Monday, September 26, 2016

Tulsa, Charlotte, BLM, Police Shootings and Whatnot

I have precious little to contribute to the whole discussion, frankly, as so much has been said. I found this interesting article about the difference between Tulsa and Charlotte's reactions to the shootings in their cities, and it echoes one of the points I learned here in Cincinnati as a result of our difficulties in the past and the change in how the CPD now deals with controversial policing events: get the information out ASAP. That's what Tulsa did: released the video to the family and the public and made quick (but not hasty) determinations about the event and the charges against one of their own officers. Delay feeds unrest. Charlotte finally released the footage they had. It's not good.

70% of the arrests made in Charlotte's protests and riots (there was both and they weren't necessarily related) were of out of state people. That's right, the professional protesters are real and they were there. No conspiracy theories necessary. Rush\ thinks that fact that Oklahoma isn't going to vote for Hilary anyway, so why send them there? North Carolina, however,is in play, and mobilizing the black vote for Hilary is important. That's his spin, can't see any fault in it, whether or not I agree.

Now, my input is that it is possible to have two views of these events. Clearly, there is no reason for the cops to have approached these men and cars the way they did. I believe it was because of their skin color. I also believe that there was no indication that any of the officers were in mortal (or really any kind of) danger. That's disturbing, methinks. the job of the police is tough, but these filmed incidents aren't helping.

That being said, it is also, I think, reasonable and fair to ask why the men, innocent or not, didn't simply comply with the officers? That's a factor, folks. Clearly the guy in Tulsa didn't follow the officer's instructions, even without audio, you don't back away from the cop towards your vehicle. Ever. He shouldn't have been in the situation, but that made a stupid situation worse, it took a "hey, I'm stalled here asking for help, why is your weapon out, Ma'am," to a fatal encounter. Should she have been scared? I can see no reason for it. She WAS, though, justified or not. I'm sure he could have talked her down and de-escalated the situation by just standing still and complying with her.

Again,let me re-iterate: I am not blaming him or excusing her. More information may come to light. But, if I'm confronted with a scared cop that has her gun out (wtf, amiright?), I'm frozen, compliant, and talking calmly "I'm just having car trouble, I'm not sure why you are handling me this way. I'll remain frozen till your backup gets here so we can all go home tonight safely. Just wait for your backup and I'll stand right here." I am not walking back to my car under any circumstances, even if I'm promising to get my license and registration, or shut the car off (was his running, even?). Nope.

The Charlotte, well that looks really bad. No call was made reporting the guy as far as I know, and to have several officers show up like that, it's strange. He was definitely not being threatening when he was shot, as far as you can see on the video. Three shots? Really? Toxicology will reveal more, but he seemed compliant to me. Even if he had a gun in his ankle holster, that's legal. The cops say it was in his hand, of course, but the video isn't conclusive either way (to his credit, that's what the family's attorney said as well). Yikes.

Here's the rub, though. There's some social media about a white kid that got sold some pot by an undercover, then they tried to arrest him and he kept driving...and got shot to death. No media coverage at all.

There's also this article about 2016 shootings indicating that in raw numbers far more whites get killed by police. Interesting. Also, of hundreds have been shot, why do just a few cause riots and get all the national attention. That, I believe, is very political, which takes us back to Rush's claims. Something to think about....

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