Another day, another murder by cop.

[Ethereal]

On the kicking one: There is an ongoing investigation. There will be charges, I bet.
On the knee one: I suspect there will be charges.

According to the Bureau of Justice, about 62.9 million people had contact with the police in 2011 (the most recent year available). About half of those were police initiated. Nearly half (49%) of persons experiencing contact with police, the most recent contact was involuntary or police-initiated. In 2011, 86% of persons involved in traffic stops during their most recent contact with police and 66% of persons involved in street stops (i.e., stopped in public but not in a moving vehicle) believed that the police both behaved properly and treated them with respect during the contact. A greater percentage of persons involved in street stops (25%) than those pulled over in traffic stops (10%) believed the police had not behaved properly.

Regardless of the reason for the stop, less than 5% of persons who believed the police had not behaved properly filed a complaint.


https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/pbtss11.pdf

Yeah, not all cops are committing violent crimes against Americans, but there are enough cops doing this to warrant serious concern.

It is painfully clear that not only has a thuggish subculture emerged within American policing institutions, but that this subculture is growing and becoming more extreme over time.

[carolina73]

The FBI has been called in to investigate. According to the police spokesperson, the knee on the neck is "not a department-authorized chokehold." http://www.citypages.com/news/man-wh...tody/570764991

The man stood up and was upright as he was put in the ambulance. He was still handcuffed. He was not on a stretcher. No breathing assistance was provided to him by the ambulance drivers. His neck was not broken...

I'm not sure what people here are saying that the officer holding him down did to cause his death.
Don't confuse that with excusing what he did but that is why I want to know what they meant by resisting arrest. When someone is drugged out then they don't feel pain and present a much greater risk. The knee could have been just pinning him to the ground or it could have been crushing his throat. The fact he was talking does not make that apparent.

[Dr. Who]

The man stood up and was upright as he was put in the ambulance. He was still handcuffed. He was not on a stretcher. No breathing assistance was provided to him by the ambulance drivers. His neck was not broken...

I'm not sure what people here are saying that the officer holding him down did to cause his death.
Don't confuse that with excusing what he did but that is why I want to know what they meant by resisting arrest. When someone is drugged out then they don't feel pain and present a much greater risk. The knee could have been just pinning him to the ground or it could have been crushing his throat. The fact he was talking does not make that apparent.

I may have confused this with a separate incident in Minneapolis where police are implicated in the death of a suspect. Private Pickle has a thread entitled "Medical Incident".

[The Xl]

The bigger issue is that the justice system does not go after bad cops, effectively giving them a license to do what they want. Farce of a system.

[DGUtley]

The bigger issue is that the justice system does not go after bad cops, effectively giving them a license to do what they want. Farce of a system.

I disagree. I think the justice system does go after bad cops.

[usaf81]

Your link sucks and goes nowhere, not that I was all that interested, but it always fascinated me why people pick one type of job to bash for the actions of an individual.

I think deep down America just has a fascination with cop stuff, I call them "cop-o-holics". That and they need some patsy to hate on.

A nation that demands to be treated as individuals, indeed writes it into their Constitution, act as if a uniform turns people into a cloned army. We just had a usual Memorial Day weekend, 10 kilt and 39 winged, tho that will change as the ventilators are turned off. We had guys hurt during the usual celebratory riots, in honor of those who fell serving up customers, but luckily no cops kilt. I call that a "win" 'cause who gives a damn how many gangsters get riddled? Send the bill to the taxpayer who's busy being more appalled then the other guy about the Police. I'm even joining the "more appalled then you" contest.

Crime fighting is a bad business to be in anyway. Its lose, lose either way. Anyway I can't even open the link and I'm appalled, far more appalled then anyone here.

[Hoosier8]

The man stood up and was upright as he was put in the ambulance. He was still handcuffed. He was not on a stretcher. No breathing assistance was provided to him by the ambulance drivers. His neck was not broken...

I'm not sure what people here are saying that the officer holding him down did to cause his death.
Don't confuse that with excusing what he did but that is why I want to know what they meant by resisting arrest. When someone is drugged out then they don't feel pain and present a much greater risk. The knee could have been just pinning him to the ground or it could have been crushing his throat. The fact he was talking does not make that apparent.

I watched the whole video and the guy was lifeless, non-responsive, and put on a stretcher. He had quit breathing for some minutes before the ambulance got there.

[Dr. Who]

I disagree. I think the justice system does go after bad cops.

The standard for determining whether or not an officer of the law was justified in using lethal force tends not to be an objective one. The officer need only "feel" that their life was in danger. That is a very subjective standard and one open to abuse, barring glaring evidence to the contrary.

[The Xl]

I disagree. I think the justice system does go after bad cops.

Of course you'd think that. Despite the fact that their prosecution and conviction rates are almost nothing. Despite the fact that there is incident after incident showing bad cops murdering, committing assault, and other crimes without them even being arrested at all in some cases. But sure, they go after bad cops because you say so.

[DGUtley]

The standard for determining whether or not an officer of the law was justified in using lethal force tends not to be an objective one. The officer need only "feel" that their life was in danger. That is a very subjective standard and one open to abuse, barring glaring evidence to the contrary.

The jury determination is always a subjective one.

Of course you'd think that. Despite the fact that their prosecution and conviction rates are almost nothing. Despite the fact that there is incident after incident showing bad cops murdering, committing assault, and other crimes without them even being arrested at all in some cases. But sure, they go after bad cops because you say so.

First of all, I don't know why it's "Of course you'd think that" I don't do criminal work. Or, are you going to jump to some conclusion like your buddy did earlier? Secondly, it's not "incident after incident after incident showing bad cops murdering, committing assault, and other crimes with them even being arrested at all in some cases." 69,000,000 contacts with the last known data - and we hear about 24 -50 of them each year. Again, I think 1 is too many. They do prosecute them and they do go to jail; and when they should, they should. Deal in facts not emotions.