The US police misconduct thread

[WOM]

It would have been satisfying to see her charged with something actually tied to what she did, like a hate crime. Notwithstanding she pretty much confessed - in advance - when she told Cooper what she was going to do and say, and then did and said it.

[ursus arctos]

That still may happen

[Satchmo Distel]

To MsD,

The crux is whether she would have responded the same if if had been a white guy. As I understand it, the evidence against that includes that she emphasizes "American American" in the call in a way that conveys that race it is the central issue. The other problem with her conduct is that she continues to go through with the call even though he is being perfectly calm. It gradually becomes apparent that her main purpose, which may initially have been self-protective, is to punish the guy by filing a false report that gets him arrested. But her initial panic is genuine, albeit based on a racist premise, and that could be mitigating in any court case.

[Tactical Genius]

Check out #UmbrellaMan on Twitter. No proof yet that the gentleman in question is, as claimed, a police officer, but there certainly seems something very strange going on there.

I saw that a couple of days ago and he has allegedly been identified. There are numerous reports and video clips of white men vandalising and starting fires and well as a seemingly disabled white woman attempting to randomly stab people (google Jennifer)

[Satchmo Distel]

There aren't any definitive stats on this sort of thing but:

According to this site there were over 10 million arrests (obviously that's not the same as times that police arrived on a scene, which would be much higher) in 2016. It doesn't seem to break down by race.
According to the Guardian there were 1093 people killed by police in the US in 2016, of which 574 were white, 266 black, 183 hispanic/latino.

So about 0.01% of arrests led to police shooting someone dead.

But this case would have been an arrest for, what, an attempted murder in progress, in which case you'd expect the police to be preparing to possibly kill the guy.

[Tactical Genius]

The crux is whether she would have responded the same if if had been a white guy. The evidence against that includes that she emphasizes "American American" in the call in a way that conveys that race it is the central issue. The other problem with her conduct is that she continues to go through with the call even though he is being perfectly calm. It gradually becomes apparent that her main purpose, which may initially have been self-protective, is to punish the guy by filing a false report that gets him arrested. But her initial panic is genuine, albeit based on a racist premise, and that could be mitigating in any court case.

I don't see any panic in that video, maybe we are both looking at different sources and if so, I stand corrected.
What i saw was a woman furious and angry she was being filmed went from 20 yards away to up in his face shouting and threatening. I asked a poster on another thread if that is typical behaviour of someone who fears for their safety. That poster refused to answer and instead proceeded to change the subject.
Maybe you can answer.

[MsD]

To MsD,

The crux is whether she would have responded the same if if had been a white guy. As I understand it, the evidence against that includes that she emphasizes "American American" in the call in a way that conveys that race it is the central issue. The other problem with her conduct is that she continues to go through with the call even though he is being perfectly calm. It gradually becomes apparent that her main purpose, which may initially have been self-protective, is to punish the guy by filing a false report that gets him arrested. But her initial panic is genuine, albeit based on a racist premise, and that could be mitigating in any court case.

Yes, I think I'm acknowledging all that! I'm just a bit "hmm" about all the reports about this saintly Star Trek hero birdwatching guy having done nothing whatsoever but offer her doggie a treat, like a lovely summertime Santa, or St Francis of Assisi.

Intelligent grown men know when they're intimidating a woman, I see it on an almost daily basis when not under lockdown, whether they want to get ahead of me in the queue or whatever. I even see it under lockdown - I gave a guy a very wide berth on the street two days ago, and his reaction was to give me a menacing stare, to actually turn around and keep staring at me as I passed.

Of course, I didn't call the police and say that a weird Arabic-looking guy with a backpack had just screamed "ALLAH AKBAR!!" at me, and that would put me firmly in the wrong.

[MsD]

As for the Minneapolis situation, in case *anyone* thinks I'm prioritising the NYC case, what can one say? The cop needs prosecuting, the onlookers should at least be fired, rotten cops need weeding out. Whether that'll happen, who knows. Can't believe we're what, 25 years on from Rodney King.

[Hot Pepsi]

But this case would have been an arrest for, what, an attempted murder in progress, in which case you'd expect the police to be preparing to possibly kill the guy.

In what way was he attempting to murder anyone or appearing to do that?

[MsD]

[Tactical Genius]

Deep exhale................

[Hot Pepsi]

I would be afraid for my dog if that happened. I wouldn’t have been a dick about the leash rules, however. Especially in New York.

[MsD]

Not posting that in reply to HP, I just think we should be clear on what was said BY HIS OWN ACCOUNT. He didn't deserve the reaction he got, of course, but IMO he was being a prick.
We just cross-posted again, and yes, we're in agreement.

[WOM]

In what way was he attempting to murder anyone or appearing to do that?

No, the point is that the police would have arrived in the mindset that they were approaching an attempted murder situation, based entirely on her say-so. Given the systemic racism readily apparent to us all, she would have gotten the benefit of the doubt and he would have gotten a very rough time of it.

[Hot Pepsi]

Did she say "he's trying to kill me?" I missed that.

[Tactical Genius]

No, the point is that the police would have arrived in the mindset that they were approaching an attempted murder situation, based entirely on her say-so. Given the systemic racism readily apparent to us all, she would have gotten the benefit of the doubt and he would have gotten a very rough time of it.

Well Said.

[ursus arctos]

C COOPER: Please call the cops. Please call the cops.

A COOPER: I'm going to tell them there's an African American man threatening my life.

C COOPER: Please tell them whatever you like.

His recording didn't pick up the exact wording of her call because he took several steps back before she made it.

[WOM]

Did she say "he's trying to kill me?" I missed that.

According to CNN...

"There's a man, African American, he has a bicycle helmet"
"He is recording me and threatening me and my dog."
"I'm being threatened by a man in the Ramble" (she continues in an audibly distraught voice)
"Please send the cops immediately!"

[Tactical Genius]

Did she say "he's trying to kill me?" I missed that.

she said, "there is an African American man threatening myself and and my Dog"

"I am being threatened by a man in the bramble, please send the cops"

Add to that, her fake frightened voice, the constantly changing pitch of her voice, the distressed yelping of the dog what else is a police officer expecting to walk into.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/central...lin-templeton/


WOM and Ursus beat me to it.

[Hot Pepsi]

I suppose “threatened“ could be interpreted different ways.

[ursus arctos]

To add a bit of pedantic mundanity, it ticks me off that she calls the Ramble the Bramble.

No native would ever make that mistake.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

No, the point is that the police would have arrived in the mindset that they were approaching an attempted murder situation, based entirely on her say-so. Given the systemic racism readily apparent to us all, she would have gotten the benefit of the doubt and he would have gotten a very rough time of it.

She's not just calling the police though, she's looking for a swat team to arrive in their tank. all guns blazing. She's trying to commit "murder by cop". It's not clear that that is a specific crime, but a properly motivated prosecutor can find a variety of charges against you. Though it would be very difficult to prove in the absence of a victim. It isn't a million miles removed from "Swatting". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Wichita_swatting (It's worth noting that the policeman who shot an entirely innocent, unarmed white man, coming out his front door, was not charged with any offence) The guy who made the call seems mostly to have been locked up on the basis of a plea deal that rolled up 51 other charges against him. It's not clear what specifically he was charged with, other than someone somewhere determined that someone with this track record belonged in jail.

[WOM]

This shouldn't be read as any type of excuse, but a few of the NY dailies have done some digging into Amy Cooper. She could generously be described as 'troubled'.

[Tactical Genius]

She's not just calling the police though, she's looking for a swat team to arrive in their tank. all guns blazing. She's trying to commit "murder by cop". It's not clear that that is a specific crime, but a properly motivated prosecutor can find a variety of charges against you. Though it would be very difficult to prove in the absence of a victim. It isn't a million miles removed from "Swatting". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Wichita_swatting (It's worth noting that the policeman who shot an entirely innocent, unarmed white man, coming out his front door, was not charged with any offence) The guy who made the call seems mostly to have been locked up on the basis of a plea deal that rolled up 51 other charges against him. It's not clear what specifically he was charged with, other than someone somewhere determined that someone with this track record belonged in jail.

Indeed, what we are seeing is a lack of political will here. But things will change when Joe Biden becomes president as the local mayor and Governor are both nasty Trumpian Republicans.

[ursus arctos]

It is extremely unlikely that we will ever hear them, but the tapes of the 911 dispatcher's side of the conversation and her/his conversation with the precinct would be extremely interesting.