Watching a video shot by a “white witness” would make one think that the police were out of line.
Listening to the witnesses who saw more than a video focused on the police trying to quell chaos, is another.
Backstory:
An end of year graduation party was planned in a private area for a few teens, and some adults. This was an invitation only event where many different teens were invited, including those of color.
Because it was talked about on social media some took that to mean that they could simply ignore the rules and crash the party via jumping over fences etc.
When asked to leave by security guards and some parents, tempers flared on both sides which escalated the conflict until police were called. That should have most probably been their first call as these kids jumping fences already demonstrated that they had no respect for the adults, or the security guards; and apparently the police.
By now the conflict was irreversible and when police arrived and tried to sort things out the teenagers were non-compliant with officer’s orders to “freeze.” In fact they began running in all directions as we have seen over the last few months in different cities around the country.
As one of the girls walked away instead of running, she was detained and when she fought back “resisted arrest” the officer detained her by force. This is probably SOP.
When two of her friends tried to help her “resist arrest” the officer felt his life might be in danger and pulled his service weapon. Had either of those kids had a weapon, I suspect the news would be different than what it is today.
This was not a racial issue. This was and is an issue about those who don’t respect the cops and or the laws that we have here in this country. When a cop tells you to freeze, you comply!
Had Michael Brown Complied, he would still be alive!
Had Eric Garner Complied, he would still be alive and most likely still selling loosies in Staten Island.
We don’t know the story of Freddy Gray because the Baltimore Mayor and others have this case so screwed up we may never know. I suspect if he had complied, he would still be alive as well but; we don’t know for sure.
If the first two events had not transpired, Baltimore would be a footnote; and McKinney would not even make the local news much less national news, as McKinney was not sparked by racial unrest. It was sparked by some having no respect for the rules and no respect for the cops.
- Should the cop have brandished a weapon?
- Here is the better question, should he have had to?
- At a certain moment in time was he afraid for his life?
Those were not twelve year old soccer players trying to intervene on the “bikini clad” girls behalf. Those were big boys that could have hurt him had they wanted to.
All cops should have body cameras on and active, when they are on duty.
This video should be instantly transmitted up to the cloud and to a monitor on their supervisor’s desk so they the supervisor has video of the event as well as the teen journalist video with a cell phone, possibly with an agenda.
If a situation becomes hot, the supervisor can decide to act.
The cop’s camera can vindicate him or her and their actions or indict them. If nothing else has come out of these events, it should be that the cops need to present their side with video evidence too!
If the video would indict them, then they should not be cops.
As a kid growing up here in Texas I can tell you first hand I have had my fair share of run-ins with the cops that were un-justified. I never, ever ran from them and always did as I was instructed. My hands were always in plain sight as I was not wanting to be an accident! The time to fight oppressive people is in court, not on the side of the road, you are in their world, in court; not so much!
The bottom line is this, if a cop tells you to freeze, dammit freeze! How the hell hard is that?
-Best
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TheTimeDok 