Ridiculous Police News (Specific events)

[Ragnus]

I've seen miniature .22 LR rifles with fun colored handles intended for kids in gun shops in NH.

[archibaldcrane]

When I was a kid we played with a really realistic looking black plastic pistol in the yard, I'm just blessed with the glory of my whiteness to protect me.

[TheDirtyHobo]

When I was a kid we played with a really realistic looking black plastic pistol in the yard, I'm just blessed with the glory of my whiteness to protect me.

And that you didn't bring it to a public park and display it publicly enough to have someone call the cops on you.

[Kaslo]

And that you didn't bring it to a public park and display it publicly enough to have someone call the cops on you.

Like a person is gonna call the cops on a white kid.

[Fiye]

Let me add this in. The prosecutor had several reports released saying the officer's shooting was justified.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2ac40...-gun-justified

The two here were done by an FBI agent and a Denver prosecutor.

Then the lawyers representing Tamir Rice released reports that say otherwise.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/30/us...T.nav=top-news

At the end of all of this no charges were filed. So what changes?
_____

Some google searching for other stuff led me to this.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-...109-story.html

By an 8-1 vote, the justices tossed out an excessive force suit against a Texas police officer who ignored his supervisor’s warning and took a high-powered rifle to a highway overpass to shoot at an approaching car. The officer said he hoped to stop the car but instead shot and killed the driver.

The ruling bolsters previous decisions that give police the benefit of the doubt when they encounter a potentially dangerous situation. The court noted in an unsigned 12-page opinion that it has “never found the use of deadly force in connection with a dangerous car chase to violate the 4th Amendment.”

Excessive force apparently isn't a concern.

[dasva]

And that you didn't bring it to a public park and display it publicly enough to have someone call the cops on you.

Way I was taught was it was a matter of everyone you played with knowing it was fake. "shooting" your bud with one of those realistic looking cap guns was fun and games pointing it at some random was a threat because well to them it was. Then again times have also changed... I mean my step sister and brother would actually shoot each other with BBs for their fun and games lol.

Anyways kind of surprised they grand juried it. Sure a trial seems like a waste of time but in todays day and age it's like political suicide not to. And well what if it isn't?

[TheDirtyHobo]

The inherent problem is that you, and many others, are trying to use this case as a political soapbox for other cases when the evidence is shaky at best, when there are dozens of much stronger cases that should be politicized. Should the kid have been shot? No, not at all. Should that particular officer have been on the force to begin with? Probably not. Does that make it a cut and dry case of police brutality, excessive force, and/or racial profiling? No. It was a kid who unfortunately put himself in a really, really bad situation and gave an officer more than enough reason to fire in self defense. It's a tragedy, not a malicious hate crime.

[dasva]

“never found the use of deadly force in connection with a dangerous car chase to violate the 4th Amendment.”

I'm no constitutional lawyer but don't they mean 5th amendment? Because yeah of course deadly force doesn't constitute unreasonable search and seizure... so?

[kuronosan]

Well, he's right.

[Fiye]

I suppose they're arguing the definition of "Excessive Force" in that trial.

IV. REASONABLENESS REQUIREMENT

All searches and seizures under Fourth Amendment must be reasonable. No excessive force shall be used. Reasonableness is the ultimate measure of the constitutionality of a search or seizure.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fourth_amendment

[dasva]

Hmmm well I guess that sort of makes sense but sounds like a bit of a stretch in this case. Like it's reasonable to shoot a fleeing car to apprehend? Seems like arguing public safety would work better for something like this

[Dimmauk]

How many twelve year olds do you know that are 5'7"?

There are 4 girls in my daughters 4th grade class that are over 5'7. Just saying. They are 9 year olds dude.

[Melena]

There are 4 girls in my daughters 4th grade class that are over 5'7. Just saying. They are 9 year olds dude.

Jesus, your daughters school home of the Amazons or some shit?

[archibaldcrane]

5'7" at 12 years old puts you in the top 2%, but it's hardly outlandish. It's also a bottom-20% height for 19 year olds.

[Tyche]

The entire thing was a fucking joke.

Officers should have been prosecuted. Hell, the offending officer should have never been in uniform, much less held a gun.

[Tyche]

On top of that, the prosecutor needs to be immediately disbarred.

[archibaldcrane]

I don't understand why they hold grand juries if the prosecutor in charge of them doesn't think the case should go to trial. It torpedoes the adversarial relationship that a prosecutor needs to do his or her job properly, and turns the whole thing into a dog and pony show. More states need to adopt independent review boards for officer-involved shootings.

[TheDirtyHobo]

I don't understand why they hold grand juries if the prosecutor in charge of them doesn't think the case should go to trial.

I think this is where a whole lot of the mistrust and friction comes into the situation. Shouldn't a grand jury only be called to begin with if a prosecutor has decided to indict? Having a prosecutor outright try to NOT get an indictment just sounds pretty shady. Makes it almost seem like a higher-up forced the case for publicity's sake.

[Blubbartron]

I think the problem could be solved by having prosecutors from neighboring counties/districts come in to do grand juries. Of course the prosecutor for a given district isn't going to try very hard to indict cops from that district. They fucking work with them, and it would be career suicide and make for very unpleasant water cooler conversations if you're going full bore for conviction/indictment like you should be.

[Tyche]

From the past few comments, I need to clarify a few things. The prosecutor of the case, Timothy McGinty, never agreed to take the case voluntarily. He sat on his fucking ass for months and refused do anything substantive. Hardly interviewed anyone or actively pursued the case. However, in Ohio, citizens can petition a judge to have a case brought before a grand jury. A judge was petitioned (June 11) and the judge's opinion (that the officers were negligent) was forwarded to the prosecutor, forcing his hand into taking the case. Instead of doing the fucking obvious, which is appoint a special prosecutor, he intentionally sabotaged his own case. He's the worse kind of fucking human being. So many people need to be in jail right now, it's not even funny.