Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/06/17/prosecutor-announces-charges-a.html
Prosecutor: Officers stood on Rayshard Brooks’ shoulder, kicked him while he lay on the ground struggling for life.
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Charges are great.
Proof of change will come with convictions.
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True, but this sort of thing helps a surprising amount.
From anecdotes I’ve heard, discharging a firearm while on duty in Canada triggers an automatic investigation and desk duty during that investigation. Actual convictions are rare, but I’ve heard that the threat of a large amount of paperwork is enough to keep firearms in their holsters.
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For some reason I gathered it was same in US. M to late husband was investigated for discharging firearm in the air?
When I was a kid we had “playground rules.” Little kids were able to follow them. Is it that way now? Or are kids allowed to attack from the rear and “call the others out?” Never know these days.
It seems elementary NOT to shoot at person running away?! All it means is the guy gets away and you catch him later? Unless he stops, turns, and starts firing at officer, he’s not danger running AWAY?
What about George Floyd? Face down handcuffed. The ONLY thing cops should do to someone handcuffed and grounded, is help him stand up and loaf him in police car?
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Almost exactly two years ago, Antwon Rose II was shot in the back by Officer Michael Rosfeld while fleeing from police in East Pittsburgh, PA. Rosfeld was charged with criminal homicide, but acquitted.
I’ve had people whose opinions I usually respect say that, because Rose was a suspect in an earlier shooting, the officer was right to shoot because Rose might have had a gun and might have been a danger to others if allowed to escape.
I disagree, but the jury appears to agree with my friend. It seems (from evidence) that Antwon Rose II was no angel, but I really don’t think that cops should have the right to simply execute suspects.
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It’s part of their military training and possible abuse of substances/steroids: when they’re out to get someone, that someone ceases to be a person and becomes a target. They achieve maximum efficiency by taking out every bit of their humanity, any shadow of their empathy, so that they would feel absolutely nothing when shooting someone in the back. This unquestionably makes them extremely efficient, but also turns them into plain psychopath murderers, ie the very last persons to give power, uniforms and guns.
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Exactly ! They had his car, they could find out where he lived quite easily. But the FIRST instinct is to pull his gun and shoot. R Brooks even offered to walk home during the 40 plus minute interrogation.
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Remember Mr Brooks was patted down before the struggle, so these cops knew for a fact that he was not armed.
What is also brushed aside in all of this is that the officer fired when there were others people in his line of fire. One of his bullets struck an occupied parked car, so he also had no qualms about killing a bystander or two.
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The taser which Brooks was carrying had already been fired at him and my impression of tasers is that they are one shot devices. They need to be reloaded with cartridges, wires, etc.
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Y’know what security people stop brawls and properly handle people on mind altering substances, angry customers, people who try to pass fake bills, people selling individual cigarettes, sexual harassers and inebriated bullies, with a much better record of not shooting them or continuing to beat them after they’ve said Uncle?
Bar bouncers.
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What would also help is more charges, so this doesn’t end up as just an outlier/sacrifice situation in an attempt to appease the masses. More cops on trial, being held accountable for their actions.
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This is a mantra that comes from police unions to protect their own. The head of the union in Minneapolis said the same thing about George Floyd, surprising nobody. Floyd had turned his life around and was mentoring others to do the same. Zero tolerance, stop n frisk and broken windows theory policing have disproportionately landed people of color in jail with a record for things white kids also do, also maybe shouldn’t do, but routinely get away with as “youthful indiscretion/hijinks.”
On another note, I would not want to meet Officer Rolfe on Route 66.
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Piss poor excuses and weak justifications for intolerable behavior, in other words.
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Fuck, look at Buffalo. A white anti-nuke senior citizen was no angel, either, if you ask them.
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And short range. They knew he didn’t pose any threat whatsoever.
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In the USA, everyone and anyone who isn’t obviously a child might have a gun, and it’s entirely their right to have one. Having a gun isn’t illegal. Having a gun is supposedly a patriotic expression of your constitutional rights. Shooting at someone just because they might have a gun isn’t acceptable.
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That doesn’t mean he should be summarily fucking executed …
Right? it’s still fucking racist ass bullshit.
That’s only true for some people and we all know it.
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You are both so awesome. Yeah. So I guess there are two conversations there - one, police unions need to cut it out, and two, the press is practicing and perpetuating racism by serving as their bullhorn.
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I concur; it’s a multi-layered problem.
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Including average citizens who seem okay with executing people not even charged with a crime yet.
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