Ferguson Unrest

[mancini79]

Time to create a thread of its own. The "Cops are Great" thread needs to stay on focus.

[Splint7438]

There is plenty of blame to go around in the events in Fergusen. The shooting is seperate from the rioting. The video showing the kid robbing the store has been shown now. I saw a piece on cnn and every person in the crowd either thought it was fake or denied that it was the same kid. Even after the family said it was him. Seems too many people wanted the rioting to go on. There are a lot of videos out there that seem to contradict each other. Dialogue that he was charging the cops. While others say he was submissive with his hands up. Have not seen actual shooting on video yet. This whole thing is out of hand.

[RallyMo]

I know that suppression of the media is a really good tactic if your organization is in the right.

[nate]

First of all, there is never an excuse for rioting.  No matter how much you hate the cops or how egregious the act.

 

Second, hopefully the Ferguson PD gets completely turned over and any criminal parties go to jail for the rest of their life.

 

Like Rally mentioned, suppressing the media is poor form and extremely suspicious.  People in St Louis are not going to trust the cops for decades after this.

 

What I want to know is why did they wait until last night to mobilize the National Guard?

 

It does sound like the witnesses were lying, the family ordered autopsy showed that he was not shot in the back and he didn't have his hands up...  That still is not an excuse to shoot a man six times.

 

Also, it is pretty ****in annoying that Jesse Jackson is out there stirring the pot, that man is such a fame whoring scumbag.

[Tank]

i never understood the logic behind rioting. 

 

if you're a cop and you shoot me, the answer is to protest against the police, not to destroy and loot businesses owned by mike, steve or nick.

[Lhalo]

It does sound like the witnesses were lying, the family ordered autopsy showed that he was not shot in the back and he didn't have his hands up...  That still is not an excuse to shoot a man six times.

 

If it was found that Mike Brown was trying to beat the cop up then I can understand why he was shot.

[nate]

Yeah I don't think that will be the case.  I still don't think we will find out he should have been shot, but what set off the riots were witness reports saying that he was shot in the back.

[Blarg]

And yet the autopsy says all entry wounds are in the front.

[Kevin]

I would have condemned the looters in the Kelly Thomas shooting as well...if I had known about it. The difference is how much national coverage did he get compared to Michael Brown? I'm sincerely asking because I don't remember hearing about it all that much, especially news networks 24/7 like CNN. I outside of southern California however.

[nate]

And yet the autopsy says all entry wounds are in the front.

 

You must be Sherlock Holmes.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

It's interesting in a scary way seeing how the reporting of the incident has unfolded.  At first the guy killed was referred to as an unarmed 'kid' who was shot in the back per witnesses as he was running away. In reality he was a 6'4 300lb 18 year old with a juvenile record who was a person of interest in another robbery some months before and the autopsies show he was not shot in the back.  He and his friend had just got done stealing from a convenient store where they more or less assaulted the elderly clerk in the process.  There's now supposedly a recording of two people discussing what they saw happen as they had a conversation in the background while someone else is telling a different story.  One of the two individuals said the man shot went at the cop and kept coming even after the first shot.  Yet Sharpton and Jackson jumped at the chance to be there before all the information had come out and there's rioting that's destroyed local businesses.  Sad yet not surprising.       

Edited August 18, 2014 by Catwhoshatinthehat

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

I have sympathy for the family. I imagine it is hard accepting the fact that your kid was killed. I also imagine it is hard accepting the fact that your kid wasn't walking a straight path in life, assaulted an elderly clerk, robbed a few stores, and more than likely, tried to assault a police officer. 

 

I wouldn't want to believe that about my kid, either.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Agreed but the mother not only refuses to believe or just flat out ignores those facts but she also went on TV calling for the officers arrest saying he should be held accountable for his actions which does nothing but rile people up when the investigation is ongoing.  The Brown family attorney said that the gunshots to the top of the head support eye witnesses accounts that he was trying to surrender and also said "why would he be shot in the top of his head?"  Those are some of the same eye witness accounts that said he was shot in the back and gunshots to the top of the head support what the officer said as far as the suspect coming at him.  

 

Regardless of what the final report says if your kid grows up to be a thieving strong arming thug then a lot of that blame rests on the shoulder of their parents or whoever raised them.  I find it hard to have sympathy for people who lie or turn a blind eye.  

Edited August 18, 2014 by Catwhoshatinthehat

[Angel Oracle]

I can understand the frustration.

But really, does destroying your community's own businesses solve anything?

Edited August 18, 2014 by Angel Oracle

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

I've always been taught that when you're fighting for your life, you shoot until you know the target is down. Some news outlets are suspicious about the officer firing 6 shot on target...I don't find that suspicious at all. You figure they were rapid fire shots and the one to the top of the head was probably the last shot and hit the kid as he was slumped over and falling. 

 

An eye witness told CNN that after the shooting, the officer was walking around in disbelief...if it was calculated murder, I don't think you'd be walking around in disbelief. 

 

I wish the "leaders" of the black community...Sharpton and Jackson, would keep their mouth shut until all details were released. Its been said before, but I'll say it again, they don't help the situation at all. 

[Jason]

And you got Al Sharpton getting everyone stirred up stating that it is disgraceful and disparaging to show the robbery video before the kid's funeral. Facts of the case aren't important anyways The Black Panthers calling for the death of the officer is a nice touch too. The "leaders" in that community need to kick them out of their town. I also think the police showing up like a military unit didn't help either.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Angels N Skins

[Lhalo]

Yeah I don't think that will be the case. 

 

Why not?

[Tank]

It's interesting in a scary way seeing how the reporting of the incident has unfolded.  At first the guy killed was referred to as an unarmed 'kid' who was shot in the back per witnesses as he was running away. In reality he was a 6'4 300lb 18 year old with a juvenile record who was a person of interest in another robbery some months before and the autopsies show he was not shot in the back.  He and his friend had just got done stealing from a convenient store where they more or less assaulted the elderly clerk in the process.  There's now supposedly a recording of two people discussing what they saw happen as they had a conversation in the background while someone else is telling a different story.  One of the two individuals said the man shot went at the cop and kept coming even after the first shot.  Yet Sharpton and Jackson jumped at the chance to be there before all the information had come out and there's rioting that's destroyed local businesses.  Sad yet not surprising.       

 

yeah, the shooting victims are ALWAYS portrayed as just normal kids going about their business not doing anything, and the mean ol' white police man just picked on him and fired away without cause.

 

and people just keep soaking it up, every last drop.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

While I was at the gym Obama came on to discuss Iraq and Ferguson.  When they got to the Ferguson bit one of the channels started showing pictures of Brown when he was probably 14 or 15 looking baby faced.  A far cry from the 6'4 300lb man you see assaulting an old convenience store clerk in the video.  A store that was destroyed during the looting while a message saying "snitches will be dealt with" was left for the clerk.     

 

As to Sharpton, Jackson, etc those guys seem to be more about furthering their own agenda than righting wrongs or making real changes.  All they seem to do is pop in for photo ops, stir **** up and you won't hear a peep out of them when more information comes out.  The black community leaders in the area would be wise to ask them to leave but that will never happen.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Catwhoshatinthehat

[mtangelsfan]

I think the black community is kind of faced with a damned if you will......if you won't when it comes to Jackson and Sharpton.  I think most understand they are charlatans and pretty much a joke to most of the country but they are also the only ones who actually get press.  Nobody cares if so and so show up but the world stops when Jesse comes to town.

[nate]

I am actually glad that Obama condemned the rioting instead of sidestepping it.  The rest of what he said was crap though.

[Don]

I still don't know if it was a good shoot or not. There isn't a complete enough story yet to be sure in either direction. The number of bullets or their entry points doesn't do much to clarify that, though it does contradict some eye witness accounts. So, yeah, there's no way that officer should be arrested at this point, and it'd be nice if people could calm down and wait for the facts. Looting does nothing to promote an image of a group out for justice for their community, though some have said that the looting is a product of "outside individuals". Either way, everyone protesting is responsible for reigning that behavior in.

As for the police, they did everything wrong from the beginning, and have created a bit of a mess for themselves. They withheld information about the shooting, which may have seemed like a pretty practical move, but was viewed as a sort of "We'll tell you when you're old enough to understand," response by the black community there. They also showed up on the scene of the protest like they were ready for war and harassed media members. It didn't help their image, and that doesn't usually assuage an angry group of people that feel marginalized in the moment. I also think the timing of the convenience store video was bad, as it didn't help their racist image. To a lot of people, the release of that video said, "We just want you to know that this kid was an asshole anyway."

I guess I'm saying that the people of Ferguson aren't doing themselves or their community any favors right now. They need to stop with the extreme cries for arrest before the facts are in, and they need to self-police against the looting. And the police aren't doing themselves any favors. They need to get their act together in the treatment of media, down to individual officers. And they need to work on their image a bit. We don't know what happened with Brown for sure, but the Ferguson PD has made themselves look like a group that is capable of shooting someone that didn't warrant it and purposefully covering it up.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Don

[nate]

Why not?

 

How many reasons can you think of to shoot an unarmed man six times?

[Jay]

As to Sharpton, Jackson, etc those guys seem to be more about furthering their own agenda than righting wrongs or making real changes.  All they seem to do is pop in for photo ops, stir **** up and you won't hear a peep out of them when more information comes out.  The black community leaders in the area would be wise to ask them to leave but that will never happen.

 

Sharpton and Jackson are not interested in righting wrongs or making real changes because if that were to happen there would no longer be a need for Sharpton and Jackson.

[yk9001]

How many reasons can you think of to shoot an unarmed man six times?

 

 

Seeing how an unarmed man stomped the shit out of a sheriff's deputy at the Lakewood Mall this weekend, I am re-thinking the whole "unarmed" thing.

 

http://ktla.com/2014/08/16/l-a-sheriffs-deputy-in-critical-condition-after-lakewood-mall-attack/

 

Absolutely Violent Attack’ at Lakewood Mall Leaves Deputy With ‘Life-Changing’ Injuries