Police misconduct 2

[Vashta Nerada]

I just watched the video they released. It clearly was an accident......but. As usual. There were also plenty of Officers who had already taken him to the ground and had him under enough control that I don't really see a need for even a taser.
No I'm not a cop or play one on T.V. But I can tell when someone is on the ground and at least two men on him with a knee in the neck. That he ain't goin nowhere.
Bates clearly had one of those"OH SH!T!" moments. Not Homicide. But it sure borders negligent Homicide.

No video was initially provided, instead we saw a heavily-redacted and censored, blurry, low contrast slide show of cherry-picked images with no verifiable timecode or metadata, that reporters had to try and re-photograph as it was projected on the wall of a conference room.


Tulsa Police Sgt. Jim Clark, an expert brought in by the Sheriff's Office, said he reviewed the evidence and concluded that Deputy Bates did not commit a crime and instead was a "victim."
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/crimewatch/video-of-fatal-shooting-by-reserve-deputy-shown-at-sheriff/article_9d77cce0-75e6-5ddf-a782-cf048ad4064b.html

They could have been subtly remorseful, but instead went the route of "the poor cop that shot the unarmed man point blank in the back is the one you should feel sorry for."

They could not have been more self-serving, calloused, and arrogant if they had tried.

[AquaMan]

I have faith that a local law firm will hold these folks accountable. Its up to the city and state to make sure the system is adequately tweaked and throttled. I have no faith in that. Most likely they will attempt to pass laws outlawing videotaping of police operations.

[patric]

I have faith that a local law firm will hold these folks accountable. Its up to the city and state to make sure the system is adequately tweaked and throttled. I have no faith in that. Most likely they will attempt to pass laws outlawing videotaping of police operations.

What I havent been hearing through all of this is what steps will be taken to prevent it from happening again.

The "Slip and Capture" explaination seems to have been the work of one doctor on the defense team for an officer charged with murder (but later convicted of manslaughter) in the 2009 shooting of a restrained suspect at a train station in Oakland.

http://www.policeone.com/police-trainers/articles/2144171-Force-Science-explains-slips-and-capture-errors

I havent found an example of that defense being used in any other criminal case, and it seems to leave the door open.

[AquaMan]

It seemed to be a well reasoned defense backed up with experience. It was telling that the BART, and from other reports LA, changed their training and weapons were changed to more consistent style and placement. That is what I hope will happen here rather than taking sides by race or politics. As I said in an earlier post, this is an excellent opportunity to re-assess training and tweak psychological testing to address a national problem.

This "slip and capture" phenomena seems unrelated to age. The BART incident was a much younger man.

[Jammie]

I've had some really bad dealings with Tulsa cops. But then there's been some that've been really great. I think it's like any job where someone has authority, there's some bad apples & there's good ones. But it's possible too that people that crave that kind of dominance & aggression might seek out positions of authority.
 

You nailed it! The problem is, there's no way to tell the difference between the cops who truly want to help people and those who are on a control/power trip often until it's too late and someone is dead or others are raped by them. The officer in SC who was arrested for murder had other charges brought against him previously and the victim is now suing. Of course, the officer was previously believed and exonerated.

As far as the man on the horse who was beaten, I'm struggling to find any sympathy for him. He was convicted of domestic abuse and animal abuse in 2006 and was again having an issue with both. In fact, he had just shot the family dog right in front of the family during their most recent issue. I realize the cops aren't judge, jury, and executioners, but karma is what got this man.

[Vashta Nerada]

You nailed it! The problem is, there's no way to tell the difference between the cops who truly want to help people and those who are on a control/power trip often until it's too late and someone is dead or others are raped by them. The officer in SC who was arrested for murder had other charges brought against him previously and the victim is now suing. Of course, the officer was previously believed and exonerated.

As far as the man on the horse who was beaten, I'm struggling to find any sympathy for him. He was convicted of domestic abuse and animal abuse in 2006 and was again having an issue with both. In fact, he had just shot the family dog right in front of the family during their most recent issue. I realize the cops aren't judge, jury, and executioners, but karma is what got this man.

Dont pitty him.  He's no angel, which is why we have a court system and not mob rule.
Sometimes those in authority forget that, and become mobs.   Thats the problem we have.

[Vashta Nerada]

It seemed to be a well reasoned defense backed up with experience. It was telling that the BART, and from other reports LA, changed their training and weapons were changed to more consistent style and placement. That is what I hope will happen here rather than taking sides by race or politics. As I said in an earlier post, this is an excellent opportunity to re-assess training and tweak psychological testing to address a national problem.

This "slip and capture" phenomena seems unrelated to age. The BART incident was a much younger man.

Shannon Clark claims the justification for using the taser on a subdued man in the first place was that the victim "refused to pull his left arm from underneath his body where his hand was near his waistband," but in the Google Glass video, no one orders him to do that.
Also, I have listened to the tape several times, and I dont hear anyone shouting "Taser! Taser!" before the shooting.  Anyone else?
Is administering 50,000 volts across a persons heart such a passé and routine act that we dont take any precautions?


...and then there is the lack of professionalism, as well as humanity:

"He shot me! He shot me, man. Oh, my god. I'm losing my breath," Eric Harris says as he struggles on the ground with police on top of him.
"F--k your breath," an officer can be heard saying. "Shut the f--k up!"
"I shot him!" the shocked former policeman says, dropping his gun from the recoil. "I'm sorry."
"You shouldn't have f-----g ran!" another deputy screams, as Harris is held down by his neck and head.

http://video.nydailynews.com/?ndn.trackingGroup=90051&ndn.siteSection=nydailynews_hom_non_non&ndn.videoId=28876888&freewheel=90051&sitesection=nydailynews_hom_non_non&vid=28876888

The last cop to do this did prison time, but don't expect DA Kuntzweiler to give this anything but his OK.  The taxpayers will loose the civil suit and the wound will just lay open.

[Conan71]

Due to tort limits, they family may only end up with $175K. 

I'm aware of a case last week in which a motorcyclist who was hit by a police car was awarded >$600K by a jury, but the attorney who represented him said it will likely be revised to $175K which won't even cover the medical expenses of the rider or his passenger.  The attorney who tried the case posts here, we'll see if he chimes in.

[cannon_fodder]

I started a thread just for the Eric Harris incident. This topic will likely go on for a yaer, so it would be nice to discuss just THIS local incident on its own as opposed to on page 28 of a general thread:

http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=21004.new#new

[DolfanBob]

You can hear this guys breath wince every time the Officer clubs him.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3038260/New-police-brutality-outrage-video-emerges-claims-two-cops-CLUBBING-DUI-motorist-lays-ground.html

[DolfanBob]

Who needs a Taser, Gun or a Night Stick. Just run em down with your Patrol unit. BOOM! your a hero.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3039215/Shocking-police-dashcam-footage-captures-moment-Arizona-cop-mounts-sidewalk-CRASHES-armed-alleged-thief-sending-flying-air.html

[patric]

Who needs a Taser, Gun or a Night Stick. Just run em down with your Patrol unit. BOOM! your a hero.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3039215/Shocking-police-dashcam-footage-captures-moment-Arizona-cop-mounts-sidewalk-CRASHES-armed-alleged-thief-sending-flying-air.html

Its insane.  Even the cop in the first car was shocked by this behavior, but the DA already gave it his thumbs up.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

Its insane.  Even the cop in the first car was shocked by this behavior, but the DA already gave it his thumbs up.

Anyone want to bet the officer says, "I was attempting to pin the suspect between my cruiser and the pick up truck in the driveway, and I accelerated to hard and waited to long to brake and misjudged my approach angle."?

[heironymouspasparagus]

Except for the equipment damage to car, etc, I got no problem with that.  And running down with car is likely to be the least lethal method.  The guy was a clear and present danger who had already been shooting.  If a SWAT team was available, would have been better to take him down with a shot from a rifle, but at least this way the guy survived (apparently) and was no longer a danger.

What would have been a better outcome??  Waiting to hear that...   Let him take a few shots at the cops, maybe hitting/killing one of them?  I certainly don't want cops gratuitously killing people like happens way too often, but also don't want people killing cops!!   I guess I just don't want anyone killing anyone else....

[Townsend]

I guess I just don't want anyone killing anyone else....

Hippy