Minneapolis Police Kill Australian Lady Engaged To American Businessman

[SoCalMusicLover]

This one's just unbelievable. Maybe.....Just Maybe......since this time it's a White Woman, there is a sliver of a chance the cop who killed her will be convicted.

An Australian woman has been shot dead by police in the United States, after calling 911 to report a disturbance in a nearby alley. Justine Ruszczyk was at home on Saturday night when she called police to report a noise and a possible assault in a nearby alley in South Minneapolis, Minnesota.

When police arrived at her home at around 11.30pm, 'one officer fired their weapon, fatally striking the woman' as she reportedly stood in her driveway. Ms Ruszczyk, 40, was originally from Sydney but had been living in the US for three years and was due to marry American businessman Don Damond, 50, next month.

And just hours after the shooting he spoke to a local activist group, slamming police over the death. 'Basically my mum's dead because a police officer shot her for reasons I don't know,' Zach Damond said. 'I demand answers. If anybody can help, just call police and demand answers. I'm so done with all this violence. It's so much bulls**t. America sucks.

'She was a very passionate woman, she thought something bad was happening - and next thing you know they take my best friend's life.' Friends of the woman told the Star Tribune that she had often spoken out against gun violence and told 'how much better' things were in Australia. Ms Ruszczyk was a 'corporate speaker, trainer and coach' who worked to spiritually help others, according to her website and social media accounts.

[link:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4701988/Australian-woman-40-shot-dead-police-United-States.html?login#readerCommentsCommand-message-field|

[SoCalMusicLover]

1. More Info On Victim

[link:http://heavy.com/news/2017/07/justine-ruszczyk-damond-don-minneapolis-police-shooting-australia-australian-facebook-photos-fiancee-minnesota/|

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. The officers body cameras were not turned on during the shooting,

“The officers’ body cameras were not turned on during the shooting, and the squad-car camera did not capture it,”

[SoCalMusicLover]

5. That Infuriated Me

These guys take a split second to shoot and kill someone, a complete innocent, yet they can't take a second to turn on their cameras.

They drive around in their tanks, fortified to the limit, but can't do their job by turning on the cameras which the public has paid for and demanded.

And they'll just say WHOOPS, and get a pass for it. Yet this woman is gone, and the lives of many, many, many who knew and loved her, will never be the same. And these ASSHOLES couldn't turn on a stinking camera so we can know what happened. Other than the LIES will almost certainly come out of their mouths.

[Ilsa]

16. And then cry about how much more dangerous their jobs are than

anyone else's.

[atreides1]

33. That's a lie!

According the story below, police were number 7, construction laborer was number 1!!!


http://www.businessinsider.com/most-dangerous-jobs-in-america-2016-8/#construction-laborer-1

"Take EMTs and firefighters, for example. "These professions are tailored for the brave, those willing to sacrifice their own health and safety for the well being of others," the CareerCast report says."

[A HERETIC I AM]

46. On a list linked from that same page, they don't even make the top ten.

Top ten DEADLIEST jobs;

http://www.businessinsider.com/deadliest-jobs-in-america-2015-5?op=1/#-construction-laborers-1

I've looked at a number of these lists and the criteria of "most likely to die on the job" from ANY cause always puts my profession (trucker) looking DOWN the list 3 or 4 spots to find police officer.

The fact is, being a cop is not that dangerous. Also, if you look at the causes of death of cops on the job, and add up all the other causes, they outweigh being shot. A considerable amount die from heart attack and car accidents where THEY ARE AT FAULT.

[YCHDT]

45. Right!!!

[CrispyQ]

47. Cameras off - that should be a firing offense.

[BainsBane]

3. Here's the local story

http://www.startribune.com/woman-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting-in-south-minneapolis/434782213/#1

She lived in a nice neighborhood too. Housing costs are high over there.

Pictures of the neighborhood.
https://www.google.com/search?q=fulton+neighborhood+minneapolis&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS751US751&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjFksG4x4_VAhXK5IMKHSuYCEEQ_AUICCgD&biw=1318&bih=637#imgrc=2NR_bRRKTr38TM:

[iluvtennis]

4. OMG, how tragic. Just hoping this tragedy has some influence on getting the inept cops under control

[MrPurple]

6. What's up with Minneapolis? Last week I saw that they even shot someone's dogs.

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?ecver=2" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

[oasis]

35. We'll hear more about this story in regards to the cop's mindset.

Nope, this won't be going away.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

38. Minneapolis is a liberal city but the police department, not so much.

There have been problems for years, mostly, but not entirely, race-related. I've never had any problems with them personally in my few interactions - I was burglarized some years ago, then later my car was broken into, and the officers who investigated were very courteous and professional. But then, I'm a middle-aged white woman in a "nice" neighborhood (but so was Justine Damond...).

But I also used to know a few (friends of a friend) who were anything but courteous and professional; they'd brag about beating up minority suspects, mostly black and Vietnamese, just for fun. There was a nickname for these cops, "thumpers." One of these guys said there are only two classes of people: cops and assholes. So there was a mind-set that didn't exactly foster public trust. Granted, these were just a few guys and it was a number of years ago.

The current police chief has been trying, I think, to improve things, but she and the mayor and the police union head have all been at odds with each other. I don't know what will come out of this shooting, except, obviously, a lawsuit.

[TeamPooka]

7. America, come for the freedom, stay because you're dead. nt

[Doreen]

8. Our police are free to do what ever the fuck they want.

They are the law and they are any law they see fit for the moment. This is disgusting. I guess our police figured Australia was not nice to trump and decided Australians are a target right along with others who are not white far right Christians. Before I saw her picture I was actually asking myself if she was Aborigine and they just did not like her color.

[SammyWinstonJack]

9. "America sucks" Can't argue that.

[Voltaire2]

10. Maybe now that a blonde white woman has been executed for no reason at all

people will realize that the police all over the country are completely out of control?

Nah, just another day. We will continue to sleep through it.

Nobody's life matters.

[WinkyDink]

17. Murdered. Executions are legal state punishments.

[Voltaire2]

24. Summary execution. Generally considered a war crime

or a crime against humanity.

It is worse than murder as it is performed by state actors and is thus a violation of the social contract by which we have consented to be governed in addition to the taking of a human life.

Frequently not murder as these fuckers keep getting off when they are even charged.

[oasis]

11. Jeff Sessions allows nation's police departments to go unchecked. nt

[socialist_n_TN]

25. So did Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch.............nfm

[oasis]

37. Guess who rolled back Obama's efforts on police reform.

Lynch or Sessions?

Please take your time before answering.

[KingCharlemagne]

77. Lenin said 100 years ago (roughly) that police in a capitalist state are NOT

workers or proletariat. Instead, Lenin said, they are simply 'bourgeois cops," i.e., mercenary enforcers of the bourgeoisie.

[socialist_n_TN]

82. Actually I believe it was Trotsky that said that........

[KingCharlemagne]

85. LOL That might explain why I could not find the words in Lenin's collected works! :) - nt

[DefenseLawyer]

12. Typical meaningless law "requiring" body cameras.

It is "required" whenever the officer thinks he should turn it on. Oh and who can guess what the penalty is for not turning it on? What is nothing, Alex?

[HAB911]

13. Do police not get ANY training, have no standards to be a cop?

[Iggo]

21. They get all kinds of training...from older cops who don't give a shit about the law.*

* The law, as it applies to cops.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

22. They get training alright. Too much of the wrong training.

I'm convinced that, ironically, a big part of the training problem has been dash cams.

For the past 20 years we have been showing cops training films of traffic stops and other interactions gone wrong. Between the films and the shoot/don't shoot training they are subjected to, cops are on a hair trigger during every interaction with the public.

Cops have it drilled in to their heads that "it could happen to you!". It's one thing to 'tell' someone something bad can happen. It's another thing to drill hundreds of videos in to their skulls.

Mix in racism and things get a whole lot worse for black and brown people. It doesn't even have to be blatant confederate flag carrying racism. See those tests where people are asked to view facial photos of different color people while trying to quickly identify if an associated object is a weapon or non-weapon. Everybody fails.


We also have a militarization problem and an occupation mentality problem.

That's all before you even look at accountability problems. And a culture of encouraging brutality.

[Iggo]

23. Armed to the teeth and scared of their own shadows.

[MrPurple]

64. Far fewer hours of training than in Europe

I'd read an article about this, the hours of training for a new recruit was like 7 times less than in most European countries, and many of them aren't armed. And, as others have said, the US police are trained excessively in using their guns to solve problems, and to shoot to kill.

I think the one positive thing is the omnipresence of video tape. There probably hasn't been a surge in police shootings during the last 3 years. The topic has gotten so much attention because of all the videos. It will be ironic if the time an officer actually faces consequences now is when they shoot a white woman, and there was no videotape.

[nikibatts]

14. If it was a black cop that did the shooting, he or she will get swift punishment...believe it.

[WinkyDink]

18. As long as punishment is meted out, what matters the race?

[LanternWaste]

20. Because too often punishment is predicated on race.

Because too often punishment is predicated on race. Obvious 101.

[WinkyDink]

48. And too often engenders knee-jerk pre-emptive reactions of offendedness. BTW:

Somali-American is it. Should justice be delayed now?

[heaven05]

60. knee jerk? preemptive?

sure....the poster is right....a white woman shot down like a dog? No matter the race or sex of cop...they are toast...now if it was a black woman, man or child...it would not matter to the general white public or a jury of the cops peers...period.

[YCHDT]

62. Back on planet Earth in America where the benefit of the doubt has been erased for most LEO forces..

... the reactions of race based consequences are rationally justified

[heaven05]

61. so true

but truth is more often than not ignored by many in the favor of privilege all the time...yes white privilege.

[tblue37]

41. He was a Somali-American named Mohammed. He will get nailed. nt

[WinkyDink]

50. Should he not? He shot PAST his partner's head...multiple times...at an unarmed...woman...in pajamas

after she had called 911.

But by all means let's make this a race issue instead of one of total incompetence.

[LisaL]

66. Exactly. An unarmed lady in her pajamas, for no apparent reason (and police hasn't released any

reason as to why he shot her).

[MyOwnPeace]

15. The Repugs and NRA

will snap into action - bring out their "thoughts and prayers" speech..................
although the NRA might say she would have been save if she had gone to the alley with a gun...................

[WhiskeyGrinder]

19. "The system continues to fail black people, and it will continue to fail you all. Like I said,

because this happened with Philando, when they get done with us, they coming for you, for you, for you and all your interracial children. Y'all are next, and you will be standing up here fighting for justice just as well as I am." -- Valerie Castile

[socialist_n_TN]

26. I wonder if we'll see her every mistake plastered ..........

all over the news?

[SoCalMusicLover]

30. Her Mistake Was Being A Human

I GUARANTEE they're going to place blame on the cellphone in her hand at the time. No question.

And yet again, it won't surprise me when he gets away with it. His ethnicity might play a factor in making it a little closer, but I still don't think you can convict a cop of buying a doughnut in this country, let alone manslaughter.

[heaven05]

63. never

[EffieBlack]

72. Still waiting for the "yes, but she was no angel" stories

But I won't hold my breath.

[socialist_n_TN]

83. Yes, those stories are what I was referring to...........nfm

nm

[mitch96]

27. I just don't know why they would shoot her..

Maybe they heard or saw something and just shot at it??? So sad when anyone gets killed for no good reason...
m

[WinkyDink]

51. Didn't like her pajamas? Makes as much sense as what the official excuse will be. P.S.

He, not they.

[mitch96]

71. Arn't two cops a "they"?

ya got me on the He shot her though... point taken...
m

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

28. This is very strange; at least the facts that we've seen so far

offer no clue how this happened. I know the neighborhood; it's only a couple of miles from mine. It's a very middle-class, low-crime area. Somehow this obviously unarmed woman in her pajamas got shot through the car door on the driver's side by the cop in the passenger seat? WTF? How does that happen? If it was an accident why haven't they said so? And even if it was an accident and not intentional, what sort of insane, inexcusable carelessness would have led to it?

I hope the truth comes out, whatever it is.

[tblue37]

40. In my post #39 below I suggest one possible scenario for how this could have happened. nt

[nadine_mn]

42. That is the crazy part - shooting from the passenger

side through the driver's - I mean also putting his partner at risk - that just seems like flat out incompetence. This whole mess just gets worse.

Fuck, we need to get our shit together, Minnesota.

[Nay]

78. Really! That partner is probably 3/4 deaf right now, and will have some permanent

damage. Who on earth would think that this was a good idea???

[Initech]

29. This isn't just a mere shooting, this is an international incident.

How will the republicans and the NRA spin this one?

[B2G]

31. What does the NRA have to do with this? nt

[SoCalMusicLover]

34. Big Picture

I realize gun humpers don't like to hear this, but the U.S. has a gun problem. To say that this incident does not come out of that problem is ridiculous. Our police are armed to the teeth. Like many other gun loving Americans, they have a complete disregard for what a gun is designed to do. IT IS DESIGNED TO KILL. End of story. It can't drive you to work or the store. It can't cut your meat. It can help you cool off with a swim on a hot day. IT CAN TAKE A LIFE!

Cops have a shoot first, worry later mentality, and that is part of our gun culture. After all, guns are harmless enough, which is why so many young kids blow their heads off, or their siblings' heads off every week.

[Downtown Hound]

49. Other than filling America with guns and fear for decades now

and making citizens and police so paranoid that a gun is often the first thing people reach for, absolutely nothing. But as much as gun morons would love to deny it, that's exactly what the NRA has done. They've also supported Republicans in just about every election, who have only increased poverty and urban violence through their selfish, pro-elite policies and criminalization of poverty.

[EL34x4]

54. I'd guess the Republicans and the NRA will spin the "Somali Muslim cop" angle.

Pretty white woman shot dead by a Somali cop named Mohamed. It's Christmas in July to the Deplorables.

[SoCalMusicLover]

32. Cellphone

She had a cellphone, he will say he thought it was a weapon. HIS FRIGGIN LIFE WAS IN DANGER!!! AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

There will be a trial, much news coverage here and in Australia. By the end of '17 he will walk.

Later this week there will be another shooting to take our attention away from this one.

And so on......

[EffieBlack]

73. Not likely. White women are not inherently scary. A white woman with a phone in her hand is a

person with a phone in her hand. A black man with a phone in his hand is a dangerous being, an immediate threat - or at least a cop has every right to think so and if he shoots to kill, even if it turns out he was wrong, his assumption was not unreasonable and, therefore, he's not culpable ...

[Nay]

79. Now, maybe white ppl will take notice? Finally? A white woman, in her pajamas,

calls the cops with her CELL PHONE and,when the cops arrive, they shoot her because she has a CELL PHONE in her hand.

I'm in crazy land. But I thought I was in crazy land when they were shooting black ppl for traffic stops, selling cigs, etc.

[Wellstone ruled]

36. This was or is the Mayor's

Neighborhood. This might finally be the Shooting that collapses the Blue Wall in Minneapolis. Hunch says,the Shooter is in safe keeping in the North woods.

The real losers are anyone living in the Twin Cities after this incident. This is going to get damn ugly real quick. And knowing Minneapolis PD,they will over react in a major way.

[tblue37]

39. Since the cop is both black and a Muslim, and the woman was a pretty blonde, he will be convicted,

I think.

(He is a Somali-American.)

Why he would shoot across his partner and through the driver's side door is a puzzle, and would be even if she had been in any way threatening, which she obviously was not.

I suspect the cop was handling his gun stupidly/carelessly and it went off. Probably he pulled it out, meaning to have it in hand as he exited the car, but then accidentally pulled the trigger.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

43. He probably should be convicted of something, regardless of his race or religion.

If he handled his gun carelessly I should think he could legitimately be charged with something like involuntary (second-degree) manslaughter. But the Hispanic cop (different police department) who shot Philandro Castile was charged with the same offense and he was acquitted. Will it make a difference that in this case the victim was white and the cop is a black Somali Muslim?

It might be a bad thing for the large Somali community here, too - they've had such a tough time being accepted and this won't help.

[B2G]

44. She was shot multiple times.

Not an accident.

[dalton99a]

53. WTF

Seriously

[tblue37]

57. Do the cops carry guns that shoot several times with one trigger pull--

semiautomatic, or whatever they are called?

[tblue37]

58. I just read an article that said he *reached across his partner* to shoot several times through

the driver's side door!

A cell phone was found near her body, apparently, so maybe chickencop thought it was a gun and that he was saving his partner from a dangerous pj-clad woman with a gun.

SMDH.

[WinkyDink]

52. Sorry, "accident" doesn't cut it, not when his partner wasn't hit. His aim was true.

[Lokilooney]

68. As a Minneapolis resident

I can tell you he was Somali, not black...

[tblue37]

74. Race is a cultural construct anyway, but I guarantee that most Americans, regardless of their own

race, would consider him "black." Furthermore, the few Somalis I know self-identify as black.

Here is an article with a picture of him:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4703892/Police-officer-shot-Justine-Damond-identified.html

[Lokilooney]

75. Among most Americans yes, I would agree

But around this neck of the woods, not by a long shot. I imagine it's going to play out a little differently locally than the rest of the outside media, but as the saying goes "all politics is local".

[Binders Keepers]

55. I stepped out my front door in the dead of night when two cops pulled their squad car onto the lawn

in hot pursuit of a robber suspect. They both drew their guns and told me to freeze. I consider myself lucky they didn't blast away as the guy did to this poor woman.

[WinkyDink]

56. The cop is in an on-going lawsuit for assault on a woman being forcibly hospitalized:

http://m.startribune.com/minneapolis-police-officer-who-shot-killed-woman-identified/434975623/

Maybe Mohamed Noor needs gender training.

[heaven05]

59. the police officer is going to face serious

repercussions over this shooting, no doubts in my mind. I will follow this one.

[USALiberal]

67. And yet a jury will find his not guilty as usual. n/t

[heaven05]

69. well because of the officer

being who he is, racially and the victim being who she is, racially, I do not see him escaping punishment.

[MrPurple]

76. Racially and also socioeconomically for the woman

If she was a poor white in the projects, there would probably be more acceptance of a bullshit narrative that she approached the police car and threatened them.

[heaven05]

80. true

more than likely. Still my main point stands. Even a poor white in that socio-economic class would stand a better chance on not being executed by an authority of the state than a poor, middle class or upper middle class African-american in this country and it has always been that way. Has never, probably will never change.

[malaise]

65. Shocking - Just saw this on ABC News

Murder by cop

[ecstatic]

70. She will get justice, unlike CHARLEENA LYLES, a black woman killed last month after calling the cops

Seattle police shot and killed a (PREGNANT) mother of four inside her apartment in the presence of her young children after she called law enforcement to report a burglary.

The death of 30-year-old Charleena Lyles, who police say was carrying a knife, has sparked outrage across the country, with critics decrying the shooting as another example of US law enforcement using excessive force against black Americans.


--------------

Of course the "she had a knife" defense is complete and utter bullshit. Like Trump & Co, we've seen time and time again that cops who kill will lie until the cam proves otherwise. Every single time.

[Lee-Lee]

81. For the life of me I can't fathom any scenario

Where as a passenger I shoot across my partner.

The only scenario is the person reaching in chocking or striking my partner. But I'm getting zero sense of that happening here. And even then I'm more inclined to exit the vehicle and deal with it in a way that isn't firing a weapon inches from my partners face during a struggle.

Even then, he fired through the door fairly low- not up at the window. Almost over his partners lap by inches. I imagine the muzzle blast probably destroyed his partners hearing. Unless he had a were in the vehicle and around his partners neck I can't see any justification at all.

It's not easy to draw your pistol from a holster when seated in a car with a seatbelt on, several seconds slower than a regular draw. That is several seconds where had he somehow made any kind of mistake in what her actions were or what she was doing he should have noted his error and corrected it.

I'm stuggling for any rational explanation even of a mistake here. I don't see any plausible way to mistake her actions, especially when his partner was seated closer with a better view and they would be communicating. Absent her physically attacking his partner, which doesn't seem the case or even likely from what we know, it's a mystery.

It's almost like he just decided "I am going to shoot her" without rhyme or reason.

[leftyladyfrommo]

84. It is just too weird.

Thus whole thing makes no sense at all.