S. Carolina Police officer will be charged with murder

[Aragarthiel]

What we need is better screening to weed out the cops who go on an ego trip or power trip, and better training on when and when not to fire.

The problem with that is, if I get pulled over for something minor and reach into the glove compartment for my insurance info, I risk the officer thinking that I'm reaching for a gun. I can declare that I'm reaching for my information, but if he happens to not hear me (listening to something over his scanner or looking at paperwork), I run the risk of having a gun pointed at me. I can totally understand this, he needs to protect himself. However, a police officer's first duty is to the citizens in his jurisdiction, and I should not have to feel unsafe just so he doesn't have to. This risk goes up if I happen to be driving through a bad area, because he doesn't know that I'm not from there and don't own a gun, legal or not.

The problem isn't just shooting at people, it's also that simply pointing a gun at an innocent person is wrong. But there's no training that can tell you 100% of the time if someone is dangerous or not.

[Kheldarson]

I wonder if the media coverage is slanted differently in different places (I'm in Ontario, Canada).

Not really. We had CNN on, although Fox News is the other popular news station. I just live in redneck central and work in a store that sells guns.

[Andara Bledin]

However, a police officer's first duty is to the citizens in his jurisdiction, and I should not have to feel unsafe just so he doesn't have to.

Actually, it's current case law that a police officer has NO duty to the citizens in his jurisdiction.

Sure, that should be how it works, but the plain truth is that it isn't.

[Lachrymose]

So a guy resists arrest twice and paid for it with his life.

Please tell me you hadn't watched the video before saying this. Please.

[Greenday]

Been hearing a lot about this at work. Big opinion seems to be "well, he ran and innocent folk don't run" and "we'll never know the whole truth; they won't tell it/let it be known".

*sigh*

For me it's mostly been people thinking the cop's an idiot. Another co-worker stating how people are going to use this to say all cops are racist murderers.

[Hyena Dandy]

Actually, it's current case law that a police officer has NO duty to the citizens in his jurisdiction.

Sure, that should be how it works, but the plain truth is that it isn't.

Especially because the ruling that made that decision was pretty clearly not intended to be used that way, since it was basically originally intended as a ruling protecting police officers from being sued for not having precognitive abilities.

[Andara Bledin]

Especially because the ruling that made that decision was pretty clearly not intended to be used that way, since it was basically originally intended as a ruling protecting police officers from being sued for not having precognitive abilities.

No. Neither case was about the cops not having precog.

Both suits were about the police's abject failure to follow their own procedures, with one case resulting in three women being kidnapped, beaten, and raped for 14 hours after they called the police twice to report a violent home invasion, the second of which the dispatcher promptly shitcanned.

The other case involved a cop utterly failing to ID the perpetrator of a violent assault, leaving the victim with zero options for recourse.

And in both cases it was determined that unless you had some sort of protective order handed down from the courts, you're pretty much on your own, because the cops have no legal duty to give a rat's ass about your safety.