<p>Well, I thought the Eric Garner case was a no-brainer and look how that turned out. In the case of Tamir Rice, the video looks almost like an execution to me. It makes no sense that officers who wanted to apprehend a suspect would pull their car up THAT close to him, and then aim to kill within two seconds. No one was around him and at the time he wasn’t posing a danger. Couldn’t they have used their megaphone to say “drop your weapon or we will shoot,” or at least jumped out of the car from a distance with weapons pointed, knowing he was behaving erratically and they would likely have been able to shoot him first.</p>
<p>All these stories are sad but this one is especially heartbreaking.</p>
<p>Your speculation sounds good to me, but I think the key is what the driver and the shooter said to each other. For instance, an alternate theory: What if the driver pulled up next to the child not in error, but because he was more experienced and saw that Tamir was a kid with a toy gun? It was the shooter, the passenger cop, who was the such a subpar performer who didn’t take stress well. </p>
<p>Initially I though no because of the fake gun and we could not see if it was pointed at the officer Even though the shot came within seconds… After hearing about the issues the cop had in his previous job that time may be a factor in this case.</p>
<p>I am also interested in seeing what happens with the rookie officer in NY that shot the unarmed person in the stair well There is no dispute that he was not in danger. There the claim is the gun went off accidentally…</p>
<p>If this was any other time, I’d say no. However, knowing that they’re under a microscope, I think there may be far more caution around this case. </p>
<p>I thought the NY chokehold case was more likely to bring the indictment of the officer than this case. If the part that it may be a toy gun was not relayed to the officer, the officer may be found less responsible. Very unfortunate.</p>
<p>If I were a betting person I would put money on no bill. I would love to be wrong. </p>
<p>There won’t be an indictment in the Brooklyn case either. They will believe the gun went off accidentally (which is possible, I suppose - I have no idea how easy or hard it is for something like that to happen.) </p>
<p>From what I know in the Brooklyn case I would think involuntary manslaughter should be considered. He opened the door with a the same hand in which he held the gun. A trigger is not easy to pull it takes some effort.</p>
<p>The city also needs to fix this issue with 2 rookie cops working together.</p>
<p>Tom, would think that too, except for the fact it was a cop involved. </p>
<p>I heard on NPR that there are not supposed to be two rookies working together on that kind of asignment, but his non rookie partner was somewhere else. </p>
<p>I’m also wondering if the fact that it was a child, not even a teenager yet, will weigh on the decision. You can’t use the same BS as in previous cases where they were afraid of the size of the black boys/men. </p>
<p>I don’t see an indictment because cops aren’t held to a standard of gross negligence, which this was, but require something out of the scope of duty, which this wasn’t. If the dispatcher had included the information that the gun was probably a fake, as was reported, then it would be so far out there as a police response that I’d bet on an indictment. </p>
<p>This kind of thing needs to be stamped out by the police changing their protocols and holding their officers to them. They need to fire officers who cross these lines ASAP with no dithering so cops know their careers are over. And the courts need to step in with huge awards for wrongful death, both against the jurisdiction and the individual.</p>
<p>I have hazarded that the Tamir Rice case might go differently, because they lied about what happened initially, because he was 12, and because the officer involved has such a shady past as far as police work. But I don’t have any real hope.</p>
<p>And in the Brooklyn case, I am beyond appalled that the officer texted his union rather than radio for help–while the victim was bleeding to death.</p>
<p>Yes - they guessed his age was 20. I’m not going to dig up the studies right now but there are studies showing that people over estimate the age of black children and teens. He may have THOUGHT that the 12 year old was 20 but we have discussed on other threads how preconceived WRONG ideas impact how people are treated. My son was big for his age early and at 12 you may have thought he was 14 or 15 but never 20. He just looked like a gangly kid. If your job is assessing risk situations then you should be better at that. Random citizens call 911 with all kinds of situations and stories but the professionals are supposed to assess and address the circumstances as professionals.</p>
<p>I will bring up that people discounted the testimony of Rachel Jeantel in the George Zimmerman trial because she spoke like a teenager. Yes, she was sulky on the first day but I heard many comments discounting her testimony based on her presentation as if she should have acted more adult. She looked older to people so they expected her to act older and held it against her when she acted her age.</p>
<p>Okay well she was 19 and some judgmental people I guess expected her to be able to read a letter she claimed to have written. The lawyer was about speechless, true enough. But none of it mattered since she wasn’t there anyway.</p>
<p>This is exactly it. Somehow we have gone from counting on the police as being trained professionals who can keep their cool and calmly analyze situations that would scare the bejeezus out of the rest of us, to regarding them as “just-like-us” everyman figures who can shake in their shoes at the sight of a large black man or even a tall 12-year-old. </p>