More #BLM riots in Wisconsin

[Derec]

This time in Wauwatosa, a suburb of Milwaukee, because police officer, who shot a thug who was shooting at police with a stolen gun, was not indicted.

Police: Gas deployed in Wauwatosa; windows broken at businesses

Police said individuals were "throwing large rocks at law enforcement and buildings" near North and Swan, advising residents to shelter in their homes.
A curfew took effect at 7 p.m. Wednesday, with police noting everyone should stay home until 6 a.m. Thursday, except those going to and from work.

This is especially stupid given that Wisconsin is in a midst of a COVID surge.

Protesters marched in a mostly peaceful manner Wednesday, first making their way onto the freeway before reaching Wauwatosa, some carrying signs, chanting "Black Lives Matter" and "no justice, no peace," among other messages.

Sorry, but blocking a freeway, and thereby impeding others in their right to freely travel, is not really "peaceful".
And this case again shows that #BLM is not about justice, but merely about the skin color or a person shot by police.

Who is this Alvin Cole, the latest cause celebre of the #BLM movement?

Chisholm on Wednesday announced the suspended officer will not face charges in Cole's death. In a 14-page letter laying out his rationale, the district attorney said evidence showed Cole fled from police carrying a stolen 9 mm handgun. He cited squad car audio evidence, along with testimony from Mensah and two fellow officers, that he said showed Cole had fired a shot while fleeing and refused commands to drop the gun.

Alvin Cole shot by Officer Mensah 23 minutes after entering Mayfair

#BLM really knows how to pick people to get their panties in a bunch over.

 

[repoman]

Mensah is black as coal, not white as bleached paper.

 

[ruby sparks]

So now this police officer has a hat trick. Three fatal shootings (in the last 5 years), all ruled justified.

 

[Patooka]

So now this police officer has a hat trick. Three fatal shootings (in the last 5 years), all ruled justified.

That's not suspect at all. It will always be a mystery to me how casual some people are towards law enforcement executing citizens.

 

[Derec]

That's not suspect at all.

It certainly is not. Given that US has almost a million police officers, it is statistically almost inevitable that a few will be involved in multiple fatal shootings without having done anything wrong.

It will always be a mystery to me how casual some people are towards law enforcement executing citizens.

Nobody "executed" Alvin Cole. Cole shot at police, but luckily only managed to graze his own arm. Then police returned fire. That is hardly an "execution". It even fulfills Jarhyn's ridiculously restrictive standard that police shoot only shoot at perps when shot at. But I guess to you and #BLM, not even that is enough.

 

[Derec]

So now this police officer has a hat trick. Three fatal shootings (in the last 5 years), all ruled justified.

Law of large numbers. In any case, the facts of this case are pretty clear - Alton Cole was in possession of a stolen firearm which he used to shoot at police. Whom the police officer might have shot in the past does not change the facts here. Rioting/looting etc. is not acceptable under any circumstances, but in this case it is even less so as Cole 100% brought this on himself.

 

[JohnG]

Reports say no shots were fired at police.

 

[Patooka]

That's not suspect at all.

It certainly is not. Given that US has almost a million police officers, it is statistically almost inevitable that a few will be involved in multiple fatal shootings without having done anything wrong.

Any cop involved in at least three separate shootings throughout their career should be under at least some scrutiny. As the plethora of videos released over the last 12 months show, US cops have close to zero accountability (aka "We write the reports" syndrome)

Nobody "executed" Alvin Cole. Cole shot at police, but luckily only managed to graze his own arm. Then police returned fire. That is hardly an "execution". It even fulfills Jarhyn's ridiculously restrictive standard that police shoot only shoot at perps when shot at. But I guess to you and #BLM, not even that is enough.

Considering the only police shootings you consider unjustified are by cops named Mohammed, I don't have an issue dismissing what you think is a legitimate shooting.

 

[Ford]

Any cop involved in at least three separate shootings throughout their career in just five years should be under at least some scrutiny.

There. Fixed it for ya.

My uncle spent his entire career (30 years) as a cop in a Detroit suburb. He fired his sidearm exactly one time in that career. A warning shot into the air.

 

[ruby sparks]

That's not suspect at all.

It certainly is not. Given that US has almost a million police officers, it is statistically almost inevitable that a few will be involved in multiple fatal shootings without having done anything wrong.

Well, there are 50% more police officers than that in the EU and the killings by them are about 5% of the US rate per capita. I doubt there's another western country where the same police officer has killed three separate people in 5 years.

But anyways, the very unfortunate gun culture in the USA aside, I agree with you that it looks like this officer was justified and that the rioting and protests are unwarranted.

 

[skepticalbip]

Any cop involved in at least three separate shootings throughout their career in just five years should be under at least some scrutiny.

There. Fixed it for ya.

My uncle spent his entire career (30 years) as a cop in a Detroit suburb. He fired his sidearm exactly one time in that career. A warning shot into the air.

I know two retired cops who never fired their sidearm (except on the target range) but then they also never had anyone fire at them. Most cops are never shot at and never shoot at anyone.

Apparently cops who have to patrol in dangerous areas have different experiences.

 

[ZiprHead]

Any cop involved in at least three separate shootings throughout their career in just five years should be under at least some scrutiny.

There. Fixed it for ya.

My uncle spent his entire career (30 years) as a cop in a Detroit suburb. He fired his sidearm exactly one time in that career. A warning shot into the air.

I know two retired cops who never fired their sidearm (except on the target range) but then they also never had anyone fire at them. Most cops are never shot at and never shoot at anyone.

Apparently cops who have to patrol in dangerous areas have different experiences.

I think a large part of it is the shear numbers of guns in society that inevitably get into the wrong hands.

 

[Patooka]

I know two retired cops who never fired their sidearm (except on the target range) but then they also never had anyone fire at them. Most cops are never shot at and never shoot at anyone.

Apparently cops who have to patrol in dangerous areas have different experiences.

I think a large part of it is the shear numbers of guns in society that inevitably get into the wrong hands.

I think it has more to do with courses like this:

"KILLOLOGY, : The scholarly study of the destructive act, just as sexology is the scholarly study of the procreative act."
Dave Grossman’s “Bulletproof Mind” is teaching law enforcement agencies across the United States militarised tactics in which officers are told to see themselves as “at war” on the streets.

Being regularly and routinely taught to US cops. You force cops to think that are at war, then they're going to see all citizens as Enemies of the State.

 

[laughing dog]

From the linked article in the OP about Mr. Cole's shooting indicates

Roughly nine seconds later, as officers yelled for Cole to drop the gun, the officers say he pointed it at them. That's when Mensah opened fire.

. It is obvious that a significant fraction of the population there is skeptical of the police officer's account.

Given that Mr. Mensah has 3 shootings in 5 years, I'd say there is reason to be concerned. Maybe Mr. Mensah is unlucky and happens to be at the "wrong" place at the "wrong" time. Maybe Mr. Mensah is trigger happy. If I lived there, I'd want an independent audit of Mr. Mensah's record and actions.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I know two retired cops who never fired their sidearm (except on the target range) but then they also never had anyone fire at them. Most cops are never shot at and never shoot at anyone.

Apparently cops who have to patrol in dangerous areas have different experiences.

Exactly. Firearm use is very much based on location. Until it rises above the level of the noise (and it generally doesn't) the number of times a cop shoots says basically nothing.

(It's the same problem as with doctors and malpractice--a few bad apples rise above the noise but mostly it's a matter of random chance plus their field. Work in a field where bad things happen that can't be proven not to be the doctor's fault and the only question is how many times you're going to be sued. Prime example, obstetrics.)

 

[Derec]

Reports say no shots were fired at police.

What reports? The reports I have seen state that he did fire that stolen gun.

For example, this is an article from when it happened, back in February.
The 17-year-old Milwaukee teen killed by Wauwatosa police fired first with a stolen gun, police say

The teenager, who has still not officially been identified by police, was shot five times by a Wauwatosa police officer after he fired a shot and fled. Family and friends identified him as Alvin Cole, a senior at Milwaukee Vincent High School.
Police were called to the mall by security for a disturbance involving around 10 individuals around 5:41 p.m., with one of them in possession of a handgun.
Cole had a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun, which was recovered at the scene. He was wearing a fanny pack, which contained an extended magazine with 35 rounds in it.
Video from the squad car that arrived on the scene shows Cole running toward North Mayfair Road, in The Cheesecake Factory parking lot.
[..]
An officer exits the car and says "drop the gun, drop the gun."
That's when Cole fired a single gunshot, according to the Milwaukee Police Department's preliminary investigation.
"All I can bank on if they're (Milwaukee police) telling me that, is they must have evidence to support that," Wauwatosa police public information officer Capt. Brian Zalewski said.
After the shot was fired, about 10 seconds passes in which officers yell commands to get Cole to drop the gun. Shortly after, five shots are fired by a police officer.

Now, there are some apologists who say that because he grazed his own arm when he shot the gun that he did not "shoot at police" and that the gun went off accidentally. But
1. that does not follow. He could have been shooting deliberately, but because he was running and shooting backwards hit his own arm by accident, and
2. even if he did shoot the gun accidentally, it does not matter. He still fired the shot.
3. Even after he fired the shot, he still would not drop the gun.

I do not see how anybody could defend Alvin Cole here or think that the shooting was not justified.

 

[Derec]

Any cop involved in at least three separate shootings throughout their career should be under at least some scrutiny.

Any cop that shoots somebody should be under scrutiny. But once he has faced scrutiny and passed, that should not be held against him.

As the plethora of videos released over the last 12 months show, US cops have close to zero accountability (aka "We write the reports" syndrome)

Complete bullshit! Police officer often face prosecution for shootings, whether they deserve it (like the cop who shot Jonathan Price) or not (like the cop who shot Rayshard Brooks). Too often, like in the Brooks case, prosecution is politically motivated (Fulton County DA is corrupt af) and is not in interest of justice.

Considering the only police shootings you consider unjustified are by cops named Mohammed,

Another load of bullshit. You are really stinking it up in here!
There have been cases where police shootings have been unjustified. But most police shootings are justified. This one isn't even a hard case. The guy had a stolen gun. He shot it. He refused to drop it. Open and shut case.

I don't have an issue dismissing what you think is a legitimate shooting.

You are dismissing facts and evidence in favor of your anti-police biases.

 

[Derec]

My uncle spent his entire career (30 years) as a cop in a Detroit suburb. He fired his sidearm exactly one time in that career.

Vast majority of police officers never kill anybody. But there are a lot of cops in the US. Statistically some of them will have multiple fatalities on their record by random chance without doing anything wrong or being trigger happy.
Let's say only 2% of cops kill a perp. Then approximately 0.02³ or one in 125,000 will have 3 fatalities just by random chance without being any more likely than average to kill somebody. There are hundreds of thousands of police officers in the US, so statistically you'd expect to see a few that this applies to.
There is also a big difference in what area one polices.

A warning shot into the air.

Shooting in the air is recklessly dangerous. What goes up must come down, unless it has escape velocity.

 

[Derec]

I doubt there's another western country where the same police officer has killed three separate people in 5 years.

Given that their police shooting rate is much lower, that is obvious.

But anyways, the very unfortunate gun culture in the USA aside, I agree with you that it looks like this officer was justified and that the rioting and protests are unwarranted.

Yes, US has an unfortunate gun culture and yes, this shooting was justified.

 

[laughing dog]

Now, there are some apologists who say that because he grazed his own arm when he shot the gun that he did not "shoot at police" and that the gun went off accidentally. But
1. that does not follow. He could have been shooting deliberately, but because he was running and shooting backwards hit his own arm by accident, and
2. even if he did shoot the gun accidentally, it does not matter. He still fired the shot.
3. Even after he fired the shot, he still would not drop the gun.

We will never know whether Mr. Cole deliberately shot the at the police or not.

Your defense is predicated on unconditionally accepting the uncorroborated story of the police. The protesters do not share your trust in the police's truthfulness.