US police & murders of black men

[discovolante]

Police station on fire.

What's the betting the protestors get convicted and the cops don't?

Convicted or die mysteriously in the near future.

True. That happened to a lot of Ferguson protestors IIRC.

I hope they're taking care to conceal their identities.

It's ok, they'll just arrest some other black people instead.

Sorry that's not a helpful comment.

[Herainestold]

Now this anti-black police violence has spilled over into Canada with Toronto police allegedly throwing a black woman off her balcony, killing her.

Officers were inside an apartment unit on the building's 24th floor when, according to the SIU, "they observed a woman on the balcony."

"A short time later, the woman fell from the balcony to the ground below," reads the SIU release. "She was pronounced deceased at the scene."

Circumstances surrounding the woman's death are now being probed by two investigators and two forensic specialists from the SIU, a civilian oversight agency that investigates reports involving police "where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault."

https://www.blogto.com/city/2020/05/tor ... h-balcony/

[Fishnut]

The County Attorney says that there's "evidence that does not support a criminal charge" in the George Floyd case. He makes it out like he's just wanting to do everything by the book but it's pretty clear they're setting things up for a not guilty verdict, if it even gets as far as trial.

The police in the US (and the UK) act with complete impunity. Look at the video of the CNN reporter and crew being arrested. At no point did they do anything to warrant arrest. They were asking for instructions and never got any. Instead they were arrested. For what? Failing to be sufficiently deferential? I don't know how much more deferential you can get without getting on the ground and licking their boots! The police seem to have no training at all on how to deal with people. It's the same in the UK. Here's a guy doing nothing but standing around chatting with friends while being black and he gets arrested. For what, he's not told. Asking questions appears to be verboten. If this is what happens when there are cameras, what on earth happens when there aren't?

The CNN reporters were apparently arrested for failing to comply with instructions, despite not being given any. They were filming live - the guy was doing a piece to camera at the time of the arrest! Yet you can rest assured that no officers will get sanctioned for a clear abuse of authority, no officers will lose their jobs. There'll be spin and they'll try to make out that the officers were doing their best under difficult circumstances and nothing will change.

It's abundantly clear that police do not exist to protect us.

[Martin Y]

Now this anti-black police violence has spilled over into Canada with Toronto police allegedly throwing a black woman off her balcony, killing her.

Officers were inside an apartment unit on the building's 24th floor when, according to the SIU, "they observed a woman on the balcony."

"A short time later, the woman fell from the balcony to the ground below," reads the SIU release. "She was pronounced deceased at the scene."

Circumstances surrounding the woman's death are now being probed by two investigators and two forensic specialists from the SIU, a civilian oversight agency that investigates reports involving police "where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault."

https://www.blogto.com/city/2020/05/tor ... h-balcony/

I'm going to be horrified beyond belief if this turns out to be a case of Toronto police deciding to throw a woman off her 24th floor balcony rather than the woman choosing to do it herself. But on the other hand I absolutely do not expect it to turn out to be so. How about you? Do you think Canadian cops just decided it would be fun to copycat the Minnesota cops, and started murdering random citizens?

[secret squirrel]

Police station on fire.

What's the betting the protestors get convicted and the cops don't?

Convicted or die mysteriously in the near future.

True. That happened to a lot of Ferguson protestors IIRC.

I hope they're taking care to conceal their identities.

And Joshua Brown.

[Stephanie]

The County Attorney says that there's "evidence that does not support a criminal charge" in the George Floyd case. He makes it out like he's just wanting to do everything by the book but it's pretty clear they're setting things up for a not guilty verdict, if it even gets as far as trial.

The police in the US (and the UK) act with complete impunity. Look at the video of the CNN reporter and crew being arrested. At no point did they do anything to warrant arrest. They were asking for instructions and never got any. Instead they were arrested. For what? Failing to be sufficiently deferential? I don't know how much more deferential you can get without getting on the ground and licking their boots! The police seem to have no training at all on how to deal with people. It's the same in the UK. Here's a guy doing nothing but standing around chatting with friends while being black and he gets arrested. For what, he's not told. Asking questions appears to be verboten. If this is what happens when there are cameras, what on earth happens when there aren't?

The CNN reporters were apparently arrested for failing to comply with instructions, despite not being given any. They were filming live - the guy was doing a piece to camera at the time of the arrest! Yet you can rest assured that no officers will get sanctioned for a clear abuse of authority, no officers will lose their jobs. There'll be spin and they'll try to make out that the officers were doing their best under difficult circumstances and nothing will change.

It's abundantly clear that police do not exist to protect us.

Someone on twitter shared some screenshots of a book that looked quite interesting - The End of Policing

[Bird on a Fire]

Well Donald Trump has basically just given the go ahead to open fire so...

That'll calm things down.

In other news, literally other news, one of CNN's two camera crews has been arrested while reporting, live on air. They were polite, completely compliant and offered to move to wherever the police wanted them to go. No reply. A minute or so later they just arrested them.

To add extra de-escalation points, one CNN crew had a white presenter and one a black presenter. Guess who got nicked?

Having watched the footage, it's really hard to see this as anything other than deliberate intimidation of black people.

No matter who you are, where you are, what you're doing, the police can take you away - and we all know that after that they can kill you with impunity. They're not even remotely pretending any more, it's just mask-off fascism.

[Bird on a Fire]

It seems like a poorly judged moment for that kind of display of power.

A quarter of the US workforce is unemployed with little in the way of a social safety net. The weather is getting hot. A lot of the usual things people do to blow off steam are cancelled. The electoral system isn't offering much hope for meaningful change.

It seems like the perfect conditions for civil unrest.

[Martin Y]

Remarkable, isn't it?

I presume the bit before I saw was when the police told the crew to move on, but the reporter is carefully, politely compliant, and offers to go wherever the police tell him, but the cops don't want to chat, just let him talk for a bit then arrest them all.

It's a case of when I say jump you don't say "how high" because I'll just arrest you for not jumping yet.

[Cardinal Fang]

CNN has the full footage on their YouTube channel. The reporter was never asked to move. They came up and surrounded them, he reporter told them he was a journalist and showed them his press card, and repeatedly asked them where they should move to. Then they arrest him. He repeatedly asks why he is being arrested and doesn't get a reply. Then his producer is nicked, followed by the camera crew (all 3 white). They asked why they were being arrested and again no response. The camera was rolling the whole time, and the feed was being put out live on air, so it will be difficult for the police to claim that they were asked to move or anything as there are literally millions of witnesses who can say they weren't

CF

[Bird on a Fire]

CNN has the full footage on their YouTube channel. The reporter was never asked to move. They came up and surrounded them, he reporter told them he was a journalist and showed them his press card, and repeatedly asked them where they should move to. Then they arrest him. He repeatedly asks why he is being arrested and doesn't get a reply. Then his producer is nicked, followed by the camera crew (all 3 white). They asked why they were being arrested and again no response. The camera was rolling the whole time, and the feed was being put out live on air, so it will be difficult for the police to claim that they were asked to move or anything as there are literally millions of witnesses who can say they weren't

CF

I mean, three of them just killed a guy on camera for no reason. Arresting someone is nothing.

Having a large audience on mainstream media was a deliberate choice to project their untouchability to the nation.

[Martin Y]

CNN has the full footage on their YouTube channel. The reporter was never asked to move. They came up and surrounded them, he reporter told them he was a journalist and showed them his press card, and repeatedly asked them where they should move to...

I've watched it again. The cops surround them and at least one of them yells something at the reporter. It's too muffled for us to hear what it is because he's off-mic and masked. The obvious inference from the reporters reply is that they're being told to move, but not where to go.

[bjn]

So the now ex cop has been charged with 3rd degree murder. From the graun...

The Hennepin county attorney said Derek Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

“There may be subsequent charges later,” Mike Freeman told reporters at a press conference. He said a detailed complaint would be made available this afternoon.

[Sciolus]

It seems like a poorly judged moment for that kind of display of power.

A quarter of the US workforce is unemployed with little in the way of a social safety net. The weather is getting hot. A lot of the usual things people do to blow off steam are cancelled. The electoral system isn't offering much hope for meaningful change.

It seems like the perfect conditions for civil unrest.

Rhetorical question: Qui bono?

[Brightonian]

According to this Twitter thread, an undercover cop in Minneapolis was smashing windows while pretending to be a protestor.

[bjn]

According to this Twitter thread, an undercover cop in Minneapolis was smashing windows while pretending to be a protestor.

A bit more on that here, the cops saying he’s not one of theirs.

[Gfamily]

According to this Twitter thread, an undercover cop in Minneapolis was smashing windows while pretending to be a protestor.

A bit more on that here, the cops saying he’s not one of theirs.

Well, they're saying they don't know who he is, and also that he's not one of theirs.

Ummm,

[jdc]

According to this Twitter thread, an undercover cop in Minneapolis was smashing windows while pretending to be a protestor.

A bit more on that here, the cops saying he’s not one of theirs.

Well, they're saying they don't know who he is, and also that he's not one of theirs.

Ummm,

They're denying it's a specific officer. If they know what time that incident happened and where that cop was at that time then it's possible that they know who it wasn't despite not knowing who it was.

[Gfamily]

A bit more on that here, the cops saying he’s not one of theirs.

Well, they're saying they don't know who he is, and also that he's not one of theirs.

Ummm,

They're denying it's a specific officer. If they know what time that incident happened and where that cop was at that time then it's possible that they know who it wasn't despite not knowing who it was.

The person in the video is not our officer. We don't know who that person is

[jdc]

Yep - that quote you've just given is referring to a specific officer. "Our Officer" is the dude who got named on Twitter.

[Gfamily]

Yep - that quote you've just given is referring to a specific officer. "Our Officer" is the dude who got named on Twitter.

Right, I wasn't aware there was a twitter-named officer, and I'm provisionally able to accept their denial that it's not that named individual - but I would expect them to provide evidence to support their position - i.e. how they know for sure it's not that person.

[Martin Y]

Yep - that quote you've just given is referring to a specific officer. "Our Officer" is the dude who got named on Twitter.

Right, I wasn't aware there was a twitter-named officer, and I'm provisionally able to accept their denial that it's not that named individual - but I would expect them to provide evidence to support their position - i.e. how they know for sure it's not that person.

Yeah, there was a flurry after someone confidently identified the perp as a specific cop. It's entirely possible the police can positively exclude him but of course nobody with any trust issues is going to take their word for that, and that's a large group of people. I can imagine the police are now exceptionally keen to nab this perpetrator, though they're going to need some slam-dunk evidence to persuade doubters.

[jdc]

Yep - that quote you've just given is referring to a specific officer. "Our Officer" is the dude who got named on Twitter.

Right, I wasn't aware there was a twitter-named officer, and I'm provisionally able to accept their denial that it's not that named individual - but I would expect them to provide evidence to support their position - i.e. how they know for sure it's not that person.

It's referenced in the article in the para before your quote "We are aware of the social media post that erroneously identifies one of our officers as the person caught on video breaking windows", and they refer to a specific officer in the para after your quote "Our officer? He's been working hard, keeping people and property safe".

Perfectly possible for them to be lying, or for it to be a different police officer. But there's nothing weird or illogical about their claims.

[Gfamily]

Yep - that quote you've just given is referring to a specific officer. "Our Officer" is the dude who got named on Twitter.

Right, I wasn't aware there was a twitter-named officer, and I'm provisionally able to accept their denial that it's not that named individual - but I would expect them to provide evidence to support their position - i.e. how they know for sure it's not that person.

It's referenced in the article in the para before your quote "We are aware of the social media post that erroneously identifies one of our officers as the person caught on video breaking windows", and they refer to a specific officer in the para after your quote "Our officer? He's been working hard, keeping people and property safe".

Perfectly possible for them to be lying, or for it to be a different police officer. But there's nothing weird or illogical about their claims.

There's wriggle room though, in respect of "not one of theirs"; albeit that may not have been their direct assertion.

[jdc]

It wasn't afaik. I blame bjn.