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  • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 6 months ago
    This situation is not about race and discussions centered on that issue only serve to detract from the real concern. That being over militarized police escalating minor contact with citizens into violent encounters and the inappropriate use of excessive force all too often resulting in the death of an unarmed teenager.

    I don't care what any evidence or commenter says. There can be absolutely no excuse for a trained and armed police officer to take such an encounter, two teens walking in the street, beyond verbal contact and to the use of deadly force.
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    • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 6 months ago
      "There can be absolutely no excuse for a trained and armed police officer to take such an encounter, two teens walking in the street, beyond verbal contact and to the use of deadly force."
      They're saying there's evidence that the *suspects* escalated the encounter. I don't know what to believe, but when things like this happen, they happen fast.
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      • Posted by khalling 9 years, 6 months ago
        yes, he had already committed a crime. It's not like he was all innocent and disarmed walking down the street
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        • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 6 months ago
          "he had already committed a crime."
          I think you're saying he had already committed a crime so he's the type who might have committed another crime in attacking the officer. I agree.
          If he didn't attack the officer (I suspect he did), his past crimes have no bearing on this new possible crime of murdering him.
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          • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
            Not at all. He knew that he had committed a crime and would rationally think that the cop would know so as well. Not wanting to be arrested, it is reasonable to believe that Michael Brown attempted to attack the officer to render him incapable of making that arrest. Now that we know that he was high at the time, this just goes to support such an irrational thought process.
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    • Posted by $ winterwind 9 years, 6 months ago
      Yes, the police are over-militarized. But that's not the point in this encounter. This officer did not use [as far as I can find out] any military-type weapons or tactics. He had a handgun, and he used it.
      I apologize that I can't find, in my long reading list for the day, the excellent account of the action between the two men which lists the individual items with which the police officer was "armed" and why he did not use them. Poor Planning, of course - if you're wearing your baton at your side, you can't access it; you can't pepper spray the other person without hitting yourself as well, etc. If you know what the police carry, though, you can figure this one out yourself.
      The article also carefully examined the wounds of the black man and explained how each one was [probably] received. For example, if you have powder residue on your thumb, it means that your thumb was near the muzzle of the gun - the question is why? Sticking your finger in the muzzle so as to cause a catastrophic misfire, injuring both parties? Probably not. Pushing the officer away from you? Possibly. Trying to get control of the gun? Possibly.
      Message? stick to the real point, don't drag every situation to your point.
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      • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 6 months ago
        Somehow this encounter went from 'Hey, kids get out of the street', not even a misdemeanor infraction, to 6 or so bullets out of how many fired into the body and head of a teenage boy. The rest of everyone's descriptions and conclusions are pure speculation.

        The militarization of police includes the attitude of 'Us against them' and 'Whatever happens I'm going home at the end of my shift' and that IS the point of this encounter. That is simply someone I do not want out on the streets with personal combat training, deadly weapons, and a license to kill encountering one of my sons, or me.
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        • Posted by $ Mimi 9 years, 5 months ago
          Yeah, and the little asian store manager probably didn’t imagine telling Brown to give back the item he pocketed would lead into him being shoved into the racks. Brown already had demonstrated he would rather seriously escalate a situation then do what is right.
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        • Posted by khalling 9 years, 6 months ago
          I agree with you. But he had just committed a crime. You don't think he might have over-reacted when a police officer encounters him on the street? Zen, you are ignoring evidence and eye witness accounts of his actions. why?
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          • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 5 months ago
            Khalling: Asking why requires more than a one or two sentence reply. I'm not ignoring evidence or eye witness accounts in this matter, I haven't seen any yet that's been uncontested or proven from either side--I'm ignoring published news accounts of individuals' and groups' statements of those who are seeking publicity and propagandizing their own viewpoints and agendas, including citizens, communities, and government. Those news accounts are selected and aired, from those offering them, that are judged to provide the most entertainment value and the best ratings for the news agency, not necessarily the most accurate or complete.

            My interest in this discussion is that of the individual rights of a citizen of whatever color and of whatever activity history in the non-voluntary interaction with government and government employees--particularly those employees trained and armed to inflict death.

            In an objectivist society, we agree that we need government to provide retributive (not pro-active) force to correct and enforce violations of our individual and natural rights. We supposedly select and train people in those positions to handle those necessary interactions in manners and with means appropriate to the situation and information available at that point in time and in such a manner as to provide for and protect the individual rights of the citizen.

            We go so far as to provide and require training and education in verbal and psychological techniques for such inter-actions; personal combat and restraint training designed to be appropriate for the situation such as judo and joint locks and physical conditioning; non-lethal weapons and training in their use such as batons, pepper sprays, tasers, and even everyday items as flashlights, keys, clipboards, etc. We lay out in training and education that the least must be accomplished before the worst. We fully intend that such inter-actions not be escalated to a point inappropriate to the supposed infraction or reaction of the citizen. The onus in such inter-actions and the results supposedly rests on the government actor--not the citizen. That's the reasoning behind the Bill of Rights and the requirement of 'Proof Beyond Reasonable Doubt' and 'Better That 10 Guilty Men Go Free Than One Innocent Man Be Punished'.

            I could go on like this for pages and then begin listing those inter-actions that have gone so terribly bad for citizens ad infinitum, in just the last 10 years. To what point, if even those self proclaimed believers in the primacy of individual and natural rights excuse the result that a teenage boy whose only acknowledged infraction for police inter-action to that policemen's knowledge was walking in the street, winds up dead. None of us know what happened that night that led to the final result, or the intervening acts of either party, and I seriously doubt that we ever will.

            But I'll proffer that in any such interaction between a citizen and a government actor that results in even the slightest violation, or even hint of such, of an individual or natural right of the citizen, that the government actor, at a minimum be removed from that job and prosecuted to the maximum extent possible. Until we as a society place such extreme limits on government and government employees, we will all cringe and feel nervous or even afraid when we receive a letter from the IRS, see a cop at our door, or the blue lights come on behind us. That is not what I define as a land of liberty. That is tyranny and pure luck that we haven't met in such an encounter, YET.
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        • Posted by 9 years, 6 months ago
          Let's see, the "kids" knew that they had just committed a crime (apparently the cop didn't). So, when he made himself known to these "kids" they may have assumed that the cop was aware that they had just committed a crime as was going to arrest them. They then acted on information that the cop didn't have and sought to ensure they would not be arrested. Probably could have run, but that's a pretty big "kid" who was high, so probably didn't want to make that type of exertion. Seems pretty straightforward to me.
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          • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 6 months ago
            You continue to speculate in an attempt to justify and rationalize murder of an unarmed, individual citizen by the state.
            But when you let Barney Fife take the bullet out of his pocket, that's what you get.
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            • Posted by LetsShrug 9 years, 5 months ago
              Defending your life is NOT "murder". Barney Fife? Really, Zen? Are you anti gun and anti self defense?
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              • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 5 months ago
                No Shrug, I'm anti killing of unarmed citizens by cops. There are just way too many instances of such happening that are just wrong and there doesn't appear to be any repercussions for police. And in the vast majority of those cases that I've followed, the police start out by saying that the cop was justified, then a previously unknown phone or cruiser video surfaces that shows exactly the opposite. Then maybe I only follow those that turn out wrong-who knows.

                We just don't know yet who escalated to physical combat or who was being defensive. I doubt that we'll ever know or that if the cop was the escalator, that he suffers any repercussions. I don't think continuing to be a cop in Ferguson is in his future and his next activity will be to file for PTSD disability.
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                • Posted by LetsShrug 9 years, 5 months ago
                  Then you're using your bias as your judgement...passed events you know about to make assumptions about this situation? Interesting.
                  I'm not abdicating cop shootings either...I'm not 'for' them, but if a big thug is coming back at ANYONE who's face they just broke, then I say use force to stop his force. You don't think he was capable of killing the cop barehanded? (Or the store owner he shoved into a snack rack?) Should the cop just wait for him to bash his head ALL the way in? The cop is a human being too, who has a right to defend his life.... shooting should be a last resort, and who says this wasn't? After all, if this brute can bust a man's eye socket what else is he capable of? A rational person doesn't hesitate or wait to find out.
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                  • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 5 months ago
                    Shrug, I'm not against a cop being able to defend himself, even if that results in the death of the citizen and maybe the Ferguson cop is just caught up in the rest of the nation wide epidemic of police wrong doing and abuse that's only lately being showed directly to the public through smart phone cameras.

                    I'll repeat, we don't know what happened that led to the physical confrontation between the officer and Brown and then to the cop shooting him to death. Nor does the black community of Ferguson.

                    And this post began as "The ability to lie and claim anything against white people" and I maintain that the problems brought to the front in Ferguson are much, much deeper and more widespread than black privilege. Part of that problem is the assumptions and suppositions being made by a lot of us that have absolutely no factual basis for our beliefs in that incident.

                    But I find it hard to accept that anyone who believes in the power and primacy of individual and natural rights of man over the state and government, when faced with the death of an unarmed citizen, whether he's a big, ugly, mean acting black man or a homeless, helpless, schizophrenic white man on the street doesn't find questions to be asked and answered in the incident.
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            • Posted by khalling 9 years, 6 months ago
              you think there are no consequences for wrestling a police officer against his car and grabbing his firearm? The officer suffered serious injury to his HEAD. If I was the officer, I would assume he might be a harm to others. so hatchet guy yesterday...let him keep walking down the street?
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              • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 5 months ago
                We will never know what led to that wrestling or grabbing for the gun. Did the officer grab Brown's shirt through the car window? Was Brown trying to keep the officer from drawing his gun? We'll never know.

                But equating to hatchet man get's is nowhere.
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                • Posted by $ Mimi 9 years, 5 months ago
                  We will know what led to the wrestling over the gun if we feel we can trust the word of an officer who has never had any prior experience with police brutality or racism over the word of a friend of a guy who just assaulted a store manager over a stupid misdemeanor robbery. I do believe the officer’s account. Brown could have chose to run from the store manager as well, but he didn’t, did he?
                  I’m sorry, but if you knock me in my head, scratch my face repeatedly, and fight for my gun, then take off running when the gun fires, I am not going to trust if you if you start heading back towards me, hands up or not. It could have been a rouse to get close enough to go for the gun again. Michael should have froze.
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                  • Posted by khalling 9 years, 5 months ago
                    well, I mostly agree. I am prejudiced by the known theft moments earlier. But, I can imagine myself fighting and scratching and kicking an officer. sorry, just can
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                    • Posted by LetsShrug 9 years, 5 months ago
                      ...and reaching into HIS car window to do it?
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                      • Posted by khalling 9 years, 5 months ago
                        noooo. he'd have to do something first...but what if he insulted me? I might snap
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                        • Posted by LetsShrug 9 years, 5 months ago
                          I'm not against defending oneself against an officer or anyone else. I could see myself swinging at one (heck, I have actually lol)
                          Zen has me in a tither!
                          Self defense is self defense regardless of skin color or uniform. If someone busts your skull and then comes back at you...I don't think it's to give you a hug. This is not rocket science.
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                          • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
                            This is totally racial reactionaryism (if that's a word). The essence of the post is that if you are black (and to a lesser extent other minorities including gays) and you have an altercation with the police, the black community and liberal politicians are automatically going to attribute it to racism. Regardless of any facts. Instead of cautioning the community to wait for the facts, they racism mongers rush in and fan the flames of racism. I included POTUS and AG in those doing so.

                            This is Black Privilege. The ability to slander and accuse devoid of evidence, and be treated as saints by the press and politicians.
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                • Posted by khalling 9 years, 5 months ago
                  hatchet man? I must have missed that comment. not the same. I did not make that comparison. I do think force of size is a weapon of sorts. If you weigh a third or more than me and you push my body against a car and you take your fist and slam my head against a hard surface, why is that less than the threat of a firearm? in all of your comments, you have not mentioned the police officer's head wound once. why?
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                  • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 5 months ago
                    I haven't mentioned any of the supposed 'evidence' at all. We know only three pertinent 'facts' at this point--the two boys/teens/men/criminals/what-evers were walking in the street, the officer decided to 'contact' them, and one of the boys is dead. Everything else is 'leaks', self or agenda serving statements, and supposition.

                    Sorry about the 'hatchet man', it should have said hatchet guy.
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                    • Posted by khalling 9 years, 5 months ago
                      um, there is videotape of him some minutes earlier pushing a store clerk into a wall...
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                      • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 5 months ago
                        Yes, I saw it as well. The police stated that the officer wasn't aware of the event nor had he heard the radio traffic about it.
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                        • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
                          Which, if true, presents a situation of unequal knowledge. Brown knew he had committed a crime and was likely concerned about being arrested. The officer, if not being aware of that crime, had no reason to expect that these two were of any concern, and thus would have no reason to think anything was amiss when Brown approached the squad car. Thus, when Brown reached the window, he was able to catch the officer unprepared for an attack.

                          And again, Brown was evidently high at the time. That does not lend itself to reasoned thinking.
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                        • Posted by khalling 9 years, 5 months ago
                          yes, I understand. Again, if I had just committed a crime and shown that I was willing to be violent in the commission of the crime, itsn't it likely I might react violently when asked by an officer to get out of the street? He was acting like the man in the store was a pipsqueak and like he owned the world. why is it not possible he would act the same way toward a police officer moments later? We don't know what he thought the officer knew. But there are now multiple eyewitness accounts of his aggression toward the officer. His behavior was certainly alarming, criminal and because of that, I'd deem him a threat to others. Here's the part where I'm not so confident. I do not know what the protocol is, but if I am violently assaulted by someone who also wrestles for my fire arm, I shoot to kill.
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                          • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
                            Well, actually, police officers are taught to shoot to stop the threat. They are also taught to shoot center of mass so as to have the greatest likelihood of hitting the target. So, they don't technically shoot to kill - but that is often the outcome if the threat does not subside after one or two hits - as is often the case with people on drugs.
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                • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
                  Yes, we do. We have unbiased 3rd party testimony. These are black folks, not whites, and not friends/accomplices of Brown.

                  And they are being vilified by those who don't like them telling the truth.
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                • Posted by LetsShrug 9 years, 5 months ago
                  hatchet man was armed...so was Brown...his fists, and weight, and strength and lack of self control. Really, you think the officer might have grabbed Brown's shirt through his window? That's seems highly unlikely....and so does Brown reaching in to keep the cop from drawing his gun... Brown trying to grab the cop's gun through the window, that's feesible. Overzealous behavior seemed like his way.
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            • Posted by 9 years, 6 months ago
              You're just wrong.
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              • Posted by khalling 9 years, 6 months ago
                I will say that police have eroded their presumption of innocence. and the laws protect them against us. but in this case it's pretty clear. Of course we don't know what will be admissible in court. but that does not mean that eye witness accounts and a basic timeline give us a false narrative
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                • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
                  While I agree that in many instances/locales they have severely degraded a presumption of, if not innocence then at least legal conduct, just on the face of it I'm going to take the word of a cop over a criminal who had mere minutes before manhandled a store owner and conducted a robbery.
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                  • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 5 months ago
                    So we don't need The Bill of Rights anymore?
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                    • Posted by khalling 9 years, 5 months ago
                      zen, can you take us through a scenario? interesting part of the discussion. let's have it.
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                      • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 5 months ago
                        kh; Give me a little more of what you're looking for as a scenario. Bill of rights, what else could have happened with Brown, why I wouldn't necessarily and automatically believe the cop over the citizen??
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                        • Posted by khalling 9 years, 5 months ago
                          well, he had just committed a crime and there are several eyewitness accounts that he attacked the officer at his vehicle, resulting in a serious head injury...?
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                          • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 5 months ago
                            There has been one scenario brought up that proposes that the officer pulled up and told the young men to get off the street, that Brown (?) blew off the officer and said some nasty, smartass response. The officer then pulled further up beside the two who had continued to walk and threw his door open into the two, then reached through his window and grabbed Brown's clothing to drag him up against the car. Brown resisted and the two began to struggle still through the window, but the officer's seat belt was still on, keeping him from getting to his baton and that he couldn't use his pepper spray because it would affect him as badly. There is still question whether and when they had traversed from the open car window to an open door. At that point Brown struck the officer in an effort to get loose and the officer began trying to draw his gun, still sitting with his seat belt on. Brown saw him reaching for his gun and reached down to stop him from drawing it. The officer got it partially out and discharged it hitting at least Brown's hand. By that point Brown finally got loose and started to move away, but the officer finally got out of his cruiser and kept firing.
                            A) Brown then turned and came back again thinking the only way to stop the officer from shooting him was to get the gun.
                            B) Brown turned to surrender with arms up, but the officer kept firing and in getting hit with bullets and trying to turn and dodge more bullets, that Brown's arms came down and accounted for the bullet wound on inside of arm.
                            C) Brown turned and before he could do anything he was struck with at least one bullet and it enraged him making him come back at the cop who continued to fire.

                            This scenario is as much supposition as is any others at this point, but Michael Bolden (?), the forensic medical examiner guru accepted that all of these are possible from the bullet wound evidence on the body.

                            There is blame on Brown in this scenario for continuing the struggle, but there is also blame on the officer for initiating the physical confrontation-definitely outside of his training. No one would recommend that a cop swing a car door into a subject or reach through a car window to grab the subject or initiate any of that with his seat belt still fastened. Nor would any training or protocol call for such an escalation in response to a rude, smart-ass reaction from a citizen.

                            We'll never know.
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                            • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
                              There are several impartial witnesses. They support the version of the officer.

                              Up until that came out, I had made no decision on what had happened and who was the cause of the altercation and its results. After this came out, it was clear that the officer was exonerated.

                              You don't seem to want to accept that testimony.
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                              • Posted by khalling 9 years, 5 months ago
                                well it's not testimony yet. for me I think it starts with the initiation of force. The video footage of just minutes earlier is very damning. Even if the officer improperly initiated an altercation with him, once the suspect gave injury (second assault in minutes) that was it for me. He was clearly dangerous. Who else would he have assaulted in some more minutes?
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                    • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
                      How did anything that happened here, as we now know it, violate anyone's Constitutional rights?

                      The officer was attacked. He has a right to defend himself. Seems, if anything, that his rights were being violated.
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      • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 6 months ago
        "Yes, the police are over-militarized. But that's not the point in this encounter."
        I wonder if people are responding to the over-militarization. Even if the facts back the police in this case, people are angry at the militarized police they deal with and are wrongly taking it out on the police in this one case.
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    • Posted by 9 years, 5 months ago
      You're twisting your agenda around the facts. The facts do not support anything about this encounter being over-militarization of the police. I agree it does not appear to be a racist act on the part of the police officer, but it is entirely racially motivated by the likes of Jackson, Sharpton, H and O to insinuate that this is a racially motivated act. As more and more facts emerge, it becomes more clear that this was an attack by Brown on the officer who then reacted to defend himself.

      The proof that this is racially charged is that just days earlier a white thug was shot dead by a minority cop. Nobody is interested in that story.
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