Summary: Another police execution without cause. This time of a 12 year old boy holding a pellet gun, playing in a park with nobody else nearby. The police shoot the boy immediately upon arrival, despite no need for such action. Nor do they check the boy, to see if first aid would help. Here is additional information, although I don’t know how that can make a difference. Videos of a few of the many other such cases appears below. Viewers warned: these are explicit videos of executions. They’re not the same as watching tens of thousands die in “The Avengers”.
This does not happen in any other developed nation. Or even in emerging nations. Recognition of this problem is the first, only the first, step to fixing it. Over the holiday perhaps we should each spend a few minutes thinking about what kind of nation this should be, and what we will do to change it. {This is the third of 3 posts today}
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As so often the case, the police story makes no sense.
In a news conference broadcast by NBC, Cleveland Police Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said the time between the car pulling up and Rice being shot was 1.5 to 2 seconds. There is no audio on the video, but the officers said they told Rice to raise his hands three times before he was shot, police said. He died on Sunday.
Add this to the other police shootings in recent years. Like that of Milton Hall in July 2012: holding a knife, 8 police line up and fire 45 shots. Dead.
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And the killing by police of Kajieme Powell (holding a knife) on 19 August 2014 (details here). Followed by the almost inevitable news story “Footage of St. Louis Shooting May Contradict Police Reports” (got to love the “may”).
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I could post more, but you get the picture. You already knew it. I don’t know if these events will provoke protest at some point in time, and still less if such protests will lead to reform. But I believe these killings are a symptom of a deeper problem. I recommend reading these posts about first steps to reforming America, and deciding what you will do next.
For More Information
About police, law enforcement, and the security services:
- Fear the enemies within America more than those without, 21 December 2011
- How to Fund an American Police State (aka Weaponizing the Body Politic), 5 March 2012 — Militarizing the police
- We are alone in the defense of the Republic, 5 July 2012
- Do not talk to the police (important advice in New America), 4 August 2013
- Look at the protests in Wisconsin to see how America has changed, 31 August 2013
- Murder by police. If these incidents do not anger us, then what will?, 19 January 2014
- Why America has militarized its police and crushes protests, 16 August 2014
- Police grow more powerful; the Republic slides another step into darkness. Can cellphone cameras save us?, 28 August 2014
- The shame of Alaska: vast wealth, but little spent to protect its people, 15 September 2014
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It’s very easy for many people to declare that these young ‘thugs’ deserved to die for not complying with police orders, for the violent lifestyle they supposedly lead, for their past crimes, even for their potential future crimes. It’s much more difficult to say that a 12 year old kid playing in a park deserved to die for those reasons.
And yet so many people actually say this…
Plus the many mentally ill men executed by the police. Including some vets. There are cases of relatives calling for help, then watching them executed.
And all the dogs. Police often routinely kill dogs when arriving on scene.
We inhabit a very violent social situation.
These terrible examples are not unexpected nor surprising.
We shoot horses don’t we?
Be thankful you weren’t born black or poor.
Nor and most thankfully, a fat white Cop!
Ex MPs?
Expect this to change?
You know better.
Some of my associates actually try to tell me the real cause is that Missouri was a former Slave State!
Breton
epagbreton,
“Expect this to change? You know better.”
That’s silly. Western history for 3 millennia has been one of change, and the past few centuries has been accelerating change — getting better.
Observe and consider … LE has emerged from the primordial ooze of the middle class to become responsible to no one like war criminals and financial fraud artists (and most politicians). An advantageous niche to occupy in a militaristic, police state, no?
Dessenter,
That’s not, imo, an accurate way to describe our society. Not even remotely so. I suggest you spend a few minutes talking with a cop or soldier, especially a senior member of either.
America is tightly wound, with everything well-worked into the hierarchy of our ruling elites. Agencies like the security services (formerly known as “law enforcement”), the Fed, and the military run on rails — given tight parameters in which they can act, working to clear goals. Within that operating envelope they’re free to act. Step outside it and BOOM, the leash tightens.
Agreed, Dessenter. The problem has only worsened since 2004, when Major General Michael Ennis was tasked with starting the CIA’s domestic HUMINT program. LE essentially became a branch of our “intelligence” agencies. James Bamford recently released the NSA’s “birth certificate” onto the internet; a fascinating read as it clearly shows that they agency IS above the law. To some extent this only expanded on already present connections, as is apparent with Carl Schoffler’s involvement with CIA during the Watergate debacle and Jim Rothstein’s arrest of Frank Sturgis (CIA) after the Kennedy assassination. Law enforcement officials are not held accountable for other violations of civil rights etc, with great regularity. They are not unlike other criminals in that they are emboldened with each successful violations. In my location we had 19 cops retired “with garrity” – full pensions, no arrest, early retirement, no media coverage…for running a narcotics operation moving dope from Florida. A cop sued for obvious civil rights violations was protected by the US DOJ (AUSA Bill Koch, Mpls – now a judge). The cop has gone on to falsify four additional law enforcement reports with each complaint resulting in a white washing by the “justice” system.
Been thinking a lot about how best to ” Fix America”. I do vote and I contribute to political candidates. But I’m thinking that a small change at the bottom of the cause and effect ladder and like the butterfly creating a typhoon, a larger change in our problems.
As an example, I wonder what would happen if these videos were to be shown to local officials and then we demanded to know how it would be handled in our community. And then, depending on the answer, remind them that we would expect them to preserve life rather than take it. Ask if they can imagine another way. By the way I believe that in my city, an officer tackled a person with a knife. Not saying that is the answer to the situation. For a knife wielder, how about shots to the legs, a net, a heavy blanket, knife resistant clothing, a bolo, stun gun, stun gun on a stick, flypaper, pepper spray, taser, or a bribe. who knows a guy might drop a knife if he was offered a sandwich and a beer and fifty bucks.
Could we could cause some change? Locally? Cause them to think differently?
Is it possible that if local police changed their outlook, certain neighborhoods would lose the fear/hate for the police. And they would truly work with a police department that it respected. Then maybe a certain slice of America would lose their fear/hate of people in those neighborhoods.
I can see many immediate benefits from this. But the real hope is that with small changes like this will cause a flutter that will grow to upset the military-industrial complex.
gilsr,
You have joined a small fraction of America that thinks about these things in terms of actions to be taken rather than as spectators.
Speaking as someone who knows many police, they tend not to see any problem in these tapes beyond the fact that these actions were taped. As in These things happen when dealing with animals, but tribal loyalty trumps other considerations.
My guess — nothing more — is that police are the edge of the blade to society’s sword. It’s not the part to be grasped when seeking to regain control of the instrument. As we see in Ferguson, people whose response to injustice is wild rioting are not useful partners in a reform project. Which is why the Right smiles when seeing Ferguson.
As for the other incidents, they’re collateral damage to the proles. Like the funerals and wedding parties blown away by our drones in the Middle East. Inconsequential. If they spark peasants’ protests, like Ferguson, that’s good for the regime. It reminds them that the police protect the families of the outer party from disorder — justifies the massive investment of the security services in surveillance and military equipment, and alienates the police from the people they patrol.
Long work at building political alliances must imo precede successful attempts at police reform.
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“The police officer obeyed the law.” — the prosecutor
“This shooting was within department policy.” — the police
“I felt in imminent fear for my life and believed I had to protect myself.” — the cop
“They were only following orders.” — the American people