ferguson grand jury reaches its decision
Then the person they're shouting at escalates more, then the cop responds even more, then the person escalates again... and ends up being shot. Who's fault is that? The guy who got shot, but the cop is still a jerk.
That's the problem with protesting.
Most of the time, the majority tend to be relatively peaceful (yelling curse words at the police still comes under this), but then you have the several in the crowd that aren't and throw things, possibly lethal things, such as bricks and rocks (which are a threat to the crowd just as much or more so than to the police), then the police are forced to respond. They respond with less lethal means, but everyone in the group will be subject to those means. Gas isn't selective.
I think the "snatch and grab" tactics are good, grabbing and arresting individuals throwing things, though the police will always be cautious here, as if there's a situation where the crowd can possibly cut off officers.... It's for the safety of all that such a thing doesn't happen.
People looting and vandalizing, and anyone nearby such, need to catch tear gas in the least, as soon as they're within range.
I'll say it's the people that attack the police that are at fault though, but it's sad that they are fighting within the peaceful protestors. It seems like if everyone gets home ok, then that should be taken as a success, even if people were gassed that didn't deserve it.
I agree with much of what you say but your comments forgiving police brutality (gassing innocent people for example) are uninformed.
Police are allowed a lot of discretion but they knew this riot was coming. Police are trained in riot (not protest) control, so by not being trained properly, the first time someone throws something they react as though the entire crowd is made up of rioters instead of merely upset protesters, and thereby deprived the legal protesters of their civil right to protest. And you dismiss this by saying "It seems like if everyone gets home ok, then that should be taken as a success, even if people were gassed that didn't deserve it."?????????
Untrained and unsupervised police are nothing more than a mob themselves. I've personally seen uniformed police smash teenage girls and boys in the face with their truncheons as the police went out of control. There is no excuse for this brutality and the fact police departments in many locations allow this is unconscionable.
Police abuse of citizen's rights is a topic in almost every news outlet. Something needs to be done soon.
Rant over.
This case was more racial tension then anything else. It should of not blown up to such massive proportions. Acknowledgement of race is racism...
The dude lifted up a store clerk by his shirt and threw him around, punched a police officer in his car, grabbed at his gun, tried to shoot said police officer, ran away, stopped and turned around in a second act of aggression, then when ordered to lay on the ground reached under his belt (Weapon?) while charging the police officer.
Yeah the officer should of just let the guy come at him cause he is supposedly "unarmed" and didn't just punch him in the face and then try to kill him with his own gun.
35 feet is not that big of a distance, the killing shot was within 8 feet, the guy was really closing in
The media keeps saying "unarmed" teenager as if it really matters in this case.
What if the police officer was black? would he of been assaulted in his car and threatened in the same manner?
That means it was either a very quick draw and fire (presuming Brown started at the magic 21-foot distance) or Brown was a lot slower than most people would have been. The latter makes more sense to me considering that Brown's autopsy showed that he "had marijuana in his system." I don't know, maybe we should start training Olympic sprinters with canabis.
_________________
Diagnosed in 2015 with ASD Level 1 by the University of Utah Health Care Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinic using the ADOS-2 Module 4 assessment instrument [11/30] -- Screened in 2014 with ASD by using the University of Cambridge Autism Research Centre AQ (Adult) [43/50]; EQ-60 for adults [11/80]; FQ [43/135]; SQ (Adult) [130/150] self-reported screening inventories -- Assessed since 1978 with an estimated IQ [≈145] by several clinicians -- Contact on WrongPlanet.net by private message (PM)
auntblabby
Veteran
Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,699
Location: the island of defective toy santas
I don't know if this video has been posted yet:
Also, please, let's stay on topic.
_________________
I'm Alex Plank, the founder of Wrong Planet. Follow me (Alex Plank) on Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/alexplank.bsky.social
Police are allowed a lot of discretion but they knew this riot was coming. Police are trained in riot (not protest) control, so by not being trained properly, the first time someone throws something they react as though the entire crowd is made up of rioters instead of merely upset protesters, and thereby deprived the legal protesters of their civil right to protest. And you dismiss this by saying "It seems like if everyone gets home ok, then that should be taken as a success, even if people were gassed that didn't deserve it."?????????
Untrained and unsupervised police are nothing more than a mob themselves. I've personally seen uniformed police smash teenage girls and boys in the face with their truncheons as the police went out of control. There is no excuse for this brutality and the fact police departments in many locations allow this is unconscionable.
Police abuse of citizen's rights is a topic in almost every news outlet. Something needs to be done soon.
Rant over.
Not really. As soon as something is thrown from the protesting site, the peaceful protest stops being that -- it doesn't matter if it was only 1 person out of 100. People have the right to protest peacefully, and the police have the right to not have things thrown at them -- if something comes from the crowd, then the police are justified in responding to the crowd (law states that it's no longer a peaceful assembly); they give a warning for the crowd to leave after they have thrown something, and when people don't, that's when CS and other theatrics are used. People obviously don't know the laws regarding this, which the police follow -- it's actually the fault of the legislative branch if someone doesn't like it. You might not agree with this, and see it as a form of collective punishment, but the police are following the law -- if they don't, then they're not doing their job.
I'm not dismissing it. If everyone gets to go home, and the worst people experience is a dose of CS [after the protest becomes unruly due to something being thrown], then that's pretty good. The response used today has been tailored over years of trial and error for dispersing a crowd in a way that doesn't cause physical contact (other than arrests). It's a far cry from the old days, which doesn't justify any abuse now, of course. If CS clears out the troublemakers within the crowd and the crowd itself, then so be it. I don't think that's abuse at all -- people should stop those in their midst from throwing things.
I'm also not dismissing actual abuse -- yes, hitting someone is wrong (as long as they were obeying the police after several warnings and weren't refusing to move, and even then, direct hitting shouldn't be used; pushing is fine though). If people are abused, then the abuser can be charged/punished. It happened during the first riots in Ferguson (one of the officers pointing the muzzle of his rifle at people).
We're talking of Ferguson, right? From all I've seen, they've behaved professional within their areas of responsibility (apart from some individuals, such as the rifle pointing; he was punished for that). The main problem being there's not enough of them to cover the entire area.
auntblabby
Veteran
Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,699
Location: the island of defective toy santas
I'm pretty sure the only other person around to hear what Wilson said was Dorian (a known liar and thug, that ended up supporting Wilson officially, ironically).
Which one would you rather believe?
auntblabby
Veteran
Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,699
Location: the island of defective toy santas
I'm pretty sure the only other person around to hear what Wilson said was Dorian (a known liar and thug).
Which one would you rather believe?
the one who was not the cop who was fired from another police force for being a racist, namely the one who testified in front of the grand jury to the effect that Wilson yelled at the pair, "get the **** onto the sidewalk!" btw I have noticed personally that cops NEVER talk that way to middle and upper class folk. I am not telling you who to cast your lot with, I am just expressing my viewpoint which is my right. I do not trust Wilson any further than I could throw a piano. being hassled by thug cops kinda does that to a person.