Actually, what's sickening is that anyone could defend this as being justified to subdue someone.
Posted on 07/28/2011 11:25:52 AM PDT by Smogger
Edited on 07/28/2011 11:47:56 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
A shocking video has been released allegedly showing police officers tasering and beating a homeless man to death who they claim was resisting arrest. Though the video is not clear, eye witnesses say the homeless man - Kelly Thomas, 37 - was unable to put up any resistance and was lying on the ground on his front when the attack took place on July 5. His screams and cries for his father can be heard amid the tasering noises.
Graphic photo at link.
Actually, what's sickening is that anyone could defend this as being justified to subdue someone.
You make a good point, and I’ll add my two cents. When you have SIX cops murdering a citizen in public, all the excuses about “just a few bad apples” don’t add up. If the problem is only with a minority of officers, then why didn’t four or five of the officers presents arrest or at least stop the bad ones, instead of joining in the murder?
As long as police value their loyalty to their fellow officers more than their duty to uphold the Constitution and protect the citizenry, they are not getting much respect from me.
Maybe I watched the wrong video. All I could see was backlighted black shapes with bystanders moving in front of them. It was like the Rodney King video done with sock puppets on a darkened stage. And like the Rodney King incident, we have no idea what happened just before the video started. Obviously it was something fairly significant, since there were 3-4 police cars there already, and two more came screaming up during the video. Also like King, this guy was strong enough to assault and injure two officers, so they are going to take that very seriously.
What’s most sickening to me are the actions of the father. His son is out roaming the streets somewhere, and Dad doesn’t know or care where he is or what he’s doing other than he’s probably off his medications. But now that sonny boy is in the hospital after an encounter with the police, Dad sees a windfall in his future, so he goes out looking for witnesses and starts accusing the police of murder. He sounds like an opportunistic scumbag.
The video is frustrating because I can’t tell what’s going on.
Tranq darts are not the answer. They don’t work like you see in the movies, the dosages have to be carefully measured for each situation, or they can cause permanent damage or death. Not the kind of thing you want to put into the hands of people with no medical qualifications and a tendency to go a bit overboard with the tasers already.
Question: What would have happened to US soldiers if they had done this to an Iraqi civilian?
With all due respect, the son was 37 years of age, and short of locking him in his basement and feeding him through a hole in the door, there wouldn’t have been much the father could have done if his son refused to take his meds and be looked after...
Huh?
Did you watch the video?
Are you suggesting that cops are above the law and should not be held to a higher standard? Or that we are to turn a blind eye and deaf ear at this type of criminally negligent behavior?
In the article, it states that the father of the victim is trying to get the POLICE VIDEO which he claims shows very clearly the beating.
You know they have it. You know why they don't want him to have. You know why the CD with the images from the Erik Scott murder at COSTCO was sent for analysis and deemed unusable, or damaged, or empty. (they are pretty sure it's one of those)
A quarter of the officers I work with, including me, have been in the service and know the differences. The police are a unique organization sharing some similiarities as the military, such as uniforms, command and rank structure, ceremony and some equipment. Their mission statements and methods are different, should remain so and with good reason.
The police should not be soldiers and soldiers should not be police. This violates Posse Comitatus.
Our soldiers should not be policing Iraqi citizens period. This nation is confused and on the wrong track when we send our warfighters to go and try an be the police with very little training and practical experience of dealing with LE issues.
Next week they’ll be trying out for cable TV to be on “One Man Army”.
“beat skinny retarded guy to death” ought to look good on the resume.
No, you were watching the correct video. The inmates around here just can't believe there may have been any justification, at all. And, I agree, the father is just an opportunist looking for the retirement ticket. Tragic. Now watch you and I get flamed. I've already received 15 (or thereabouts) angry responses to my post. None but yours displays a shred of reasonableness.
I’d love to see a video that actually showed something. I couldn’t see anyone pounding on the guy, but the video is too far away to tell anything. I don’t know if a police car video would be worth anything as it appears the guy is down on the ground in front of a police car and probably below camera range. At anyrate, I do know that nuts sometimes beat their own heads and faces repeatedly into walls, etc. until they are a bloody mess.
Might I point out the fact that a number of LEO’s tasered the victim 5 times. Note there were numerous LEO’s on the scene. That means that merely grabbing and hand cuffing the victim was possible.
Now note that the LEO’s decided to not grab the man as he lay on the ground, instead the continued to Tase the victim - and they killed him in the process.
Are the LEO’s involved blacks, because if so, the situation looks like a racially motivated execution.
As for your post, let’s see - no about page and you post like what LAZ aptly called a ‘copsucker’. Are you doing this deliberately? Or are you posting in hopes of getting your Official Badge Lapper badge in the mail?
Just askin’.
True, but there were plenty of witnesses here and I don't think I've seen any quotes to that effect.
There look to be at least two cars and a third pulling up during the "confrontation" so I assume that something will come of looking at the dash video. I know our local SO usually produces within a few days of a request.
I hate seeing stuff like this because I have immediate family in law enforcement and if I ever caught wind of them doing something like this *I* would kick their ass. I would hope that I've influenced their lives in such a way that doing this to someone would be unthinkable no matter how caught-up in the circumstances they are.
I agree. If the police are guilty they deserve to be hammered. I would really like to know the truth of the matter. I hope to see a good video.
My thoughts exactly.....maybe there is another video. That one showed none of the brutality.
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