TheAgitator.com
Tuesday Links
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011- Hilarious list of kiss-off letters from journalists to their former bosses.
- Cop to photographer: “If you take my picture again, I’m going to break your fucking face.”
- More police loathing of the Second Amendment.
- Man arrested, charged with disorderly conduct for paying a medical bill in pennies.
- That Miami Beach incident is looking worse and worse for the police. Turns out they confiscated a TV crew’s camera as well.
- More debunking of Nicholas Kristof’s silly Pakistan column.
- Canadian police try to shoot at dog during a drug raid, shoot a human instead.
And Radley Balko delivers a series of devastating punches directly to the nutsack! You’d think he thought it was a speed bag.
Videos of crime scenes are crucial to police investigations, which is why they break your fucking camera, break your fucking phone, and break your fucking face.
Some “penny payers” tend to dump the coins on the counter. That is rude, but shouldn’t be a criminal offense. I thought coins were legal tender. My mistake.
In the “Break your face” link, the officer apparently had a followup comment, noting that he was speaking “not as a police officer, but a person.”
Why am I not surprised they want to have their cake and beat it too?
“You can’t just threaten to beat me up, you’re an on-duty police officer!”
“Nuh-uh, that comment was said as my off-duty self.”
“Fine, I want your off-duty self arrested for assault!”
“Yeah, right, I was on-duty at the time.”
Anyone got a precis of the second amendment link? My workplace’s netnanny has a loathing of the second amendment too..
Man, those Canadian police need some serious dog-killing training. That’s just shameful.
How short-sighted do you have to be to think smashing law-abiding people’s cameras on the ground en masse is going to be a career-booster?
I once read that Miami has been called the “Capital of the Americas,” alluding to large and diverse population of Latin Americans in the city. Seeing as the cops there act like the police force of a Banana Republic, I think I have to agree.
Wiregeek: There’s a small sticker for cars that has 2 silver horizontal lines with a ’2′ between them on a black background, to show support for the 2nd amendment (in the style of those odious ‘thin blue line’ police “I expect special treatment” stickers). The Baltimore City Police Department has put out a memo that, in red capital letters, say that ‘these people support the second amendment, and might be armed.’
let’s see ,if you do drugs your a threat,same for owning a gun or video equipment of any kind.That covers at least 85% of the population.
Threadjack:
I assume you’re aware of Gary Johnson not being allowed to the New Hampshire debate. Any well-written outrage I can use to supplement my insane rambling fury?
“Some ‘penny payers’ tend to dump the coins on the counter. That is rude, but shouldn’t be a criminal offense. I thought coins were legal tender. My mistake.”
A funnier, and no less showy way to do it, would be to deliver the pennies in burlap sacks with ‘$’ on them.
pennies… a crime? Sheesh.
In the UK, we have limits on what coins under £1 can be used to pay. Large amounts of small coinage isn’t legal tender and isn’t a valid offer to settle the debt. It works…
My NRA and TSRA stickers work just as well.
From the 2nd amendment piece: “As you are also aware, traffic stops are the single most dangerous encounter for law enforcement.”
Well then you idiots should stop pulling people over for going over an arbitrary number and decrease the number of times you put yourselves at risk. That’s reasonable, since it’s about safety, and not revenue, right? While we’re at it, relegalizing drugs, prostitution and raw milk will also dramatically decrease the number of confrontations you have to have with citizens, which has to be a boon to officer safety. Funny how all these problems have a relatively simple, libertarian solution.
Miami beach shooting. Watch the right edge of the video at :08. Something goes off. A flash, a pop. Then the cops unload.
The 2nd amendment piece made me laugh. “As you are also aware, traffic stops are the single most dangerous encounter for law enforcement.” Actually, the most dangerous thing for cops is not thinking.
Cop killers are going to put a sticker on their car warning that they could be armed. Geesh.
I tried to pay a parking ticket ($15) in pennies once. To their credit, the clerks did not overreact. They simply refused to take the money, and cited an ordnance. They also suggested I take the pennies acros the street to a bank, who would roll them up for me for free.
After a few minutes of them ignoring me, I sccoped up my coins and left.
Yeah, and the single most dangerous encounter for the rest of us is a SWAT team through front door. I eagerly look forward to their solution to that tomorrow.
And the single most dangerous encounter for cops is indeed traffic stops. The kind of traffic stops they do when they crash into trees/cars/people.
I think it would be appropriate to have all law enforcement vehicles bumper-stickered thus: ‘Occupant is armed and dangerous. Avoid at all costs’.
In that fully-uniformed, police-dog toting cop’s defense, he made clear that the threat to “fucking break your face” was made as a person as opposed to a cop. So it doesn’t really count.
The same rule applies if you say that you are not meaning to be racist before you make a racist comment.
What a bunch of fucking drama queens those “journalists” are. Jeebus.
Oh, and people: KNOW YOUR RIGHTS! If a cop ever tells you that he is threatening you as a person instead of as a police officer, you are entitled to say either “Shield” or “No take backs” and that undoes it.
@ Otto…
That’s a good catch. If you look closely, it appears to be an arm holding up a camera. You see it light up for a second (red-eye reduction) and then flash. Did the cops think that was a muzzle flash (maybe reflected off the car’s window) and start blasting?
Brandon @#14, I’m quoting your comment on my FB page. I will quote it in full, including your posting name and the time/date. What you said in that is SO very important for people to understand and you made it so clear. This is a message that needs to be spread far and wide. I hope it goes viral, due to others doing the same thing I’m now doing.
I’ve also been sending these links from Bradley’s site on police and prosecutorial misconduct to my State legislators (and sometimes my congress critters) and cc to all my local and the national media, hoping the media will begin to do reports and the legislators will do some correcting of the rules where cops are concerned and rein in the prosecutors.
“Some “penny payers” tend to dump the coins on the counter. That is rude, but shouldn’t be a criminal offense. I thought coins were legal tender. My mistake.”
The whole penny-paying protest is just stupid. You have the issue that they can certainly make you sit there while they count the pennies with the response that if you leave you don’t get a receipt and don’t have an opportunity to recount/dispute if they indicate that you are short. Hell, if it were my office I’d make the guy wait around for hours and return several days running until I was willing to provide him with a receipt. I’d also present him with the options of taking his pennies to a bank and cashing them in and coming back with a certified check or paying a counting fee of at least $25.00/hour. Sure, you’re free to pay with pennies but we’re not going to trust you that you’ve provided the correct amount and we’re not going to eat the cost of counting.
Second, dumping twenty-five hundred pennies on the counter of someone’s office seems to rise to the level of disorderly conduct. Third, you’re now known as the dickhead who doesn’t pay his bills rationally — good luck finding someone to provide you with health care in the future.
other reports indicate the man dumped the pennies on the counter and many of them spilled on to the floor. He then refused to pick them up and demanded the staff count them – It was the behaviour that was disorderly, not the paying in pennies.
And if you righteously pounded the spit out of him for that comment, you’d see how quickly he became a cop again. Off duty cops are more dangerous than on-duty cops because they can sneak up on you easier.
#15 | otto e mezzo | June 7th, 2011 at 12:35 pm
I was wondering what the fire trigger was. There is no indication of that in the other video (The one from the window across the street.)
That the window was rolled up is new too, which reinforces that it was the police, not the guy in the car, that were firing as he went down the street.
So basically, you had WAY too many meatheads, all with guns, wandering up and down the street. As soon as “One of theirs” got injured, they went into “Feral dog pack” mode and just wanted to get that guy.
There was no effort to stop the guy, no effort to box him in. In fact, it’s entirely possible he was already injured inside the car.
What will it take to reign these people in? Recklessly shooting at and injuring bystanders? Oh! Check that box off!
Something else I can’t help but notice is how ineffectual the cops with the flashlights are. They don’t even try to illuminate the inside of the car so the other cops can see what’s going on.
No wonder they try to confiscate all the cameras, they don’t want to world to really see just how “Heroic” they are.
And of course, surrounding the guy with the camera’s car… with guns drawn… was a nice touch. He was that close to being ‘next’.
Just because it’s legal tender, doesn’t require someone to accept it. What’s the difference between this and small gas stations not accepting large denomination bills?
“In the ensuing moments after Miami Beach police shot and killed Raymond Herisse in a hail of bullets on Memorial Day, one officer turned his gun on a man who had recorded the shooting.”
This seems like a relevant quote based on the fact that you can apparently be treated like a dangerous criminal for holding a cell phone camera towards a law enforcement officer:
“What, the land of the free. Whoever told you that is your enemy!”
–Zack de la Rocha/Rage Against the Machine, “Know your Enemy”
#25
“Off duty cops are more dangerous than on-duty cops because they can sneak up on you easier.”
You forgot drunk and belligerent as well.
Some observation on the police; The proper response to I`ll fucking break your face is bring it on asshole, to the “MARY”land police yes we are armed,it is legal and it is to protect ourselves from YOU and the Canadian officer should be charged with reckless endangerment and loose his job. The police are NOT above the law and they no longer have any redeeming social value. We all would be safer without them.
“As you are also aware, traffic stops are the single most dangerous encounter for law enforcement.”
If you think traffic stops are dangerous for the police, just imagine how dangerous they are for all the innocent, unarmed people you kill out of your own cowardice.
Protect & Serve (Themselves!)
Favorite laughable lines, everybody?
Here’s mine, from the Miami case:
“It was a highly stressed situation and perhaps police were thinking Benoit was holding a gun instead of a camera…”
Once again, we get these bottom-of-the-barrel cops who do not deal with the public in an appropriate manner. The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority this time, just like the Maryland Transit Administration last time. Bus cops.
How many of these organizations really need a police force? Whether they can justify a police force or not, nobody – the public, these agencies – needs hotheads who shouldn’t be in police work getting puffed up with a badge, gun, and whatever other equipment (tasers?) around their (usually ample) waist. What kind of standards do they actually have for these tin star departments? And how often do they relax those standards because they’ve got a bunch of open positions and scarce applications? Maybe they excuse the jumping around record of the guy who’s been ‘let go’ from 4 other departments in 8 years. Don’t ask why. We need the warm bodies.
Like I’ve said before, I’m sure there are some well-behaved, conscientious members of these forces that always act appropriately. But they have the same problem that the other ‘good cops’ do: They don’t force the bad ones out.
Watch the cop’s wrist in the “Break your fucking face” video. He’s wearing one of those new age magnetic energy bracelets they sell on TV infomercials. We got a real winner in this guy!
Let’s hope, when the time comes, you let us all read your letter to Huffpo.
That could well be epic…
Not confiscate – steal.
#34, I wonder who forfeited that “evidence” to “the state?”
From the 2nd amendment piece: “As you are also aware, traffic stops are the single most dangerous encounter for law enforcement.”
I would counter that traffic stops are the single most danger encounters for the American Citizen….
Canadian police try to shoot at dog during a drug raid, shoot a human instead.
Well, the slogan is after all the RCMP always get their *man*.
Are pennies no longer coin of the realm? Are pennies no longer legal tender for all debts public and private? Then how can anyone complain about fulfillment of debt? How does the government justify arresting a man for payment of a debt in currency of the government`s issue? I understand that this form pf payment was done to be inconvenient but since when has inconvenience been illegal. Because if that is now true than everyone in the TSA should be arrested.
In the Miami Beach video, the cop (appears to be on a bike, coming up from the back left of the car) who comes up on the videographer’s car with his gun drawn seems to be coming upon the “scene” for the first time. It looked as if other cops were screaming about the videographer potentially having a weapon or otherwise being a threat, which might have caused the bike cop to draw. Now, that is not a defense and I think demonstrates how A) stupid and B) danger-inducing cops in general are. But, it’s possible that that one cop wasn’t actually involved in the initial incident.
Regardless, there is such egregious bullshit coming out of that story it is hard to make anything out of it but pure shit.
In Liberty County, TX, Police are apparently attempting to get a search warrant based on a tip from a psychic.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43317379/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
Well, I suppose the psychic is probably more reliable than the usual police informant.
The Ottawa cop should be given a choice:
1) Plead guilty to whatever crimes are chargeable against him under the broadest reading possible of the criminal statutes (at a minimum, attempted murder, aggravated assault, perjury, obstruction of justice), waiving any immunity, and stipulating to the maximum sentence for each crime, to be served consecutively;
2) Paying the present value of the victim’s future earnings, plus an equal amount to compensate for the trauma, pain, disability, etc, plus an equal amount as pure incentive to himself and others, with the understanding that if he is unable to pay in full, and refuses to maximize his earnings and turn over every penny earned, he will be attached to a treadmill hooked up to a generator, and the resulting electricity he generates will be sold to pay off his debt, with a mechanism that administers a painful shock to him if the treadmill falls below a certain RPM; or
3) allowing the victim to shoot him in the same location of his body, at the same trajectory, with the same model of gun and ammunition. To make it equally terrifying, the cop should not know when this will occur, and the only person allowed to witness it can be a friend of the victim, who will then be allowed to roughly drag him around, driver a knee into his back and handcuff him, and decide when he should receive medical attention. For extra realism, of the cop resists, the victim is free to empty the clip in order to assure his own safety.
I guess the hidden message in this post is that I do not believe this was a justified use of force, “oops” isn’t good enough when a citizen is shot, and that there should be serious, life-changing, long-term consequences for this kind of wrong-doing. This wasn’t just a fuck up. It was a serious crime, compounded by many other crimes designed to hide the original crime.
People who pay large bills with pennies are basically pissed off, provocative and looking to jerk their enemies’ chains. The way to defuse them is for the payees take the coins in a sack or box on their next deposit run and have them counted. Bank tellers are used to counting small coins for their depositors, so it’s pretty straightforward and easy. If the payees own an automated coin counter or can find one that doesn’t charge a fee, it’s easier yet. The percentage of the population that pulls off stunts like this is tiny and will grow even smaller if payees show that they have an established procedure for coin dumps. A lot of the fun goes away if a coin dump clearly doesn’t throw a wrench into the works.
Establishing and posting a policy barring payment in certain denominations (as was mentioned about large bills at gas stations in #28) would be reasonable, but it wouldn’t be as effective as an established procedure to deposit nuisance coin payments. It’s about trapping more flies with honey and all that. If a payee tries to get the courts or police to help it apply such a policy ex post facto, however, it should be shit out of luck. If you leave a loophole open, it’s your fault when it is found and exploited by provocateurs.
Escalating to criminal charges just gives provocateurs a bully pulpit and invites copycat stunts.
Heh. Andrew Roth is correct.
Of course, this only really applies to government or utility offices that MUST accept payment. Taxes, fines, forced monopoly bills, etc. If you pull that stunt with a private debt, you should be ready to have any future business denied.
You might think… But! what if people do that in protest? Like pay their local taxes in PENNIES just to piss off Town Hall.
Knock yourselves out. Where are you going to get 400 dollars in pennies? The bank? Then you have to unwrap then, and carry them in… That’s like 220 pounds. A smart Town Hall would easily accommodate that. You still paid your taxes… all you accomplished was to make yourself look stupid.
The screeds from the disgruntled journalists are hilarious.
I’ve read a number of stories in the past, some written by third parties, about newsroom morale plummeting when some arrogant managerial twit thrashes around like a bull in a china shop, about beancounters turning highly regarded publications into jokes with their aggressive cost-cutting, and so forth. So as a matter of course, I’d say that the language used in the letters reprinted by Slate was warranted, even if the writers were divas or drama queens (which wouldn’t surprise me).
On the other hand:
“After extensive study of history, I believe ‘Latino’—as used in the Los Angeles Times—is the most recent attempt at genocide perpetrated against the native people of the Americas. I also posit this new genocide is far more dangerous than the old fashioned murder and relocation efforts.”
Now, that meets my definition of straight-up bonkers!
Andrew – The problem is that you’re charged for said sorting services, which is unreasonable. The point of legal tender is that you can make a valid offer of payment, and to my mind the UK system of excluding the validity of large amounts of small currency is very reasonable.
Ah.
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-06-03/news/mh-miami-beach-shootings-bystander-20110603_1_hotel-lobby-chest-people-shot
Additional confirmation that it was the POLICE that were doing ALL the shooting in the incident.
Do we really need these out of control, gun happy dolts loose on our streets?
http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21004519764891/
Favorite part:
Oh, FUCKING COME ON!!! If by “The description of someone they were looking for” you mean a Black Man or a Black Man with a Camera… Then yeah!
“In fact, as you are aware, many law enforcement personnel are members of the NRA or affiliated organizations.”
Oh, now I get it. It’s gun rights for me, but not for thee.
Point of clarification… The cop offered to “fucking break your face” not “break your fucking face”. Clearly the cop was using the fuck word for emphasis, not to be derogatory.
If he’d said he was going to “break fuck your face”, that might have been attempted rape.
#45: What I want to know is, when one of these “police-use-psychic, find body”-type stories comes up, how is it there’s never a followup shortly thereafter about the psychic being detained for obvious reasons?
Late response to Reggie Hubbard, but this ad is going to run in the Manchester Union Leader. Good arguments for Gary Johnson.
http://kerrywelsh.com/SadDayJohnsonAd.jpg
The several times I got hammered by some podunk community for minor traffic violations, I got some small sense of revenge standing there glaring at the clerks while they counted out 350 or more one dollar bills. Of course, this is in the ream of “cutting your nose off to spite your face” since I had to make a special trip to a bank or otherwise collect the bills and count them out myself before paying the fine.
#52 Bob
“…Benoit fit the description of someone they were looking for”
Shit, I thought they already killed who they were looking for. Was there someone else on the hit list that evening?
It isn’t just Ottawa cops that need to work on their aim.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/06/07/montreal-shooting.html
The Reason bit debunking *completely* misses the point of the Kristof piece and insults a guy who’s spent the better part his professional life seeing the “real” world at its worst. The author (who’s claim to fame is an Ozzy Osbourne interview) calls Kristof “untroubled by reality” … errrr … okaaaaay.
Then he goes on to imply that Kristof was attacking Republicans(?) … hmm … when in fact Democrats were the … OK, you guys get it already.
Probably not. You’re libertarians.
#30 | J | June 7th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Just because it’s legal tender, doesn’t require someone to accept it.
Actually, that’s the definition of legal tender.
Kritoff refered to Pakistan as a free market eden, and you’re saying that he’s seen the “real” world at it’s worst? Forgive me if I find that hard to believe. And nice jab at the end, infant.
#55 | long-time reader | June 8th, 2011 at 12:22 am
That’s how modern police investigations work. He who rats first is a valued witness, not a suspect.
#56 – Yeah, the mountain climbing, skiing and triathalon stuff is cool, but are they going for some sort of Teddy Roosevelt vibe?
Juice,
In school, they taught us that if someone refuses to accept legal tender you legally no longer owe them anything. Legal tender must be accepted. But, I’ve seen dozens of examples that conflict with this.
You can still be arrested for using pennies…because you can be arrested under the catch-all “disorderly conduct” (or any of a 10,000,000 other bullcrap charges) but you will “win”* later in court.
* “Winning” in dealing with the US legal system is hours locked up in jail after some thug roughs you up, then you give some moron money to get out of jail, then you miss work to attend court with your expensive lawyer. Then the judge’s ego berates you while the judge himself explains how he’s doing you a favor by dismissing the charges. But before this, the prosecutor (who has never met you) explains how you’re a deviant douche bag and no one likes you.
Heh. So, here’s the rest of the story on the penny pinching scofflaw with his sack of contentious coinage:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/06/06/137005554/2-500-pennies-guy-adds-his-two-cents-to-the-story
The first article made it sound like the guy was a raving carpet-chewer hurtling pennies everywhere. But his account, and any rational analysis… indicates otherwise.
The real dumbasses appear to be the management of the clinic, and their toadies, the police. Just take the pennies and get over it, children!
Batman: “Robin, what weighs 14 pounds, is perfectly legal, and can get you arrested?”
Robin: “Holy Coin Counting Conundrum, Batman! It’s when you try to give an asshole 25 dollars worth of pennies!”
I’m going to have to side with only assholes pay by pennies. I mean for one you can’t just dump them on a desk. I’m pretty sure one would get kicked out of most places if I chucked my Diners Club at the clerk like a ninja star from Chinatown.
I mean if you came in with a big sack of pennies I would just set it behind the desk let them know that I’d count it later and mail them the receipt or new invoice for what they didn’t pay. If they wanted a receipt in person they are welcome to wait until I process the cash.
That said I have a real problem with people who refuse to take cash as payment, or people who get indignant about having to pay in cash. But that’s really a separate issue.
Dakota:
In principal, I agree. It’s a jerkwater move to pay for something with that many pennies. At the same time, it’s a jerkwater move to be pricks about your customer service, too. The guy TRIED to resolve the issue with reason before resorting to the rather childish gesture of pouring 14 pounds of pennies onto the counter.
At first, they handled it like adults, taking the pennies and giving a receipt. The guy was on his way. Case closed, right?
WRONG! Then the assholes called the cops and ginned up this “Disorderly Conduct” crap. THAT’S where the assholeness of it all shifts to the clinic. The guy had already left when the coppers arrived. Hardly the kind of ranting maniac that would be deserving of a “Disorderly Conduct” charge.
#60, what the hell are you talking about? “When in fact Democrats were…” what? Democrats were the target of Kristof’s unoriginal idiocy?
First line of Kristof’s piece:”With Tea Party conservatives and many Republicans balking at raising the debt ceiling, let me offer them an example of a nation that lives up to their ideals.”
Most of us here don’t agree with the tea party or Republicans a whole lot, but taking these half-informed strawman swipes at them doesn’t do Kristof any credit, and his past accomplishments, like Paul Krugman’s Nobel, don’t give him license to attack anyone he disagrees with with such blatant intellectual dishonesty. Sorry your team blue filter doesn’t allow you to see legitimate criticism of your own side. I’ll go on:
“fewer than 2 percent of the people pay any taxes. ” Ok, that actually seems to be more of a Democrat ideal lately than a Republican one. From what I’ve heard, the R’s would prefer that everyone have some skin in the game so that they are at least affected by the cost of all the government failures that their representatives claim they are clamoring for.
Every paragraph could be debunked, but the entire column is a petty, disingenuous pile of shit that’s not worth spending that much time on, unless Reason wants to put me on staff, in which case it would be an easy first assignment. Kristof then concludes that anyone who wants to decrease federal spending secretly wants to turn the country into Pakistan.
And of course you don’t even defend the actual content, you’re just aghast that anyone could possibly disagree with Nicholas Kristof
because he’s Nicholas fucking Kristof, and how dare they?! But no, WE just don’t get it. Because saying you’re liberal automatically makes you smarter than those damn greedy libertarians, with their logic and their consistency, right?
Can I leave this here:
LOL republicans.*
*This doesn’t mean Dems don’t also deserve LOLz.
#52 | Bob |
from your link:
I’ll take issue with the characterization “speeding”. From the overhead video it was apparent that the car was driving erratically farther up the street – but being under a hail of gunfire will do that. It certainly wasn’t going all that fast.
I’m already certain this was a bad shoot based on the second video which shows the vehicle in park with all windows rolled up. There’s no chance the hail of gunfire that followed after a few moments was justified – they executed him, either by mistake or panic. And they knew it, because they immediately began sweeping up video evidence.
The courts have got to make it clear that deadly force is not justified if an officer gets clipped by a car. A car gunning straight for you – maybe, if there’s no escape route. A car gunning for a large crowd – definitely. But a car that fails to follow your command to stop, or to not turn left? Please, that’s stupid. What if the guy just misunderstood? Or what if he got orders from a different cop that contradicted what the officer who was “struck” was trying to indicate. Now suddenly he’s a deadly assailant and they open up on him. Hell, I’d gun it out of there any way possible too. What else are you gonna do when someone is actively shooting at you?
They didn’t point guns and say “show me your hands” or anything at that point. They were shooting at him. He’s in a moving vehicle at that moment – so what would you do? Stop so they can get a clear bead on you? Or drive out of there as fast as you can? So once again the police manufactured a dangerous situation that is then used as justification for killing one person and only by luck did nobody else die.
I’m starting to understand why the Brits don’t have their street patrol carry guns. Don’t need them very often, and there’s a good chance that you’ll pull one when you shouldn’t have.
Of course, here in the states we’ve evolved a well developed system of jurisprudence that ensures that there are no mistakes made, and that every shoot is a good shoot. We only evaluate from the point of view of the poor police officer who observed a furtive motion and fired, per his training. There’s never a moments reflection about whether that officer should have been there in the first place (SWAT drug searches? No-knock dynamic entry raids?). Sure, once an officer stands in an entryway with a loaded gun in his hand and he sees someone stepping into the hallway ahead of him carrying something, he could reasonably mistake a golf club for something deadly enough to warrant opening fire. But he shouldn’t have been in that position in the first place.
The same goes for these panic stricken ass-clowns in Miami. The first guy who opened fire may have reasonably thought there was justification. He’s probably wrong – clearly firing a shot was worse than whatever would have happened had he not fired the shot. But once the first shot was fired, everyone else gets a free pass – the “rules of engagement” at that point seem to be “fire at will”. They just randomly fired at a car moving down the street. They knew shots had been fired up the street – but no real context. They may have additionally heard some police shouting about the shots. But they couldn’t have known much more than that. But they fired at the moving vehicle anyway.
Then the guy puts the car in park. I’d guess that from his point of view he was trying to clear the fire zone of the first couple of trigger-happy cops who (from his vantage point) were trying to kill him. With the car in park, the “vehicle is a deadly weapon” gambit is over. Unfortunately for him there’s still “furtive movement” to contend with. He could have been shot – heck, he probably was shot. So he stops and the multitude of cops on street patrol in the area begin surrounding the car, weapons drawn. How do you keep from getting killed at that point? Put your hands up on the windshield? Might be mistaken for pointing a weapon. Roll down the window and put your hands out the window? Might be mistaken for trying to shoot…
For all we know he stopped and put it in park and then tried to tell them he surrenders, but starts to slump over from blood loss. Ooops. Better open up on him – he’s going for his gun!
Over and over again we see situations where everyone acted rationally from their perspective, yet in the end the group action is to murder a citizen. Some of these mistakes are going to be unavoidable. But most of them are due to insanely stupid policies and decisions made long before the shots are fired. And this won’t end until the attention is focused there.
Picture Gallery: Guerena SWAT raid shooting scene photos
Targeting a nusiance: Police send letters, begin citing property owners next week…
Libby Police Chief Jim Smith on Monday told City Councilleaders his department will start issuing citations next week toproperty owners who fail to comply with the city’s weed nuisanceordinance. “We’ve sent out notice……
“break your fucking face” cop story update over at Carlos Miller’s blog.
http://www.pixiq.com/article/cop-who-threatened-videographer-suspended-for-2-days