Bizarre police chase/shooting lawsuit settled in St Louis

[Peally]

I highly doubt it, just a culmination of business as usual. There's usually a consistent pattern of blatantly inappropriate behavior and misconduct leading up to incidents like this. The people least surprised by things like this are the officer's coworkers. They'll report the behavior to supervisors, it'll get swept under the rug or worse the reporting officer is retaliated against, and eventually the offending officers get completely out of control.

Don't get me wrong, they might have been hovering at 90% for a while, but everyone pushed the dial to 100% that day.

[Lon]

This is what makes things so hard. I have no issue defending righteous use of force in cases like Baton Rouge and Charleston, and calling crap on stuff like South Carolina, Chicago, and the toy truck one in Florida. I wish the other side was intellectually honest enough to admit that most shootings are good, and a few are bad. I think if everyone was focused on the bad ones it would be helpful across the board. I am venturing some serious hiring and retention and training issues on this one.

I agree. I would add that we (law enforcement in general, especially unions) need to do a better job of condemning stupid shootings instead of merely arguing "Our job is dangerous and we have to go home at the end of our shift no matter what" in an attempt to avoid admitting we (the police) made a mistake. We lose credibility every time that happens.

[LittleLebowski]

Yep....most of these start with the actions of the crook. It is always how they are finished that become an issue. Most of this stuff is easily avoided if people would actual put their hands up, follow directions and submit to arrest or detention with no resistance.

Absofuckinglutely agree.

[NEPAKevin]

Did he plant the gun in dude's car?

This is why one should not marathon binge watch all seven seasons of "the Shield" before going on patrol.

[PearTree]

I watched the video and the only thing I was thinking was this is why we can't have nice things.

What an idiot.

[Dagga Boy]

I watched the video and the only thing I was thinking was this is why we can't have nice things.

What an idiot.

Bingo! I love how the public thinks all cops are dirty and generally corrupt scumbags covering up for each other. Reality.....we despise the bad apples more than the public ever could because they give the entire apple farm a bad name. May be regional, but I no in my neck of the woods...."bad" cops were hated, and treated worse than the crooks when these turds surfaced. I would like to hope that was everywhere, but I am constantly amazed at the level of stupidity some are capable of, and why it is allowed to go on.

[Chuck Haggard]

Bingo! I love how the public thinks all cops are dirty and generally corrupt scumbags covering up for each other. Reality.....we despise the bad apples more than the public ever could because they give the entire apple farm a bad name. May be regional, but I no in my neck of the woods...."bad" cops were hated, and treated worse than the crooks when these turds surfaced. I would like to hope that was everywhere, but I am constantly amazed at the level of stupidity some are capable of, and why it is allowed to go on.

I often point out how easily, in well run organizations, a cop can get fired.

One of the last rookies my old job let go was over a FB post of him drinking beer and doing a kegstand with his old frat boy buddies.
I had to go through the process to fire two of my own troops, one had serious issues with report writing and attendance. The other simply had no people skills and lacked judgement, along with some sick leave abuse.
Hardly what people think of when they think of "bad cops".

In this case I am very happy that a 1st degree murder charge has been dropped.

[AMC]

That has got to be one of the dirtiest, most F'ed up things I've ever seen. Thanks, shithead, for confirming what the unknowing public thinks about officer involved shootings.

[Lon]

I finally got around to watching the video. What a goat fuck. I've seen some fucked up shit, but that takes the cake. I wonder why it took so long to charge him?

[txdpd]

I finally got around to watching the video. What a goat fuck. I've seen some fucked up shit, but that takes the cake. I wonder why it took so long to charge him?

IMO, how problematic officers act is just a watered down version of how they are treated by the command staff. Guys that show up without a real sense of right and wrong, just follow the example that's given to them.

I'm not surprised that a department that lets guys get out of control like that, would drag their feet (and probably had to have their arm twisted) on filing charges.