Riots in Missouri - Part 1

[Thundercrack85]

Though for the record, I find that police in general are pretty damn unpleasant in America. Even when they're polite (never mistake politeness for friendliness).

It's just that if you're white, they know that if they do something like... let's say shoot you, it might cause them some problems, since we tend to be more litigious. And depending on the state, we may also have relatives who might take extrajudicial revenge.

Unfortunately, it's a necessary job that just attracts a certain type of people.

Though to be fair, it's not really a job nice people can do.

It's one of those jobs that just can't be done by robots fast enough.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Look at this, another man detained for being black.

Producer Charles Belk was held by Beverly Hills police for nearly six hours last Friday after police mistook him for another bald, black man—one who robbed a Citibank. Belk, visiting for Emmys, was on his way to put money in his parking meter when he was detained and hauled off to a police station.

Belk recounts his long evening with police in a post on his Facebook page:

Within an evening, I was wrongly arrested, locked up, denied a phone call, denied explanation of charges against me, denied ever being read my rights, denied being able to speak to my lawyer for a lengthy time, and denied being told that my car had been impounded…..All because I was mis-indentified as the wrong "tall, bald head, black male," ... "fitting the description."

I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn't know at the time that I was a law abiding citizen of the community and that in my 51 years of existence, had never been handcuffed or arrested for any reason. All they saw, was someone fitting the description. Doesn't matter if he's a "Taye Diggs BLACK", a "LL Cool J BLACK", or "a Drake BLACK"

I get that the Beverly Hills Police Department didn't know that I was an award nominated and awarding winning business professional, most recently being recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal at their Nonprofit & Corporate Citizenship Awards. They didn't need to because, they saw someone fitting the description.

Police, meanwhile, in a statement released to the Los Angeles Times, maintain that Belk was "properly detained" given the "totality of the circumstances." Belk was arrested by police, officials say, because he "matched the physical characteristics of the second suspect and was in the area of the bank shortly after the robbery." A witness apparently identified Belk as the suspect.

"The Beverly Hills Police Department deeply regrets the inconvenience to Mr. Belk and has reached out to him to express those regrets and further explain the circumstances," police said in their statement.

But according to Belk's account, police were reluctant to review security footage of the robbery:

What I don't get………WHAT I DON"T GET, is, why, during the 45 minutes that they had me on the curb, handcuffed in the sun, before they locked me up and took away my civil rights, that they could not simply review the ATM and bank's HD video footage to clearly see that the "tall, bald headed, black male"… did not fit MY description.

Why, at 11:59pm (approximately 6 hours later), was the video footage reviewed only after my request to the Lead Detective for the Beverly Hills Police Department and an FBI Agent to do so, and, after being directly accused by another FBI Special Agent of "…going in and out of the bank several times complaining about the ATM Machine to cause a distraction…" thereby aiding in the armed robbery attempt of a bank that I never heard of, or ever been to; and within 10 minutes……10 MINUTES, my lawyer was told that I was being release because it was clear that it was not me.

"If something like this can happen to ME, it can certainly happen to ANYONE!," Belk wrote.

http://defamer.gawker.com/police-mi...wn-for-emmys-for-ban-1627406488/+laceydonohue

Because, as we know, it is all imaginary.

 

[BatmanVSuperman]

http://www.webpronews.com/teen-with-pellet-gun-shot-by-police-7-times-2013-10

Yes these things happen to non blacks as well, they just don't get the same press coverage. The racial tension that can be stirred up from a white man shooting a black man is far more enticing to the media.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Though for the record, I don't think Michael Brown is some innocent victim.

He may be a victim of excessive force, but from what i've seen so far, him having a physical altercation with this police officer certainly isn't hard to imagine.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

If you flip out on officer and don't cooperate it's not going to end well regardless of race.

And what about when the cop flips out just because you aren't white? Turning things up to 11? You seemed determined to blame others, for cop's ridiculous and at times deadly behavior.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

http://www.webpronews.com/teen-with-pellet-gun-shot-by-police-7-times-2013-10

Yes these things happen to non blacks as well, they just don't get the same press coverage. The racial tension that can be stirred up from a white man shooting a black man is far more enticing to the media.

There is a problem with police in general. But the statics prove how uneven it is.

Though for the record, I don't think Michael Brown is some innocent victim.

He may be a victim of excessive force, but from what i've seen so far, him having a physical altercation with this police officer certainly isn't hard to imagine.

The problem I have with this entire situation is that there is a huge jump from not being an innocent victim and being shot to death.

 

[summerteeth]

There is a problem with police in general. But the statics prove how uneven it is.


The problem I have with this entire situation is that there is a huge jump from not being an innocent victim and being shot to death.

Right, but if he assaulted the officer and the officer retaliated by shooting Michael Brown, if being the operative word in all of this. Then it's difficult to make an argument that this is about race. That instead it's about a cop that flew off the handle and shot and murdered a young kid. i.e. it was the actions by Brown that led to the abuse of power by the officer not the color of his skin.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Right, but if he assaulted the officer and the officer retaliated by shooting Michael Brown, if being the operative word in all of this. Then it's difficult to make an argument that this is about race. That instead it's about a cop that flew off the handle and shot and murdered a young kid. i.e. it was the actions by Brown that led to the abuse of power by the officer not the color of his skin.

The question of race starts with why the officer approached Brown in the first place. It wasn't because he committed a robbery, but the offense of jaywalking. You know, the thing hundreds of thousands, if not millions do every day in the US with being stopped by the police. It is a classic cop excuse to stop someone they want to stop.

 

[BatmanVSuperman]

The question of race starts with why the officer approached Brown in the first place. It wasn't because he committed a robbery, but the offense of jaywalking. You know, the thing hundreds of thousands, if not millions do every day in the US with being stopped by the police. It is a classic cop excuse to stop someone they want to stop.

It would be ignorant to assume a cop would not stop a white person walking in the middle of a road.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Right, but if he assaulted the officer and the officer retaliated by shooting Michael Brown, if being the operative word in all of this. Then it's difficult to make an argument that this is about race. That instead it's about a cop that flew off the handle and shot and murdered a young kid. i.e. it was the actions by Brown that led to the abuse of power by the officer not the color of his skin.

It's not just about Michael Brown though.

It's about the overall treatment of blacks by the police.

Black people are not paranoid or stupid. They can see the differences between how white and black suspects are treated by the police in case after case.

Racist intent is hard to prove from just looking at a cop's actions and every racist cop knows this. But if you look at statistics and personal experiences with the police, the prejudice involved becomes undeniable.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

It would be ignorant to assume a cop would not stop a white person walking in the middle of a road.

It's ignorant to assume cops don't harass blacks more frequently than whites.

Even in areas with lower black populations.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

There is no way I can't claim that the United States hasn't taken grand leaps in terms of race issues in the last 60 years. But the outrage being observed is not just about the unclear circumstances of Browns death and the police officer's that shot him. This is about many of these high profile cases where deadly force is used against unarmed African-Americans, mostly male, that happen far too often and for many seem to be prompted by heavy handed tactics that appear to disproportionately be used against citizens of color. From the Diallo case in NYC 14 plus years ago to the Martin case in Florida (both, I will say are perhaps better cases to rally around than Brown's.) I think many just don't want to see that this is a problem and that it doesn't speak well of our society in general in spite of the progress made to date with progressing from the often state sanctioned racism and bias in the country's past.

There are clear cut policies from the local to the Federal level that could help to stop this (and yes, there are things that could be done without those measures in the African-American community too, I'm not letting anyone off the hook, though I'm not sure their bearing on clear cut cases such as Diallo's and Martin's, but I digress) such as rethinking the drug war or having more outreach and less adversarial approches to policing in many areas.

 

[Flint Marko]

Pretty insightful article that rounds up a lot of facts about what all has happened and the complete lack of accountability in the Ferguson PD.
http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-wacky-farts-that-can-help-us-understand-ferguson-mo/
It takes a humorous, seemingly immature and irreverent, approach to the whole thing, but brings up a lot of good points. If you've got ten minutes it's a decent enough read, Cracked has a lot of articles like this.

 

[chamber-music]

The majority of Black people just want equality in the eyes of the law which they don't feel they are getting right now and the statistics seem to back that up.

The police are militarized now because of the preparation for nationwide martial law (after the U.S economy collapses).

That military equipment would be better served being donated to the Kurds to fight ISIS than some small town police force.

The Kurds are begging for military weapons to fight off ISIS.

 

[Schlosser85]

deleted

 

[Lighthouse]

http://www.webpronews.com/teen-with-pellet-gun-shot-by-police-7-times-2013-10

Yes these things happen to non blacks as well, they just don't get the same press coverage. The racial tension that can be stirred up from a white man shooting a black man is far more enticing to the media.

Cherry picking.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

You guys expect every crime to make national news?

Heck, most police shootings of black criminals don't make national news. It's usually when an innocent black person is executed by police or a vigilante that makes the national news.

Why? Because it's divisive. White conservatives rally behind the police and vigilante. Progressives and blacks rally behind the unarmed black victim.

There's no one to rally behind when a thug shoots down another thug or some white guy is carjacked. So it doesn't make national news.

What's so unreasonable about that? Of course the national media isn't going to cover every crime.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Let's do this little thought experiment. I don't know what the actual statistics are, but I hazard a guess that the level of kidnappings of children under the age of 13 in the African American/Latino/Asian community is about the same level, give or take, of what it is in the rest of the American population at large and even if it's not, I think the deviation is not some insanely huge number. A horrible crime to be sure and I am not making lite of it. However please bear with me. Now I want everyone to think back to not just the most recent case that comes to your mind, but the case before that and the case before that, and the case before that, of a kidnapping of a young girl that made national headlines.You know, the ones which make the 24 hour news, round the clock and seem to amount to a Coast to Coast Amber Alert.

Question: In all those cases you are thinking of, the ones that made national broadcast news and were plastered all over digital news sites on the web, how many of those children were white, and how many were of some other ethnic background? Rarely in my memory do these stories that get the spotlight of the national media involve the kidnapping of children of color. It seems mostly that the stories CHOSEN to be allowed to filter UP to the national news are those involving white children, when I am pretty sure that African/East Asian/Latino children get abducted all the time. But honestly, can you really remember when you heard a story on the national news of a high profile kidnapping of a Black girl? It surely happens as a crime, but off the top of my head I just don't remember any that got the coverage of a missing white child, especially a white girl.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Not doing an incident report is an admission of guilt by the Ferguson Police Department.

Why would the police not do a crucial incident report if they have nothing to hide?

It makes absolutely no sense if Officer Wilson's account is true.

This is probably the most obvious sign that the witness accounts, suggesting Brown surrendered, are closer to the truth than the officer's story.

 

[Breogan]

Not doing an incident report is an admission of guilt by the Ferguson Police Department.

Why would the police not do a crucial incident report if they have nothing to hide?

It makes absolutely no sense if Officer Wilson's account is true.

This is probably the most obvious sign that the witness accounts, suggesting Brown surrendered, are closer to the truth than the officer's story.

nbcnews - http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/mi...on-police-never-filed-incident-report-n186431

Police in Ferguson, Missouri, did not file an “incident report” on the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Michael Brown because they turned the case over to St. Louis County police almost immediately, the county prosecutor’s office tells NBC News.
Critics and news media outlets have questioned why Ferguson police released an incident report from a robbery in which Brown was a suspect, as well as security video showing the stick-up, but not the report on the shooting of the unarmed 18-year-old a short time later by Officer Darren Wilson.

The reason, according to the office of St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch, is that it doesn’t exist.

The St. Louis County police department presumably did file an incident report, but any such documents will not be made public until a grand jury investigating the officer-involved shooting concludes its investigation, according to officials from the office who briefed NBC News on the case.

Doesn't prove anything either way or if that's "correct" procedure? Just inconveniently explains the above.

Not doing an incident report is an admission of guilt

 

[BatmanVSuperman]

Well, update for everyone.

http://www.inquisitr.com/1545732/mi...-claims-to-have-seen-the-entire-scene-unfold/

A Michael Brown shooting grand jury witness from Ohio claims to have seen the scenario with Officer Darren Wilson unfold from start to finish. During an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Mike Brown shooting eyewitness claimed he recalled four key details which happened during what began as a routine police stop.
The Darren Wilson grand jury witness said a “scuffle” occurred in the car, and the Ferguson police officer did not fire until Mike Brown turned back around and was facing him. The witness maintains that he saw Michael Brown put his arms out to his sides, but stated that the teenager did not raised his hands high into the air.
The Ferguson shooting grand jury witness also stated during the interview that Mike Brown “staggered” toward Darren Wilson in spite of multiple commands to stop. If the unidentified witness is accurate, Brown and Wilson were approximately 20 feet apart when the final shots were fired.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, other alleged Michael Brown shooting witnesses claimed that the teen’s hands were raised in the air in the traditional surrendering position.
The Ohio witness, who is reportedly a black male, said he saw Darren Wilson’s police cruiser stop near Mike Brown and his friend Dorian Johnson. The witness further claimed that the Ferguson police officer stopped near the teenagers as they were walking down the middle of the street. Although not close enough to hear the words exchanged, the Ohio witness said that after the officer and the young men talked, the cruiser drove away and then backed up a few moments later.
A “tussle” then allegedly caught the eye of the Ferguson shooting witness, who watched the incident unfold from the right side of Wilson’s SUV police cruiser. The law enforcement officer’s hat came off during the encounter, if the witness’s claims and recollections are accurate. A gun shot as then reportedly heard, and Mike Brown ran away from Darren Wilson’s cruiser, the grand jury eyewitness maintains.
“Stop! Stop! Stop,” the officer supposedly yelled as Brown continued to run. Brown allegedly “mumbled something” that the witness did not hear, and then took a step toward Darren Wilson.
“When he stepped foot on that street, the officer told him to stop again, and he fired three shots. When he [Brown] got hit, he staggered like, ‘Oh’ and his body moved. Then he looked down,” according to the unidentified witness. “As he was firing those last rounds, Michael was on his way down. We were thinking, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, brother, stop, stop.’ He was already on his way down when he fired those last shots.”
When concluding his recollection of the Michael Brown shooting, the witness said in his opinion, “down, outright murder” had just occurred.

 

[RockSP]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...06594466562.2016054.1277815201&type=1&theater

 

[BatmanVSuperman]

The "protesting" in Ferguson did look more like rioting at times.

 

[mrvlknight21]

Well, update for everyone.

http://www.inquisitr.com/1545732/mi...-claims-to-have-seen-the-entire-scene-unfold/

Interesting and it seems to support some original details that backed up what I have heard reported as the "officers version" of the events.

 

[Breogan]

Interesting and it seems to support some original details that backed up what I have heard reported as the "officers version" of the events.

Some seems to back it, other parts seems to contradict it.
Still curious for more actual forensic evidence.

ST. LOUIS, Mo.(KMOV- http://www.kmov.com/special-coverag...ation-of-Brown-shooting-speaks-279846422.html

this actually stood out as some actual new forensic evidence -

“There was a significant amount of blood in the car. There was blood on the car, there was blood on Wilson’s gun and there was blood on Wilson.
Wilson told investigators Brown repeatedly punched and scratched him.
“This is the first time we’ve heard some of this forensic evidence and it is really significant in this investigation."

I imagine this is Brown's blood,after being shot. If they were engaged in a "tussle"(is that really what they are calling git it?) that long, speaks somewhat to the state of mind, if officer felt threatened.
Still says nothing about where they were in relation to each other when the round of shots were fired, and if he felt "justifiably" threatened at that point. (not my word)
All the original shot in the back while running testimonies have been shown to be made up.
How is it we still don't know where the shell casings were in relation to the body? Won't this be a deciding factor to if Brown was even a threat at that point?