Police abuse

mace1229 said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

Now I don't know why the cops were harassing this (presumably) homeless man, but fuck, just do what they say and you won't get fucking shot. No instead he sits down and begins to put his hands in his pants. Ugh...

https://twitter.com/trapj99/status/1272715634326069250?s=20

I hate comments like that on Twitter with just a fraction of the story. The cops were obviously called out for a reason, a squad armed like that doesn’t just randomly show up and pick a target.

Now does reaching towards his pants justify shooting him? I don’t know, if They were called out because he was threatening people with a gun and just shot someone then yes. If he was just a homeless bothering people then no. But I’ve lived in high homeless populations before and never once seen police respond to a nuisance call like that.

oftenreading said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

mace1229 said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

Now I don't know why the cops were harassing this (presumably) homeless man, but fuck, just do what they say and you won't get fucking shot. No instead he sits down and begins to put his hands in his pants. Ugh...

https://twitter.com/trapj99/status/1272715634326069250?s=20

I hate comments like that on Twitter with just a fraction of the story. The cops were obviously called out for a reason, a squad armed like that doesn’t just randomly show up and pick a target.

Now does reaching towards his pants justify shooting him? I don’t know, if They were called out because he was threatening people with a gun and just shot someone then yes. If he was just a homeless bothering people then no. But I’ve lived in high homeless populations before and never once seen police respond to a nuisance call like that.

Yeah I'm not about to start speculating as to why the cops responded like that, or why they were called out in the first place. But just nothing good will ever come of not cooperating with police. Even if they're totally in the wrong. It's just not worth the trouble. Look at the guy in Atlanta the other day. He could've been booked on a DUI, but now he's dead. Was it a justified use of force? That's for others to decide. But it was the guy in Atlanta's own poor decision to resist arrest that led to his death. It's sad. I'm sure if he could have a do-over, he'd just let them handcuff him, but there are no do-overs. That's why you gotta be smart when you're confronted by police (or confronted by anyone that you feel can do you harm, really). 

Many people who are homeless are on the street because of mental illness, substance abuse, or cognitive issues that make it challenging for them to get by day to day and ALSO for them to deal with situations like armed police suddenly making demands on them. It is always on police to behave in a professional and responsible manner and use the many other techniques available to deal with these situations rather than defaulting to use of force. 

mace1229 said:

Based on the number of cops and the fact the already had their assault rifles out before they approached makes me assume they were responding to a call about a violent crime. In which case, assuming he just stabbed or shotn someone or armed robbery or something, their approach seems justified. Doesn’t matter if he’s homeless or mentally ill at that point if he’s already put lives at risk.
But like I said before, I don’t know and am just speculating. If that wasn’t the case then their reaction was pretty ridiculous. 

Halifax2TheMax said:

But lets damn all those protestors.

Police keep using Twitter for misinformation and rumor-mongering about protesters

June 16, 2020 at 1:18 p.m. EDT

Late Monday night, two New York City police unions took to Twitter to accuse Shake Shack employees of trying to poison police officers with beverages they were served.

The New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association said the officers had come “under attack."

The New York City Detectives’ Endowment Association went a step further, claiming their “fellow officers were intentionally poisoned by one or more workers."

Neither of these tweets, it turns out, were accurate. New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said Tuesday morning that a “thorough investigation” had revealed no criminal act.

The Detectives’ Endowment Association now acknowledges it was “evidently” an accident. Its tweet, which had been retweeted more than 12,000 times, has now been deleted.

What is so remarkable about this flap is the language used. Rather than note that the officers’ beverages had toxic substances in them and calling for an investigation, both unions immediately alleged it was a deliberate attack. Groups whose job it is to carry out the law jumped straight to criminal wrongdoing, not allowing for it to be an accident or any other explanation.

Increasingly, in recent weeks, this is the story of how some police departments and organizations have handled the protests and other unrest over the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and others at the hands of police officers. Often using their official Twitter accounts, they have tweeted allegations without substantiation when other, less-nefarious explanations are just as plausible — and, in some cases, have turned out to actually be the case.

The Columbus, Ohio, police department on June 1 tweeted an image of a colorful bus in which it said it found “bats, rocks, meat cleavers, axes, clubs & other projectiles.” It said “there was a suspicion of supplying riot equipment to rioters.”

Mayor Andrew Ginther (D) later suggested the bus showed the violence was worse than the arrest numbers indicated. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also tweeted sarcastically: “But I guess still ‘no evidence’ of an organized effort to inject violence & anarchy into the protests right?”

Reporting since then indicates the bus was, in fact, used by traveling street performers. The clubs were juggling clubs, according to those familiar with the bus. The hatchet was next to a wood-burning stove the bus used. The meat cleaver was from a knife block used to prepare meals. The rocks were crystals and fossils.

The Columbus police have said the investigation is ongoing, but there are very logical explanations for all the items found on the bus. Yet it was held up by police and the mayor as evidence of something nefarious.

The Spokane, Wash., Police Department on June 7 tweeted that it had seized a “bucket of rocks staged downtown” to prevent it from being used for violence.

The next day, though, Spokane Police Sgt. Terry Preuninger admitted that the rocks didn’t appear to be “staged” at all. “In one of those cases, after I saw the photos, it looks like that may have just been something that was there naturally and not something staged for a protest or criminal behavior,” Preuninger said.

The tweet has not been taken down.

The Seattle Police Department on June 6 tweeted that protesters had thrown “improvised explosives” at officers.

The images accompanying the claim, though, appeared to show regular candles accompanied by glass. While potentially dangerous, it is not clear what the explosive was. As The Washington Post reported:

The department’s Twitter account said individuals were throwing “rocks/bottles/and explosives” at police outside the East Precinct when officers escalated their response. Multiple people pointed out that the photo the department tweeted of what it claimed was an improvised explosive may, in fact, show a candle. A label in one of the images clearly says “candle.”

The Kansas City Police Department tweeted May 31 that they had “discovered stashes of bricks and rocks in & around the Plaza and Westport to be used during a riot.”

Kansas City Police Capt. David Jackson scaled that back somewhat, though, when he told reporters, “I sense that they’re probably there for nefarious use.”

BuzzFeed News has reported that reports of bricks being left for protesters across the country — most of them spread on social media but not originating with police — often had logical explanations, including that they had been there before the protests and/or were linked to construction. Jackson said there was no construction in the area.

The White House at one point tweeted and then deleted a video that alleged, “Antifa and professional anarchists are invading our communities, staging bricks and weapons to instigate violence. These are acts of domestic terror.” This claim got four Pinocchios from The Post’s Fact Checker.

While it is possible some of these bricks could have been left for nefarious purposes, as BuzzFeed noted, Kansas City police claimed without offering evidence that they were deliberately left for rioting. Jackson’s comments suggested whatever evidence existed was not definitive.

New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea tweeted a similar allegation on June 3.

“This is what our cops are up against: Organized looters, strategically placing caches of bricks & rocks at locations throughout NYC,” Shea said.

As Vice News reported, though, there was no unrest in the area, and others pointed to construction in the neighborhood:

There is one major issue with that story: VICE has confirmed the video was taken on a street corner in Gravesend, a part of South Brooklyn where no protests, looting or rioting actually occurred. Interviews with both workers in the area and location data from both Snapchat and Instagram show there were no protests anywhere near that corner.

Shea has also tweeted unfounded allegations about protesters using concrete mixed in ice cream containers.

“Anyone with information please call” police, he tweeted June 8, appending a New York Post headline that said, “NYPD finds concrete disguised as ice cream at George Floyd protests.”

As many soon pointed out, mixing concrete in such containers is a common method of testing mixtures on construction sites. The markings on the containers even appeared to indicate what mixtures each had.

Shea at another point tweeted pictures of tools allegedly seized from people arrested in protests in the Bronx. The four pictures he tweeted appeared to show the same tools from different angles.

Some of these allegations could turn out to be substantiated. But many of them have not or seemed to inflate the danger actually posed. In each case, a criminal suggestion was tweeted out in a way that raises suspicions about the intentions of the protesters and often their level of organization.

Many of them are the kind of thing you see on social media — using inference and innuendo to raise suspicions about adversaries. In these cases, though, they are promoted by police, whose job it is to carry out the law and not jump to conclusions about criminality.

Shea himself recently warned against such rumor-mongering.

“We are living in a toxic time: One that relies increasingly on the selective use of a combination of things: some facts, misinformation, rumor, false conclusions that can be drawn from all of them, sometimes spill over into social media or mainstream media,” he said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/16/police-keep-using-twitter-misinformation-rumor-mongering-about-protesters/

RunIntoTheRain said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

mace1229 said:

Based on the number of cops and the fact the already had their assault rifles out before they approached makes me assume they were responding to a call about a violent crime. In which case, assuming he just stabbed or shotn someone or armed robbery or something, their approach seems justified. Doesn’t matter if he’s homeless or mentally ill at that point if he’s already put lives at risk.
But like I said before, I don’t know and am just speculating. If that wasn’t the case then their reaction was pretty ridiculous. 

Good point. To show up with rifles drawn like that suggests that they were responding to something serious. But like you said, if they weren't, then it's pretty ridiculous. 

A google search revealed more info

https://www.koat.com/article/apd-says-man-shot-killed-by-police-was-reaching-for-bb-gun/29520935#

Waving a BB gun around and at passing cars is the reason for the 911 calls

dignin said:

US attorney announces the gunman who allegedly killed two law enforcement officers in California was associated with the right-wing Boogaloo movement. A patch bearing the group’s symbol was found in the van used by the shooter in Oakland and Santa Cruz killings

FBI: The gunman, an Air Force sergeant, and an accomplice went to Oakland "to take advantage” of BLM protests at the courthouse and open fire on officers. The pair were not associated with the protests

https://mobile.twitter.com/passantino/status/1272942500630626304

static111 said:

RunIntoTheRain said:

Ledbetterman10 said:

mace1229 said:

Based on the number of cops and the fact the already had their assault rifles out before they approached makes me assume they were responding to a call about a violent crime. In which case, assuming he just stabbed or shotn someone or armed robbery or something, their approach seems justified. Doesn’t matter if he’s homeless or mentally ill at that point if he’s already put lives at risk.
But like I said before, I don’t know and am just speculating. If that wasn’t the case then their reaction was pretty ridiculous. 

Good point. To show up with rifles drawn like that suggests that they were responding to something serious. But like you said, if they weren't, then it's pretty ridiculous. 

A google search revealed more info

https://www.koat.com/article/apd-says-man-shot-killed-by-police-was-reaching-for-bb-gun/29520935#

Waving a BB gun around and at passing cars is the reason for the 911 calls

So there was the threat of a “less lethal round”. I guess the cops are justified and this guy should have complied...👅🥾