6 policeman have been suspended after a man in custody died from having his spine severed.
They appear confused as to how that happened…
But they’re convinced no one did anything wrong, after all, there’s no video.
I would say that a severed spine is a pretty good indication of the use of force.
P.S. The guy just ran away when he saw the cops. He wasn’t being targeted or chased before then. Maybe it should be like encountering a bear in the woods - lie there and play dead and maybe you won’t get mauled too badly.
That Chicago case is just incredible. Judge on the take? It sure seems that way. How else do you twist logic that any gunshot cannot be involuntary manslaughter because it’s too… voluntary.
@emeraldkity4 - those are tragic cases but they don’t seem to involve officers of the law becoming killers.
BTW, if you are attacked by a black bear, do not play dead. Fight back.
If you are attacked by a grizzly bear, play dead.
Do not run away. Bears are faster than you are.
This has been a message from the What To Do If You Are Attacked By A Bear Society. Unfortunately, the WTDIYAABABS has no advice for people who are attacked by police officers.
we don’t seem to have enough safeguards in place when hiring police officers.
Are we really having such trouble hiring that we have to waive red flags as we do when enlisting new troops into the military?
I know locals who have been hired by state patrol and they clearly are suffering from battle induced PTSD.
Its pretty scary. The community I grew up in, cops made an effort to connect to youth, & I think that made a difference. Some still do, but in some precincts that wasn’t a priority. However, in our area, that is slowly improving, not fast enough, but it couldn’t get worse.
Too bad we can’t throw out the system and start from scratch, not to diminish the tragic killings by police officers, but the use of police to take children away from their parents because they left them in the car for ten minutes also concerns me.
Reading news reports of citizens and the whole justice system gives me the overall sense of reading a dystopian novel.
First, they too often overreact and use deadly force. Then, they are far too nonchalant about the body in front of them that might be, and often is, dying.
In the Baltimore case the young man asked for an inhaler before he got into the police van. When he came out, his spine was damaged to the point that he died. They didn’t give him an inhaler and didn’t consider calling EMS or anyone else to get one. When he became “agitated” in the van, it appears that they stopped more than once to restrain him (causing the neck injury).
Now, they’re all remorseful about not giving him the inhaler in the first place. Do people not think? Public law officers, don’t they have to know some basic EMS procedures? Emergency childbirth, CPR, the Heimlich maneuver? Or are they going to sit there, call for EMS backup and do absolutely nothing?
Police forces have recruiting problems as it is. How much more are we willing to pay to get peace officers that are more capable of doing the kinds of things people say they want?
Here’s a link to police brutality cases in Baltimore. Grandmothers, pregnant women, men just buying takeout food - anyone can be a victim. Police often say they feared for their lives and “maybe he poked himself in the face and that’s how his nose got broken”, etc.
The Baltimore police department has been a cesspool for years and years, which is one of the reasons I find it shameful that former mayor Martin O’Malley fancies himself a viable candidate for the Presidency.
Trust me - Baltimore is a war zone. There is so much corruption in that city. It happened under the watchful eye of a man who wants to challenge Hillary for President. I wouldn’t recommend anyone take a step out of the Inner Harbor - nor stop a cop to ask for assistance.
Interview with one of the people who filmed Freddie Gray being arrested. He said he was folded up, with his legs folded so that his heels were on his back. The officers had their knees on his back and on his neck (that’s a common technique as seen in the earlier link regarding police brutality settlements). They don’t know how he became injured?
It boggles the mind.
They claim to have not tased him but the interviewee says he heard it (it happened before he starts filming). Will the ME be able to tell if a body had been tased?
In the Baltimore case, the witness says that, as usual, the police were yelling “Stop resisting” when the victim wasn’t resisting. That’s standard. The police will then claim falsely that the person they killed or injured was resisting arrest.
Much as I have no respect for their police, I have to say this is silly slander of an entire city. My DS and a number of his friends live in a variety of perfectly fine neighborhoods (none in the Inner Harbor) in Baltimore. As in any other urban environment, there are dangerous areas and safe areas.