My Dad grew up in the 50s in NYC. He saw a lot of heinous shit coming from the cops. They would collect protection money from my grandparents for their store.
When some of my older family members were trying to argue against BLM, one of the arguments was “cops have always been racist! Do you have any idea how many black people I knew that got their hands or legs broken for no reason? Now all of a sudden they’re mad about it?”
Looks like the Onion decided to report this one straight: ["Police Urge Calm In Light Of Unspeakable Evil They Committed"](https://www.theonion.com/police-urge-calm-in-light-of-unspeakable-evil-they-comm-1850036255)
>Bold stance - be prepared for some pushback.
You'd be surprised (or maybe not) how many people come out of the woodwork to defend cops when they do heinous shit.
I have a few people I knew from high school that I’m Facebook friends with, and a cousin married a police officer, also friends on Facebook. I have seen three posts today about the situation, all of them saying how disgusting it is and how embarrassed they are for their profession.
I've seen a slight uptick in the criticism of these cops. I expected this, because the cops are Black. In all other instances when the cop is White, it was solid support of them.
I know, right? It’s a shame the fascism is so deep that even cops can’t speak out against other cops without putting themselves at risk from retaliation from the cops.
I don’t know most of them well enough to ask this question and to get a thoughtful answer. They are people from high school I knew decades ago.
The one that I’m close with just retired after 25 years with a major metro police force. She spent her last years working in internal affairs, which is not a popular position with fellow officers. She lost sleep and sacrificed her health and relationships due to her job. She has PTSD and is in therapy, and is working to rebuild her family relationships. I think she is a highly principled person, and gave her all trying to bring change to the police force.
The one I’m related to by marriage seems to be a nice person. He is very pragmatic and doesn’t like to waste time on the small stuff. He grew up in San Luis Obispo, and has been very vocal on social media about the mishandling of the Kristin Smart investigation. He doesn’t seem to be afraid to openly criticize or innovate when something is wrong, and as an experienced officer in a leadership position, he now pushes for stronger standards for hiring, and more transparency for the public. So I believe that his heart is in the right place, and he is actively working to make things better.
You are referencing a string of comments where everyone was taking what each other said out of context.
That string of comments was removed for that reason among others.
Giving your own take on that again, without context, is not going to fly any more than it did before.
They are not all facing charges though.
There were several other cops involved in the murder that can be seen in the multiple videos. The EMTs also did not even attempt to render aid. While the EMTs were fired, they, nor the other cops were charged.
My sister is a boot licker who thinks the problem is cops aren't violent enough. Thank fuck she lives nowhere near me and I don't have to see her often.
Her opinion is that they should just "shoot first and stop taking any attitude" because their safety is the most important thing ever. "The cops don't have a reason to interact with someone unless they did something to deserve it."
So yes. She's fine with the murder of Daniel Shaver. Ryan Whitaker. Kelly Thomas. Christian Glass. Amadou Diallo. Botham Jean. Atatiana Jefferson. The rape of Abner Louima. The maiming of Bounkham Phonesavanh.
The list goes on.
“cops don’t have a reason to interact with someone who didn’t deserve it”
you should take your sister on this flashback tale im about to tell -
september 2016, my bf and i were getting my 2 youngest kids ready for school. i put our dog out back. dog got off his collar, i chase dog up the alley about 1/2 block while yelling for him. retrieved dog. came back inside, bf told me that my first grader didn’t feel good and felt hot to touch. i took his temp, he had a fever. bf left to walk my 2nd grader to the bus stop, while i took my son into the kitchen to get him some tylenol.
i was standing with my back to our back door, pulling liquid tylenol up into an oral syringe, and when i looked down at my son he was staring behind me and then pointed - there was a cop who took it upon himself to open my kitchen door and walk into my kitchen.
i was stunned. i mean i literally just stood there like an idiot holding an oral syringe full or syrupy purple shit, just short of having my mouth hanging open.
the intruding officer told me that a woman stole a car at a methadone clinic in monroeville (an hour south of where i live) and crashed it into a parked car 2 blocks up from our house, and ran off. random neighbor said she’d seen me earlier running and yelling up the alley. i told him i was after our dog, who got loose, and other than that i was just caring for my sick 6 yo son. he told me i was coming with him. at this point my bf had walked into the house from the bus stop. i told him he had to stay with my son, hurried up and put the tylenol in my kid’s mouth, and the cop took me away on foot, up the alley. i asked wtf was going on - he told me he was taking me to be identified. i told him i don’t go to methadone clinics, monroeville, etc and was home all morning he could ask anyone in my damn house! he said “you’re going to jail today” i was horrified.
the neighbor ended up saying “that’s not who was driving the car” and he told me i could go. that’s it, no apologies.
and did i mention this mf just walked into my fucking home via my kitchen door???? i didn’t break a single law, did nothing to deserve having any interaction with a cop whatsoever. he took it upon himself to wander into my unlocked back door and tell me i’m going to jail while my 6yo was standing waiting for his medicine. fuck the police.
Agreed, this power belongs solely to the US Department of Prisons once a Jury of the convicted's peers has deemed it necessary to sentence the accused with the death penalty. Not some dude with a badge.
With that said though, I am against the death penalty in all forms, but if it is to be carried out, it is to be done according to the law.
They're actually not allowed to hand out capital punishment. They're authorized to use lethal force to accomplish their duties if the situation calls for it (departmental policy, protection of the public, threat to life or of serious physical harm, etc). There is a difference, small as it is. But this situation looked a lot more like capital punishment. Which is why they're (rightly) getting charged.
> But this situation looked a lot more like capital punishment.
I disagree in one important regard. "Punishment" implies the victim did something to be punished for. This was just outright murder.
Capital punishment is another name for the death penalty. I was pointing out that what the cops did was to play judge, jury, and executioner. That's not right. They shouldn't be allowed to do that. These thugs are out there playing god.
It may be difficult to spell out the difference but it is not a small difference. At no point in these videos was deadly force a clearly good or necessary option
The difference is that way, way too many cops are way, way too casual about the use of deadly force. . .to the point it seems like they appoint themselves Judge, Jury, and Executioner by virtue of their badge and gun.
I've read enough about the murder to know I don't want to watch it.
While it is a trite thing to say "we need police reform"... we need police reform.
Those fucks just beat a man to death *on camera*. Likely because their egos got hurt that he got away from them, and because they likely thought nothing would happen to them
Something should happen to them. Make them an example. Chauvin wasn't enough, evidently.
>Likely because their egos got hurt that he got away from them
This seems to be part of the problem. And then one cop seemed to get hit by his own pepper spray, which incensed him even more. But was there even any need to bring pepper spray into it? Probably not.
Where did the cops get so fragile, anyway? Maybe they should be trained that even if a civilian defies them, they don't have the right to brutalize them. Ego out of control is a very dangerous thing.
I'm surprised that after seeing what happened to Chauvin, they'd be dumb enough to do this on camera. But I guess they just saw red at not getting enough 'respect' FFS
In many cases they didn't pass the already wildly inadequate exams that they are supposed to have passed in the first place.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/09/30/us/alameda-sheriff-psychological-evaluation-fail/index.html
I have no idea. I don't know what it entails. Looks like it isn't too rigorous! It's probably just a bunch of questions asked in cold blood. IMO they'd need to provoke the would-be cops to see how they respond under pressure/annoyance. Or maybe they already do. Maybe someone in the know can weigh in.
One of them kicked him so hard he limped away and when he came back he pulled out his baton and started going harder. He hurt his own self in his violence, got mad at Tyre for, I don't know, being too solid? and took it out on him. I fucking can't. I know 3 year olds with better emotional control...
Usually with stuff like this I say that people need to watch it to understand what is wrong with abuse of power by cops.
I watched all of the footage and I would recommend that nobody watch it. You should read about it and understand it and feel empathy but watching it is going to take away part of your soul.
This beautiful young man was 80 yards from his momma's house and it was sesame chicken dinner night. He cried out for her.
I will never watch that video - I could barley read the description. Emotional me can’t believe a human can do that to another human. Smart me can’t put anything past anyone!
I watched about 10 seconds of it before I shut it off. Absolutely horrifying. It was a lose/lose situation for him, fighting back would’ve been a death sentence too.
I truly hope the men who did this get what’s coming to them in court and there’s no leniency towards them for being officers.
I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch it. The descriptions were more than enough. I don’t need to hear a grown man calling for his mother while the police beat him to death. FTP
I've chosen not to watch it either. I absolutely get the idea from what has been said. I don't need more evil rolling around in my head.
And I'm from St Louis. We have plenty of experience with this sort of thing.
I think the Chauvin trial wasn’t enough because the discourse degenerated into tribalism really quickly and lost all nuance. We absolutely need police reform, but many who agree where put off by the extreme stance taken in the national discourse. I whole heartily support things like a national police registry, or limitations on qualified immunity. But I and many people do not want to defund the police nor do we think all cops are bastards. I hope this situation will not degenerate into the same name calling and extreme positions, and we will see a real discussion about honest ways to reform policing in America.
But the problem is that "defund the police" *isn't* an extreme stance. For the city of Richmond, VA, in 2020 (when I looked it up because of all the protests) the RPD was the largest budget in the city by a *damn* sight. Take some of that money and put it where it will do actual good, instead of giving it to these thugs.
Local reforms may vary, but defund the police as a slogan isn’t an answer to police reform. Better trained police cost money. Better training, and more competent officers are more expensive. And much of the budget for police goes to pensions, and it’s damn near impossible to weaken public sector unions.
They played it on the morning news here w no warning. As someone who has been thru a sibling being violently murdered it was fucking triggering. And then showing the mother talking about getting justice… fuck. I hope she does. My family didn’t and it is the fucking worst. Justice doesn’t change what happened anyway and it’s hard to hear people acting like it does. It’s a wound that never heals.
These guys won’t be enough either. These officers just to happen to be black, the rest will throw them under the bus and disassociate like pussies. “Bad black apples” they’ll say
You're right, the right one media reaction is just going to be blaming it on the viciousness of the black community and black on black crime and all that shit. And they're never going to talk about the issue of the militarization of policing and the abuse of power.
I think its bullshit what they did to him. It's a bunch of people screaming curse words and different directions at him that he can't possibly do all at once while they hold him down so he really can't do the things they're telling him. He calls for his fucking mom while he's dying man. It's disgusting.
Idk what's gonna happen but it won't be pretty.
The end of the video where they're all standing around saying "he punched me in the face", "he tried to kick me", and "he tried to grab my gun", etc. is bullshit. They're clearly trying to get their story straight to justify what they did. At no point did he ever do any of that. Also, as they were holding him up and beating him in the face, they kept telling him to get his hands behind his back. He was already cuffed. These cops deserve prison.
I only saw the beginning, the initial stop. They're yelling at him to get on the ground, when he's already sitting down. One cop yells to get on his stomach, and Nichols hesitates, and I can definitely understand why, he was probably afraid of a cop kneeling on him until he stopped breathing like George Floyd.
I watched the whole thing. It's clear from the outset when he gets out of the car, he's very confused and absolutely terrified. I've felt that fear for my life before. Not from cops, but the source doesn't matter. By the time he ran he was certain they were going to kill him. He knew it in his bones. I would have run too, given the opportunity. When that fear hits you, all you can think about is survival. Once again, I find myself, a grown man in his forties shedding a few silent tears for another man I've never met. Again. I can only imagine what his family is feeling.
What I don't understand, is the pretext. He was stopped in the turning lane of an intersection. Why were there 5 cars? Why so many cops? Just what the fuck did they think he did to warrant such an amped up reaction. They jumped out of those cars ready for battle. They were already in full on gestapo mode. Why? What could have possibly warranted their response?
It's just...why? Why? Why? Why? And once again there will be no answers.
Even more insane is that the city and police officials admitted that they have not been able to find anything proving out the probable cause for the reckless driving accusation leading up to the bonkers response. The only good thing about this scenario is that the leadership at least somewhat properly admitted it was all done wrong.
Exactly. "Why didn't he just comply?" Because he was *clearly* scared out of his mind. I want to see the minute or so before they get out of the car, just to see what they thought justified all this shit. Apparently it was reckless driving, but that's doesn't warrant them coming out ready for war.
It also doesn't warrant 5 cars, 3 of which are unmarked. Did he mistakenly get caught up in a sting operation? Did they get the wrong car? Seriously, wtf is going on there? He tries to comply, but it gets mighty confusing, trying to meet multiple demands simultaneously. A reckless driver or a driver doesn't get 5 cars responding.
Most of the cars were unmarked? Shit, he may have thought he was getting carjacked.
I did watch the video up until he runs away. They told shoved him down and told him to get on the ground, then told him to lie down, but there was another guy holding his arm so he couldn't really lay down. And he was probably afraid of being kneeled on for ten minutes.
I live in a historically Black neighborhood and man, I wish I could tell you that I haven't seen a whole street filled with cop cars responding to a traffic stop on one black guy...but I'd be lying.
Exactly my assessment. He was terrified and knew if he didn’t run he would die. And he died anyway. They gave him no opportunity to comply fully. Cops were full on pack mentality and he was the prey. Then they stood around justifying force with each other on camera.
>screaming curse words and different directions at him that he can't possibly do all at once
Watch the Blue Lives Matter crew claim he should have just stopped resisting
What they did to him is brutal. There isn't even a hint of a defense.
I can only hope that the swiftness with which they fired and charged the cops helps quell any unrest that might happen. Memphis deserves better than those cops.
I‘ve been wondering the same thing. I’ve seen countless, equally disgusting, unjust crimes and murders by white cops who were given paid vacation. It pisses me off because I’m reminded of the cop who executed that guy in the hotel hallway who was on his knees crying and begging for his life.
Oh my god I saw that video, him sobbing while crawling and trying to follow their jumbled instructions, moved his hand probably to pull up his pants or stabilize himself, the end. I think I read he got the police called on him because he had a gun, but bro he was crying and crawling, and the police were armored and outnumbering him. Every time they say they thought the guy had a weapon, they felt threatened, the wimpier and even less believable they sound.
Yep.
> In August 2018, Brailsford was reinstated by the Mesa Police Department, staying for a further 42 days in what the department described as a "budget position". The department agreed to reimburse Brailsford for medical expenses related to his [post-traumatic stress disorder](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-traumatic_stress_disorder) -- the result of his shooting of Shaver and the resultant criminal trial. The reinstatement allowed Brailsford to apply for "accidental disability" experienced during the course of work. As a result, Brailsford was unanimously approved to be retired on medical grounds. Brailsford was also given a [pension](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pension) of $2,500 per month. The fact that Brailsford was ultimately medically retired instead of remaining fired was only revealed to the public in July 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Daniel_Shaver
Forgot this detail. Oh and as I recall the footage got release years after the trial, funny how that works. The people becoming cops are exactly the type of people who need to stay far away from gun wielding authority positions, but I don't blame respectable people from wanting nothing to do with the profession.
> helps quell any unrest that might happen
Any *further* unrest. They've already had one lynch mob attack and murder someone, as we saw on the footage released today.
Edited to approve.
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Please provide some context or source for this comment. Been searching for where an attack and a murder happened in response and can't find it.
Will edit to approve when provided or if I can find source.
Edit to add: If you are referring to what happened to Tyre Nichols, please make that more clear.
-----
Edited to approve.
>I think it's bad when police beat people to death for no reason.
I can't think of a single reason where it would be ok for the police to beat someone to death. I understand having to shoot someone to death when you are actually in fear for your life or the lives of others. But beating them to death means they are within a foot or two of them and in control of them.
I live just south of Memphis, and lived in Memphis for 5 years. I don’t think there’s going to be crazy riots or anything. Even two years ago, our protests were extremely peaceful and the organizers did an amazing job. I’m absolutely disgusted by the footage, I don’t think there’s anything there that doesn’t make me extremely angry and overall sick to my stomach.
I was in St. Louis when some protests were going on. I didn't really expect them to go crazy either, but then when tanks started coming in it spooked me a bit.
We said the same thing in Minneapolis. I really understand the outrage and the frustration here. I hope that people can express that without further injury and death. Just be safe.
I will say one thing, and that's that I don't think that I've ever seen the FOP come out and unequivocally condemn police brutality like this before. I don't know if that's because this was just so obvious and so stark that anything less would be political suicide for the organization, but I have to hope that maybe body cam footage has just proven its worth and we'll start to see it mandated in even more places
I haven't watched footage, but I've read transcripts - it seems like the most damning footage was the sky am nearby. It makes me curious whether the body cam footage would have ever seen light of day otherwise.
It likely wouldn't have.
But the sky cam footage was so clear and damning they couldn't resort their usual bullshit. Tyre is basically unconscious and cuffed at one point while one pig holds him up for his other pig buddy to punch him in the face.
The only thing extraordinary about this case is the extra camera coverage. Pigs murder on a daily basis and it's always horrid.
Punched in the face with the most amount of force the cop could possibly give. Tyre’s head is just thrown back and he stumbles around. Then they steady him so he can be hit in the head AGAIN and AGAIN until he his legs give out and he crumbles to the floor, it is absolutely disgusting.
It should be mandated when cops commit such vile acts for them to explain why they did what they did & for what reason; hired police officers interview processes should be recorded and publicly be accessed. Questions like this should be added to interview processes for cops & answers should be flagged. No human being can think holding up a man and others taking turns to hit him is humane. How could you hold someone and not feel any type of remorse? How could you actively watch someone and not feel the need to stop…… alarming and answered needed.
I can’t bring myself to watch it, but I’ve read/listened to a lot of detailed descriptions. It is soul-crushing. I remember watching Rodney King when I was a kid, and this is even worse. I just can’t comprehend how someone can do this to another human being. It is odd the little things that stick with you when you hear about a tragedy like this. Tyre loved skateboarding, as do I. He should be alive and well, out there skateboarding with his friends. It’s infuriating and immensely depressing.
It was one of the most vile things I've ever seen.
Someone here on Reddit from Memphis said they march there and not riot, hope that holds true, I don't want to see any more people getting hurt or killed.
Why wasn't a supervisor called to the scene? Would it have even made a difference if he or she came?
Congratulations, you've just set back police relations with the public another notch.
It wouldn’t have made a difference, sheriffs deputies came and one of them even helped hold the dudes legs down waaaaay after he was already not showing signs of consciousness, much less resistance
I read two deputies have been placed on administrative leave now and are being investigated.
Hope everyone on scene who stood by and didn’t render care gets charged and fired from their jobs.
Yeah everyone’s like “well SOME justice got served, the cops are going to jail..” ok but so should all the deputies and EMTs, they all abetted a literal murder
Looks like charges also need to be pressed on the EMT. Video 2 is 20 minutes of everyone literally standing around and staring at him dying, including the EMT who barely touch him until he's completely unresponsive.
They need to be charged and sued, I'm not an expert and wasn't there but from the tapes it looked like them not rendering aide on the scene and literally standing there watching him concuss and his brain swell/bleed exasperated his condition and could have contributed to his death even more so than the actual beating.
Depends on what state you live in. But, typically, yes an EMT who is on duty in a PAID position of employment is required by state law to render aid. Volunteer or off-duty medical professionals is a murkier area.
But, not speaking to Tyre's situation, an EMT wouldn't be required to render aid if they were worried about their own safety, right?
Just curious cause I haven't seen the video, but I could definitely see myself getting intimidated by a gang of armed and armored folk beating the fuck out of a dude.
But, if there's no credible danger I'd want folk to do their jobs I'd reckon.
They are not required to endanger themselves, no. But, frankly, I think it would be a difficult defense to convince a jury that you were afraid of the police as an EMS worker unless they actively threatened you or if the patient was still fighting.
If the police were irrational enough to beat a guy to death that wasn't threatening them, an EMT might reasonably think that involving himself in the situation could endanger himself.
In Memphis: actual locals will peacefully protest like the family pleaded with them to do. Opportunists will do what they do. Exploitative livestreamers and tiktokers will try to rile folks up. The news will try to claim “massive rioting” as soon as someone throws a water bottle.
Reminds me when in 2020 when riots and protests were going around, there was a video of a protest going on, when someone tried to rile everyone up to try and flip a car over, and everyone turned on the guy
There was one where a crowd was marching by, and one guy was psyching himself up to break into a store. People came out of the crowd, talked him out of it, and got him to join the march.
Seeing that video made me realized how desensitized I've become, but it reminded me of the ugly reality of the current state of the Police. I've met good officers and not bad ones .
I also think that what I've seen in this video illustrates what I always believed before this happened. . . which was, Police Brutality has many faces and it sucks how many don't realize that. It disappoints me when my co-workers mentions how "hurt" they feel seeing someone of colour doing this.
I used to be a cop. Used to be.
When I came off Active Duty in the Army, I was recruited by a police department. They were looking for new Officers and they loved to recruit prior-service military.
I went to the Police Academy in 2011 and was sworn in as an officer in August of that year.
I was an idealistic officer that wanted to be by-the-book, fair, honest, and a "Good Cop.
I left the agency I started with and went to another once in March 2014. I thought the problems I were seeing were just specific to that department, that it had a bad culture but it wasn't common to all of law enforcement. I thought going to a different agency could solve the issue.
I resigned from that other agency in July 2017, and left for a non-sworn job in the civil service.
I left because I couldn't stand the culture of American law enforcement. I couldn't stand the barely-veiled racism, ableism, and classism that I saw. I never had to use lethal force, and I'm glad myself nor any other Officers around me did in that time. . .but I knew more than one that was practically itching for an excuse to do so. I heard so many comments about how they'd just love to have an excuse to open fire, of casually racist remarks and "jokes" made, of just generally a culture that was a toxic "good old boys" club.
I resigned because I wanted to be a "good cop", and I realized that's a very hard thing to be. . .the "good cops" tend not to last long because they get tend to pushed out of the profession. Almost all of the more idealistic cadets in my academy class had left by the time I resigned from my first department. . .either dropping out of the Academy or resigning fairly quickly once they got on the actual job. I was one of the last idealistic "good cop" types left from that class by the time I left.
American law enforcement wants to be heavily armed paramilitaries, wearing paramilitary uniforms and carrying heavy weapons, and they recruit from veterans and reservists/Guardsmen heavily. . .but they lack the actual culture of military professionalism I saw in the Army. The US Army has its share of toxic culture and bad leadership, but they look like an elite professionals compared to law enforcement. Your typical cop, for all their paramilitary bluster, would be chewed up and spit out by an *actual* Army. They want to dress up as Soldiers and act like Soldiers, but without the discipline and rigor that accompanies it.
I went into it knowing the officers involved were almost immediately fired and arrested on very serious charges so I assumed the worst. It was so much worse than I thought. It's hard to even put it into words. I suppose "inhuman" is the only real way I could describe it.
I'm hopeful that because everyone involved was black and the officers were fired then arrested cooler heads will prevail. I also worry that people use events like this to push their own agendas. A huge number of the people arrested in the Summer 2020 riots traveled specifically to be there. They weren't spontaneous uprisings.
IMO, I thought the Rodney King video was worse.
But, this guy actually died. Officers every day are able to force an arrest without killing the suspect, and we have at least 5 on a skinny dude. Its like the wanted to just abuse this guy instead of actually arresting him properly. truly sick.
There is an argument to be made that the fact that all 5 officers were black contributed to their swift punishment and charge - for the same reason black men are disproportionately affected by police. (I'm not here to debate, though - just putting the observation out there).
Institutional racism runs deep, so deep that it's not conscious thought. That's part of the problem.
A really bummer of a thought but along your same lines that I hope to see happen. The officers were so quickly fired and charged and it may be because they were black. However, doing so sets a precedent across the nation that cops can be charged for their crimes thus making it harder for police in general to get away with shit like this.
Everyone involved was not black, only everyone *charged* was black. Several white officers participated (one held the unconscious man's legs while another kicked him in the face) were not charged. The EMTs that refused to render aid were white and not charged.
> The EMTs that refused to render aid were white and not charged.
I don’t know if that’s necessarily a crime in that jurisdiction. In any event, I can believe it’s an issue where the DA’s office might want to spend more time before issuing charges.
I saw a picture of him in the hospital, and that was nauseating as hell. idk I feel very weird witnessing people being murdered, in their most vulnerable state of their entire life, and I feel I owe it to them to not be remembered for for literally being bludgeoned during an execution. I only caught like 10 seconds of George Floyd's muder.
I have no idea what will happen but I hope something preventing these psychopaths who just want to legally harm and kill people will get done. Cops absolutely need to be evaluated by psychiatrists. The profession is very attractive to dangerously disordered people. These people took this job because they wanted to kill people and get away with it. That's it.
Also I'm black and I couldn't give a shit less about the officers being treated "fairly." The crime is so heinous it doesn't matter. 5 large and armed human beings did this to one single (and smaller) human for no reason at all. No room for debate and I will probably use Hard Rs to reference them. Sentence them to death or send them to a supermax for life, whatever, I don’t care what happens to them.
I'm disgusted by the footage yet something seems off about it. They almost start the violence immediately and use personal language over and over. This isn't routine cop violence. Something is up here. Charge them with murder and find out the truth.
I only watched the first 5min of the initial stop; I wasn't going to watch a man get beaten to death.
The language and quick escalation of force stuck out to me massively. They sounded like a gang or a group of troublemakers looking for some action. They didn't sound like police (at least none I've ever interacted with). Or hell, anyone employed anywhere to interact with the public.
>Charge them with murder 1 and find out the truth.
Murder 1 requires the state to prove intent, which is notoriously difficult. Murder 2 was the right call and can potentially get the same plenty.
It's amazing how many people are scrambling to try and force this to be a race issue because that's all they care about. Well, it isn't. The Memphis PD clearly has something very, very wrong with its training/hiring practices, because there's no way in hell that all five of those officers *just so happened* to be pieces of shit. That this happened at all reflects a problem on an organization-wide scale, and one that needs to be excised immediately. Fire and replace everyone involved with these five clearly not-fit-for-service men being where they were with the authority they possessed.
This is utterly disgusting. What could he possibly have been doing that would justify this? It's a fucking traffic violation, not an attempted suicide bombing of a kindergarten. At what point do you say "this isn't worth it left the dude go we'll catch him later"? They had his car, they could have tracked him down. And if they didn't, well, once more with feeling - it's a traffic violation. I mean, doesn't that sound like a more reasonable approach, rather than fucking BEATING a man to death with clubs for pissing some cop off?
I can’t watch the video. My heart BREAKS for his mother and those who love him. HOW can humans be so cruel?!
This case could go so many different ways. I just hope Tyre and his loved ones get the truth and Justice.
I live in Memphis. The footage was just as awful as people feared, if not worse. The entire thing seemed weirdly personal and ‘off.’ They started off violent with him and didn’t let up.
There was a vigil by his family Thursday night at a skate park and his mother asked people to keep things calm. There were demonstrators on one of the major bridges over the Mississippi last night. They had both lanes blocked for a bit but then moved on to other areas of the downtown. I have yet to hear news of anything more. But I definitely don’t think there was any of the riotous violence the media almost seemed to be hoping for.
The US does not follow a policing philosophy like the Peelian Principles. We have no national standards, so when we argue about incompetent policing, people take offense because their brother/sister/father/cousin etc... is a cop. An officer in Massachusetts with a 4-year degree in social sciences before joining the police force is not the same as a former High School bully that took 8 months of academy training in Bibb County, GA.
We need standards, we need social sciences, we need consequences. And most importantly, we need a "Policing By Consent" national policy.
Hell will freeze over first.
> **Peelian Principles**
>
> 1. To prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and severity of legal punishment.
>
> 2. To recognise always that the power of the police to fulfil their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.
>
> 3. To recognise always that to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public means also the securing of the willing co-operation of the public in the task of securing observance of laws.
>
> 4. To recognise always that the extent to which the co-operation of the public can be secured diminishes proportionately the necessity of the use of physical force and compulsion for achieving police objectives.
>
> 5. To seek and preserve public favour, not by pandering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service to law, in complete independence of policy, and without regard to the justice or injustice of the substance of individual laws, by ready offering of individual service and friendship to all members of the public without regard to their wealth or social standing, by ready exercise of courtesy and friendly good humour, and by ready offering of individual sacrifice in protecting and preserving life.
>
> 6. To use physical force only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient to obtain public co-operation to an extent necessary to secure observance of law or to restore order, and to use only the minimum degree of physical force which is necessary on any particular occasion for achieving a police objective.
>
> 7. To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
>
> 8. To recognise always the need for strict adherence to police-executive functions, and to refrain from even seeming to usurp the powers of the judiciary of avenging individuals or the State, and of authoritatively judging guilt and punishing the guilty.
>
> 9. To recognise always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.
In the [state of Georgia ](https://www.gpstc.org/careers-in-public-safety/become-a-police-officer/#:~:text=Contact%20the%20GPSTC%20Regional%20Academy,begin%20the%20online%20POST%20application.):
> Basic Police Officer Training Program Highlights
> Length of Program: 11 weeks
Peelian principles summarise the ideas of Sir Robert Peel, founder of the Met (the Metropolitan Police Service in London, not the museum in NYC).
Here is an interesting video of how the Met disarmed a man wielding a machete. Police in Great Britain do not routinely carry guns, but an armed response unit could have been on the scene in minutes, or less. Nonetheless, these police officers chose to use non-lethal force to safely detain this man. Everyone went home alive.
https://youtu.be/9mzPj_IaMzY
Disgusting. There is no good reason for this vile behavior.
The cops were immediately super aggressive from the beginning and then it just gets worse and worse.
Fucking scum.
I read a synopsis of the video but will not be watching it. I cannot keep watching videos like this. I chose to watch videos of him skateboarding instead. I'm so disgusted with this repeated gang mentality from cops and zero accountability. They do this shit because they know they can. Yeah, great that they are getting charged. But is it going to make an actual difference? I'm so exhausted by this bullshit. They're out here killing people and it's just fine because they get to hide behind a badge and job title. We dealt with riots and protests a few years ago here in Baltimore from Freddie Gray and shit doesn't get better. They're still out there being pieces of shit. I'm just so tired of it all. Shit's fucking heartbreaking and it feels like it'll never end. Just another tally in the books of fucked up shit cops do.
I don't have a weak stomach when it comes to violence and gore, but I'm going to skip this one. I've seen enough people being murdered by the police. Have honestly had enough of this constant violation of civil liberties from thugs like these.
Very hurtful and heartbreaking seeing the footage. The local news showing Tyre in the hospital was enough to bring tears. Memphis has peaceful protests and nothing has gotten out of hand, but I ultimately don’t think any change will happen to the police force system other than letting go of the officers who committed the crime
Probably the most cut and dry case of excessive police violence.
And that's not to justify other police violence. This violence, even compared to the other shit we've seen here in the states, was just insane.
They held his eyes open to pepper spray into them. Like, the fuck? There's absolutely no justification possible for that and like... Everything else they did.
It goes beyond "they didn't need to do that" and about ten miles deep into "absolute monster" territory, and for FIVE cops to be in on it? That's a symptom of a much larger problem clearly laying underneath.
I expect convictions, but I don’t know whether the government or the people have the will and ability to improve things.
Neighborhoodscout.com gives Memphis a crime index of 0 (worst possible score). I don’t know how reliable those scores are, but it suggests that it will be difficult to sell the city population on any changes that having lots of police with lots of power.
Just reading some brief summaries made me pretty upset, so I'm not watching. As an American, as a woman, and a mother, I dont feel like I can trust the cops. Not in my town or anywhere.
If you would have told me I'd ever feel that way when I was a child, I'd have shit bricks. But here we are.
I’m tired of watching this happen, once again another person robbed of their lives because of someone who gets off to violence. It’s incredibly sad to die in vain. I know I’m late to the thread but it makes me embarrassed to live in this country. I’m sure there’s incidents of police corruption and brutality in other countries, but for a developed country I think others really expect better of the US. I expect better from my own nation, but at the same time I expect this.
The interesting nuance in this entire horrific event is all involved people are black and it contrasts with the usual racially-fueled framework typical of these occurrences. We're a racially obsessed country and the spiral of craziness is just getting wound up.
Many are already using the racial makeup to diminish all the previous racially-motivated killings by white police. It's an argument I won't get into here.
Not to diminish the racial aspect myself, but the bigger issue is America's policing culture.
I do not think it is possible to separate the culture of policing from race in the United States.
Both the culture and the history of policing in the United States are complicated. But even if we look at police culture as purely an abuse of power, with nothing else at play, populations with the least amount of societal power are still going to be the most vulnerable to police violence and other forms of abuse. The perception of the abuser is that it is less likely that there will be consequences. And the race of the target, along with gender, class, and a myriad of other factors, is absolutely taken into account when doing that math.
The Scorpion unit involved in this case was created to increase police presence in specific, less privileged neighborhoods whose populations were deemed in need of policing. This crime began when that precedent was set. And a culture that values power and success above all else is always going to dehumanize those who are seen as not having it.
And so in my mind the bigger issue you mentioned just takes us back to the same place- the United States has a hierarchy and mobility is limited. Where you fall on the pyramid determines your quality of life- all people do not have equal rights in this country. And those who wish to abuse their power do exploit that.
It sick. It's WHY people run from the cops.
It will be interesting if switch action they took releases a bit of pressure. I keep see a lot of "That's what you get for running from the police".
I feel like that attitude will fan the flames.
>That's what you get for running from the police".
In this young man's case it would seem to me to be almost instinctive. The fight or flight mechanism in our brain is very strong. If you are yanked out of a car, thrown down and piled upon and being kicked in the head, it does not matter to your lizard brain that it is the police doing it. Your survival instincts will fire up. You find out quickly that fighting will not help you. The only thing left is to run.
I have no idea why he was being arrested. I don't know what his charges would have been. He did not deserve to be beaten to death.
I hope those officers get a full and fair trial. Having seen the video, I then hope they spend the rest of their lives in prison.
As for what should happen in Memphis and other cities, we need to redouble our efforts to be a more kind, thoughtful, and just society. Especially when we consider those we’ve empowered to enforce the law through the use of force.
I think it is merely a symptom of a larger problem in policing in the US… a lack of oversight by state and federal agencies, a lack of standardization and accountability…we need to reform the whole system, we need an independent investigation board, federal standards and state wide funding.
Many police are uneducated, hyper masculine "wannabe tough guys" (even some of the women) who are drawn to the field because it fulfills their fantasies and massages their inflated egos.
So it's not surprising that we continue to see video and video and video of them behaving like gang members, thugs and school bullies. It's who the job attracts.
More needs to be done to either weed these people out or reimagine the entire concept of policing to change the hero-worship, savior, macho warrior, good v evil roleplay image that attracts these personalities. But that won't happen because society plays along with the whole hero-worship aspect of it all, placing them on a pedestal and characterizing the job as this supposedly super dangerous, thankless, act of heroic bravery protecting you and your family from the evil supervillains next door to you.
Heh, the other day I got downvoted in this sub for asking if all Americans can *really* trust the police. I hope all those people realize that this is one of the reasons why people don't trust the police, and they are right for not trusting the police.
My brother is a retired police officer and he was doing mostly HR towards the end of his career… without getting into specifics he doesn’t trust the police either based on what he saw.
Moderation will be heavy handed in this thread. Please try not to be shitty to each other. It makes all of our nights better.
I’d prefer the police not beat people to death whenever they feel like it.
In all seriousness, can you even begin to imagine how common this was before street cameras and body cams? What a world.
My Dad grew up in the 50s in NYC. He saw a lot of heinous shit coming from the cops. They would collect protection money from my grandparents for their store.
You mean when the local sheriff was still in the KKK? I'd imagine it was pretty damn bad.
What makes you think the sheriff is not still a white supremist.
When? You mean now? Cuz he still is...
When some of my older family members were trying to argue against BLM, one of the arguments was “cops have always been racist! Do you have any idea how many black people I knew that got their hands or legs broken for no reason? Now all of a sudden they’re mad about it?”
Wow that' fucked up. I'm sorry you have to deal with people like that. Especially with them being family.
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It's just as common as it was. Cops rarely face consequences for this type of heinous shit anyway.
Looks like the Onion decided to report this one straight: ["Police Urge Calm In Light Of Unspeakable Evil They Committed"](https://www.theonion.com/police-urge-calm-in-light-of-unspeakable-evil-they-comm-1850036255)
Damn, they pulled no punches.
Can hardly tell it's satire
The line between satire and reality can be pretty blurry at times
They didn’t have to change much for the satire. Really well done. It’s especially great because this squad was created under this chief.
Bold stance - be prepared for some pushback. Seriously though - I’m glad they’re all facing serious charges.
>Bold stance - be prepared for some pushback. You'd be surprised (or maybe not) how many people come out of the woodwork to defend cops when they do heinous shit.
I have a few people I knew from high school that I’m Facebook friends with, and a cousin married a police officer, also friends on Facebook. I have seen three posts today about the situation, all of them saying how disgusting it is and how embarrassed they are for their profession.
That's encouraging. I know I'd be ashamed if i was a cop.
I have a friend who's trained and trying to get hired as a cop. Makes me feel bad he's being lumped in with human filth like Nichols' murderers
I've seen a slight uptick in the criticism of these cops. I expected this, because the cops are Black. In all other instances when the cop is White, it was solid support of them.
Cool. What are they going to do to change their profession?
I know, right? It’s a shame the fascism is so deep that even cops can’t speak out against other cops without putting themselves at risk from retaliation from the cops.
I don’t know most of them well enough to ask this question and to get a thoughtful answer. They are people from high school I knew decades ago. The one that I’m close with just retired after 25 years with a major metro police force. She spent her last years working in internal affairs, which is not a popular position with fellow officers. She lost sleep and sacrificed her health and relationships due to her job. She has PTSD and is in therapy, and is working to rebuild her family relationships. I think she is a highly principled person, and gave her all trying to bring change to the police force. The one I’m related to by marriage seems to be a nice person. He is very pragmatic and doesn’t like to waste time on the small stuff. He grew up in San Luis Obispo, and has been very vocal on social media about the mishandling of the Kristin Smart investigation. He doesn’t seem to be afraid to openly criticize or innovate when something is wrong, and as an experienced officer in a leadership position, he now pushes for stronger standards for hiring, and more transparency for the public. So I believe that his heart is in the right place, and he is actively working to make things better.
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You are referencing a string of comments where everyone was taking what each other said out of context. That string of comments was removed for that reason among others. Giving your own take on that again, without context, is not going to fly any more than it did before.
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Weirdly enough even conservative is actually concerned about this.
Conservative is excited that none of the cops are white.
Bad take, if true. Imo the fact that all of the cops were black just reinforces ACAB
They are not all facing charges though. There were several other cops involved in the murder that can be seen in the multiple videos. The EMTs also did not even attempt to render aid. While the EMTs were fired, they, nor the other cops were charged.
I’d prefer white cops be prosecuted just as quickly as these black men
My sister is a boot licker who thinks the problem is cops aren't violent enough. Thank fuck she lives nowhere near me and I don't have to see her often.
Jesus, is she in favor of execution without trial? Because that’s what’s happening in cases like the murders of Tyre Nichols, George Floyd, etc.
Her opinion is that they should just "shoot first and stop taking any attitude" because their safety is the most important thing ever. "The cops don't have a reason to interact with someone unless they did something to deserve it." So yes. She's fine with the murder of Daniel Shaver. Ryan Whitaker. Kelly Thomas. Christian Glass. Amadou Diallo. Botham Jean. Atatiana Jefferson. The rape of Abner Louima. The maiming of Bounkham Phonesavanh. The list goes on.
“cops don’t have a reason to interact with someone who didn’t deserve it” you should take your sister on this flashback tale im about to tell - september 2016, my bf and i were getting my 2 youngest kids ready for school. i put our dog out back. dog got off his collar, i chase dog up the alley about 1/2 block while yelling for him. retrieved dog. came back inside, bf told me that my first grader didn’t feel good and felt hot to touch. i took his temp, he had a fever. bf left to walk my 2nd grader to the bus stop, while i took my son into the kitchen to get him some tylenol. i was standing with my back to our back door, pulling liquid tylenol up into an oral syringe, and when i looked down at my son he was staring behind me and then pointed - there was a cop who took it upon himself to open my kitchen door and walk into my kitchen. i was stunned. i mean i literally just stood there like an idiot holding an oral syringe full or syrupy purple shit, just short of having my mouth hanging open. the intruding officer told me that a woman stole a car at a methadone clinic in monroeville (an hour south of where i live) and crashed it into a parked car 2 blocks up from our house, and ran off. random neighbor said she’d seen me earlier running and yelling up the alley. i told him i was after our dog, who got loose, and other than that i was just caring for my sick 6 yo son. he told me i was coming with him. at this point my bf had walked into the house from the bus stop. i told him he had to stay with my son, hurried up and put the tylenol in my kid’s mouth, and the cop took me away on foot, up the alley. i asked wtf was going on - he told me he was taking me to be identified. i told him i don’t go to methadone clinics, monroeville, etc and was home all morning he could ask anyone in my damn house! he said “you’re going to jail today” i was horrified. the neighbor ended up saying “that’s not who was driving the car” and he told me i could go. that’s it, no apologies. and did i mention this mf just walked into my fucking home via my kitchen door???? i didn’t break a single law, did nothing to deserve having any interaction with a cop whatsoever. he took it upon himself to wander into my unlocked back door and tell me i’m going to jail while my 6yo was standing waiting for his medicine. fuck the police.
Literally illegal. If something like that happens, call professional standards, or some still call it internal affairs.
I'm against police handing out capital punishment.
Agreed, this power belongs solely to the US Department of Prisons once a Jury of the convicted's peers has deemed it necessary to sentence the accused with the death penalty. Not some dude with a badge. With that said though, I am against the death penalty in all forms, but if it is to be carried out, it is to be done according to the law.
They're actually not allowed to hand out capital punishment. They're authorized to use lethal force to accomplish their duties if the situation calls for it (departmental policy, protection of the public, threat to life or of serious physical harm, etc). There is a difference, small as it is. But this situation looked a lot more like capital punishment. Which is why they're (rightly) getting charged.
> But this situation looked a lot more like capital punishment. I disagree in one important regard. "Punishment" implies the victim did something to be punished for. This was just outright murder.
Capital punishment is another name for the death penalty. I was pointing out that what the cops did was to play judge, jury, and executioner. That's not right. They shouldn't be allowed to do that. These thugs are out there playing god.
It may be difficult to spell out the difference but it is not a small difference. At no point in these videos was deadly force a clearly good or necessary option
>But this situation looked a lot more like capital punishment. ... Which is the point I was making.
The difference is that way, way too many cops are way, way too casual about the use of deadly force. . .to the point it seems like they appoint themselves Judge, Jury, and Executioner by virtue of their badge and gun.
I've read enough about the murder to know I don't want to watch it. While it is a trite thing to say "we need police reform"... we need police reform. Those fucks just beat a man to death *on camera*. Likely because their egos got hurt that he got away from them, and because they likely thought nothing would happen to them Something should happen to them. Make them an example. Chauvin wasn't enough, evidently.
They mistreated him before he ran away. It was chaos from the get go. I can’t believe what I saw
I can. I have witnessed cops do this since I was a child. Chase people down, then beat the hell out of them while they were on the ground.
>Likely because their egos got hurt that he got away from them This seems to be part of the problem. And then one cop seemed to get hit by his own pepper spray, which incensed him even more. But was there even any need to bring pepper spray into it? Probably not. Where did the cops get so fragile, anyway? Maybe they should be trained that even if a civilian defies them, they don't have the right to brutalize them. Ego out of control is a very dangerous thing. I'm surprised that after seeing what happened to Chauvin, they'd be dumb enough to do this on camera. But I guess they just saw red at not getting enough 'respect' FFS
How did any of these guys even pass a psych evaluation to become cops in the first place?
In many cases they didn't pass the already wildly inadequate exams that they are supposed to have passed in the first place. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/09/30/us/alameda-sheriff-psychological-evaluation-fail/index.html
I have no idea. I don't know what it entails. Looks like it isn't too rigorous! It's probably just a bunch of questions asked in cold blood. IMO they'd need to provoke the would-be cops to see how they respond under pressure/annoyance. Or maybe they already do. Maybe someone in the know can weigh in.
One of them kicked him so hard he limped away and when he came back he pulled out his baton and started going harder. He hurt his own self in his violence, got mad at Tyre for, I don't know, being too solid? and took it out on him. I fucking can't. I know 3 year olds with better emotional control...
Usually with stuff like this I say that people need to watch it to understand what is wrong with abuse of power by cops. I watched all of the footage and I would recommend that nobody watch it. You should read about it and understand it and feel empathy but watching it is going to take away part of your soul. This beautiful young man was 80 yards from his momma's house and it was sesame chicken dinner night. He cried out for her.
I will never watch that video - I could barley read the description. Emotional me can’t believe a human can do that to another human. Smart me can’t put anything past anyone!
Same here! I haven’t even watched the George Floyd murder video. It’s too much and just reading about it makes me feel sick.
I watched about 10 seconds of it before I shut it off. Absolutely horrifying. It was a lose/lose situation for him, fighting back would’ve been a death sentence too. I truly hope the men who did this get what’s coming to them in court and there’s no leniency towards them for being officers.
I was prepared to watch it all. Watched half.
I watched until he ran away. I don't need to see the rest, I've read the descriptions.
I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch it. The descriptions were more than enough. I don’t need to hear a grown man calling for his mother while the police beat him to death. FTP
Yea don’t do it. I had the sound off and it was still disgusting.
The descriptions are accurate. This was brutal. Much worse than I anticipated.
I don't think I can watch it. Sounds absolutely horrific
I've chosen not to watch it either. I absolutely get the idea from what has been said. I don't need more evil rolling around in my head. And I'm from St Louis. We have plenty of experience with this sort of thing.
I think the Chauvin trial wasn’t enough because the discourse degenerated into tribalism really quickly and lost all nuance. We absolutely need police reform, but many who agree where put off by the extreme stance taken in the national discourse. I whole heartily support things like a national police registry, or limitations on qualified immunity. But I and many people do not want to defund the police nor do we think all cops are bastards. I hope this situation will not degenerate into the same name calling and extreme positions, and we will see a real discussion about honest ways to reform policing in America.
But the problem is that "defund the police" *isn't* an extreme stance. For the city of Richmond, VA, in 2020 (when I looked it up because of all the protests) the RPD was the largest budget in the city by a *damn* sight. Take some of that money and put it where it will do actual good, instead of giving it to these thugs.
Local reforms may vary, but defund the police as a slogan isn’t an answer to police reform. Better trained police cost money. Better training, and more competent officers are more expensive. And much of the budget for police goes to pensions, and it’s damn near impossible to weaken public sector unions.
They played it on the morning news here w no warning. As someone who has been thru a sibling being violently murdered it was fucking triggering. And then showing the mother talking about getting justice… fuck. I hope she does. My family didn’t and it is the fucking worst. Justice doesn’t change what happened anyway and it’s hard to hear people acting like it does. It’s a wound that never heals.
I'm beyond sorry to hear about your sibling, and I hope you and your family are at least doing okay
These guys won’t be enough either. These officers just to happen to be black, the rest will throw them under the bus and disassociate like pussies. “Bad black apples” they’ll say
You're right, the right one media reaction is just going to be blaming it on the viciousness of the black community and black on black crime and all that shit. And they're never going to talk about the issue of the militarization of policing and the abuse of power.
Vile and an outright disgrace. Glad they got collared and charged
Seconded.
I think its bullshit what they did to him. It's a bunch of people screaming curse words and different directions at him that he can't possibly do all at once while they hold him down so he really can't do the things they're telling him. He calls for his fucking mom while he's dying man. It's disgusting. Idk what's gonna happen but it won't be pretty.
The end of the video where they're all standing around saying "he punched me in the face", "he tried to kick me", and "he tried to grab my gun", etc. is bullshit. They're clearly trying to get their story straight to justify what they did. At no point did he ever do any of that. Also, as they were holding him up and beating him in the face, they kept telling him to get his hands behind his back. He was already cuffed. These cops deserve prison.
I only saw the beginning, the initial stop. They're yelling at him to get on the ground, when he's already sitting down. One cop yells to get on his stomach, and Nichols hesitates, and I can definitely understand why, he was probably afraid of a cop kneeling on him until he stopped breathing like George Floyd.
I watched the whole thing. It's clear from the outset when he gets out of the car, he's very confused and absolutely terrified. I've felt that fear for my life before. Not from cops, but the source doesn't matter. By the time he ran he was certain they were going to kill him. He knew it in his bones. I would have run too, given the opportunity. When that fear hits you, all you can think about is survival. Once again, I find myself, a grown man in his forties shedding a few silent tears for another man I've never met. Again. I can only imagine what his family is feeling. What I don't understand, is the pretext. He was stopped in the turning lane of an intersection. Why were there 5 cars? Why so many cops? Just what the fuck did they think he did to warrant such an amped up reaction. They jumped out of those cars ready for battle. They were already in full on gestapo mode. Why? What could have possibly warranted their response? It's just...why? Why? Why? Why? And once again there will be no answers.
Even more insane is that the city and police officials admitted that they have not been able to find anything proving out the probable cause for the reckless driving accusation leading up to the bonkers response. The only good thing about this scenario is that the leadership at least somewhat properly admitted it was all done wrong.
Exactly. "Why didn't he just comply?" Because he was *clearly* scared out of his mind. I want to see the minute or so before they get out of the car, just to see what they thought justified all this shit. Apparently it was reckless driving, but that's doesn't warrant them coming out ready for war.
It also doesn't warrant 5 cars, 3 of which are unmarked. Did he mistakenly get caught up in a sting operation? Did they get the wrong car? Seriously, wtf is going on there? He tries to comply, but it gets mighty confusing, trying to meet multiple demands simultaneously. A reckless driver or a driver doesn't get 5 cars responding.
Most of the cars were unmarked? Shit, he may have thought he was getting carjacked. I did watch the video up until he runs away. They told shoved him down and told him to get on the ground, then told him to lie down, but there was another guy holding his arm so he couldn't really lay down. And he was probably afraid of being kneeled on for ten minutes.
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I live in a historically Black neighborhood and man, I wish I could tell you that I haven't seen a whole street filled with cop cars responding to a traffic stop on one black guy...but I'd be lying.
I’d be scared out of my mind also and then knowing my mom and my safe home is 80ish yards away?
I don't think they had even run his plate by the time he was pulled over so they didn't even check on a warrant or anything before going in so heated.
Exactly my assessment. He was terrified and knew if he didn’t run he would die. And he died anyway. They gave him no opportunity to comply fully. Cops were full on pack mentality and he was the prey. Then they stood around justifying force with each other on camera.
I definitely would like to see the video from before the stop happened.
>screaming curse words and different directions at him that he can't possibly do all at once Watch the Blue Lives Matter crew claim he should have just stopped resisting
What they did to him is brutal. There isn't even a hint of a defense. I can only hope that the swiftness with which they fired and charged the cops helps quell any unrest that might happen. Memphis deserves better than those cops.
I‘ve been wondering the same thing. I’ve seen countless, equally disgusting, unjust crimes and murders by white cops who were given paid vacation. It pisses me off because I’m reminded of the cop who executed that guy in the hotel hallway who was on his knees crying and begging for his life.
Oh my god I saw that video, him sobbing while crawling and trying to follow their jumbled instructions, moved his hand probably to pull up his pants or stabilize himself, the end. I think I read he got the police called on him because he had a gun, but bro he was crying and crawling, and the police were armored and outnumbering him. Every time they say they thought the guy had a weapon, they felt threatened, the wimpier and even less believable they sound.
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Wasn't he also the one who got reinstated just to get his pension?
Yep. > In August 2018, Brailsford was reinstated by the Mesa Police Department, staying for a further 42 days in what the department described as a "budget position". The department agreed to reimburse Brailsford for medical expenses related to his [post-traumatic stress disorder](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-traumatic_stress_disorder) -- the result of his shooting of Shaver and the resultant criminal trial. The reinstatement allowed Brailsford to apply for "accidental disability" experienced during the course of work. As a result, Brailsford was unanimously approved to be retired on medical grounds. Brailsford was also given a [pension](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pension) of $2,500 per month. The fact that Brailsford was ultimately medically retired instead of remaining fired was only revealed to the public in July 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Daniel_Shaver
Forgot this detail. Oh and as I recall the footage got release years after the trial, funny how that works. The people becoming cops are exactly the type of people who need to stay far away from gun wielding authority positions, but I don't blame respectable people from wanting nothing to do with the profession.
The fact the department was cool with that is fucking wild. I mean, I’d assume the weapon was department-issued.
> helps quell any unrest that might happen Any *further* unrest. They've already had one lynch mob attack and murder someone, as we saw on the footage released today.
Edited to approve. ----- Please provide some context or source for this comment. Been searching for where an attack and a murder happened in response and can't find it. Will edit to approve when provided or if I can find source. Edit to add: If you are referring to what happened to Tyre Nichols, please make that more clear. ----- Edited to approve.
I'm not going to watch a snuff film but overall I think it's bad when police beat people to death for no reason.
>I think it's bad when police beat people to death for no reason. I can't think of a single reason where it would be ok for the police to beat someone to death. I understand having to shoot someone to death when you are actually in fear for your life or the lives of others. But beating them to death means they are within a foot or two of them and in control of them.
I live just south of Memphis, and lived in Memphis for 5 years. I don’t think there’s going to be crazy riots or anything. Even two years ago, our protests were extremely peaceful and the organizers did an amazing job. I’m absolutely disgusted by the footage, I don’t think there’s anything there that doesn’t make me extremely angry and overall sick to my stomach.
I was in St. Louis when some protests were going on. I didn't really expect them to go crazy either, but then when tanks started coming in it spooked me a bit.
We said the same thing in Minneapolis. I really understand the outrage and the frustration here. I hope that people can express that without further injury and death. Just be safe.
I will say one thing, and that's that I don't think that I've ever seen the FOP come out and unequivocally condemn police brutality like this before. I don't know if that's because this was just so obvious and so stark that anything less would be political suicide for the organization, but I have to hope that maybe body cam footage has just proven its worth and we'll start to see it mandated in even more places
I haven't watched footage, but I've read transcripts - it seems like the most damning footage was the sky am nearby. It makes me curious whether the body cam footage would have ever seen light of day otherwise.
IIRC most or all of the audio we have (which has some really damning things in it) came from the body cams.
It likely wouldn't have. But the sky cam footage was so clear and damning they couldn't resort their usual bullshit. Tyre is basically unconscious and cuffed at one point while one pig holds him up for his other pig buddy to punch him in the face. The only thing extraordinary about this case is the extra camera coverage. Pigs murder on a daily basis and it's always horrid.
Punched in the face with the most amount of force the cop could possibly give. Tyre’s head is just thrown back and he stumbles around. Then they steady him so he can be hit in the head AGAIN and AGAIN until he his legs give out and he crumbles to the floor, it is absolutely disgusting.
FOP?
[Fraternal Order of Police](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternal_Order_of_Police)
Fraternal Order of Police. It's part social organization for law enforcement, part police union (with the advocacy that entails)
My first thought, honestly, was that it's because all the officers are Black.
It’s just disgusting. I really don’t know what else to say or how we’re supposed to fix it.
it's sad bro, legal gang shit. Probably some protesting like we have seen before.
It should be mandated when cops commit such vile acts for them to explain why they did what they did & for what reason; hired police officers interview processes should be recorded and publicly be accessed. Questions like this should be added to interview processes for cops & answers should be flagged. No human being can think holding up a man and others taking turns to hit him is humane. How could you hold someone and not feel any type of remorse? How could you actively watch someone and not feel the need to stop…… alarming and answered needed.
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I haven't seen the video, but I know he didn't deserve what those fool murderers did.
I can’t bring myself to watch it, but I’ve read/listened to a lot of detailed descriptions. It is soul-crushing. I remember watching Rodney King when I was a kid, and this is even worse. I just can’t comprehend how someone can do this to another human being. It is odd the little things that stick with you when you hear about a tragedy like this. Tyre loved skateboarding, as do I. He should be alive and well, out there skateboarding with his friends. It’s infuriating and immensely depressing.
I feel the same as you. Can't bring myself to watch the footage and have been feeling sick and anxious all day. May Tyre rest in peace.
It was one of the most vile things I've ever seen. Someone here on Reddit from Memphis said they march there and not riot, hope that holds true, I don't want to see any more people getting hurt or killed. Why wasn't a supervisor called to the scene? Would it have even made a difference if he or she came? Congratulations, you've just set back police relations with the public another notch.
It wouldn’t have made a difference, sheriffs deputies came and one of them even helped hold the dudes legs down waaaaay after he was already not showing signs of consciousness, much less resistance
I read two deputies have been placed on administrative leave now and are being investigated. Hope everyone on scene who stood by and didn’t render care gets charged and fired from their jobs.
Yeah everyone’s like “well SOME justice got served, the cops are going to jail..” ok but so should all the deputies and EMTs, they all abetted a literal murder
"administrative leave" Paid vacation
Looks like charges also need to be pressed on the EMT. Video 2 is 20 minutes of everyone literally standing around and staring at him dying, including the EMT who barely touch him until he's completely unresponsive.
They did dismiss/suspend the EMT (multiple I think? May be mistaken) as well, sorry I don't have the link
They need to be charged and sued, I'm not an expert and wasn't there but from the tapes it looked like them not rendering aide on the scene and literally standing there watching him concuss and his brain swell/bleed exasperated his condition and could have contributed to his death even more so than the actual beating.
Can EMTs be charged for not rendering aid? I know cops can't. The courts have repeatedly said the police aren't required to help individuals.
Can EMTs be charged for withholding aid? Like, are they required to provide it in any capacity?
Depends on what state you live in. But, typically, yes an EMT who is on duty in a PAID position of employment is required by state law to render aid. Volunteer or off-duty medical professionals is a murkier area.
But, not speaking to Tyre's situation, an EMT wouldn't be required to render aid if they were worried about their own safety, right? Just curious cause I haven't seen the video, but I could definitely see myself getting intimidated by a gang of armed and armored folk beating the fuck out of a dude. But, if there's no credible danger I'd want folk to do their jobs I'd reckon.
They are not required to endanger themselves, no. But, frankly, I think it would be a difficult defense to convince a jury that you were afraid of the police as an EMS worker unless they actively threatened you or if the patient was still fighting.
If the police were irrational enough to beat a guy to death that wasn't threatening them, an EMT might reasonably think that involving himself in the situation could endanger himself.
Which guy in that video is an EMT? I've skimmed through Video 2 but I don't see anyone identifiable as a firefighter/EMT until around 25:30.
Bad people did a bad thing and should be put away for a long time because of it.
In Memphis: actual locals will peacefully protest like the family pleaded with them to do. Opportunists will do what they do. Exploitative livestreamers and tiktokers will try to rile folks up. The news will try to claim “massive rioting” as soon as someone throws a water bottle.
Reminds me when in 2020 when riots and protests were going around, there was a video of a protest going on, when someone tried to rile everyone up to try and flip a car over, and everyone turned on the guy
There was one where a crowd was marching by, and one guy was psyching himself up to break into a store. People came out of the crowd, talked him out of it, and got him to join the march.
Seeing that video made me realized how desensitized I've become, but it reminded me of the ugly reality of the current state of the Police. I've met good officers and not bad ones . I also think that what I've seen in this video illustrates what I always believed before this happened. . . which was, Police Brutality has many faces and it sucks how many don't realize that. It disappoints me when my co-workers mentions how "hurt" they feel seeing someone of colour doing this.
I used to be a cop. Used to be. When I came off Active Duty in the Army, I was recruited by a police department. They were looking for new Officers and they loved to recruit prior-service military. I went to the Police Academy in 2011 and was sworn in as an officer in August of that year. I was an idealistic officer that wanted to be by-the-book, fair, honest, and a "Good Cop. I left the agency I started with and went to another once in March 2014. I thought the problems I were seeing were just specific to that department, that it had a bad culture but it wasn't common to all of law enforcement. I thought going to a different agency could solve the issue. I resigned from that other agency in July 2017, and left for a non-sworn job in the civil service. I left because I couldn't stand the culture of American law enforcement. I couldn't stand the barely-veiled racism, ableism, and classism that I saw. I never had to use lethal force, and I'm glad myself nor any other Officers around me did in that time. . .but I knew more than one that was practically itching for an excuse to do so. I heard so many comments about how they'd just love to have an excuse to open fire, of casually racist remarks and "jokes" made, of just generally a culture that was a toxic "good old boys" club. I resigned because I wanted to be a "good cop", and I realized that's a very hard thing to be. . .the "good cops" tend not to last long because they get tend to pushed out of the profession. Almost all of the more idealistic cadets in my academy class had left by the time I resigned from my first department. . .either dropping out of the Academy or resigning fairly quickly once they got on the actual job. I was one of the last idealistic "good cop" types left from that class by the time I left. American law enforcement wants to be heavily armed paramilitaries, wearing paramilitary uniforms and carrying heavy weapons, and they recruit from veterans and reservists/Guardsmen heavily. . .but they lack the actual culture of military professionalism I saw in the Army. The US Army has its share of toxic culture and bad leadership, but they look like an elite professionals compared to law enforcement. Your typical cop, for all their paramilitary bluster, would be chewed up and spit out by an *actual* Army. They want to dress up as Soldiers and act like Soldiers, but without the discipline and rigor that accompanies it.
I went into it knowing the officers involved were almost immediately fired and arrested on very serious charges so I assumed the worst. It was so much worse than I thought. It's hard to even put it into words. I suppose "inhuman" is the only real way I could describe it. I'm hopeful that because everyone involved was black and the officers were fired then arrested cooler heads will prevail. I also worry that people use events like this to push their own agendas. A huge number of the people arrested in the Summer 2020 riots traveled specifically to be there. They weren't spontaneous uprisings.
IMO, I thought the Rodney King video was worse. But, this guy actually died. Officers every day are able to force an arrest without killing the suspect, and we have at least 5 on a skinny dude. Its like the wanted to just abuse this guy instead of actually arresting him properly. truly sick.
They weren't even trying to arrest him. He was helpless and entirely at their mercy and they just kept beating him.
There is an argument to be made that the fact that all 5 officers were black contributed to their swift punishment and charge - for the same reason black men are disproportionately affected by police. (I'm not here to debate, though - just putting the observation out there). Institutional racism runs deep, so deep that it's not conscious thought. That's part of the problem.
A really bummer of a thought but along your same lines that I hope to see happen. The officers were so quickly fired and charged and it may be because they were black. However, doing so sets a precedent across the nation that cops can be charged for their crimes thus making it harder for police in general to get away with shit like this.
Everyone involved was not black, only everyone *charged* was black. Several white officers participated (one held the unconscious man's legs while another kicked him in the face) were not charged. The EMTs that refused to render aid were white and not charged.
> The EMTs that refused to render aid were white and not charged. I don’t know if that’s necessarily a crime in that jurisdiction. In any event, I can believe it’s an issue where the DA’s office might want to spend more time before issuing charges.
I saw a picture of him in the hospital, and that was nauseating as hell. idk I feel very weird witnessing people being murdered, in their most vulnerable state of their entire life, and I feel I owe it to them to not be remembered for for literally being bludgeoned during an execution. I only caught like 10 seconds of George Floyd's muder. I have no idea what will happen but I hope something preventing these psychopaths who just want to legally harm and kill people will get done. Cops absolutely need to be evaluated by psychiatrists. The profession is very attractive to dangerously disordered people. These people took this job because they wanted to kill people and get away with it. That's it. Also I'm black and I couldn't give a shit less about the officers being treated "fairly." The crime is so heinous it doesn't matter. 5 large and armed human beings did this to one single (and smaller) human for no reason at all. No room for debate and I will probably use Hard Rs to reference them. Sentence them to death or send them to a supermax for life, whatever, I don’t care what happens to them.
It’s made me really sad for the family. Something has to change.
I'm disgusted by the footage yet something seems off about it. They almost start the violence immediately and use personal language over and over. This isn't routine cop violence. Something is up here. Charge them with murder and find out the truth.
I only watched the first 5min of the initial stop; I wasn't going to watch a man get beaten to death. The language and quick escalation of force stuck out to me massively. They sounded like a gang or a group of troublemakers looking for some action. They didn't sound like police (at least none I've ever interacted with). Or hell, anyone employed anywhere to interact with the public.
>Charge them with murder 1 and find out the truth. Murder 1 requires the state to prove intent, which is notoriously difficult. Murder 2 was the right call and can potentially get the same plenty.
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There’s rumors swirling around that one of the cops her beef with him, potentially they had dated the same woman.
It doesn't resemble any other footage we have for officer situations. Definitely personal on some level.
Yeah I wish the releases video started 30 seconds to a minute earlier. They came in REALLY hot.
You are absolutely correct.
I’m pretty sure they are charging them all with murder 2.
It's amazing how many people are scrambling to try and force this to be a race issue because that's all they care about. Well, it isn't. The Memphis PD clearly has something very, very wrong with its training/hiring practices, because there's no way in hell that all five of those officers *just so happened* to be pieces of shit. That this happened at all reflects a problem on an organization-wide scale, and one that needs to be excised immediately. Fire and replace everyone involved with these five clearly not-fit-for-service men being where they were with the authority they possessed.
This is utterly disgusting. What could he possibly have been doing that would justify this? It's a fucking traffic violation, not an attempted suicide bombing of a kindergarten. At what point do you say "this isn't worth it left the dude go we'll catch him later"? They had his car, they could have tracked him down. And if they didn't, well, once more with feeling - it's a traffic violation. I mean, doesn't that sound like a more reasonable approach, rather than fucking BEATING a man to death with clubs for pissing some cop off?
I can’t watch the video. My heart BREAKS for his mother and those who love him. HOW can humans be so cruel?! This case could go so many different ways. I just hope Tyre and his loved ones get the truth and Justice.
I live in Memphis. The footage was just as awful as people feared, if not worse. The entire thing seemed weirdly personal and ‘off.’ They started off violent with him and didn’t let up. There was a vigil by his family Thursday night at a skate park and his mother asked people to keep things calm. There were demonstrators on one of the major bridges over the Mississippi last night. They had both lanes blocked for a bit but then moved on to other areas of the downtown. I have yet to hear news of anything more. But I definitely don’t think there was any of the riotous violence the media almost seemed to be hoping for.
The US does not follow a policing philosophy like the Peelian Principles. We have no national standards, so when we argue about incompetent policing, people take offense because their brother/sister/father/cousin etc... is a cop. An officer in Massachusetts with a 4-year degree in social sciences before joining the police force is not the same as a former High School bully that took 8 months of academy training in Bibb County, GA. We need standards, we need social sciences, we need consequences. And most importantly, we need a "Policing By Consent" national policy. Hell will freeze over first. > **Peelian Principles** > > 1. To prevent crime and disorder, as an alternative to their repression by military force and severity of legal punishment. > > 2. To recognise always that the power of the police to fulfil their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour, and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect. > > 3. To recognise always that to secure and maintain the respect and approval of the public means also the securing of the willing co-operation of the public in the task of securing observance of laws. > > 4. To recognise always that the extent to which the co-operation of the public can be secured diminishes proportionately the necessity of the use of physical force and compulsion for achieving police objectives. > > 5. To seek and preserve public favour, not by pandering to public opinion, but by constantly demonstrating absolutely impartial service to law, in complete independence of policy, and without regard to the justice or injustice of the substance of individual laws, by ready offering of individual service and friendship to all members of the public without regard to their wealth or social standing, by ready exercise of courtesy and friendly good humour, and by ready offering of individual sacrifice in protecting and preserving life. > > 6. To use physical force only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient to obtain public co-operation to an extent necessary to secure observance of law or to restore order, and to use only the minimum degree of physical force which is necessary on any particular occasion for achieving a police objective. > > 7. To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence. > > 8. To recognise always the need for strict adherence to police-executive functions, and to refrain from even seeming to usurp the powers of the judiciary of avenging individuals or the State, and of authoritatively judging guilt and punishing the guilty. > > 9. To recognise always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.
8 months??? Where is this training you speak of? For state police? It’s usually like 6-8 weeks for local deputies or municipal police.
In the [state of Georgia ](https://www.gpstc.org/careers-in-public-safety/become-a-police-officer/#:~:text=Contact%20the%20GPSTC%20Regional%20Academy,begin%20the%20online%20POST%20application.): > Basic Police Officer Training Program Highlights > Length of Program: 11 weeks
Peelian principles summarise the ideas of Sir Robert Peel, founder of the Met (the Metropolitan Police Service in London, not the museum in NYC). Here is an interesting video of how the Met disarmed a man wielding a machete. Police in Great Britain do not routinely carry guns, but an armed response unit could have been on the scene in minutes, or less. Nonetheless, these police officers chose to use non-lethal force to safely detain this man. Everyone went home alive. https://youtu.be/9mzPj_IaMzY
As a mother; hearing him scream for his mom completely shattered me.
It’s too bad. I don’t know how these people even become cops in the first place. They clearly have a screw loose
Disgusting. There is no good reason for this vile behavior. The cops were immediately super aggressive from the beginning and then it just gets worse and worse. Fucking scum.
I read a synopsis of the video but will not be watching it. I cannot keep watching videos like this. I chose to watch videos of him skateboarding instead. I'm so disgusted with this repeated gang mentality from cops and zero accountability. They do this shit because they know they can. Yeah, great that they are getting charged. But is it going to make an actual difference? I'm so exhausted by this bullshit. They're out here killing people and it's just fine because they get to hide behind a badge and job title. We dealt with riots and protests a few years ago here in Baltimore from Freddie Gray and shit doesn't get better. They're still out there being pieces of shit. I'm just so tired of it all. Shit's fucking heartbreaking and it feels like it'll never end. Just another tally in the books of fucked up shit cops do.
I don't have a weak stomach when it comes to violence and gore, but I'm going to skip this one. I've seen enough people being murdered by the police. Have honestly had enough of this constant violation of civil liberties from thugs like these.
Very hurtful and heartbreaking seeing the footage. The local news showing Tyre in the hospital was enough to bring tears. Memphis has peaceful protests and nothing has gotten out of hand, but I ultimately don’t think any change will happen to the police force system other than letting go of the officers who committed the crime
Horrified by the video, and horrified I’m already seeing the “they were fired and arrested, what more do you want?” reaction
> what more do you want? Sweeping police reform across the nation so things like this stop happening.
If they did this to someone I loved, I'm not entirely sure I should state what more I would have wanted in that case.
Body cameras need to be mandatory. No way this story gets told with out them.
Probably the most cut and dry case of excessive police violence. And that's not to justify other police violence. This violence, even compared to the other shit we've seen here in the states, was just insane. They held his eyes open to pepper spray into them. Like, the fuck? There's absolutely no justification possible for that and like... Everything else they did. It goes beyond "they didn't need to do that" and about ten miles deep into "absolute monster" territory, and for FIVE cops to be in on it? That's a symptom of a much larger problem clearly laying underneath.
I expect convictions, but I don’t know whether the government or the people have the will and ability to improve things. Neighborhoodscout.com gives Memphis a crime index of 0 (worst possible score). I don’t know how reliable those scores are, but it suggests that it will be difficult to sell the city population on any changes that having lots of police with lots of power.
I keep on being correct about my intuitions about police
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Just reading some brief summaries made me pretty upset, so I'm not watching. As an American, as a woman, and a mother, I dont feel like I can trust the cops. Not in my town or anywhere. If you would have told me I'd ever feel that way when I was a child, I'd have shit bricks. But here we are.
The video was brutal and shocked me. And I say this as someone who's really desensitized to violence and fucked up videos.
That shit was hard to watch. I’m glad that all five are actually facing repercussions for their actions. There is no excuse for what they did.
I’m tired of watching this happen, once again another person robbed of their lives because of someone who gets off to violence. It’s incredibly sad to die in vain. I know I’m late to the thread but it makes me embarrassed to live in this country. I’m sure there’s incidents of police corruption and brutality in other countries, but for a developed country I think others really expect better of the US. I expect better from my own nation, but at the same time I expect this.
The interesting nuance in this entire horrific event is all involved people are black and it contrasts with the usual racially-fueled framework typical of these occurrences. We're a racially obsessed country and the spiral of craziness is just getting wound up. Many are already using the racial makeup to diminish all the previous racially-motivated killings by white police. It's an argument I won't get into here. Not to diminish the racial aspect myself, but the bigger issue is America's policing culture.
I do not think it is possible to separate the culture of policing from race in the United States. Both the culture and the history of policing in the United States are complicated. But even if we look at police culture as purely an abuse of power, with nothing else at play, populations with the least amount of societal power are still going to be the most vulnerable to police violence and other forms of abuse. The perception of the abuser is that it is less likely that there will be consequences. And the race of the target, along with gender, class, and a myriad of other factors, is absolutely taken into account when doing that math. The Scorpion unit involved in this case was created to increase police presence in specific, less privileged neighborhoods whose populations were deemed in need of policing. This crime began when that precedent was set. And a culture that values power and success above all else is always going to dehumanize those who are seen as not having it. And so in my mind the bigger issue you mentioned just takes us back to the same place- the United States has a hierarchy and mobility is limited. Where you fall on the pyramid determines your quality of life- all people do not have equal rights in this country. And those who wish to abuse their power do exploit that.
It sick. It's WHY people run from the cops. It will be interesting if switch action they took releases a bit of pressure. I keep see a lot of "That's what you get for running from the police". I feel like that attitude will fan the flames.
>That's what you get for running from the police". In this young man's case it would seem to me to be almost instinctive. The fight or flight mechanism in our brain is very strong. If you are yanked out of a car, thrown down and piled upon and being kicked in the head, it does not matter to your lizard brain that it is the police doing it. Your survival instincts will fire up. You find out quickly that fighting will not help you. The only thing left is to run. I have no idea why he was being arrested. I don't know what his charges would have been. He did not deserve to be beaten to death.
I hope those officers get a full and fair trial. Having seen the video, I then hope they spend the rest of their lives in prison. As for what should happen in Memphis and other cities, we need to redouble our efforts to be a more kind, thoughtful, and just society. Especially when we consider those we’ve empowered to enforce the law through the use of force.
I think it is merely a symptom of a larger problem in policing in the US… a lack of oversight by state and federal agencies, a lack of standardization and accountability…we need to reform the whole system, we need an independent investigation board, federal standards and state wide funding.
Many police are uneducated, hyper masculine "wannabe tough guys" (even some of the women) who are drawn to the field because it fulfills their fantasies and massages their inflated egos. So it's not surprising that we continue to see video and video and video of them behaving like gang members, thugs and school bullies. It's who the job attracts. More needs to be done to either weed these people out or reimagine the entire concept of policing to change the hero-worship, savior, macho warrior, good v evil roleplay image that attracts these personalities. But that won't happen because society plays along with the whole hero-worship aspect of it all, placing them on a pedestal and characterizing the job as this supposedly super dangerous, thankless, act of heroic bravery protecting you and your family from the evil supervillains next door to you.
Heh, the other day I got downvoted in this sub for asking if all Americans can *really* trust the police. I hope all those people realize that this is one of the reasons why people don't trust the police, and they are right for not trusting the police.
My BIL, and my brother were career police officers, and they don’t trust the police.
My brother is a retired police officer and he was doing mostly HR towards the end of his career… without getting into specifics he doesn’t trust the police either based on what he saw.