US Police Shoot Unarmed Man With His Hands Up

[Pesty]

Lucas CAV said:

Forgive my ignorance but why can you not cross a road in the USA?

J walking.

Many European countries have the same thing, ever noticed you are the only one crossing in Europe? I've been told off on the mainland. Can't remember which country possibly Austria or Germany,

[Otispunkmeyer]

Digga said:

Sonic said:

Sheepshanks said:

Not sure people realise it was the health worker who was shot, not the patient?

Even after reading the article i didn't quite twig because it makes such little sense for the police to shoot an unarmed therapist led on the ground with his arms in the air following instruction and trying to do his job returning a mentally ill patient back to hospital... fking mental.

I re-read twice and wondered what happened to the patient - how or why on earth the care worker was hit, rather than him. Not that the patient deserved being shot either, but even crazed, gun-toting police logic would surely see the person not lying down as the bigger threat. So were they aiming at the patient, ignoring the carer's pleas and missed and hit the carer by mistake?

Either way someone needs their firearms confiscating and locking in the naughty cupboard.

What I don't get is, if they were aiming for the autistic lad, how does that make sense? He's got a gun (toy car) and threatening to shoot himself... I know we'll solve this by shooting him ourselves? What? Logic?

[XslaneyX]

B'stard Child said:

Outside of the "City" - They have their own police force

Service

[R E S T E C P]

Pesty said:

Lucas CAV said:

Forgive my ignorance but why can you not cross a road in the USA?

J walking.

Many European countries have the same thing, ever noticed you are the only one crossing in Europe? I've been told off on the mainland. Can't remember which country possibly Austria or Germany,

I was shouted at by a lady in Germany for crossing while the red man was lit. My German's not good but I understood enough - I was setting a bad example to her child, apparently!

It was a small and absolutely silent, empty road in a small quiet village, you would see/hear a car from miles away and we were standing there for no reason whatsoever.
To be fair - I do agree with her and I felt guilty. Her 4 year old can't evaluate safety, he sees adults crossing on red so he will too.

[B'stard Child]

Pesty said:

Lucas CAV said:

Forgive my ignorance but why can you not cross a road in the USA?

J walking.

Many European countries have the same thing, ever noticed you are the only one crossing in Europe? I've been told off on the mainland. Can't remember which country possibly Austria or Germany,

My understanding is that it's J Walking if you don't use a designated crossing (and they can be some distances apart as people don't walk as a general rule)

I quite enjoy walking in the USA it scares the heck out of most car drivers - they'd rather stop on a main road to allow you to cross a side road even though you are waiting for them to turn so you can cross without troubling anyone

[FredClogs]

Otispunkmeyer said:

What I don't get is, if they were aiming for the autistic lad, how does that make sense? He's got a gun (toy car) and threatening to shoot himself... I know we'll solve this by shooting him ourselves? What? Logic?

No logic, just fear, a diet of violent movies, violent sport, the imagery of consequence free macho violence, "toxic masculinity", poor physical conditioning, massive use of prescription anti depressants, a pop culture which would induce anxiety into a buddhist monk, sugar, coffee, a proliferation of fire arms, more sugar and fear, fear and more fear.

It's too easy to say that they're ill trained and have low IQs, although I'm sure it's part of it, it's mostly just a limitation of human base biology I think. Bring on the Robocops.

[jdw100]

FredClogs said:

Lucas CAV said:

Forgive my ignorance but why can you not cross a road in the USA?

Its J Walking, whatever that means.

You have to accept that culturally the US is very different, its like the film Wall-E but not in space and with less robots but more guns.

Jay walking.

In only one of those situations that might have been the issue.

The others were literally for walking.

My point through wasn't that I was stopped for it, more the over reaction and anger of the Policemen.

I guess to put it another way.....lets say you were a visitor to the UK and did something a bit out of the norm but not illegal; how about sitting on the pavement (for example). I would hope that the British Policeman would not find it necessary to loudhaill at you in an aggressive manner then once he has established you are a visitor berate you at length for not having ID or for doing something that is not illegal.

I imagine in the UK it would be more likely to proceed along the lines of......hello sir/mate are you alright sat there on the pavement?

Yes officer I am visiting from another country where this is normal,if you are tired. I'm clearly a respectable and non-threatening chap.

Oh ok then - as long as you are sure you are alright...bye.

I'm sure that not all USA police are shouty. I can only comment on my experience so just anecdotal stuff.

[B'stard Child]

XslaneyX said:

B'stard Child said:

Outside of the "City" - They have their own police force

Service

Service / Force - terminology is mixed everywhere in hindsight I could have probably left it out

[Digga]

Dog Star said:

jdw100 said:

Another got tied up in a loop with why I walking to a shop 500m from my hotel. Why didn't I have a car, I should have got hotel to order a taxi. Really angry chap. I fancied a walk mate... Why?? I just like to walk, why would I drive less than 500m...you should have driven....but I fancied a walk....next time drive.....but I like to walk....etc etc. He was very intense and shouty!

A mate of mine lives in New Jersey and has had the same interrogation as he was walking back from the pub; officer just couldn't get his head around the fact that someone would WALK and he was told to drive. So he now just drink drives (I know, I've been with him) which appears to be the socially accepted norm.

Mate and I were in Phoenix for the NASCAR racing about 20 years back and had exactly the same sort of encounter. To be fair, we weren't exactly harassed (we were already pretty pissed, so not in the mood to be too worried about anything anyway) and I think the cop thought our car had broken down. At any rate, he was baffled why we were walking.

[StottyEvo]

Jimbeaux said:

scherzkeks said:

Same as it ever was, but the victims have smartphones now.

This cop is wrong and will be done up for this. That was a guy who does not need to be a cop.

As to the comments about cops in general; 99.9% of them are fantastic folks that face things you "over there" would cringe at. Sorry, no offense intended, just true. An apt comment about mobile phones; everyone does have them, they are provided for free by Uncle Sam if one cannot afford one.

With that in mind, why is it when there is black on black crime, (93% of black homicides are by other blacks-U.S. Dept. of Justice).(Blacks are 13% of the population but account for 52% of the homicides-U.S. Dept. of Justice). Where are all of the phone videos of these events? Why are the relatively miniscule % of cop on citizen shootings the only ones captured? Just a thought.

Edited by Jimbeaux on Thursday 21st July 19:52

"Just a thought" I don't think you can see it, but you and your thought process are pretty much the problem.

What the shuddering fk does black citizens killing other black citizens have to do with this event? Absolutely nothing, what a ridiculous post.

[superkartracer]

R E S T E C P said:

Pesty said:

Lucas CAV said:

Forgive my ignorance but why can you not cross a road in the USA?

J walking.

Many European countries have the same thing, ever noticed you are the only one crossing in Europe? I've been told off on the mainland. Can't remember which country possibly Austria or Germany,

I was shouted at by a lady in Germany for crossing while the red man was lit. My German's not good but I understood enough - I was setting a bad example to her child, apparently!

It was a small and absolutely silent, empty road in a small quiet village, you would see/hear a car from miles away and we were standing there for no reason whatsoever.
To be fair - I do agree with her and I felt guilty. Her 4 year old can't evaluate safety, he sees adults crossing on red so he will too.

Maybe we're simply a bit smarter in the UK ? , makes you wonder..

The whole Jaywalk comedy is new to me , the land of the mong just dropped another IQ point or two/2/to/too//tooo

[rscott]

Digga said:

Dog Star said:

jdw100 said:

Another got tied up in a loop with why I walking to a shop 500m from my hotel. Why didn't I have a car, I should have got hotel to order a taxi. Really angry chap. I fancied a walk mate... Why?? I just like to walk, why would I drive less than 500m...you should have driven....but I fancied a walk....next time drive.....but I like to walk....etc etc. He was very intense and shouty!

A mate of mine lives in New Jersey and has had the same interrogation as he was walking back from the pub; officer just couldn't get his head around the fact that someone would WALK and he was told to drive. So he now just drink drives (I know, I've been with him) which appears to be the socially accepted norm.

Mate and I were in Phoenix for the NASCAR racing about 20 years back and had exactly the same sort of encounter. To be fair, we weren't exactly harassed (we were already pretty pissed, so not in the mood to be too worried about anything anyway) and I think the cop thought our car had broken down. At any rate, he was baffled why we were walking.

Was working in Boston back in about 1997 with a colleague. We decided to see the Star Wars Special Editions which had just been released, but missed the last T (underground) train back to the hotel, so decided to walk - it was only about 20 minutes and we needed to walk off the barrel of popcorn we'd eaten .
After about 5 minutes, we were followed by a police car for about 50 yearrs, then we heard one officer say to the other 'It's okay, they're British' and they drove off!

[Mr_B]

rscott said:

After about 5 minutes, we were followed by a police car for about 50 yearrs, then we heard one officer say to the other 'It's okay, they're British' and they drove off!

A police car following you for 50 years !

[MrBrightSi]

Mr_B said:

rscott said:

After about 5 minutes, we were followed by a police car for about 50 yearrs, then we heard one officer say to the other 'It's okay, they're British' and they drove off!

A police car following you for 50 years !

Didn't get shot though.

[XslaneyX]

B'stard Child said:

Service / Force - terminology is mixed everywhere in hindsight I could have probably left it out

It's all good brother!

[B'stard Child]

XslaneyX said:

B'stard Child said:

Service / Force - terminology is mixed everywhere in hindsight I could have probably left it out

It's all good brother!

I know I actually prefer service as it shows they work for the people rather than against them

I did my time in the "service" - it's a difficult job with a lot of challenges - taught me a lot about people!!! Unfortunately if I'd stayed in any longer than I did I would have a far more negative attitude than I do now.

Funny really MP's fall under the category of "public service" many appear to me to be more interested in what they can do for themselves rather than what they can do for the people they serve so maybe I am still too negative!!!

[Sheepshanks]

R E S T E C P said:

I was shouted at by a lady in Germany for crossing while the red man was lit. My German's not good but I understood enough - I was setting a bad example to her child, apparently!

I've been told off by another member of the public in the UK for that. And I vividly remember being in Southport as a child and a policeman on crossing duty yelled "get back you stupid people!" when a mass of tourists tried to cross at the wrong time.

Can't say I've ever had an issue in the US - either in tourist areas (where there's a lot of people walking) or when in business areas.

There a story (might have been Bill Bryson?) about when he went to some God-forsaken little US town for a relative's wedding and when they went for a walk almost very car that passed stopped and asked if they wanted a ride. At dinner that night, the main topic of conversation was that they'd been for a walk. One lady apparently drives to the gym to go for a walk on a machine - when the absurdity of this was pointed out to her, she said "but it's got my program on it!"

[KaraK]

I appreciate that there were a couple of things that might contribute to a police officer making an error of judgement at the moment. There were reports of a "man with a gun", add in the recent tensions and shootings of police officers and you can see how they might get a tad jumpy. But honestly if you are twitchy enough to be opening fire when it's broad daylight, and all you have is a guy sat down on the ground being about as threatening as a stuffed toy and another calm, compliant, obviously unarmed man calmly and articulately explains that the person sat down is an autistic patient who is playing with a toy truck (even watching the camera phone footage in a small video playing on an iPad mini like I did it looks nothing like a gun) then you should not be out on duty. You probably shouldn't be a cop and you definitely shouldn't be trusted with a firearm.


While the video doesn't show the actual shooting (at least not the one I saw) I find it hard to believe that the situation changed dramatically after the point I saw up to.

[Digga]

rscott said:

'It's okay, they're British'

Nice to know it's occasionally a 'get out of jail free' card.

[wc98]

i always wondered why tasers were not used in situations where they might have been more appropriate than shooting someone. appears there are problems with the use of tasers as well.ex cops kid gets tasered in the heart for 23 seconds leading to cardiac arrest, coma and brain damage. i find it hard to believe the candidate screening process even looks for anger management issues and certainly does not convey to prospective candidates respect is a two way street. south park and "you must respect my authorityyyyy" springs to mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySS6KOp6wPY