Hispanic during a rural stop was dismissed by a judge on the basis that the most prudent thing for a minority to do when confronted by police was to run for their lives.
No kidding, I read this years ago in the Houston Chronicle. The argument was why the story has stuck with me for decades. I can't find it to quote it, as such things are likely only stored on microfiche and not digitized.
A running man, not having just come from murdering someone or planning mayhem, is not a threat. An aggravation to cops, yes. As Chris Rock said, if you make a cop run after you, it'll wear him out and when they catch up to the runner, 'you will get your ass whupped.'
Rock didn't bring up bringing killed, though. There has always been an undercurrent of news media stories of these shootings. The fact that citizens are doing the reporting for the bought out media makes it possible to bring these goons to trial.
It's been heartening to hear of LEOs finally being charged for such crimes. But it's nowhere near enough. A day late and a dollar short for the victims and their families, but it's the job of society to make life difficult for wrongdoers, including PDs.
The established practice of planting evidence has been going on for years. A case I remember getting a lot of press happened not far from where I lived at one time, back in the seventies. It hit home with me, the details were bloody and sadistic. A long-haired blonde teenager, obviously with more a sense of adventure than sense, was beaten literally to death in the street by a group of cops. Descriptions included them dragging him by the hair and beating him while on the ground, not resisting at all. Until he was dead. Then they threw down a gun to make it 'okay.'
It became notorious, like the case of a Hispanic man who was arrested at a bar fight. He had martial arts training and the patrolmen could not subdue him properly. The night dragged on and various idiocies of the criminal type were done by the police, including tossing him in a river after he had to be taken to the public hospital - for what seemed way past the point of their being bested by this guy, aggravated, or whatever excuse one might give - and to make a long story short, he died. It was well documented.
There were other cases in an area I'd lived in before, where black people of all genders and ages were beaten for nothing other the privilege to harrass and insult.
One was the case of a young boy whose mother had been pulled over in a traffic stop. I had a friend who considered joining the PD for a job. We have to remember, these are people who need a job and they are herded to become whatever that job demands they do.
He was white, and they were considering hiring him. He was given a ride in the patrol car to get a feel for police work. For some reason, which soon was clear to him, most of the time was in black neighborhood and giving out tickets. Because they were poor, it was hard for them to 'follow the law' with license tags, inspection stickers, good tires, etc. They weren't doing anything but struggling to get to work, and they were ticketed and their lives interfered with in that honest endeavor. He said as he realized what they were doing, he refused and took a job where I worked instead.
Back to the other story, that was deeply offensive to me, of the mother and her son. The police then proceeded to call her every insult they could imagine, and the young boy objected to their foul language. This seemed to me to be a most natural and righteous objection in defense of his mother, respecting their bond. The boy was assaulted and his mother arrested.
After a lot of publicity, from the regular real liberal sources, a citizens' police review was set up an things changed.
I'm sorry for this man we are hearing about right now and his family, but not for the officers who attempted to cover up the unlawful killing. It is one thing to argue whys and wherefores of a shooting death, and to venally drop a weapon to hide what they knew they'd done wrong. That's what takes it past the point of no return.
They were shooting him in the back while fleeing. It's not like he was shooting at them and by any stretch of the imagination creating a response charitably termed 'hot headed.'
It was an execution. The cops are allowed not by the law, and they should never be, free of prosecution for executions. They are merely enforcers of the law in simple matters, of which there are at times no easy ways to figure out a solution and they are not trained for and because of budget cuts and less liberal policies, they will not be unless the public gets involved. They are not the judge, jury or jailer (where executions take place behind bars after the judge and jury have decided) and their job is to present what they have been told are perpertrators and their evidence supporting arrests to the court.
The pictures of this killing or murder, as I see it, because it is unlawful and unnecessary no matter what rough definition one may employ indicate this was handled just as casually as the crime scene around Mike Brown was - as if he was rabid dog put down, of no account.
They all need to be in jail and a major investigation of the PD must be done. And laws changed as they have been in some states to prevent them killing someone running away.
JMHO.
= new reply since forum marked as read
