I didn't think I was being aggressive with you in any way.Originally Posted by GyroF-16
I didn't think I was being aggressive with you in any way.
"Are you ready? Okay. Let's roll."- Last words of Todd Beamer
For me, I'll be very curious to see if the Lt is a good to go servicemember and member of society or a shitbird.
#RESIST
This is my 2nd post.I want to stress that I think the Lt is a Prick and is stupid too. Because police must deal with so many persons in this category, many officers are fatigued and burned out. I understand burn out. When I retired from teaching, I had become hostile and impatient. I might have talked shit to the Lt had I interacted with him.
Haven’t even watched the video, but from reading the thread and watching similar videos I feel comfortable saying this.
In the moment people need to try and comply and cops need to try and understand that people may be scared or confused. If possible take time and slow down and explain things to them, even if it takes stupid long and you have the ability and time.
Whatever the case, it’s not about race. Framing this about race is beyond stupid and not constructive. In well over a decade I’ve never seen an officer treat anyone different based on race. Cops can easily be in the wrong, but I’ve not seen it be about race.
The race discussion not only cheapens real racism, but it hurts efforts at improving , in a productive way, police and citizen interaction.
+1
As an example, I remember this case from a couple of years ago (this is the one where a railroad worker gets arrested):
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/...own-city-face/
That's an example of a police officer acting badly, with out encouragement from the driver. And the driver handled it the right way, if you are unlucky enough to be in that situation - cooperate completely, then get your day in court. Arguing on the side of the road makes the immediate situation worse, and also doesn't help you in court later (whether you are in court as a defendant or plaintiff).
What do we know about the 1 mile stretch of road that he continued down? Did he cruise past multiple intersections or other "well lit areas" during that stretch or was this an empty country road?
David S.
The "he was looking for a payday" line of thought makes hardly any sense to me. What marginally-sane Black man would provoke a situation with armed cops, knowing full well that escalated encounters between Black men and cops can end with the one who wasn't a cop on a slab in the morgue?
Second, this is the caption for the lawsuit:
I've not read the complaint (it's 51 pages and nobody is paying me to do that), but note that the Army officer has not sued the town. He's only sued the two cops. If he was looking for a payday, wouldn't he have sued the town, as well? The town probably has the insurance to cover it and the insurance company and the town might want a fast settlement to make this case go away.
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
...have you seen any of the crap going on in society nowadays?
It's not just black people but any number of random fuckwits who know they can prod the cops all day and if they can get the officer to do something that just looks unpleasant they get to parade around as the victim.
This wasn't about race and I wish to Christ people would stop playing in to the BS. As was pointed out earlier, it's extraordinarily unlikely the officers had any idea the driver was black up until they got up to his window. LT was being a nitwit, and the one officer certainly wasn't doing himself any favors with the overly aggressive behavior. The LT in this instance happened to be black, he wasn't dealt with in such a fashion simply because he was black. That's a distinction more people need to be mindful of but it doesn't help when damn near every interaction of the police (regardless of color) vs a minority is touted as racially motivated.
“Conspiracy theories are just spoiler alerts these days.”
Are you being serious? I'm going to assume you are, so...
1. People don't comply with an actual officer standing at their window giving lawful commands...but you think they're going to somehow become cheerlfully complaint to a drone hovering at their window?
2. I'm also going to assume you've never conducted a traffic stop. Not all stops are for speeding, and the ones that are are also used as an opportunity to check for other violations/crimes. While interacting with the driver, an officer: looks into the vehicle for evidence of possible criminal activity (weapons, drugs, open containers, bank bags with cash falling out, bodies in the rear seat, etc.); looks for indicators of posssible impairment (odor, slurred speech, eyes, etc.); notices body language and mannerisms to indicate deception, etc.; et al.
3. While operating a radio, MDT, etc....now the officer is also supposed to simulatneously fly a drone (without crashing it into the ground, violator/passing vehicles, or the violator themselves)?
I'm not a police officer and never played one on TV, but I've been paying attention to these events and trying to have meaningful conversations with people in my life who don't necessarily agree with me politically. One thing that I've learned in those conversations is that many people have lost the ability to look at these events objectively from both sides and tend to forget that most cops are good people just trying to get home to their family too.
In every video that I've watched there have been mistakes made on both sides, and this one is no exception. This is the first one where I can really sympathize with the person being pulled over, and at least understand the reasoning for the things they did wrong. I do believe that this man was scared and probably in shock once he saw the guns drawn. I think it is also likely those emotions impacted his thought process during the encounter.
I think the driver's decision to drive to a well lit area is reasonable, even if not technically legal. I haven't seen footage of this part of the process, but the way this was done could make a difference also. Did he keep driving the same speed until he got there or did he put the window down, turn on his hazard lights, and drive slowly? Legally, that may not matter, but to a reasonable person it could make a difference.
While I don't fault the officers for the way they approached the vehicle, I would have preferred to see the officers approach with their weapons at a low ready instead of pointed at the driver since I believe pulling into a well lit area is reasonable. I also understand the concern that the officers had since they didn't know if the guy is driving to meet up with a bunch of his friends to ambush the officers. However, I don't think that is a scenario that a normal, law abiding citizen would think of in that situation so I can understand how the driver felt like he was having guns pointed at him for no reason.
I would have liked to see the driver make more of an attempt to comply with the orders, or at least to better explain his concerns for why he was scared to do so (I think his concerns were valid). I would have also liked to see the officers make more of an attempt to deescalate at that point. I think that 2-3 sentences to explain the situation would have done a lot more to resolve things than "you're about to ride the lightning".
I don't like that the LT was actively resisting the cuffs being put on, but I liked the attitude of the younger officer while trying to get him cuffed. Once the cuffs were on I think the rest of the encounter went pretty well. It was a bumpy ride, but ultimately nobody got hurt and they had a chance to talk things out at the end. Hopefully, everybody involved learned something and hopefully other people watching this video can learn something.
I think part of the division over this topic is that it is hard for the general public to understand why police officers go in to every encounter expecting the worst thing to happen. As I mentioned earlier, most people wouldn't be able to come up with the nefarious things that criminals do that officers have to be ready for at all times. They don't understand how quickly things can and do go wrong and how quickly officers can lose their life.
So who do I think is MOST at fault for the things that went wrong here? I blame BLM and the mainstream media. Convincing young black men and women of the false narrative that the police are looking to kill them for no reason will continue to create more situations like this. Not giving people the full story and not holding these men/women in the videos accountable for their crimes and for resisting arrest and fighting the police will continue to encourage people to resist arrest and will result in more (justified) deaths. It is a self fulfilling prophecy at this point and the people who have the power to get that message out don't have any interest in doing so.
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