Mahalo, SunSeeker

...but damned if I don't wish for the other definition to apply.

poor judgment have to be weeded out of departments. How that whole case developed seems to be a textbook example of how now to handle a non-emergency situation. All that had to be done, if the sleeping guy was indeed intoxicated, was to tell him he wouldn't be allowed to drive his car so could he please call someone to come and get him. If he wasn't intoxicated, maybe tired from working a shift, just pull the car out of the drive thru line and be done with the situation.

It didn't have to escalate at all. Treat people like you want to be treated. Why get the guy a "case" where he might lose his job, accure car storage fees, all of that. Protect and serve. Help the guy get home. That killer cop wouldn't have done that to a young white guy or young lady. He'd try to help.

could do that and not expect to be shot?

Including me.

You said it yourself: "Took the taser and ran". White guys could expect to get shot for: "Grabbed police officer's service firearm and shot at the officers", but "Took the taser and ran"? No. Only black guys get killed for that.

For nothing.
The student was drunk. The cop followed him to his apartment and shot him in the freaking face.
No charges were filed against the cop.

The cop was even in the wrong jurisdiction.

The family has been going to civil court for 6 freaking years!

https://therivardreport.com/after-six-long-years-its-time-to-settle-the-cameron-redus-case/

... would be world wide protest over those shit too.

disgusting.

or a white guy should've been shot in the back while "running away". Get it? "Running away" meaning he was no treat to the cop and thus lethal force was not called for. And on top of that, so what if he had the tazer? Tazers are not lethal weapons.

But apparently what I wrote went over your head. The whole situation should've been handled without escalation. Like I said, they should've helped the guy either call someone to come and get him, or, if he wasn't drunk, just pull out of the drive-thru line. Everything doesn't have to be handled like it's violent crime situation. It was a guy asleep in his car for God's sake, and the cop killed him. Now a guy is dead, his family is grieving, and the cop's career is over and he'll likely go to jail.

None of that had to happen. Got it? And was that killer cop asleep for the last three weeks while anti-police killing demonstrations have been happening all of the country? Did he miss all of that? And he stupidly goes and kills a fleeing person in the back. That's about the poorest instance of judgment ever.

It's good you're on this site as you've got a lot to learn about cops unjustifiably shooting black men and getting away wit it.

Imagine the officer was your spouse. Would you say if you feel your life is in imminent danger shoot, or wait and see if you have a bullet in your head first?

What if the cops had been decent human beings in the first place? They fucking escalated the situation JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN.

Ffs.

Tasers are not lethal weapons. It's not even as lethal as a rock or brick. It's meant to hurt.

Cop used lethal force against a fleeing man. No reason to escalate it to deadly in the force continuum.

What other false scenarios do you want to invoke to excuse this innocent black man being murdered?

So the guy was running away. Let him go, call for back-up to set up a peremiter and catch him in a couple of hours. He ran off and left his car for God's sake.

But the cop, and apparently you, can't act logically, it's all emotion and what's becoming more and more apparent to white Americans (thanks to cell phone videos), that there is a deeply ingrained racism towards black people in police departments all over the country.

Black people of course have known this all along.

But it wasn't either a gun or a balloon. And the cop knew it wasn't a gun.

situation. They shot a man In The Back who was Running Away with a non lethal taser that the cop didn't have control of. The police were Not in imminent danger from a man fleeing for his life. Seriously, wft are you defending the murderers? People, especially our black brothers and sisters are fucking exhausted by having to explain to you defenders every goddamn day why shooting black people who are running away is Wrong. You and others throw up 'what ifs?' There's no fucking 'what if?'. There are facts- THERE WAS NO GUN. Jesus Christ.

I'm a white guy.

He was real nice. Let me keep my keys and everything.

I once lost my car after being slipped a mickey and forced to leave a party. I drove my car into somebody's yard and destroyed their ornamental planter. Pissed under a bedroom window that caused an old lady to call the police. Left the scene, walked home and slept it off. Morning comes, cop shows up at my door, tells me they found my car, I tell him the story. Told him I lost my keys.

He gives me a ride to my car and the whole freaking neighborhood is out looking at my car. Several police cars, police talking to the old lady whose window I pissed under...one of the cops comes and tells me they found my keys. He gives them to me.

After talking to the people whose planter I destroyed, they forgive me and I am allowed to leave.

Did I mention, I'm a white guy...

He was an honor student at a local university.
A cop followed him home and shot him in the face as he was trying to get in the door.
No charges were filed against the cop.
Cop was not even in his jurisdiction.
Shot Cameron in cold blood.

Lemme guess..this happened with you in the 70s?
Cameron Redus was killed in 2013.

JFC some of the people on DU need some serious education in this area.

Florida was pretty bad in the 80's as far as racial tension went.

My apologies, if I offended you or came across as saying it never happens. That was not my intent.

I have lots of stories about the disparity since I lived for a while in the projects and had a lot of friends and opportunities to see things first hand.

I hope you understand my intent.

treated by cops. The whole justice system is systemically racist. The figures alone show that. However, I don't think that you would have been shot dead if you were a black man.

No taser. No non-lethal weapon. No nothing. Just drunk.
A cop followed him home. Shot him in the face at his apartment door.
No charges were filed

Cameron was a gifted honor student.
There were candlelight vigils, etc. but no charges were filed.

Family was just notified by the TX SC that they can sue.
They have been trying for a civil suit for six years. and the university kept claiming immunity.


https://therivardreport.com/after-six-long-years-its-time-to-settle-the-cameron-redus-case/

But his death doesn't justify others. This was irresponsible. Coming up with worse examples doesn't make it less irresponsible.

I'm giving them an example
Cameron was an honor student.
He was drunk.
He wasn't armed.
The cop who attacked weighed 250 lbs and looked like something out of Smokey and The Bandit. The cop lied repeatedly about what happened.
The family has spent years pursuing a civil suit

https://therivardreport.com/after-six-long-years-its-time-to-settle-the-cameron-redus-case/

Most of these "a lot of people" are minorities. It's not a secret that minorities are targeted. Just because we can find examples of injustice to white people, the injustice to minorities isn't in any way diminished.

This wasn't just "an example". This happened in my community and shook a lot of people to the core .

Think it proves how much of an exception this type of police encounter is.

But please stop with this. You cannot take one example or a few examples and have that equal to what is being done to the black community.

to lessen the horribleness of PD violence against black men and women.

That poster needs to stop with this and go educate themselves.

Especially since NO ONE says white people don't get killed by cops. THey do. It's just very rare, and not systematic.

Are the police supposed to wait and see if they have taken a bullet to the head before assessing if he has a real gun?

owned a gun or fired one. I hate guns, but if I put myself in the position of a cop that has somebody who appears to be about to shoot me, I can't say I wouldn't fire back.

Do you actually believe they would have even attempted to handcuff him before searching for weapons? I'll let that soak in just a little.

You seem to know something they don't ...

blacks in America. I lived in the UK most my life and had never seen such racism until I came to America. I am sickened by it.

Let him run away. They had his car and license plate ffs. They know where to find him later. Avoid the confrontation altogether.

This was deliberate escalation. Even the chief of police acknowledges it and resigned

time he turned and appeared to fire the taser toward the cop? The fact that he took the taser and ran suggests he hadn't been restrained. Is there evidence that the cops did anything wrong up to that point. The question is when he turned and appeared to shoot. Did the cop think he had a real gun? Was he right to fire back? I don't know, but I am not going to conclude this was a racist killing based on the available information.

Why not let him go? They knew it was a taser, not a gun.

Furthermore the chief has resigned saying there was unnecessary lethal force, and the cop has been fired because he used unnecessary lethal force.

Why do you think these police officers resigned/were fired?

At least for violent, murderous cops.

It’s doesn’t get more justified than this. Everyone here can nitpick the video as much as they want, but at the end of the day, Rayshard Brooks assaulted a cop, stole his weapon and attempted to use it on the officer. Case closed.

... knew it was a non lethal weapon that was being pointed at them.

Too many whites in America accept the cops being aggressive assholes too them but those aggressive assholes to white people means they kill black people.

So sad.
Mr. Brooks was cooperative , but obviously drunk.
He had a fairly long conversation with the cop.
He takes the breathalyzer etc.
Obvious that Mr Brooke shouldn't drive home.

As soon as the cop puts tries to cuff Mr Brooks, he freaks out.

I don't know if Mr Brooks would have had the same reaction if the cop had not cuffed him and just offered him a ride home in the squad car, it would have been nice if the cops could have called someone to give him a ride.

Something went very wrong.

Protect and serve is the motto cops swear an oath to. Just do that. Help the guy get home without letting him drive. A little compassion goes a long way. All the witnesses, no doubt mostly black people, would've seen a cop helping a black man and good will would've been furthered towards at least those two white cops.

The ingrained racism towards black men has to be weeded out of police departments all over the country.

and pick him up later. But that makes too much sense.

And your argument makes none. Times have changed. Don't you get it by now after three weeks of protest against unnecessary police killings of black men.

Your post is really disappointing. It's surprising to find such a post here on DU.

Affect the court of law. The only thing that can change the law is a bill passed by Congress. Public opinion doesn’t count.

Before three weeks ago, this isn’t even a front page news case.

Seriously. The shooting of Marbury and Taylor are still in the news.

You've apparently never heard of restraint, de-escalation and compassion in policing. Those cops could've easily called that guy an Uber or allowed him to call a friend to come get him. No, they escalated it into a situation where the killer cop exercised the worst possible judgment he could by shooting a fleeing man in the back, thereby killing not just the man but his own career. He'll be charged soon. And none of that had to happen with a little restraint, de-escalation and compassion.

The days of cops letting people off for drunk driving was over in the early 90’s. Thank MADD and a drunk driver in KY involved in the Carrollton Bus Collision that killed 28 people in 1988 for that.

Now, do people have anecdotal knowledge or stories of some random person not being arrested for drunk driving, possibly. But the policy is, you drive drunk, you get arrested.

Do cops treat African Americans unfairly, you fucking bet, and I’m glad the country is in the midst, hopefully, of fixing that societal problem.

But THIS case is clear cut. Dude had a weapon, threatened officers with it after violently attacking them, and taking the taser. If, for some reason he did get away, he’d be looking at spending the rest of his life in prison. This was not some slap on the wrist offense.

Last edited Sun Jun 14, 2020, 11:32 PM - Edit history (2)

them or their teenage son or daughter walk home or get a ride when there's no accident of damage? Who is that naive still. They took that Dylan Roof guy to MacDonald's after the killed nine black parishioners in a church. If a black guy had done that he'd look like Swiss cheese because of all the bullet holes that would've been pumped into him.

Last edited Sun Jun 14, 2020, 11:49 PM - Edit history (2)

You for a ride, they’ll take you for a ride. Everything they do is recorded.

If a cop car’s lights come on, then their dash-cam is on. Those cameras are great for transparency, but they also reduce the leeway cops have when charging people with crimes. And yeah, Dylann Roof got some burger king, but he also got the death penalty.

And you make it seem like DUI is some make up technical law violation. DUI is fucking serious, and there isn’t a department in the country that isn’t hardcore about getting drunk drivers off the road. 50 people a day die in the US because of DUI.

Garrett Rolfe, the officer that ultimately shot Rayshard Brooks, received an award (“a silver pin”) for making between 50 and 99 DUI arrests last year. As an aside, he passed a “Use of Deadly Force” course in January, was recently trained in de-escalation, and had over 2000 hours of training during his 7 years at APD.

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/protests/what-do-we-know-about-garrett-rolfe/85-64b07e39-6ccb-4f0f-b26b-024de863a782

Go figure ...

I am really at a loss as to how any progressive can be ok with what the cops did in that Wendy's parking lot.

Constantly having to explain why it's wrong to shoot black folks in the back while running from cops, is just... I just don't even goddamn know why it needs to be explained over and over every fucking day. All the 'what ifs'... Total rewriting of reality in order to justify cops murdering black folks day in and day out.

I see your posts every day and your exhaustive explaining... I commend you and your daily effort, but don't know how you bring yourself to go through the same goddamn explanations day after day. Love and respect to you.

Some days, it's just too much ...

Thanks for the kind words.

The tolerance for racist pigs to execute citizens is decreasing.
Apparently, these changes are hard to accept for some, here as well.