Another cop "fears for his life" - Officer Michael Slager Shooting Unarmed Black Man In The Back

[TSwizzle]

The man had just bought this car, Loren. He had no time to stock up with spare parts. He had been hassled for non payment of child support and thought he might go to jail and ran.

Not paying child support but buying a Mercedes ?

 

[bilby]

The man had just bought this car, Loren. He had no time to stock up with spare parts. He had been hassled for non payment of child support and thought he might go to jail and ran.

Not paying child support but buying a Mercedes ?

A twenty-odd year old Mercedes 300E? That should be worth at least a thousand dollars, if it's in good condition (although perhaps he got a discount due to a faulty tail light).

It's not quite the same as a brand new Mercedes straight off the production line

 

[Rhea]

The man had just bought this car, Loren. He had no time to stock up with spare parts. He had been hassled for non payment of child support and thought he might go to jail and ran.

Not paying child support but buying a Mercedes ?

Try thinking a tiny bit, please. You sound callous when you are this disconnected.

 

[Rhea]

Cop Recorded Laughing About Adrenaline Rush After Walter Scott Shooting

Well, to be fair, I think the impulse to laugh when you are full of adrenaline often has zero to do with whether you think the incident is actually humorous.

"By the time you get home, it would probably be a good idea to kind of jot down your thoughts on what happened," says the senior officer. "You know, once the adrenaline quits pumping." "It’s pumping," Slager responds, laughing.

I'd give this one a pass because it could easily be the kind of inappropriate expulsion of energy that any of us could and would make.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

For some strange value of "Everyone" maybe.

I'm white, I've been stopped over a brake light.

No big deal, after checking my paperwork and asking about alcohol and weapons she told me about the burned out light, asked if I happened to be carrying a spare (no, nor the tool needed to get access to the light on that car) and told me to get it dealt with promptly. End of stop, no ticket, no written warning.

It strikes me as a perfectly reasonable thing to do as it's not exactly obvious to a driver that a light that only comes on when you're in the driver's seat isn't coming on.

The man had just bought this car, Loren. He had no time to stock up with spare parts. He had been hassled for non payment of child support and thought he might go to jail and ran. Obviously he wasn't hip or he would have realized that they shoot black men when they run in that neighborhood. You seem to think that is alright. Why ever he may run, it becomes a shooting match. If that is policy, then something needs to be done about that. Now cometh Loren telling us "I'm white and it didn't happen to me." Is his answer that the deceased should have somehow become white?

I didn't have the parts, either--the point is that stopping someone for a light being out isn't evidence of a racist cop.

I have been stopped for a bad tail light by a very racist cop (I know he is a racist cop because I have seen him treat black people entirely different in the same situation.) who called me sir and just told me my light was out...no ticket, no questioning about alcohol or weapons. Loren must have looked suspicious.

I believe both the alcohol and weapons questions were simply part of her normal pattern. ("Anything to drink in the last 12 hours?" and asking about whether there was a gun or the like in the car that could be an issue, I don't recall the details.)

I have a friend who had a developmentally challenged son and was also divorced. The wife, who had a child support court order tired of raising the boy, gave up, then sent him to his father who not only raised the kid but also paid all the kid's expenses. After a number of years of this, the ex-wife took him to court for unpaid child support and got a $7000 judgment against him, most of which he still owes to this day. He recently had a stroke, and still cannot have a bank account because the D.A. will raid it. He is white and also an example of court unfairness. With black people, the courts and the cops seem lined up to take their shots.

Yeah, the family court system is rigged in favor of the dishonest. He should have gotten a court order reflecting the custody change--simply taking over is just asking to be screwed later.

 

[Rhea]

Irrelevant. My comment was that racism and shooting was the easy way out. Mindlessly following racist policies is also easy. What's the difference between a racist and one who mindlessly follows racist policies? There is no meaningful distinction. All that matter is the act. The act is unambiguous. The statistics are unambiguous. The result is unambiguous.

No, racism has to do with the intent behind the act. If he's finding excuses to pull over black drivers himself, then he's a racist. If he's simply following a set of procedures laid out for him on how to do his job, then there's nothing racist about his own actions, regardless of whether or not the policies themselves happen to be racist.

It's the statistics which are irrelevant. We're talking about the attitude of this one individual and statistics can't be applied to specific individuals.

Meh. The difference between what you say and what you do... is what you do.

Functionally, to the black guy on the street, can you explain how differently he is treated whether it's institutional or individual racism? Answer - no difference.

 

[Derec]

A twenty-odd year old Mercedes 300E? That should be worth at least a thousand dollars, if it's in good condition (although perhaps he got a discount due to a faulty tail light).

Mercedeses actually keep their value pretty well. Depending on condition (from the back it didn't look bad at all) and mileage it could go for as much as $10k.

It's not quite the same as a brand new Mercedes straight off the production line

Sure, a 1991 300E (or similar) is not exactly an unjustifiable luxury purchase but it will set you back much more than an average 1991 car would.

 

[Derec]

Tawana Brawley? What? Lindbergh baby too old enough of a reference for you?

The big difference being is that one of the people responsible for Tawana Bradley debacle is still very much active in agitating and spreading hatred. He even has his own MSNBC show, unlike the Lindbergh kidnapper.

There is the minor issue of this seeing Due Process working out. In Ferguson, there was no indication the local Police Department was going to take the shooting seriously.

Well those were different cases. The funny thing is that even after months of protests and rioting and resulting political pressure neither the state nor federal authorities found any probable cause to charge Darren Wilson for any crime at all. Perhaps "due process working out" would be letting the police/prosecutors do their jobs without the peanut gallery trying to push them in a particular direction (indictment of Wilson).

 

[scombrid]

it could go for as much as $10k.

That is especially true when you consider all the secret compartments full of PCP and Crack. Worth way more than a 1991 Toyota.




Did a quick search on auto trader for Mercedes 300E in the low country of SC and NC and found prices from $1500 to $4900 with most around $2000. Must take a special one to be "as much as $10k" and naturally we'd assume that is what is involved in this case as if it is even relevant.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The big difference being is that one of the people responsible for Tawana Bradley debacle is still very much active in agitating and spreading hatred.

Spreading hate? Nice baseless charge. Sharpton is many things, but he isn't a hate monger.

There is the minor issue of this seeing Due Process working out. In Ferguson, there was no indication the local Police Department was going to take the shooting seriously.

Well those were different cases. The funny thing is that even after months of protests and rioting and resulting political pressure neither the state nor federal authorities found any probable cause to charge Darren Wilson for any crime at all. Perhaps "due process working out" would be letting the police/prosecutors do their jobs without the peanut gallery trying to push them in a particular direction (indictment of Wilson).

That'd be the Due Process. Investigated and cleared. That isn't a bad thing. What the Justice Department did uncover was a for-profit Court system, however.

 

[Rhea]

Mercedeses actually keep their value pretty well. Depending on condition (from the back it didn't look bad at all) and mileage it could go for as much as $10k.

It's not quite the same as a brand new Mercedes straight off the production line

Sure, a 1991 300E (or similar) is not exactly an unjustifiable luxury purchase but it will set you back much more than an average 1991 car would.

Disagree. Kelly bluebook says this would be approx a $2000 car. Which means pretty near the floor of, "if it runs you can get at least 2 grand." The only people able to get cars much cheaper than that are mechanically inclined and ready to repair. When you get to 20+ years old, there's no residual value except for vintage.

For comparison, a similar age Honda Accord, same price.
The only things cheaper on Kelly Blue Book are late 80s Cavaliers and Tempos

 

[Nice Squirrel]

Mercedeses actually keep their value pretty well. Depending on condition (from the back it didn't look bad at all) and mileage it could go for as much as $10k.

You are correct Derec, and tell you what i am going to do. I will get you into one for a mere $8k!

 

[Derec]

The man had just bought this car, Loren. He had no time to stock up with spare parts.

Or on insurance apparently.

He had been hassled for non payment of child support and thought he might go to jail and ran.

While it is ridiculous that child support is the only debt that there are still debtors' prisons for I fail to see what kind of strategy he was following here. What positive outcome was he expecting?

Obviously he wasn't hip or he would have realized that they shoot black men when they run in that neighborhood.

Even without getting shot the only thing fleeing and tussling with a cop would have brought him would be additional (possibly felonious) charges and possibility of injury due to necessary use of force to apprehend him.
He had no reasonable expectation of getting away, being 50 years old and on foot and the cop still being in possession of his driver's licence.

His being black probably had something to do with being too poor to keep up with child support judgments.

Do we have any evidence he was "poor"?

His relatives said he was on his way out of hard times...the perfect target for a racist gunman with a badge. Court judgments can be very unfair.

The child support system is broken and inherently biased against the fathers.

I think it is bad to get shot to death just as you start to see light at the end of a long tunnel, but obviously the cop wasn't concerned with that and didn't even know the guy had anything wrong but a taillight.

Him running over a taillight stop is what made the cop suspicious that he was guilty of far more. People usually do not do a runner in such circumstances. Him tussling when the cop initially caught up to him raised his alert/danger level another couple of notches.

He is white and also an example of court unfairnes.

When it comes to child support, the unfairness goes along gender lines. Race doesn't matter.

 

[Derec]

You are correct Derec, and tell you what i am going to do. I will get you into one for a mere $8k!

I said "as much as" not that it was a median or mean price. Besides, I am more of a beamer man myself.

 

[Archimedes]

What the hell difference does it make what kind of car he was driving or how much he paid for it?

It has absolutely zero relevance to the fact that he was shot in the back while fleeing. He could have been driving a Lamborghini for all the difference it makes.

 

[Derec]

Disagree. Kelly bluebook says this would be approx a $2000 car. Which means pretty near the floor of, "if it runs you can get at least 2 grand." The only people able to get cars much cheaper than that are mechanically inclined and ready to repair. When you get to 20+ years old, there's no residual value except for vintage.

For comparison, a similar age Honda Accord, same price.
The only things cheaper on Kelly Blue Book are late 80s Cavaliers and Tempos

Let's look at some actual cars offered for sale. The late 80s early 90s 300-class cars run the gamut from less than $1k to well over $10k.

 

[Rhea]

You are correct Derec, and tell you what i am going to do. I will get you into one for a mere $8k!

I said "as much as" not that it was a median or mean price. Besides, I am more of a beamer man myself.

If you were a "Beemer" man, you'd know that was a "Bimmer" not a "Beemer" since it has four tires and not two.

Let's look at some actual cars offered for sale. The late 80s early 90s 300-class cars run the gamut from less than $1k to well over $10k.

So you thought you'd throw the top-dollar in there with no evidence to support it to make your point that he's a money-waster.

 

[Derec]

He could have been driving a Lamborghini for all the difference it makes.

Or a Maserati.

 

[Derec]

Spreading hate? Nice baseless charge. Sharpton is many things, but he isn't a hate monger.

How do you figure that? He called a Jewish shop owner in Harlem a "white interloper" which resulted in one of Sharpton's acolytes committing arson and murder there (Freddy's Fashion Mart).

That'd be the Due Process. Investigated and cleared. That isn't a bad thing.

Again, why couldn't the investigation be allowed to proceed without torching and looting the QT and numerous other businesses?

What the Justice Department did uncover was a for-profit Court system, however.

That is hardly limited to Ferguson or to black people. The main purpose of unreasonably low speed limits is revenue generation, not safety (since cars are much more stable at speed and capable to brake than they were in the 70s). If DOJ really cared about this issue they'd target all the different "speedersfundus" locales in the US.

 

[Derec]

If you were a "Beemer" man, you'd know that was a "Bimmer" not a "Beemer" since it has four tires and not two.

Semantics.

So you thought you'd throw the top-dollar in there with no evidence to support it to make your point that he's a money-waster.

I was just challenging the notion that 1991s in good condition go for about a grand.