"You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
"I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI
You're of course very correct that the situation the officer was in could have very easily escalated, and was already real bad. It matters to have a cool head and awareness in situations using force, and the lack of that has made a bad situation much worse. I do think that training and experience are needed to get to that "cool head and awareness in situations using force" and that the officer was failed by a lack training and experience.
Back when, I took a Professional Ethics class that discussed blame and liability. The prof pointed out that the most common real outcome was that every party involved usually had some measure of blame, and that it was the duty of courts and the justice system to work and approportion that blame. In that sense, the officer has blame because she pointed a gun at the decedent, not realizing it was a gun, and killed him with it. I think that the department probably has blame for insufficiently training the officer. I think that the decedent has blame for resisting lawful arrest. I think that the decedent also has blame in establishing for himself a history as a violent criminal, and having a warrant out for his arrest.
I think that the courts and justice system could come up with some sort of satisfactory analysis and awarding of responsibility to all the involved parties, but I think that is the one thing the mob most desperately wants to prevent. Mobs are the opposite of civil, productive, lawful society.
Per the PF Code of Conduct, I have a commercial interest in the StreakTM product as sold by Ammo, Inc.
Concur they aren't the same.
What is the same is that threats of violence against politicians (mob rule) results in rash decisions like this. Whether that mob's assemblage is based on a legitimate grievance or an illegitimate grievance, the result is one that circumvents the process.
You didn't define how the mob's violence was directed, whether against politicians themselves, or against property, or other citizens.
The topic has more nuance than these few sentences and the example you provided earlier allow for.
For example, are we saying "the process" is sacrosanct? Or are there exceptions? I'd argue, as I'm sure you would, that when slavery was legal, fighting it extrajudicially could be justified by any number of metrics.
I'm sure we agree much more than we disagree, but I just want things to be clearer than sophistry might otherwise convey on its face, especially to others who may read these posts and move on.
There's nothing civil about this war.
MEANwhile...back on topic...
Local man interviewed by CNN not happy with the media(warning: colorful language)
Everyone is focusing on the mistaken Taser aspect but what's standing out to me is how incredibly bad the officers are at handling an angry human. This isn't the first time I've noticed this, and I'm curious how common this is. It stood out to me in the Atlanta shooting and it's standing out even harder on this one. The guys hands are behind his back and he's a good distance from the drivers seat and the officer getting ready to cuff him looks like he has ~40 lbs on the guy.
Is this a training trend or a mindset one or am I just noticing it because those are the videos that get seen?
#RESIST