Exactly, @LasMa. And in my case I have to confess that I have “mouthed off” to a cop who was giving me a ticket. But I’m a white woman.
Consolation, you would have to go back almost 6 years to find a single post by that person that had anything to do with College Search and Selection.
Driving while white, I haven’t been pulled over for anything in at least 30 years. - yet Chris Rock was stopped 3 times in the space of 7 weeks or something.
The Bureau of Justice stats for 2013 found that blacks drivers are 30% more likely to be pulled over than white drivers.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/us/chris-rock-pulled-over-police-selfies-feat/
… while whites are more likely to have contraband in their cars.
“Michael Brown was killed for jaywalking”
Uh, really? The gentle giant was just strolling down the street and the cop killed him for that? Didn’t have anything to do with a struggle for the gun in the car, and lunging towards the police officer afterwards? He was just killed for jaywalking?
"Eric Garner was killed for selling loose cigarettes.’
So the city decided to crack down on this, and sent the cops out to kill him for not paying taxes?
“Walter Scott was killed for a malfunctioning tail light”
The cop killed him because his light was out, that’s all? Nothing to do with struggling and running? Just a tail light. Wow.
“Needless to say, none of these are death-penalty offenses. Heck, last summer I drove around for a week knowing my tail light was out. It never once occurred to me that I might pay for that crime with my life. But then, I’m a middle-aged white woman.”
I assume, that while I appear harmless, that if I lunge at a cop, reach for something quickly, run away with them after me----I am dead. They don’t know if I’m suicidal, off my meds, or a complete nutcase. I am very cognizant that they carry a gun, and do absolutely nothing threatening. If I was a young black man, I would be even more careful, and be extremely passive.
The problem with exaggerated rhetoric is that people stop believing what you say. There is enough evidence out there about overuse of force by cops against black men that you really don’t need to exaggerate.
The problem that the police have is the fact that cameras have captured them killing blacks for offenses that did not threaten the lives of the police or the public. A man running away from a cop at the pace of a toddler is not a threat to society or has he committed a crime that rose to the punishment of death. A fat man gasping for air while being held down by several able-bodied officers doesn’t pose a threat to society. What makes these men easy targets of blame is that they are black, they are poor, and they resisted arrest. I am not convinced that resisting arrest deserved death in these and several other cases.
“The problem that the police have is the fact that cameras have captured them killing blacks for offenses that did not threaten the lives of the police or the public. A man running away from a cop at the pace of a toddler is not a threat to society or has he committed a crime that rose to the punishment of death. A fat man gasping for air while being held down by several able-bodied officers doesn’t pose a threat to society. What makes these men easy targets of blame is that they are black, they are poor, and they resisted arrest. I am not convinced that resisting arrest deserved death in these and several other cases”
I completely agree.
However, being honest is important. One shouldn’t claim that they were killed because they were jaywalking, selling cigarettes, or had a malfunctioning tail light. Your post, in my opinion, is 100% accurate.
None of these men was killed when they were lunging or struggling. The officers were not in danger when they killed these men.
As for officers shooting at a suspect when the suspect is running away – that has been specifically prohibited by the Supreme Court, unless the suspect is dangerous.
“None of these men was killed when they were lunging or struggling. The officers were not in danger when they killed these men.”
You really should not include Michael Brown in your example. The cop (and many of the witnesses) did believe he was attacking. It delegitimizes the other valid examples. The other two were not lunging or struggling (though apparently there is some video showing that Walter Scott was struggling? But I’m not certain how accurate that is). I don’t think there was any good reason for someone to be killed while running away, and while I don’t think the cop intended to kill Eric Garner, he should not have taken him down the way he did, and should be held responsible for his death.
But these men were not killed because they were jaywalking, selling cigarettes, or had a broken tail light. It makes it seem like the cops were just having target practice, which they weren’t, as opposed to a terrible lack of judgment.
Busdriver, then why are those men dead?
ETA – That’s a sincere question. Take Scott. That encounter started peacefully enough, and yet two minutes later, he was dead. But he was not killed when he was struggling with Slager. He was killed when he was running away, unarmed and no threat to anyone. Why do you think Slager would kill him at that point?
I guess we’ll have to wait for the trial, to hear what comes out. My guess is that his adrenalin was high, and in a grotesque lack of judgment, he became fixated on stopping Scott. He hadn’t even realized that he killed him, as he was still shouting at the dead man, telling him to stay down. But I don’t think he was enraged because Scott was a black guy daring to drive with a broken tail light. I certainly agree with his prosecution.
Sure, if there had been no broken tail light, he probably wouldn’t have been stopped. However, that is not why he was killed.
As an aside, I certainly hope that Sllager is charged with manslaughter as well as murder. Charging him with murder alone makes it virtually certain that he will get off entirely.
Yeah, I’m not sure how that works. Apparently they have to put him up for a number of different charges, and that gives the jury options? Isn’t that why the cop that killed Eric Garner not indicted? Because the only charge they leveled at him was murder? I’m not certain if that is correct, but if so, that seems really dumb to have only charged him with murder.
The DA has a lot of leeway with the quality of the case they present to the grand jury. Thus, a DA can kill a case against a cop by purposely presenting evidence in favor of the police. I see grand juries as secret courts that benefit the police more than the public.
Thanks. I guess I just lack the motivation to search my (or anyone else’s) posting history to that degree, but I do appreciate being reminded that I did make that post - and that I was made to feel badly for making it. Something about my not fully comprehended the OP, something.
Speed about as often as 75% of the other drivers, but never more than 7-8 mph over. Haven’t had a speeding ticket since 1987.
Been pulled over once, on the Atchafalaya Basin bridge but refrained from mouthing off to the cop that I wasn’t going any faster than most of the people in front of or behind me.
I’ve an abiding lack of interest in being hauled in the back of a cop car anywhere, but then I’m not a woman. If I was, the fear of being tazed would probably still my restless tongue.
I would never mouth off, or do anything to appear threatening to an armed cop, because I don’t want to be arrested or killed. Even if I’m annoyed or I disagree, because I’m not completely stupid. I can’t imagine a situation that I would run from a cop, unless I decided that person was a criminal and going to kill me.
I wondered if the officer who shot Scott thought that he was still using the taser. That would make sense, as who shoots a guy in the back so many times and thinks he’s still going to get up and fight?
I believe this is easier said than done.
@busdriver11 - I do think Slager was enraged. I think a lot of these cases involve the officer feeling he’s been disrespected, which is simply intolerable to some men (perhaps especially to men who are attracted to police work). And we know Slager’s adrenaline was pumping; he said so. But a trained professional LEO is supposed to be able to control himself in these emotional, high-stress situations, not just let the bullets fly.
I’d argue that cops control themselves when they want to. But when they think no one is looking (the high desert last week), or when dealing with a black person (when has anyone ever believed a black man’s story against a police officer’s story, until the last few months?) – then many cops seem to feel free to vent their emotions. I think that’s what happened with Slager. He was angry, really angry. When Scott started to lumber away, he could easily have caught him, or called for backup. But instead he decided to vent his anger, and he had [every reason to believe he’d get away with it](South Carolina Officers Cleared In 200 Shootings In Past 5 Years | HuffPost Latest News). He happened to be the unlucky 201st whose predictable “I was in danger” report was contradicted by a video.
@busdriver11 I would invite you to look at the case involving Sean Groubert, South Carolina trooper, shooting Levar Jones, who was unarmed, in the parking lot of a gas station just outside Columbia on September 4.
He wasnt mouthing off, he wasnt disrespectful, he wasnt running. When the officer asked him for his license, he reached to get it, and the officer started shooting him. Even after he was shot, the victim was addressing the officer politely, and asked why did he shoot him. The officer had already started to claim he was “coming towards him”, fortunately dashcam proved otherwise.
So how can we win, when officers have determined that anything we do is a reason to shoot?