Posted on 11/28/2014 12:30:57 PM PST by jazusamo
A California Democrat said a lesson in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting is a need to look at police acting as “jury and executioner” when confronting suspects.
Rep. Karen Bass, a House Judiciary Committee member, said in a statement after the grand jury opted to not issue an indictment this week that it “continues a trend of injustice that has rightfully created an environment of anger and concern in Ferguson, Missouri and across the United States.”
“Ferguson officials botched this case from the beginning when they left Michael Brown’s body on the street for over four hours after he was killed. They were mean-spirited when they leaked information to the media to assassinate Michael Brown’s character. The Ferguson Police Department violated the constitutional rights of the Ferguson community when they attacked and tear gassed lawful protesters,” Bass said, adding that the grand jury “attacked justice by not holding Officer Wilson accountable for his actions.”
The congresswoman added she would “continue to insist that the United States Department of Justice conduct its own investigation to determine if the Ferguson police violated Michael Brown’s civil rights.”
On CNN, Bass stressed “we have to do a short-term and a long-term strategy, and we really need to begin to come to grips with this in our country, because you can go down a long list of these cases.”
“You can rattle off these instances, and one of the most important thing that I think people need to do who are not African- American, who are not Latino, is need to just take a deep breath for one minute and say maybe I don’t understand. Maybe there’s something going on here that I need to look at, because you know, all of the polling shows the sharp divide,” she said.
“…And Ferguson, they most definitely need to diversify the leadership of that city, the police department, the city council, and so we need to look at things both in the short-term and the long-term.”
Bass addressed Brown taking cigarillos from a convenience store before the attack.
“Since when do we not have trials? Since when do we execute people?” she said. “I mean, the way that the information was leaked from Day One of this case, intentionally leaking the information about the video. It’s terrible if he committed a crime before this happened, but even if he did commit a crime, is a police officer supposed to be the jury and the executioner on the spot? So, you know, it’s that kind of mentality that we really need to begin to look at.”
Bass also pushed back against criticism of the media exposure of the Brown shooting and protests.
“If you think about the Civil Rights Movement, if you think about the Rodney King beating, if it wasn’t for the media showing those images to the world, you know, there’s no telling how much longer these situations would go on.”
“Since when do we not have trials? Since when do we execute people?” she said.
Wrong on both points, Bass.
Officer Wilson shot Brown in self defense and if he hadn't he may well not have been alive for Brown's trial.
What about the store clerk’s rights?
We all have the right to defend ourselves from threats to our lives, even the police have this right, idiot democrat.
Michael Brown chose to end his life by behaving as a monster and threatening the lives of innocent people.
Amen, these race hustlers never bring that up.
Karen Bass is a total A$$!
One of the Democrats’ tactics - when they’re losing power - is to try to make the country ungovernable for their opposition.
Remember, according to liberals only police officers should have guns. Lol.
Post Constitutional Law is whatever you want it to be..
The Democrat Utopia... only thing missing is the Unicorns..
yes, of course
the officer’s order to protect himself from deadly peril with his gun must be executed
Like the judge in my circuit said, “policemen aren’t lawyers”
It sounds like she would lie down and let the perp beat her to death out of fear of offending said perp. Do these asshats have no sense of self preservation?
Good point, would have been better if the store clerk had had a gun
Since when do we not have trials?
Um, when they are caught in the act of assaulting with the intent of committing grievous bodily harm, or worse, and not stopping when told to, not to mention continuing the assault after being wounded.
Doesn't leave a LEO, or any law abiding citizen much choice in the matter, if they wish to protect themselves from immediate, life-threatening behavior by a big, angry, monstrous thug (even if he was on the path to turning his life around.)
She is a radical extreme socialist borderline commie deep in the bogus “social justice” movement, so no surprises here.
KeyWiki: Hon. Karen Bass is the socialist affiliated U.S. Representative for California’s 33rd congressional district, winning election in November 2010. She replaced retiring rep. Diane Watson. She has been selected by Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to serve on the prestigious Steering and Policy Committee which sets the policy direction of the Democratic Caucus. Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, appointed Bass to serve as an Assistant Whip.
They ignore the numerous questionable shootings but use one as clear cut as this to build their argument on.
Either they are stupid or have a different agenda.
No. Police Officers are suppose to go fista cuffs with all takers. They must throw their weapons down and do Kung Fu with all UNARMED criminals for $32,000 a year. Life is a Jaun Claude Vandamme movie after all isn’t it you freakin Moron!
If only Michael Brown had been white....
Then the white cop would have let himself be tackled, beaten, have his gun taken, and then be killed with his own gun.
“White privilege” allows you to attack cops without consequence.
But since Michael Brown is black he does not have “white privilege”, so that kkkcracka cop killed him.
If you don’t see this injustice you’re a racist.
To protest this injustice I’ll go burn down my neighborhood.
karen bass is an absolute fool. Typical LIB/DIM.
That can get bogged down into “how much did the officer know and when did he know it.” A clerk getting manhandled in the vicinity of an apprehension might or might be a valid factor in how the apprehension should be dealt with. People were even vigorously arguing over whether that is Brown in the fish-eyed, poorly proportioned video before someone who was with him said yes that is Brown. The officer was not avenging the clerk even if he had known it was the same person, however. He gunned down a man who had already wrestled him for his gun and now was charging at him.
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