything resembling a weapon (you know, like arms or hands), lay down on the ground w arms to the side. Like w bears and pumas: DON’T RUN.”
People expect black people to act perfectly in high-stress situations, and if they don’t, their punishment is death. As a woman who has spent most of her adult life on foot and using public transportation, I’ve had some weird ass shit happen to and around me, and you just don’t know how you are going to react to an unknown, high stress situation. How would I even know how to react to armed police officers chasing me for no immediately discernible fucking reason except for my skin color?
On Being a Black Male, Six Feet Four Inches Tall, in America in 2014
by W. Kamau Bell
18 Likes
Or it could have been a career ending rookie mistake I don’t know.
An unarmed man running away is DEAD, and you describe it as a “career ending rookie mistake”?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Are you fucking kidding me? Is that your take on this? Not that an unarmed black man – ANOTHER unarmed black man – is dead, but that a career rookie officer who killed and possibly murdered another human being’s career might be over? (Even though all evidence and prior experiene says that his career is in fact, NOT over, and he will soon have a fucking book deal and end up on Rush Limbaugh and Fox News bragging about how “he would do it all over again”…!!!)
I can’t. I just fucking can’t anymore, you guys
This shit is seriously depressing. How can anyone seriously say this shit and not see how fucked up it is?!
26 Likes
Also, almost all of the victims are now dead and cannot tell their side of the story or defend themselves, while the officers are alive and well. How convenient.
9 Likes
In most areas of the states, carrying a concealed firearm is actually a felony crime if you are not a CCW licensee.
Now, if he had had in a holster in an “open carry” state…
Not entirely true. Some folks are quite good without a lot of training. I’ve got a friend that has only been shooting a few times, but is quite a good instinctive shooter (I blame duck hunt on the NES for that). The first time he ever shot a real gun, he was plugging the 10 ring at 25 yards after the sights were explained to him (first with .38, then .357mag, sheesh!). You simply can’t bet on the other guy having no skills.
Also, when dealing with firearms, the consequences of actually being hit are so high that even being hit by a fluke lucky shot is not worth the risk.
But yeah, there are much better ways of handling the situation. Distance would have been great. If firearms need to be involved (as they may if the gun had turned out to be real), then sitting 50 yards away behind the patrol car with a megaphone and a rifle trained on the guy would have worked wonders. Distance certainly would have minimized the risk, and made a spur of the moment “shoot or be shot” decision unnecessary.
2 Likes
I am aware of this. There is first the argument that the alleged weapon was plainly visible to begin with. And secondly, that whoever called the police had no reason to assume that it was real or unlicensed. Just like with drivers, plumbers. etc - without any facts, there is neither “reasonable suspicion” nor “probable cause” to suggest that any crime was occurring on this basis alone.
It might be easy for police to say, after the fact, that the victim was twelve years old, and had no CCW license. But they did not this going in, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the caller didn’t either.
1 Like
Again, depends on where you are and local rules. It is absolutely a crime in a lot of areas to have a blade above a certain length, sheathed or not on your person, or even in a non-locked compartment of your vehicle if you are not traveling to or from an activity where the use of that blade is legal.
For example, I can take my sword to iaido class, carry it sheathed from the parking lot to the dojo, and even transport it in my car. I cannot take it with me in the car to the grocery store, not can I decide to take it on a (sheathed) walk around my neighborhood. I am allowed to own it, have it on my property, transport it to or from legal activities, but little else.
