Ferguson, MO is a warzone.

[Gravekeeper]

Regardless of whether he had a bench warrant or was on parole, he didn't deserve to get shot. But in this scenario we have cops with body cameras responding to a call and a guy that from their perspective wasn't listening to them and who reached into his clothes. Whether the actions were justified or not, at least we HAVE a sequence of reasonable events that might explain what happened.

Instead of yeah he totally tried to grab a cop's gun over jaywalking but than ran away, got shot a bunch of times, stopped, decided to turn around and totally Hulk out and charge the cop and got shot a few more times. All because he totally thought the fuzz was on to him over his "robbery" that the store he robbed says wasn't actually a robbery. Now we're going to sit on any and all information about this for over a week while we try to get our stories straight and sneak the officer out of town. Except when we need to smear the victim to make it look like he totally deserved to get shot.

They can call me when there's decades worth of systematic abuse and murder of white people at the hands of black cops. >.>

[Gravekeeper]

The cops in Omaha just shot a crew member of the tv show COPS while filming COPS.

>.>

[crashhelmet]

The cops in Omaha just shot a crew member of the tv show COPS while filming COPS.

>.>

The World-Herald has learned that at least 30 shots were fired at the Wendy’s near 43rd and Dodge Streets. Officials said it appears the only shots fired came from police.

This is the shit that really gets me riled up.

I remember back in 2001, Good Friday to be exact, a man walked into the Bank of America in Dana Point, CA and robbed them of $15,000. A witness saw him go into the bank with a mask on and used his truck to block the getaway car before calling the police.

The robber fled on foot to a nearby apartment building, where he set it on fire, and then fled again to a nearby children's playground/park. That's where he made his last stand. Reports said "hundreds of rounds" were fired before he was killed. From my office a few blocks away, it sounded like a war zone. The autopsy listed 47 bullet wounds in his body.

You see this all to often with the police. It's like they're instituting "Spray and Pray" tactics to stop people, regardless of the risks of public safety.

[Gravekeeper]

Officer Go Fuck Yourself and Officer Put Them Down Like Rabid Dogs have been fired.

Look at the fucking mental gymnastics they went through to justify Officer Go Fuck Yourself as having totally done nothing wrong:

Jiminez said that Albers raising his weapon was “totally justifiable.” Prior to the camera turning on, Albers had had water and urine thrown at him, Jiminez said. He then saw three men with bandanas in the crowd, and one of them had a gun. He then heard gunshots, but not from that gun. So Albers raised his gun. The three men started running, and then a crowd of people with cameras raised saw him with the raised gun and came toward him. They were “a whole bunch of what you'd call citizen journalists, who were sitting with cameras recording, waiting for something stupid to happen, which they got. They won on this one.”

It was TOTALLY the guy with the camera's fault!

[Gravekeeper]

Okay, its really bad when Cracked has weighed in with one of the most informative articles written about Ferguson so far. Which includes some more unsettling fuckery I hadn't even heard of yet about the Ferguson PD.

[D_Yeti_Esquire]

Gravekeeper - You know when you accused Greenday of essentially being for the cops no matter what?

Just from what I read there and the fact that they fired him, my guess is they can't actually keep him on staff since no one has a video (or is willing to share a video) corroborating. End of story from a Chief's point of view since the public has already voiced no confidence in the cops accounts of these things. Jimenez essentially shares the view provocateurs were in the audience and if he's not full of it (which he might) they allowed both legal assault and battery of the officer to occur without filming. So yea, those journalists would be a cause since they were providing a mechanism for escalation by only filming the cops and emboldening the people who weren't really protesting. I think the other extreme polar opposite corollary would be state run media in autocracy's that don't turn the camera's on soldiers. People lying with cameras isn't something that just happens in an effort to control citizenry by politicians. Nguyễn Ngọc Loan in Vietnam is evidence of that.

Of course if he's wrong, f him. But then he's lying or ignorant, not missing the point.

[Gravekeeper]

Gravekeeper - You know when you accused Greenday of essentially being for the cops no matter what?

It wouldn't matter if the Chief's account is 100% true ( Which it isn't per the video evidence and per the fact Chief actually changed his account a week later ). The officer pointed a rifle at a civilian and threatened to kill them. While refusing to identify himself. Even the Chief stated that at best the officer would have been suspended regardless ( and the officer was initially suspended and sent for a pysch evaluation and "sensitivity training". ). But basically blames the media for the officer being caught.

Also Officer Go Fuck Yourself was on a live stream ( more than one actually ) it wasn't just a little gotcha snap shot edited video from one person. There were no sound of shots and no one near him. He was the one who approached the reporter ( who begins protesting that his hands are up ) with the camera and threatened to fucking kill him. The camera did not come to him. The "media" did not zero in on him until after he uttered threats and started waving his gun around causing a scene. At which point two other officers come over and one of them forces him to lower his gun.

It should also be noted half the "crowd" around him is other officers. Not evil mobbing protesters. No other officer shows any concern or reaction to the alleged shots fired and no shots are heard on any of the footage or streams leading up to him spazzing out. The only two officers that show any concern are one of the riot police and the sergeant. Both of them are concerned about him waving his gun around and approach him at the same time to stop him.

So there was no "prior to the camera turning on" it had been rolling the entire time and live streaming. The camera did not even turn in his direction until someone starts yelling "Oh my god, gun raised!".

Also the officers that stopped him are from a different department. This is their account:

Albers pointed the gun at a peaceful protester after a "verbal exchange," according to St. Louis County Police Officer Brian Schellman, a spokesman for the department. He said a St. Louis County sergeant immediately forced the officer to lower his weapon and escorted him from the area.

"The unified command strongly feel these actions are inappropriate, and not indicative of the officers who have worked daily, to keep the peace," Schellman said in a statement.

Officer Go Fuck Yourself also has three prior disciplinary actions for similar incidents where he got into verbal altercations with civilians and said "inappropriate things".

Finally, Jimenez originally stated that the officer raised his weapon after "reportedly seeing someone with a BB gun" in the crowd. It wasn't till a week later when it was recommended to him that Go Fuck Yourself resign or be fired that he came out with the more elaborate account about shots fired and a trio of hostile bandanna clad magic negros that no one else heard or saw. Not even his fellow officers from other departments.

So yeah. I'm calling bullshit. -.-

[Gravekeeper]

The DoJ is launching a civil rights investigation into the entire Ferguson PD

This should be enlightening. >.>

[the_std]

The list of separate investigations and lawsuits mentioned in that article is pretty fucking appalling.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that five current and one former member of the Ferguson police force face pending federal lawsuits claiming they used excessive force. The lawsuits, as well as more than a half-dozen internal investigations, include claims that individual officers separately hog-tied a 12-year-old boy who was checking his family mailbox, pistol-whipped children and used a stun gun on a mentally ill man who died as a result.

[Salted Grump]

Hell, the who's who of lawsuits and investigations aimed at the Ferguson PD makes me think that the department never moved past the 1950's in mentality and deed.

[wolfie]

Hell, the who's who of lawsuits and investigations aimed at the Ferguson PD makes me think that the department never moved past the 1950's in mentality and deed.

Looks like the only way they've moved past the '50s is in hardware - otherwise they'd be sticking with .38 revolvers.

[Kheldarson]

So...new details have emerged:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/21/justic...uson-protests/

There apparently was some sort of scuffle in the car. CNN seems to be prepping for Officer Wilson to be cleared.

[Panacea]

So...new details have emerged:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/21/justic...uson-protests/

There apparently was some sort of scuffle in the car. CNN seems to be prepping for Officer Wilson to be cleared.

Not cleared. For the grand jury to refuse to indict.

The new evidence does support the contention there was a scuffle in the car over the gun. Rumor is the grand jury is not inclined to indict but they won't be done until November so I'm not taking that rumor at face value. Grand juries usually indict; the standard is only is there enough evidence for a trial. They don't judge guilt or innocence.

Even if the grand jury does not indict, that does not "clear" Officer Wilson. The DA can still prosecute. He just needs more evidence to make it stick.

[Greenday]

So...new details have emerged:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/21/justic...uson-protests/

There apparently was some sort of scuffle in the car.

I thought this was well known.

[Kheldarson]

I thought this was well known.

Sure, but forensic evidence has proven it. That's a step up from just testimony.