Another Black man killed by cops ... this time by accident?

[jficke13]

For the aggrieved "all lives matter" set who believe white folks aren't getting equal treatment, here's a white 73-year-old woman with dementia also getting abused by police. So ... Congratulations?

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/27/us/loveland-police-video-karen-garner.html?utm_term=OZY&utm_campaign=pdb&utm_content=Wednesday_04.28.21&utm_source=Campaigner&utm_medium=email

A video released this week shows Colorado police officers laughing at footage of their department’s roadside arrest of a 73-year-old woman with dementia.

The woman, Karen Garner of Loveland, Colo., walked out of a Walmart last year without paying for $13.88 worth of items. Police officers broke a bone in her arm and dislocated her shoulder, according to a lawsuit she filed against the city and the officers.

In the newly released footage, an hourlong video uploaded to YouTube by the law firm representing Ms. Garner, three Loveland police officers laugh while they watch footage of Ms. Garner’s arrest.

“Hear the pop?” one officer says.

“What did you pop?” asks another.

“I think it was her shoulder,” the first officer responds.

“Can you stop it now?” one officer says as they watch the body camera footage of the arrest. “I hate it.”

“I love it,” another officer says, with a laugh. “This is great.”

Before watching the footage, one officer asks another if he had read Ms. Garner her Miranda rights. The officer says he had not.

“I can’t believe I threw a 73-year-old on the ground,” one officer says.

The Loveland Police Department did not immediately respond to questions about the footage on Tuesday.

In a statement last week, the department said that it was investigating the episode, and that the arresting officer had been placed on administrative leave. An officer who assisted in the arrest and an “on-scene supervisor” were reassigned to administrative duties, the department said.

“LPD takes very seriously the allegations concerning the arrest of resident Karen Garner, and shares with the community the concerns about video images that became public,” the department said.

On Tuesday, Ms. Garner’s relatives said they were “physically sickened” by the arrest.

“The Loveland Police treated her like an animal,” the family said in a statement. “They laughed and fist-bumped while they were doing it. They reveled in her pain and did nothing to address it. They relished in stripping her of all dignity.”

I'd say they could teach a class on "how to raw a civil rights trial," but alas I'm not sure that is a skill in short supply.

Good news though, the public they ostensibly serve will pay to defend them, and ultimately, to settle with their accusers so...

[forgetful]

https://atlantablackstar.com/2021/04/24/i-dont-consent-young-black-cyclist-holds-his-ground-as-orlando-police-stops-him-and-friend-with-guns-drawn-forces-one-to-crawl-in-case-of-mistaken-identity

Two black men stopped at gunpoint while riding their bikes, detained for hours and made to crawl on their hands and knees while cuffed for no reason.

Why, because they were black, and two black men supposedly robbed someone.

[Galway Eagle]

https://atlantablackstar.com/2021/04/24/i-dont-consent-young-black-cyclist-holds-his-ground-as-orlando-police-stops-him-and-friend-with-guns-drawn-forces-one-to-crawl-in-case-of-mistaken-identity

Two black men stopped at gunpoint while riding their bikes, detained for hours and made to crawl on their hands and knees while cuffed for no reason.

Why, because they were black, and two black men supposedly robbed someone.

Of Darker black complexion.

[MU82]

But our Black friends shouldn't worry. We've been assured over and over that there's no such thing as systemic racism in law enforcement.

[Uncle Rico]

But our Black friends shouldn't worry. We've been assured over and over that there's no such thing as systemic racism in law enforcement.

It’s the fault of the media

[MU82]

Unsurprisingly, the GOP has selected its one Black senator, Tim Scott of SC, to deliver the response to Biden's address tonight. Scott is a highly intelligent man with a great backstory, and he will do a fine job getting across the GOP's points while also empathizing with Black people of all political stripes regarding the law-enforcement problems.

Here's a snippet from the AP article previewing his speech:

Scott, among only 11 Black senators in history, has used riveting Senate speeches to detail his own distressing encounters with the law. He’s described being pulled over 18 times while driving since 2000 and being stopped by a U.S. Capitol security officer who didn’t recognize him as recently as 2019, even though Scott was wearing a senator’s lapel pin.

“While I thank God I have not endured bodily harm, I have, however, felt the pressure applied by the scales of justice when they are slanted,” he said during a 2016 Senate speech. “I have felt the anger, the frustration, the sadness and the humiliation that comes with feeling like you’re being targeted for nothing more than being just yourself.”

At the same time, Scott has remained a party loyalist who seldom makes waves and, like many Republicans, often avoided publicly criticizing Trump. Scott voted against removing Trump from office after the then-president’s House impeachment for fomenting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, saying later, “The one person I don’t blame is President Trump.”

Scott, from North Charleston, South Carolina, nearly dropped out of high school. He tells of a life-changing turnabout after befriending a businessman who became a mentor and stressed the value of hard work.

After graduating college, he entered the insurance and real estate businesses and was elected to the Charleston County Council. He was a co-chairman of the 1996 reelection campaign of Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., an overt segregationist decades earlier. When Scott was elected to the House in 2010, his closest GOP primary rival was Thurmond’s son Paul.

Then-Gov. Nikki Haley appointed Scott to the Senate in 2013 when Sen. Jim DeMint resigned. Scott was easily elected to complete DeMint’s term in 2014 and to his own six-year term in 2016, and is a favorite for reelection next year.

Scott’s background and willingness to discuss racial disparities, a subject infrequently emphasized by the GOP, made him a natural choice for Wednesday’s speech.

“I’ve never been stopped from driving while Black. He has multiple times,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “And he’s sort of opened my eyes to some of the lack of trust” between minority communities and law enforcement.

Again, our Scoopers who seem to like to tell Black folks how they should think and act should read that last quote, from the very white Cornyn. Even he knows systemic racism is an issue. And I'm pretty sure that none of the white senators were ever barred entry from the chambers because of the color of their skin.

I disagree with Scott on some policy issues, and I'm disappointed that he mostly fell in line with the rest of the GOP Congressional caucus in bending a knee to the previous president, but I thought he had a lot of very good ideas in his proposal on first steps that can be taken to reform policing.

[MU82]

82-our media is far from balanced  but not solely responsible for the unrest.  never said it was all on the media but it sucks big time

Well, I guess you're right about the media. The right-wing NY Post supposedly ordered a reporter to lie about Kamala Harris and the border crisis, and the reporter finally resigned in protest.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/new-york-post-kamala-harris-correction-migrant-book/2021/04/27/ec297ac6-a769-11eb-bca5-048b2759a489_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F32160cb%2F608987849d2fdae3023ba06f%2F5f8d147cae7e8a56e5b732a4%2F22%2F68%2F608987849d2fdae3023ba06f

A longtime New York Post reporter said she has resigned after being “ordered” to write a false story that claimed undocumented minors were being welcomed to the United States with copies of a children’s book written by Vice President Harris.

“The Kamala Harris story — an incorrect story I was ordered to write and which I failed to push back hard enough against — was my breaking point,” Laura Italiano tweeted Tuesday afternoon, several hours after her viral article about the books had been deleted from the Post’s website and replaced with corrected versions.

Italiano, who has written for the Post since the 1990s, according to news archives, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Since the Post published the story on its front page Saturday, the conservative mediascape has been in an uproar over the supposed distribution of Harris’s 2019 book, “Superheroes Are Everywhere,” at migrant shelters. A slew of prominent Republicans expressed outrage over the possibility that taxpayers were funding the program. Even the White House press secretary was grilled about it.

And then on Tuesday, in a one-sentence note at the bottom of the original online article, the Post acknowledged that almost none of it was true.

“Editor’s note: The original version of this article said migrant kids were getting Harris’ book in a welcome kit, but has been updated to note that only one known copy of the book was given to a child,” it read in full.

In fact, it’s not even clear whether a child actually received that single copy of the book, which was photographed by Reuters on a vacant bed at a shelter in Long Beach, Calif., last week. It was one of many items, including toys and clothing, donated by residents in a citywide drive, Long Beach officials said. No government funds were used to purchase the items, according to a city spokeswoman.

[Jockey]

I disagree with Scott on some policy issues, and I'm disappointed that he mostly fell in line with the rest of the GOP Congressional caucus in bending a knee to the previous president, but I thought he had a lot of very good ideas in his proposal on first steps that can be taken to reform policing.

What was Scott's response when trump said, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts"?

[MU82]

What was Scott's response when trump said, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts"?

As I said ...

[Lighthouse 84]

Unsurprisingly, the GOP has selected its one Black senator, Tim Scott of SC, to deliver the response to Biden's address tonight. Scott is a highly intelligent man with a great backstory, and he will do a fine job getting across the GOP's points while also empathizing with Black people of all political stripes regarding the law-enforcement problems.

Kind of a Dick Durbin or Jim Clyburn-like comment, hey?  Not saying it was intentional, but it shows that even the best intentioned comments can come out poorly.

[MU82]

Kind of a Dick Durbin or Jim Clyburn-like comment, hey?  Not saying it was intentional, but it shows that even the best intentioned comments can come out poorly.

??

[Galway Eagle]

After watching the video of the police shooting in Portage park (Chicago). I'm starting to lose sympathy. Is it just me or is the bar getting set lower and lower for people to get worked up over? I have simple logic
1) were you actually committing a crime 2) are you armed with a weapon that could pose a threat (close quarters with knife or a gun in general)
3) are you running away

If these are all checked off the officer has the right to fire.

This applies to the Toledo shooting as well. Quick on the draw? Yes but objectively horrific and worth protesting like many many of the ones from years past? I don't think so personally.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Unsurprisingly, the GOP has selected its one Black senator, Tim Scott of SC, to deliver the response to Biden's address tonight. Scott is a highly intelligent man with a great backstory, and he will do a fine job getting across the GOP's points while also empathizing with Black people of all political stripes regarding the law-enforcement problems.

Here's a snippet from the AP article previewing his speech:

Scott, among only 11 Black senators in history, has used riveting Senate speeches to detail his own distressing encounters with the law. He’s described being pulled over 18 times while driving since 2000 and being stopped by a U.S. Capitol security officer who didn’t recognize him as recently as 2019, even though Scott was wearing a senator’s lapel pin.

“While I thank God I have not endured bodily harm, I have, however, felt the pressure applied by the scales of justice when they are slanted,” he said during a 2016 Senate speech. “I have felt the anger, the frustration, the sadness and the humiliation that comes with feeling like you’re being targeted for nothing more than being just yourself.”

At the same time, Scott has remained a party loyalist who seldom makes waves and, like many Republicans, often avoided publicly criticizing Trump. Scott voted against removing Trump from office after the then-president’s House impeachment for fomenting the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, saying later, “The one person I don’t blame is President Trump.”

Scott, from North Charleston, South Carolina, nearly dropped out of high school. He tells of a life-changing turnabout after befriending a businessman who became a mentor and stressed the value of hard work.

After graduating college, he entered the insurance and real estate businesses and was elected to the Charleston County Council. He was a co-chairman of the 1996 reelection campaign of Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., an overt segregationist decades earlier. When Scott was elected to the House in 2010, his closest GOP primary rival was Thurmond’s son Paul.

Then-Gov. Nikki Haley appointed Scott to the Senate in 2013 when Sen. Jim DeMint resigned. Scott was easily elected to complete DeMint’s term in 2014 and to his own six-year term in 2016, and is a favorite for reelection next year.

Scott’s background and willingness to discuss racial disparities, a subject infrequently emphasized by the GOP, made him a natural choice for Wednesday’s speech.

“I’ve never been stopped from driving while Black. He has multiple times,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “And he’s sort of opened my eyes to some of the lack of trust” between minority communities and law enforcement.

Again, our Scoopers who seem to like to tell Black folks how they should think and act should read that last quote, from the very white Cornyn. Even he knows systemic racism is an issue. And I'm pretty sure that none of the white senators were ever barred entry from the chambers because of the color of their skin.

I disagree with Scott on some policy issues, and I'm disappointed that he mostly fell in line with the rest of the GOP Congressional caucus in bending a knee to the previous president, but I thought he had a lot of very good ideas in his proposal on first steps that can be taken to reform policing.

You mean the police reform bill that Sen. Scott authored that the Dem's racistly filibustered?

[Hards Alumni]

After watching the video of the police shooting in Portage park (Chicago). I'm starting to lose sympathy. Is it just me or is the bar getting set lower and lower for people to get worked up over? I have simple logic
1) were you actually committing a crime 2) are you armed with a weapon that could pose a threat (close quarters with knife or a gun in general)
3) are you running away

If these are all checked off the officer has the right to fire.

This applies to the Toledo shooting as well. Quick on the draw? Yes but objectively horrific and worth protesting like many many of the ones from years past? I don't think so personally.

I haven't watched the video.

1. Depends on the crime.
2. Is someone in imminent danger?
3. Not in general, but it depends on the situation heavily.  Someone not posing an immediate threat to other people shouldn't be shot.

[MU82]

You mean the police reform bill that Sen. Scott authored that the Dem's racistly filibustered?

Scott put a lot of thought into it and there was room to negotiate, but the Dems played political games in rejecting it out of hand.

"Racistly" is your word.

[Galway Eagle]

I haven't watched the video.

1. Depends on the crime.
2. Is someone in imminent danger?
3. Not in general, but it depends on the situation heavily.  Someone not posing an immediate threat to other people shouldn't be shot.

Here's what I know: Known gang member is running from the cops and is armed and dangerous while refusing to drop his gun. He then stops, pulls out his gun, and gets shot.

In any innocent life I'm sad for them. This was not an innocent life and, while it's impossible to truly measure, if he were the next Marion Lewis that pulls out said gun to carjack someone to get away and/or return fire. Then I'm fine with his death.

There's hundreds of truly objectively wrong police killings and violent actions. I stand by my "the bar is getting lower" comment.

[Lighthouse 84]

??

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/503176-tim-scott-responds-to-durbins-warning-about-token-half-hearted-approach-to

https://scnow.com/news/local/jim-clyburn-implies-tim-scott-is-a-token-offered-by-republicans-to-african-americans/article_b81cdb56-188f-11eb-9da0-dbf7c68ac464.html

Again, not saying it was intentional, but the implication is there.  And again, it just shows how the best of intended comments can come out poorly.

[MU82]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/503176-tim-scott-responds-to-durbins-warning-about-token-half-hearted-approach-to

https://scnow.com/news/local/jim-clyburn-implies-tim-scott-is-a-token-offered-by-republicans-to-african-americans/article_b81cdb56-188f-11eb-9da0-dbf7c68ac464.html

Again, not saying it was intentional, but the implication is there.  And again, it just shows how the best of intended comments can come out poorly.

If you say so. The Durbin example is not even in the same stratosphere with what I said. The Clyburn one isn't really, either, but I guess I could see it construed that way if one really wants to make that leap. I'll make a better effort in the future.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Scott put a lot of thought into it and there was room to negotiate, but the Dems played political games in rejecting it out of hand.

"Racistly" is your word.

the filibuster wasn't racist until 2021, or so I'm told.  My bad.

[MU82]

This sucks. The police, state legislatures and judges work for us. They are our employees, and we have the right as citizens to learn the truth.

Hours after an officer shot and killed 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant on April 20 in Ohio, police released on-the-scene video from the officer’s body-worn camera.

The Columbus Police Department was able to share the footage quickly because of a 2019 Ohio law that made such videos public record.

But a far different story has unfolded in North Carolina, where 42-year-old Andrew Brown Jr. was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies on April 21.

Under a 2016 law passed by the N.C. General Assembly, footage from cameras worn by law enforcement officers is not considered public record in the state. Police and sheriff’s departments do not have the authority to release footage on their own.

Instead, family members or the public must petition the court for video to be released, and a judge decides — a process that could take days or weeks.

A North Carolina Superior Court judge declined on Wednesday to release the footage to the public, though it could be shown to Brown’s family. After watching a 20-second clip this week, attorneys for the family said the footage shows an “execution.”

Frayda S. Bluestein, public law and government professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, said she doesn’t think any other states require a court decision before video is released, ABC News reported.

[forgetful]

This clearly wasn't a shooting, but highlights much of the problem.

In the city I live in, the other day a 10-year old African American boy, was stopped and detained by cops while walking home from school. The reason, people called in saying a suspicious individual was trespassing.

His crime, taking a short cut to get home by cutting through the side yard of a house. He was detained and forced to sit on the curb and wait for his parents to come collect him.

White children are making that same walk, and cutting through the same yards with zero problem. And there is zero chance that if people even called the cops on the white children, that they would detain them.

Now that 10-year old thinks that because of the color of his skin, he will always be targeted by others, and the police.

[Hards Alumni]

This clearly wasn't a shooting, but highlights much of the problem.

In the city I live in, the other day a 10-year old African American boy, was stopped and detained by cops while walking home from school. The reason, people called in saying a suspicious individual was trespassing.

His crime, taking a short cut to get home by cutting through the side yard of a house. He was detained and forced to sit on the curb and wait for his parents to come collect him.

White children are making that same walk, and cutting through the same yards with zero problem. And there is zero chance that if people even called the cops on the white children, that they would detain them.

Now that 10-year old thinks that because of the color of his skin, he will always be targeted by others, and the police.

He learned early, but it is probably a conversation that his parents already have had with him.  Sadly.

[Jockey]

This clearly wasn't a shooting, but highlights much of the problem.

In the city I live in, the other day a 10-year old African American boy, was stopped and detained by cops while walking home from school. The reason, people called in saying a suspicious individual was trespassing.

His crime, taking a short cut to get home by cutting through the side yard of a house. He was detained and forced to sit on the curb and wait for his parents to come collect him.

White children are making that same walk, and cutting through the same yards with zero problem. And there is zero chance that if people even called the cops on the white children, that they would detain them.

Now that 10-year old thinks that because of the color of his skin, he will always be targeted by others, and the police.

This kind of thing - and worse - happens to black kids EVERY day. Sadly, the police love doing this. Then they denigrate black parents for not teaching their children respect for cops.

[YaBlueIt]

Here's what I know: Known gang member is running from the cops and is armed and dangerous while refusing to drop his gun. He then stops, pulls out his gun, and gets shot.

In any innocent life I'm sad for them. This was not an innocent life and, while it's impossible to truly measure, if he were the next Marion Lewis that pulls out said gun to carjack someone to get away and/or return fire. Then I'm fine with his death.

There's hundreds of truly objectively wrong police killings and violent actions. I stand by my "the bar is getting lower" comment.

Maybe this is pedantic but I think guilty AND innocent people deserve a chance to survive police encounters, as long as they are not an immediate threat to the life and safety of cops or others. I would prefer a jury of his peers to do determine his innocence, not a cop in the heat of the moment, but too often they aren't given the chance.

Still confused by no. 3 of your criteria you left in an earlier comment. If they are running away, are they still an active threat to an officer? Should they be shot in the back? Is that justice? Obviously are nuanced situations in close-quarters where they could be reaching for something and that might be what you meant.

I get that cops want to go home at the end of the day just like everyone else. And there are situations, like the incident in Ohio, where the initial public reaction was way overblown as the cop was literally trying to save someone from being stabbed. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. But the fact of the matter is that non-lethal (or less-lethal) force has to be the first option used when responding to these situations unless there is an immediate threat. That's often not the case.

[Galway Eagle]

Maybe this is pedantic but I think guilty AND innocent people deserve a chance to survive police encounters, as long as they are not an immediate threat to the life and safety of cops or others. I would prefer a jury of his peers to do determine his innocence, not a cop in the heat of the moment, but too often they aren't given the chance.

Still confused by no. 3 of your criteria you left in an earlier comment. If they are running away, are they still an active threat to an officer? Should they be shot in the back? Is that justice? Obviously are nuanced situations in close-quarters where they could be reaching for something and that might be what you meant.

I get that cops want to go home at the end of the day just like everyone else. And there are situations, like the incident in Ohio, where the initial public reaction was way overblown as the cop was literally trying to save someone from being stabbed. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. But the fact of the matter is that non-lethal (or less-lethal) force has to be the first option used when responding to these situations unless there is an immediate threat. That's often not the case.

That's why I said it's impossible to know if a guy running from the cops is going to be the next Marion Lewis. Those cops didn't fire at a gang member running away with a gun, and then he tried to car jack people and likely scarred 5 innocent people for life, then shot at cops. Or another example is a guy who was wanted for murder drove away at a traffic stop, lead police on a full around Chicago chase, that resulted in a police officer car collision with a pedestrian vehicle and those two people dying, that guy running and car jacking a car at a gas station (this was all on the news) now if they'd shot at the time none of that happens, a mom and sister return to their family, a young woman isn't scarred for life from car jacking and an a$$ gang member is off the street.

Now I agree regarding non lethal force. We default to deadly weapons wayyy too quick, and I'd be in favor of the loaded clips being non lethal with a deadly clip being in the belt so you have to have to be engaged in a fire fight to have to utilize deadly force. We invest ridiculous money into lethal force research with crazy armory piercing rounds we should give that budget to usually (nothing's perfect) non lethal weapons.