Riots in Missouri - Part 1

[Asteroid-Man]

You tell him Trump! Maybe he'll give us his birth certific- oh wait, never mind.

 

[KalMart]

It's called self-defense. Things become more understandable when you appear to be literally fighting for your life. You can disagree all you want, but let's have a 6 foot 300 pound guy attack you and see where you stand on things in the heat of the moment.
And, as I brought up in my other good points that I think should be addressed by anyone who is outraged by this decision, all the evidence was presented to a jury of their peers and they decided they cannot indict him for any wrong-doing.
People who were presented with everything there is to know about the case came to the conclusion that he did nothing wrong; I think that says a lot right there.

If you've already decided before a trial/investigation/etc. that it's a racially-motivated injustice, then all the evidence and exoneration in the world either doesn't matter or it must be a conspiracy.

 

[ban768]

It's called self-defense. Things become more understandable when you appear to be literally fighting for your life. You can disagree all you want, but let's have a 6 foot 300 pound guy attack you and see where you stand on things in the heat of the moment.
And, as I brought up in my other good points that I think should be addressed by anyone who is outraged by this decision, all the evidence was presented to a jury of their peers and they decided they cannot indict him for any wrong-doing.
People who were presented with everything there is to know about the case came to the conclusion that he did nothing wrong; I think that says a lot right there.

People keep bringing up the fact that Brown was unarmed which doesn't really matter since his own body was a weapon. Has nobody ever heard of one-punch homicide before? How about Brett Meredith, an off duty cop who was killed with one punch.

http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/one-punch-can-change-your-life-and-hundreds-of-others/309/

 

[redhawk23]

People keep bringing up the fact that Brown was unarmed which doesn't really matter since his own body was a weapon. Has nobody ever heard of one-punch homicide before? How about Brett Meredith, an off duty cop who was killed with one punch.

http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/one-punch-can-change-your-life-and-hundreds-of-others/309/

"His body was his weapon." Okay then, I hope you support defining everyone as automatically "armed" in all situations then.

In comparison, James Holmes, who killed 12 people at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises and was heavily armed was arrested alive.

Only 1 of the 6 shots that killed Brown was from close range.

 

[redhawk23]

Crazy photo from Slate.

 

[redhawk23]

Just random guys. Those masks seem to be the top choice for protestors and vandals in situations like this.

There are anons. Along with the masks they also chose to wear full suits and ties.

Seriously.

 

[Godzilla2000]

The solution is not more violence. The rioters are going to plunge Ferguson into economic distress by vandalizing and burning all these businesses. Their violence is going to create a crisis that will leave long lasting ripples that affect them too.

 

[redhawk23]

He tried taking his gun and charged at him after being told numerous times to stop.

That narrative is pretty much the opposite of that given by 8 eye witnesses.

 

[redhawk23]

It WAS a matter of debate, they had a trial that reviewed all of the evidence and witnesses. People don't like the outcome because of what the media twisted the story around to be when this incident first happened.

Actually that's the problem. This wasn't even a trial. The decision was that this doesn't even warrant going to trial.

Even in a lot of self defense cases, that still has to be publicly proven.

This was done behind closed doors.

 

[redhawk23]

I find these protests rather dubious given the character of Michael Brown.

That's what a lot of the protests have come down to though. Its not about his character. Its about his life itself.

 

[Docker2.0]

Reminds me of something I read on Twitter: "The new racism is denial of racism".

Agreed. But to be honest, I don't what they are doing in Ferguson. One cop kills a dude, they want to loot and riot. Isn't St Louis one of the nation's leaders in murder, especially in the black community? Why doesn't Sharpton or Jackson address that? That's what really urks me.

 

[EyesSkyward]

Looking on from the UK - find this all rather astonishing.

 

[Lily Adler]

So I wake up to learn that they burned an entire strip mall. It's interesting that the media expected this type of reaction after the Zimmerman trial. I guess if this went to trial there would be a long process of going through the actual court proceedings which may have caused a cooling off period and tensions would have died down. In any case, the looting and arson is just uncalled for.

 

[mrvlknight21]

Actually that's the problem. This wasn't even a trial. The decision was that this doesn't even warrant going to trial.

Even in a lot of self defense cases, that still has to be publicly proven.

This was done behind closed doors.

Which is the way the grand jury process in ALWAYS done.

 

[Destructus86]

All of this could have been prevented if all law enforcement were forced to wear cameras while on duty. It's such an easy, logical solution.

 

[SuperT]

All of this could have been prevented if all law enforcement were forced to wear cameras while on duty. It's such an easy, logical solution.

But then they'd have to be held accountable for their actions and we know the police force here in America don't want that at all.

 

[Superman Earth1]

As a black male I think the jury got it right and wrong. I don't think the cop should have been charged with murder but I do think he should have been charged. I can understand shooting someone once or twice or even three times to stop him. But this cop shot him 12 times. You mean to tell me if you were trying to stop him you couldn't have shot him in the leg or knee cap to stop him from coming. 12 shots IMO is a bit to much and that's the only thing I take issue too.

On a side note once again it is a shame to see my race acting the way we are and yet it is a minority that acts this way but in the long run it makes us all look bad because that small minority is how America see the majority even when we don't act like that.

 

[Iron_Stark]

Looting and violence. Early Black Friday y'all, what what.

 

[Erzengel]

One of the gems from the 70 hours of testimony from the Grand Jury.

"So, although you told the investigators this is what you saw even though you only heard it from someone, you don't feel you lied?"
"Nope."
"And what did you actually see."
"I saw Michael Brown on his knees begging for his life as the office stood over him from behind and put a bullet in his head from point blank range."
"And, given that the forensic evidence tells us otherwise, there's nothing about that testimony you would like to change?"
"Nope. Maybe the forensic evidence just saw it from a different perspective than I did."

http://apps.stlpublicradio.org/ferguson-project/evidence.html

 

[craigdbfan]

As a black male I think the jury got it right and wrong. I don't think the cop should have been charged with murder but I do think he should have been charged. I can understand shooting someone once or twice or even three times to stop him. But this cop shot him 12 times. You mean to tell me if you were trying to stop him you couldn't have shot him in the leg or knee cap to stop him from coming. 12 shots IMO is a bit to much and that's the only thing I take issue too.

On a side note once again it is a shame to see my race acting the way we are and yet it is a minority that acts this way but in the long run it makes us all look bad because that small minority is how America see the majority even when we don't act like that.

Have you seen the guy? He was huge. It's very much within reason that it would take multiple gun shots to effectively bring him down. Not to mention having a suspect lunge at you and aim to steal your gun is a scary thing. A scene like that is chaotic, Wilson wouldn't of had the luxury and time to precisely hit his knee cap or something farfetched like that. He's going to aim to bring down the attacker. That's it.

Anyone in that situation would have shot this guy. Enough political correct BS.

One of the gems from the 70 hours of testimony from the Grand Jury.



http://apps.stlpublicradio.org/ferguson-project/evidence.html

Potatos are going to potato.

 

[terry78]

It's a bad situation all around. I'm not gonna be one of those people that are like, any black person shot by a cop is automatically innocent because we all know that's ********, from living in Gary, Indiana I can vouch for it being so, but I would like to see some kind of justification, like aside from just conjecture.

 

[Docker2.0]

All of this could have been prevented if all law enforcement were forced to wear cameras while on duty. It's such an easy, logical solution.

That would settle so many things! It would weed out the bad cops and help the police regain the trust of citizens.

As a black male I think the jury got it right and wrong. I don't think the cop should have been charged with murder but I do think he should have been charged. I can understand shooting someone once or twice or even three times to stop him. But this cop shot him 12 times. You mean to tell me if you were trying to stop him you couldn't have shot him in the leg or knee cap to stop him from coming. 12 shots IMO is a bit to much and that's the only thing I take issue too.

On a side note once again it is a shame to see my race acting the way we are and yet it is a minority that acts this way but in the long run it makes us all look bad because that small minority is how America see the majority even when we don't act like that.

Charge him with what though? He was being attacked and I don't understand why people are making a big deal about how many shots were fired. If a guy that size was coming at me, I'd want to make sure that I got him because if I didn't, he might kill me. Was it excessive? Maybe but had he listened the first time he'd be alive today.

 

[SuperT]

It's a bad situation all around. I'm not gonna be one of those people that are like, any black person shot by a cop is automatically innocent because we all know that's ********, from living in Gary, Indiana I can vouch for it being so, but I would like to see some kind of justification, like aside from just conjecture.

Darren Wilson said he "...looked like a demon." I guess that's reason enough to shoot an unarmed person 12 times.

That report about white people thinking African-American's have supernatural powers must not have been too far off.

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/11/white-people-think-black-people-are-magical.html

 

[Feenix]

One of the gems from the 70 hours of testimony from the Grand Jury.



http://apps.stlpublicradio.org/ferguson-project/evidence.html

Lying to the grand jury is a good way to get your testimony and the testimony of other witnesses discredited. What an idiot. Tell the damn truth.

 

[mrvlknight21]

All of this could have been prevented if all law enforcement were forced to wear cameras while on duty. It's such an easy, logical solution.

I agree that body cameras should be standard. Although I do not know if it would have prevented this sort of reaction. I have seen firsthand similar uproar despite video footage proving otherwise.

But then they'd have to be held accountable for their actions and we know the police force here in America don't want that at all.

Not true.

As a black male I think the jury got it right and wrong. I don't think the cop should have been charged with murder but I do think he should have been charged. I can understand shooting someone once or twice or even three times to stop him. But this cop shot him 12 times. You mean to tell me if you were trying to stop him you couldn't have shot him in the leg or knee cap to stop him from coming. 12 shots IMO is a bit to much and that's the only thing I take issue too.

On a side note once again it is a shame to see my race acting the way we are and yet it is a minority that acts this way but in the long run it makes us all look bad because that small minority is how America see the majority even when we don't act like that.

*Sigh*
#1 Brown was not shot 12 times. The officer did fire 12 times, but Brown was not hit 12 times. Law enforcement are trained to shoot until the threat has been stopped. Apparently several people testified that Brown charged, was shot, stopped (and then the shooting stopped), and then came forward again, which is when the shooting continued. There is apparently some audio that supports the shots being fired in that way as well.
#2 I will repeat this for about the 3rd time in this thread. Officers are not trained, nor allowed by use of force policy to shoot people in the kneecaps, legs, fire warning shots, or so on. There are many reasons for this (I have listed several previously), but for anyone to expect that is unreasonable.

One of the gems from the 70 hours of testimony from the Grand Jury.



http://apps.stlpublicradio.org/ferguson-project/evidence.html

Not surprising. I have seen firsthand similar lies. It's sad, really.