Think about this for a second. This forum is mostly white, older, wealthier, and law abiding to a fault. And cops have a PR problem here, much of it based on personal experience. Wonder how the rest of the country feels about them? Police no longer have the Barney Fife default moral high ground. And will never have it again in this empire.
This is a good point. I maintain that Michael Brown caused his own death in Ferguson. I'm generally not sympathetic to those that resist arrest.
But the actions of Michael Slager are so far past proper police procedure it's unreal. His image as a out of control killer isn't helped by this latest revelation:
South Carolina cop Michael Slager laughed about his “pumping” adrenaline shortly after he gunned down an unarmed black man, a new recording revealed.
The North Charleston patrolman talked to a senior cop about what to expect after he fired five rounds into Walter Scott’s back in the deadly April 4 shooting.
The senior officer suggested he jot down his thoughts once his adrenaline stopped pumping.
“It’s pumping,” Slager said with a laugh.
“Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah,” the other officer replied.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...-laughing-walter-scott-kill-article-1.2182848
Another officer that responded to the scene is now under scrutiny for claiming he performed CPR on Scott in an attempt to keep him alive. That has been proven false by the bystander's video. This second cop also made no mention of the fact Slager tampered with crime scene evidence by moving his Taser next to Scott's body to make it appear Scott had it in his possession.
Some posters in this thread have made comments that are just ridiculous. I don't care about other incidents, I don't want to hear strawman arguments, I'm not a supporter of criminals, and yeah, I want a police officer there when I need him.
That doesn't have anything to do with this cut-and-dried murder of a guy that ran from a cop because he was stupid. For those that have pretty much said Scott had it coming because he resisted arrest, I say your opinion is nonsense. If a person tries to grab an arresting officer's weapon, if he physically attacks the officer, then yeah, force is required.
Even then it's not carte blanche to pull his weapon and shoot. Too many times lately the cops have used their firearm as a first response, not last.
Someone mentioned the guy in Dallas that was shot by two officers in the hallway of his mom's house. She had called police because he had a history of mental illness and was having an 'episode'. The police had come before and subdued the man, then had him taken to Parkland for observation and treatment. This time the man had a four inch long screwdriver, but he was not acting in a threatening manner nor did he appear to be out of control in any way.
The cops entered the house, and as soon as they saw the screwdriver they began screaming at the man to drop it. Just seconds later both cops fired their weapons, striking the man five times. He was no closer than five feet to them at any time.
Were the cops in danger? Yeah, the guy could have lunged at them and maybe have caused an injury. But they were wearing body armor, and the screwdriver wasn't going to kill them. There should have been a full IA investigation, and at a minimum the cops should have been suspended and required to undergo training.
But nothing was done. The woman buried her son and that was the end of it. That's not right. Cops have a dangerous job. I get it. But that doesn't mean they get to draw their weapons and shoot at any sign of a threat.