Police Misconduct Catch All Thread

[laughing dog]

are there safer or better ways to deal with such situations?

It would be nice if a safer alternative to tasers were developed; until then, a bit silly to criticize cops for using it when confronted with a person determined not to be arrested.

They were tasing him because they were impatient about getting the handcuffs on him. And you think it is a bit silly to criticize the tasing of someone for 30 seconds while they are being effectively held down by 3 officers? Wow.

People get hurt in such struggles. And 3 officers is not enough to restrain someone. IIRC you need at least 5.

The video contradicts your claim.

 

[Worldtraveller]

When it's the potential victim, we have to assume the worst. I.e. they are hopped up on multiple performance enhancing drugs that give them superhuman abilities to overcome the authoritarians.

When it's the authoritarians, we have to assume innocence and fragility enough to be afraid of the (see above) hopped 8 year old holding the potentially lethal *checks notes* lollipop.

Got it?

Glad I could help.

 

[Gospel]

Well, the police only have duty to protect persons in their custody. The harm leading to the suspects death occurred while they were attempting to gain custody.

 

[lpetrich]

LAPD Suggests Keenan Anderson Responsible for Own Death - "That the LAPD is confidently deploying this public relations tactic nearly three years after George Floyd’s death is a grim reflection of how little has changed."

Preliminary toxicology tests, performed on Anderson’s body by the police department itself, found traces of cannabinoids and cocaine metabolite in his system – results that in no way mitigate the extreme violence inflicted on Anderson by the police ahead of his January 3 death.

...
There’s nothing surprising about this sort of police practice. The idea that drug possession or use by Black people creates grounds enough to warrant police violence, even deadly violence, has undergirded half a century of U.S. policing. Cops from the department that murdered George Floyd attempted to blame his death on the fentanyl found present in his system, too, but thankfully without success.

Then noting the LAPD's confidence in claiming that.

This should come as no surprise, either: The uprisings that followed Floyd’s murder were met with harsh state repression in the streets, aided by disavowals and dismissals across the media and political mainstream. The Democratic lawmakers who knelt ludicrously in kente cloth to signal their anti-racist credentials are the same leaders who have rejected every serious attempt to reckon with the racist violence that defines U.S. policing.

...
Police killed 1,176 people in 2022 — more killings than in any of the last 10 years. And while racial justice organizers and abolitionists continue to fight, the mass rebellions of 2020 were aggressively drained of political potency by an array of counterinsurgent forces, from mass arrests, media demonization, and, crucially, the complete and cowardly abandonment by liberal politicians on the city, state, and federal levels.

Showing that they are not exactly left-wing ogres.

Anderson died following a brutal interaction with police officers he had flagged down to ask for assistance after a traffic collision. Friends and relatives said Anderson was undergoing a mental health crisis — a tragically common circumstance of deaths in police custody.

As released body cam footage showed, Anderson was chased and pinned down in the middle of the street. Two LAPD officers held him down, one with an elbow on his neck, then a knee dug into his back while he was handcuffed, and another cop stood over him with a Taser gun, shooting him with its electric charge — directly in the back — again and again, for a total of over 90 seconds. Anderson was then taken to hospital, where he died around four hours later.

He didn't die of a cocaine overdose, because that would happen about when one takes the cocaine not several hours later.

Then about big spending on police departments, like the LA cops receiving 29 times that city's housing budget. Not very successful. That does not mean abolishing police forces or even drastically reducing them, but big changes in policing strategy. Training is not enough. A lot of trouble is better handled by social workers than cops, however, wimpy and lacking in virility that strategy might be. It would also be better for the cops if they didn't have to intervene in things that they are not temperamentally suited for.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

He didn't die of a cocaine overdose, because that would happen about when one takes the cocaine not several hours later.

Rebound reactions are a thing.

 

[Gospel]

He didn't die of a cocaine overdose, because that would happen about when one takes the cocaine not several hours later.

Rebound reactions are a thing.

People dying later after being roughed up and tased is a thing as well. Can't imagine how many criminals would love to use the 4 hour rule.

 

[atrib]

The willingness of some Americans accepting cops killing yet another citizen is depressingly predictable at this stage.

Whenever a person resists arrest the chance of a bad outcome goes up. Most people understand that.

Resistance comes in many forms. From passive resistance, i.e. noncompliance without violence, to violent assault and battery in trying to escape from the police.
The force that police are allowed to use is dependent on several key factors, including the severity of the original crime that the suspect is suspected of committing, and the level of threat that the suspect poses to law enforcement and others present at the scene. That is from SCOTUS - Tennessee v. Garner.

In this specific instance, the suspect is suspected of being involved in a motor vehicle accident, and potentially being under the influence of drugs. The former is known from the body camera video of the arresting/primary motorcycle cop on the scene, while the latter can be inferred from the same video by demeanor of the suspect. But a reasonable person could also infer that the suspect is having some sort of a mental health breakdown, and that he fears the police - that is abundantly clear from everything he is seen saying and doing.

So the suspect is not a mass murderer, and is not suspected of committing any crimes of violence. From the video it is also clear that the suspect does not pose an immediate threat to any of the officers at the scene, or any other person in the area. He never strikes out at an officer or threatens to hurt them. There are plenty of officers at the scene to restrain the suspect, and he is seen laying on the ground as the police try to cuff him. To me the continuous tasing appears to be excessive, as I think the officers could have restrained him without its use, just by weight of their numbers. But, I can understand why an officer caught up in the heat of the moment might have thought it appropriate, especially given how police are trained to handle such situations in the US. To me, this is a symptom of a deeper problem, and not superficially confined to just the actions of the officer who applied the taser. To me, the case is not clear that the use of force is excessive, although a strong argument can be made for it.

The chances of a bad outcome go up anytime you step out of your home. That is the reality of the universe we inhabit. In an ideal world, the police would not abuse their authority to violate the rights of people who have committed no crimes, and cannot be reasonably suspected of committing any crimes. But it happens all the fucking time. Similarly, sometimes people resist lawful commands, and the police have to use some force to restrain them. To claim that people who resist deserve to be seriously hurt or killed by the police is stupid and profoundly ignorant.

 

[TSwizzle]

The cops shot a man who was "running" away. The guy is a double amputee and has no legs ffs!!

A group of California police officers shot and killed a double amputee on Thursday as he tried to run away from them on his stumps after jumping out of his wheelchair. The three cops from Huntington Park Police Department were filmed firing at least eight shots at Anthony Lowe Jr., a 36-year-old father-of-two. Lowe Jr. had just stabbed someone unprovoked, according to the police department, and was trying to run away from two officers.

Daily Mail

Granted the guy had a knife but c'mon man!! Watch the video of the guy "running" away, the cops couldn't take him down?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The cops shot a man who was "running" away. The guy is a double amputee and has no legs ffs!!

A group of California police officers shot and killed a double amputee on Thursday as he tried to run away from them on his stumps after jumping out of his wheelchair. The three cops from Huntington Park Police Department were filmed firing at least eight shots at Anthony Lowe Jr., a 36-year-old father-of-two. Lowe Jr. had just stabbed someone unprovoked, according to the police department, and was trying to run away from two officers.

Daily Mail

Granted the guy had a knife but c'mon man!! Watch the video of the guy "running" away, the cops couldn't take him down?

Since it's the Daily Fail I'm not going to bother looking. However, from what you say we can't automatically conclude the officer was wrong. Running away from the officer doesn't mean they aren't running towards someone else--and someone who just engaged in an unprovoked stabbing would be presumed to be a threat to anyone around.

 

[Derec]

The cops shot a man who was "running" away. The guy is a double amputee and has no legs ffs!!

Here's a video:

The guy can run faster than me! Reminds me of this gem.

I also fail to see what his reproductive status has to do with anything. It has no bearing on the shooting whatsoever.

Lowe Jr. had just stabbed someone unprovoked, according to the police department, and was trying to run away from two officers.

This, on the other hand, is very relevant. You have a perp who stabbed somebody, refuses to drop the big-ass knife he is carrying and is running away, where he could stab somebody else.

Granted the guy had a knife but c'mon man!! Watch the video of the guy "running" away, the cops couldn't take him down?

Very dangerous to tackle a guy sporting a knife and willing to use it. Lowe also seems to have quite a bit of upper body strength.
Just because he is handicapped in some way, does not mean he is not dangerous.

 

[TSwizzle]

The cops shot a man who was "running" away. The guy is a double amputee and has no legs ffs!!

The guy can run faster than me!

Maybe so but as you can clearly see from the video, he was a double amputee, on his stumps “running” AWAY from the cops who were giving chase at a walking pace. Lewis was never going to escape the cops.

I also fail to see what his reproductive status has to do with anything. It has no bearing on the shooting whatsoever.

Lowe Jr. had just stabbed someone unprovoked, according to the police department, and was trying to run away from two officers.

This, on the other hand, is very relevant. You have a perp who stabbed somebody, refuses to drop the big-ass knife he is carrying and is running away, where he could stab somebody else.

Running?! He has no legs ffs!!! This was not Oscar Pistorius.

Granted the guy had a knife but c'mon man!! Watch the video of the guy "running" away, the cops couldn't take him down?

Very dangerous to tackle a guy sporting a knife and willing to use it. Lowe also seems to have quite a bit of upper body strength.
Just because he is handicapped in some way, does not mean he is not dangerous.

He has no legs ffs. There was no need to kill this guy, he could be easily overpowered by one person let alone the three or four cops at the scene. Shooting someone should be the very last resort.

 

[Gospel]

 

[laughing dog]

The police officers walked after the double amputee suspect and shot him because they thought he was either going to stab someone else (even though there was no one else to stab at the time) or were afraid he was going to throw the knife at them are cowardly killers. It boggles the mind that there are defenders of these officers.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

It seems that the psychological aspect of policing well is quite dead among many officers. As if they have no one on staff, forget many on staff, that have been trained to manage situations where they can convince the guy to drop the knife. I don't think the officers woke up wanting to kill some guy missing legs. But they seemed hopelessly undertrained to manage that situation.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The cops shot a man who was "running" away. The guy is a double amputee and has no legs ffs!!

The guy can run faster than me! Reminds me of this gem.

I also fail to see what his reproductive status has to do with anything. It has no bearing on the shooting whatsoever.

Lowe Jr. had just stabbed someone unprovoked, according to the police department, and was trying to run away from two officers.

This, on the other hand, is very relevant. You have a perp who stabbed somebody, refuses to drop the big-ass knife he is carrying and is running away, where he could stab somebody else.

Granted the guy had a knife but c'mon man!! Watch the video of the guy "running" away, the cops couldn't take him down?

Very dangerous to tackle a guy sporting a knife and willing to use it. Lowe also seems to have quite a bit of upper body strength.
Just because he is handicapped in some way, does not mean he is not dangerous.

 

[Toni]

The cops shot a man who was "running" away. The guy is a double amputee and has no legs ffs!!

Here's a video:

The guy can run faster than me! Reminds me of this gem.

I also fail to see what his reproductive status has to do with anything. It has no bearing on the shooting whatsoever.

Lowe Jr. had just stabbed someone unprovoked, according to the police department, and was trying to run away from two officers.

This, on the other hand, is very relevant. You have a perp who stabbed somebody, refuses to drop the big-ass knife he is carrying and is running away, where he could stab somebody else.

Granted the guy had a knife but c'mon man!! Watch the video of the guy "running" away, the cops couldn't take him down?

Very dangerous to tackle a guy sporting a knife and willing to use it. Lowe also seems to have quite a bit of upper body strength.
Just because he is handicapped in some way, does not mean he is not dangerous.

Reproductive status?

 

[Toni]

I wish I could say this was shocking but it's not.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

He has no legs ffs. There was no need to kill this guy, he could be easily overpowered by one person let alone the three or four cops at the scene. Shooting someone should be the very last resort.

Trying to overpower someone with a knife is a good way to get yourself killed. You need to taser them first and disarm them--but the video says they tried twice and it didn't work. (Quite possible--a taser will not function though sufficiently thick clothing.)

And I see no evidence there's nobody else around--the lack of anybody in the frame says nothing about what's off frame.

 

[bilby]

Trying to overpower someone with a knife is a good way to get yourself killed.

What's the hurry? Wait for him to get tired and surrender. Nobody needs to overpower anyone. He's not going to escape, and he's not going to rush anyone. Nobody needs to get hurt.

The supposed difference between the police, and a well armed gang of thugs with offical approval, is that police are meant to protect and serve the public, whereas a gang wants to win, and to be seen to win, as a piece of performance violence to inspire fear in their enemies.

 

[ZiprHead]

Dallas police body cam footage shows officers mocking a man who later died | CNN

The body camera footage tells the story: Tony Timpa was struggling, begging Dallas police officers who were holding him in a controversial position to let him go. Within minutes he had stopped breathing, while officers joked that he had fallen asleep.

edition.cnn.com

The body camera footage tells the story: Tony Timpa was struggling, begging Dallas police officers who were holding him in a controversial position to let him go.

Within minutes he had stopped breathing, while officers joked that he had fallen asleep, according to the footage first obtained from the police department by The Dallas Morning News after a nearly three-year battle for its release – part of the newspaper’s investigation into the August 2016 death of the 32-year-old man.

The City of Dallas and its police department fought the release of the footage, first citing an ongoing investigation that saw three officers indicted, then the case’s dismissal.

‘The public has a compelling interest’​

But a federal judge ruled this week in favor of the Timpa family, The Dallas Morning News and NBC5, saying “the public has a compelling interest in understanding what truly took place during a fatal exchange between a citizen and law enforcement.”

“…The Court holds that there is no longer good cause to shield the documents from public scrutiny,” US District Court Judge David C. Godbey wrote in his order.

The Dallas Police Department’s media relations office declined CNN’s request for comment.

“Because there is pending litigation surrounding this incident, we are unable to comment on the actions of the officers. You may request the investigation and any other material through our open records process,” Carlos Almeida, a public information officer for the Dallas Police Department, said.

They George Floyded him before George Floyd was a thing.