Pray for Charlotte, NC

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:If the police story that officers saw Scott exit the vehicle with a gun and then get back into the truck is true, I am confused why the officer with the red shirt went right up to the passenger side window. Presuming that Scott is right-handed, that would be the easiest place to get shot. Moreover, the gun has been described as "very small" which is consistent with the photo I posted. I am skeptical that it would be visible and identifiable from much of a distance.

Also, all of you Monday morning quarterbacks saying, "if the police tell you to drop a gun and your a holding a book, drop it" or whatever, remember that this individual suffers from traumatic brain injury. His wife said he had just taken his medicine. Chances are that the impact of those two elements might interfere with his behavior.

Again, I think there were plenty of opportunities for the police to deescalate. Human beings should not be treated as disposable items.

I assume you're aware of the irony of calling other PPs "Monday morning quarterbacks," right?

It's really a shame your job involves sitting in front of a computer screen, when we all can see you have a supremely honed sense of proper police behavior in any given scenario. You'd be a true asset to the force.

What is sadly not ironic is that there is no chance to change Scott's behavior to prevent recurrences of such instances. In contrast, the police can change their training and practices to emphasize deescalation over shooting as the earliest opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thing with him holding a book, and not a gun....

If I was holding a book that a cop mistook for a gun, and he ordered me to drop the gun, I would probably say...."it's a book." But if the cop kept ordering me to drop the "gun," you know what I would do! Drop the damn book! Why is that so complicated?

Plus, what was the wife yelling to her husband not to do? Don't point the book at the cop? Let's get real.

Jeff posted pictures a few pages back; you cannot prove there was ever any gun because maybe it was a glove.

Jeff even pointed out you cannot prove the police didn't plant the gun, after they planed the man's fingerprints on it, and planted his blood on it, and his DNA too.

These cops - they're like magicians! I tell you what.

[Anonymous]

As for the wife's video, I just don't understand that if her husband had mental issues, why she didn't walk up and try to talk him down--rather than screaming while she shot the video. Screaming "don't do it" is pretty damning to me. I also think that if my husband had been shot that I would have tried to go up to him and see if her were alive rather than taping the event. I just find it odd. None of this makes much sense.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:As for the wife's video, I just don't understand that if her husband had mental issues, why she didn't walk up and try to talk him down--rather than screaming while she shot the video. Screaming "don't do it" is pretty damning to me. I also think that if my husband had been shot that I would have tried to go up to him and see if her were alive rather than taping the event. I just find it odd. None of this makes much sense.

It appears that the police were telling her to stay away. She kept saying that she wasn't going near them and was staying where she was. Indeed, I believe the police should have engaged her to help deescalate.

From what I understand, she had been with her husband and left to get a charger. She was gone two minutes and returned to the scene we see in the video. She probably had no idea how things got to that point and was in shock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As for the wife's video, I just don't understand that if her husband had mental issues, why she didn't walk up and try to talk him down--rather than screaming while she shot the video. Screaming "don't do it" is pretty damning to me. I also think that if my husband had been shot that I would have tried to go up to him and see if her were alive rather than taping the event. I just find it odd. None of this makes much sense.

IMHO, she was saying, "Don't do it" to the police, not to her husband.

The police ordered her to stay back more than once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As for the wife's video, I just don't understand that if her husband had mental issues, why she didn't walk up and try to talk him down--rather than screaming while she shot the video. Screaming "don't do it" is pretty damning to me. I also think that if my husband had been shot that I would have tried to go up to him and see if her were alive rather than taping the event. I just find it odd. None of this makes much sense.

It seems she was more interested in getting evidence against the police than trying to do something to save her husband's life. I can see where she wants to get a video, but I'd give that up to save - or try to save - my husband's life if the choice came down to one or the other.

[Anonymous]

Stabilized video..at 1:07 you can see an object on the ground. The cop in red is not over it. As the wife approaches, he stands over it, possibly to prevent her from rushing to get it?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_WcX2cUeLOw

[Anonymous]

At the end of the day these cops out here are way too preoccupied with pulling triggers than preserving lives, way more inclined to instigate conflicts than deescalate them and that comes down to training.
If you're fine and dandy with police being indoctrinated to shoot first and investigate later so long as it primarily affects black citizens in impoverished areas then I warn you...those tendencies to take extreme action won't be limited to just underclass very long.
Eventually those bad habits of handling situations are going to make their way into the suburbs and before you know it, it's going to be more than just poor black families pressing police for answers after a loved one has been killed.
History has shown that plagues - whether viral or moral - don't restrict themselves to single areas.
They spread.
That's what diseases do and this sickness of senseless overaggressive policing is steadily spreading throughout law enforcement agencies.
We can act now to address it in the interest of preserving humanity and protecting the rights of all citizens or we can allow ourselves to be distracted by petty nuances concerning race and class and allow the disease to fester and grow and ultimately put all of our lives at risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day these cops out here are way too preoccupied with pulling triggers than preserving lives, way more inclined to instigate conflicts than deescalate them and that comes down to training.
If you're fine and dandy with police being indoctrinated to shoot first and investigate later so long as it primarily affects black citizens in impoverished areas then I warn you...those tendencies to take extreme action won't be limited to just underclass very long.
Eventually those bad habits of handling situations are going to make their way into the suburbs and before you know it, it's going to be more than just poor black families pressing police for answers after a loved one has been killed.
History has shown that plagues - whether viral or moral - don't restrict themselves to single areas.
They spread.
That's what diseases do and this sickness of senseless overaggressive policing is steadily spreading throughout law enforcement agencies.
We can act now to address it in the interest of preserving humanity and protecting the rights of all citizens or we can allow ourselves to be distracted by petty nuances concerning race and class and allow the disease to fester and grow and ultimately put all of our lives at risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day these cops out here are way too preoccupied with pulling triggers than preserving lives, way more inclined to instigate conflicts than deescalate them and that comes down to training.
If you're fine and dandy with police being indoctrinated to shoot first and investigate later so long as it primarily affects black citizens in impoverished areas then I warn you...those tendencies to take extreme action won't be limited to just underclass very long.
Eventually those bad habits of handling situations are going to make their way into the suburbs and before you know it, it's going to be more than just poor black families pressing police for answers after a loved one has been killed.
History has shown that plagues - whether viral or moral - don't restrict themselves to single areas.
They spread.
That's what diseases do and this sickness of senseless overaggressive policing is steadily spreading throughout law enforcement agencies.
We can act now to address it in the interest of preserving humanity and protecting the rights of all citizens or we can allow ourselves to be distracted by petty nuances concerning race and class and allow the disease to fester and grow and ultimately put all of our lives at risk.

This is such BS. Cops preserve lives, deescalate conflict, and work to help others every day. You don’t see this because it happens hundreds of time, every day, all year long, and it is so routine that nobody takes the time to record it (and it doesn’t fit into the narrative that cops are evil).
The very few incidents that result in the deaths of people are taking up all the oxygen to the point that too many people are forgetting all the good the cops do.
The above post is an example of that.

[Anonymous]

There's plenty to be done, but not just by police...

"The per capita rate of officers being feloniously killed is 45 times higher than the rate at which unarmed black males are killed by cops. And an officer’s chance of getting killed by a black assailant is 18.5 times higher than the chance of an unarmed black getting killed by a cop."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/07/19/academic-research-on-police-shootings-and-race/?client=safari

[Anonymous]

Yeah okay.
Everytime something plagues the black community exclusively everybody turns their head and shrugs their shoulders and says, "Oh well."
That is until little Sarah is the one strung out on drugs then suddenly it becomes an epidemic affecting everyone and at long last its worth addressing.
That is until little Jimmy is the one infected with HIV then suddenly it becomes an epidemic affecting everyone and at long last its worth addressing.
We'll see what happens with regard to quick triggered poorly trained police...hopefully it won't affect everyone and remain restricted to the black community, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah okay.
Everytime something plagues the black community exclusively everybody turns their head and shrugs their shoulders and says, "Oh well."
That is until little Sarah is the one strung out on drugs then suddenly it becomes an epidemic affecting everyone and at long last its worth addressing.
That is until little Jimmy is the one infected with HIV then suddenly it becomes an epidemic affecting everyone and at long last its worth addressing.
We'll see what happens with regard to quick triggered poorly trained police...hopefully it won't affect everyone and remain restricted to the black community, right?

Do yourself a favor and conduct a little research on police shootings.
You might be surprised and it may help to allay a little of your anger.

[Anonymous]

It's a gorgeous Friday afternoon I ain't got nothing to be angry about believe me. I'm not one the unfortunates on the Orange Line, I'm not down in Charlotte dealing with all that angst and unrest, and I'm not even on this site listening to y'all bicker and banter...Peace Out have a good weekend everybody!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day these cops out here are way too preoccupied with pulling triggers than preserving lives, way more inclined to instigate conflicts than deescalate them and that comes down to training.
If you're fine and dandy with police being indoctrinated to shoot first and investigate later so long as it primarily affects black citizens in impoverished areas then I warn you...those tendencies to take extreme action won't be limited to just underclass very long.
Eventually those bad habits of handling situations are going to make their way into the suburbs and before you know it, it's going to be more than just poor black families pressing police for answers after a loved one has been killed.
History has shown that plagues - whether viral or moral - don't restrict themselves to single areas.
They spread.
That's what diseases do and this sickness of senseless overaggressive policing is steadily spreading throughout law enforcement agencies.
We can act now to address it in the interest of preserving humanity and protecting the rights of all citizens or we can allow ourselves to be distracted by petty nuances concerning race and class and allow the disease to fester and grow and ultimately put all of our lives at risk.

This is such BS. Cops preserve lives, deescalate conflict, and work to help others every day. You don’t see this because it happens hundreds of time, every day, all year long, and it is so routine that nobody takes the time to record it (and it doesn’t fit into the narrative that cops are evil).
The very few incidents that result in the deaths of people are taking up all the oxygen to the point that too many people are forgetting all the good the cops do.
The above post is an example of that.

Exactly. There are close to a million cops in this country, and I'm sure millions of traffic pullovers every day - with cops dealing with drunks, people high on drugs, very agitated and aggressive people, etc. Instances like Tulsa and Charlotte, as tragic as they are, are exceedingly rare. I think it's important that we keep in mind the very fine job that 99% of the police do.