The majority* of police officers here are still of the well-trained type with a 2 to 3 year duration (depending on the state). It’s the outlook I see as doubleplusungood.
* e.g. Hesse: This year some 550 new students at the police college (well-trained officers) and almost 100 of the “other”** type
** replace with an unfriedly term of your choosing
Generally in US locations there is one “send help” telephone number, 911. No matter what you call for, they often send police first.
From the video it appears as if the car was stopped in the road, straddling both lanes. It’s not totally nuts to call 911 in that situation.
Yup, that’s a serious problem. It is not a universal problem. I’m just saying, if someone is pushing from the cop side of the equation to improve things, we should reach out a hand to help them and not just lump them with the ones who are actively working to keep things the way they are.
With the increasing likelihood of death being the outcome of calling the police (especially if the motorist in question is not white), it’s very nuts to call 911 when a tow truck was significantly more appropriate.
<a href=“http://www.killedbypolice.net/“target=”_blank”>837 people have been killed by police in the US so far this year. 12 killed since Mr. Crutcher was killed last Friday, and the 3rd quarter of 2016 doesn’t close for another 10 days. Police will kill at least a dozen more US citizens before the end of the month.
I have severe hyperacusis, and strobe-induced vertigo, and a reasonable fear of dogs. I suspect that some people would consider that “acting erratically.”
So from my point of view, when people say a shooting was justified because the victim “was acting erratically,” or “didn’t comply with police orders,” they’re implying that shooting disabled people is justified. [a lot of deaf people get killed]. And that shooting anyone who thought this was supposed to be a free country would be justified.
Note that dogs are predators to begin with, have been used as weapons, have been bred into grotesque shapes, have poisonous skin coverings, and are said to only attack people who are afraid of them. [technically they have allergy-inducing fur, but from my point of view it’s still poisonous]. That combination of traits belongs in a horror movie, not in real life.
What’s with the weird backing up toward the camera after the shooting? It looks like they are just trying to keep her face off camera. Other people are walking, driving around like he is no longer a threat. They are not trying to subdue him more because they know he is no longer a threat. Why the weird backing toward the camera?
Judging by Fivethirtyeight, 44.5% of American voters support the Nazi.
It’s going to be hard to solve these problems when some people see these problems as the first solution, and others will go along for some awful reason.
And most of that dozen will be people of color.
I am so sickened, right now.
While I know well you can take a poll to say almost anything depending on how you word the questions, I agree with you insofar as apathy is tacit support, and most American voters who aren’t directly affected by injustice would rather minimize, rationalize and ignore it.
Yup. And that web site only has the killings that made it into media reports. Not included, without doubt, are countless vulnerable people living on the very fringe of society. Prostitutes, trafficked humans, illegal immigrants, homeless people, and various combinations of the above. And for @MarjaE - I’m not forgetting how many disabled people end up homeless by not specifically mentioning them above.
I strongly suspect that what happened was that she pulled the trigger in response to his reaction to being tazed. She had her finger on the trigger and was startled.
The racism here isn’t “I’m going to shoot a man because he is black” but “I’m afraid of this man because he his black” and he was accidentally shot because of that fear.
You can hear this fear in the helicopter video, the narrator declaring him “a big bad dude” based on his walking away with his hands up.
I think you’re right. She shouldn’t have had her finger on the trigger; he had his hands in the air! May have been a situation like this one where the officer didn’t have complete control of her gun.
I think your hypothesis that she’s trying to keep her face off camera is a good starting point.
I propose also:
Once you’re shot by the police, even if the shooter knows instantly it was a mistake, you become a tactical problem (rather than, you know, a casualty) until every single police officer on the scene has a warm fuzzy about their own personal safety. Try to bleed slowly.
Sorry but around here a broken car doesn’t warrant an emergency response. The UK also has only one number 999, but I can’t imagine anyone calling it because a car breaks down. You turn on the hazard light you stop the vehicle after on the other side of the road. You get someone to hold up traffic and the others push the car out of the way.
If the person is member of a motor club you call them. Otherwise you give them lift into town to a garage or to friends and family.
I really don’t understand where in these occasions the police come in.
This is something that has struck me on repeated occasions. People call the police for: there is a stranger on the lawn opposite my house kind of stuff.
Who the fuck decided that it was okay to use hazardous lights in public places anyway? let alone okay to mandate hazardous lights?
I know you have to be immune to the hazardous lights to be allowed to drive, but those of us who aren’t immune still need to be able to walk down the street, cross the street, wait for the taxi after the eeg, etc.
You don’t need hazard lights if you are in the middle of a city with slow moving traffic.
If, on the other hand, you are on a Motorway where the average traffic is 100km / hr and your car suddenly stops. Hazard lights will be the least of your problems. In these situations there are no pedestrians (illegal to cycle or walk on a motorway). There is only flowing traffic and your stationary vehicle.
In such a situation hazard lights might be the thing between you and death. Not to mention the threat you pose to other drivers.
It’s part of our culture of crippling fear. It started out as part of the divide between the rural and urban populations; but now sadly the urban attitudes have infected the countryside. I remember when that was not true.
I live on a narrow road with no shoulders. When people break down, I walk out and offer to help. If they are the same race and gender as me, they are suspicious - why am I offering to help instead of trying to hustle or victimize them? Have I got a nefarious plan? If they are of a different race or gender, they are afraid, and it shows - what is this Othered person going to do to me?
Of course, if somebody calls the police, then everyone is afraid, and for good reason.
The other fucked up thing that always happens in these videos: Did NO ONE think to offer any aid at all? Does everyone always just stand the fuck around?
Was it obvious that the man was instantly dead? Without anyone needing to check the body? Could he have been saved?
…or does trying to save him mean that you admit that he was human, and that you admit that maybe he shouldn’t die?
