I was shaken, as a young person sitting on a jury for the first time, at the police arresting a black man, in his own home, for assaulting a police officer.
It started out as a domestic separation. The girlfriend was supposed to be at the man’s home, at a certain time, to get her stuff. She arrived much earlier than the appointed time. The man would not let her in, and told her to leave and come back at the time they agreed upon. She called the police. The police told the man to cooperate and sit down on his couch and be quiet while the girlfriend got her stuff. The man got angry and stood up from the couch, loudly complaining to the officers. The police arrested him, charging him with assaulting a police officer.
The way the law was written, it was sufficient for a police officer to feel threatened and to feel intent of harm for it to be assault. No actual harm to the police officer was necessary for the charge.
It made me sick that the officers had such broad power, and used it. It was my first real life glimpse at police over-reach, poorly written laws, a poor black man with terrible legal representation, and just how unjust it was.
It made me realize that one of the harmless stupid pranks we did as teens in high school, which involved the police coming, could have gone very, very wrong. If we were black? Holy cow. We could’ve been shot, instead of rounded up and having our parents called.
It’s like that story upthread about the Burger King fight. When you witness the police abuse firsthand, it forever changes how you see the world. Let’s hope these videos change the world, and these young people have not died in vain.
“Besides the obvious, what also really gets to me with these shootings, is that the officers dont render first aid. They freak out and kill and individual, meanwhile the individual couldve been saved, but the officer is basically either chatting with other officers or freaking out.”
Fwiw, partyof5, my spouse is a physician. He watched the Minnesota video and said that from what he could see, with 4 shots at such close range, nothing would have saved him. (I don’t disagree with your larger point.)
Albert, 15 years ago a Muslima friend of mine required an escort to go to the grocery store because she was harrassed by people in her town who saw a hijab and assumed she was a terrorist.
Our girl scout troop went on a hayride in a rural part of the next county. People looked at us kinda funny when we arrived, but I didn’t think a whole lot about until I discovered that I’d inadvertently taken my oh-so-multicultural Brownies to a place that had a reputation for being a sundown town.
One of the women I’d met through a moms group put her house up for sale because Wiccans moved in next door.
When we moved to a new city, one of the friends-of-friends helping with the relo mentioned it was perfectly fine to wear a pentacle, because people would just assume it was a star of David, but anything more overtly Pagan would probably be a bad idea.
Driving while Black was an issue in 1998, just as it is now.
Harrassment of interracial couples and their multiracial offspring, black and brown kids being underrepresented in IB and AP and gifted…that was an issue then as well.
“Don’t ask don’t tell”, a legacy from the Clinton era, was an improvement over what had been in place.
South Central LA in the 1990s, police shootings in 1996 in Florida and 2001 in Ohio, both of which ended in riots…Benton Harbor in 2003…Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath…
It’s not worse now. It’s just that straight white affluent people are noticing, so it’s suddenly important.
Well, this isn’t a surprise. I’m glad the DOJ is taking over this one, although it’s been nearly two years and they haven’t brought charges against those who were responsible for Eric Garner’s death.
Someone shouts, “he’s got a gun”, and then they start shooting him. If they were called to the scene because of a report of a man threatening someone with a gun, why would they not expect to find a gun? After all these days, they say he was reaching for his gun. They must have seen all the videos and seen that Alton’s right arm is obscured so their claim can’t be disproven. If it sounds like I’m disheartened, it’s because I am.
That’s awful. The Freddie Gray videotaper and the Eric Garner videotaper were also arrested. It’s just harassment! I don’t want to live in a police state.
I keep thinking of the 2002 World Bank protests in DC. I lived nearby and at the time, it just seemed horrible. Seattle had just had a lot of trouble with protests and violence and the DC police responded by summarily rounding everyone up and holding them until the meetings were over. Student photographers from the Corcoran documenting the event? Too bad. Student journalists from GWU documenting the event? Give me a break.
A lot of people spoke about the protesters in the same way we hear today about BLM and other protesters. Just troublemakers, outside agitators, if they obey the law they won’t be in trouble, etc., but then, as now, people were arrested mainly for just assembling and they filed a class action lawsuit. Most of them.
Finally everyone has settled and more than 13 million dollars was paid out. The police chief was ordered to send a letter of apology to each plaintiff. Here is a copy of what he sent publicly.
Incidentally, police departments in Louisiana are notoriously corrupt, notwithstanding the facts that remain to be uncovered in the Sterling case. One hope I have is that the financial prosperity at stake in LSU football will motivate the city leaders in Baton Rouge to see that this shooting is objectively and thoroughly evaluated and a just resolution imposed.
I’m not sure Baton Rouge has any city leaders. The mayor has been MIA. I have been a fan of his in the past but he has handled this horribly–complete avoidance.
Yeah, the BR police have definitely had issues, and NOPD–let’s not even get sidetracked with that. Lots of corrupt small town cops all over this state too.
The governor called in the feds for a civil rights investigation immediately. The DA just recused himself because he has a long-standing relationship with one of the officer’s parents (who are also both police officers). So it’s unclear at this point what office would investigate any state charges–the state AG, who could appoint a special prosecutor. Not sure what he’ll do.
I also see that the Baton Rouge police are now claiming that Alton Sterling was “reaching for his gun” in his pocket, and that’s why they killed him. One of the more predictable claims in history, I think. As I said in the other thread. But of course some people are willing to accept that claim without question and believe that it’s the end of the story.
The “reaching for the gun” argument is predictable, true. Hopefully the video evidence will help determine whether that really was the case or if that’s just a CYA defense.
Another awful story about an unarmed black man in Brookly killed by a cop, with the official story directly contradicted by surveillance video. The difference is that this time the cop was black too.
@DonnaL thanks for posting. I heard about that story but hadn’t heard about a video being released. As I’ve mentioned in previous threads, we want cops held accountable, not just white cops. Overzealous cops come in all shades.