Politics Ferguson

Any idea how many police shooting incidents has he personally handled? Should any of them have resulted in charges?

 

Five is a very small sample set. Any story on the others that make it clear that charges should've been recommended?


My main point is that the article uses the 'never charged a cop' argument like he should've charged them. Yet without detail on any specific instance of where he should've. I'm curious if there is a real story there, or if it was just stated that way with no facts behind it. I'm genuinely interested what the truth is.

 

I guess police officers do get charged!

St. Louis County Police Officer Charged « CBS St. Louis

 

That article fails to include a fairly pertinent fact IMO.

The US Attorney's Office investigated after the grand jury didn't recommend charges. They agreed with the finding. The Justice's Civil Rights Division investigated as well. They also found no reason to bring charges. So it was double and triple checked by independent, federal investigators, and they concluded the guys who showed up for a drug deal (it wasn't like they were innocent bystanders randomly targeted) were trying to run down the cops. Or at least when they rammed their vehicle into a cop car, that was enough cause to believe they would continue ramming.


I'm not saying he's a good guy. I'm not even saying that an indictment couldn't have been brought. But in all the spaces on the internet I've read about this story, it still fits what I originally stated early on in this thread. If you (speaking generally, not to anyone specifically) lean one way or another, you'll definitely find plenty of sources that lend confirmation bias. Sadly, most of the media seemed intent on sensationalism (both directions) instead of getting to the bottom of things.


I'm completely on board with the idea that minorities and those low on the socio-economic ladder get cut less breaks, and that is unfair. Racial profiling is real, and happens. I firmly believe that poor and/or minority groups are more likely to be mistreated by the police, and have less success in court.


Having watched the video of Michael Brown committing a strong arm robbery minutes before he was shot, and seeing him charge at and bully the owner of the store he robbed, it isn't hard to believe that he then did the exact same thing a few minutes later. At the very least he had just committed a felony, then laid hands on an officer while that officer was giving him a lawful order. Please don't confuse this with me saying he got what he deserved. I'm just saying that any sane person, of any race or class, that wants to get in a fight with a police officer is asking for a bad time. It is sad that it ended in death, and I ABSOLUTELY agree that something needs done about the larger social issues discussed in this case. I just personally do not feel that what happened to him is what I'd use to gain support for those issues.

My personal opinion is that the charges could've been brought. But it would've been almost impossible to get a "guilty" verdict. And I'll hypothesize that all the people angry about no indictment would be just as angry if a trial had played out and he'd been found "not guilty". Should that exercise have been made? Perhaps. But at the end of the day we'd still be talking about a young criminal being dead, a young cop's life/career being ruined, a community rioting and in upheaval, and the same root causes of social injustice being at play.

My personal hope is that the violence continues to lessen from this particular case. I also hope that more and more law enforcement agencies will see fit to equip vehicles and officers with audio/video devices. While it may not have removed all problems in this case, it might've removed all doubt (in either direction) for a vast majority. I also think that more LEOs, and even more of the public, would be likely to be better behaved if they knew all (or almost all) interactions were being recorded.

I have no desire to argue in circles, nor am I convinced that my impression is exactly correct. But that's my $.02. YMMV

 

Committing a strong arm felony moments before an interaction with a police office surely impacts a person mindset as that next interaction happens. IMO, seeing someone use their size and strength to intimidate seconds earlier makes it much more plausible that they repeated that behavior a few minutes later in the next confrontation they had.

If someone wants to read that as me not really meaning he shouldn't be dead, I think it's an idiotic conclusion. But I can't speak for others' opinions or rationalizations.

 

Maybe you should take it at face value then, instead of trying to insert a different meaning?

There could be some people who say something like what I did and don't mean it. I'd say it is likely that some fall into that category. But I don't. What I personally mean is exactly what I said. The video makes me believe that he was probably nervous, agitated, or paranoid when he saw the cop roll up. I know I feel that way after I've been speeding and see a cop, and worst case all I'm going to be out is a few bucks and a few minutes of my time. But, as someone who doesn't get nervous very easily, I sometimes get a little spike of adrenaline when that happens. And that is as a middle class white guy with no criminal record and knowing I did nothing majorly wrong.

So all I'm saying by the video is that I'm guessing MB had an adrenaline spike, or was paranoid, or was anxious due to the cop stopping. From my perspective it'd be strange if he wasn't experiencing one or all of those.


Then I'm saying that the video gives the appearance that he is aware of his size, strength, and the intimidation factor that gives him. So it is believable that he'd repeat the same type of behavior seen on the video.


In my world, that makes him deserving of prosecution, and likely some jail time. If you want to argue that we jail too many people, or social issues were stacked against him, or that the police in that area might've contributed to poor relations, or whatever, I agree.


And that is ALL I'm saying.

Earlier I said an indictment may have been warranted. I'm not 100% convinced the officer did things correctly. I'm not entirely convinced that he had no other option but shooting him repeatedly. I'm merely saying that it is believable that MB was amped up, anxious, nervous, and/or afraid, and charged the cop. If so, it should've landed him in jail. Unfortunately it went down far worse.

I have no agenda behind what I'm saying or hidden meaning beyond it.

 

That describes just about all of the media coverage and commentary as well IMO.