Not sure if anyone outside of California has followed this or really heard about it, but let's see what you think. Quick summary, fight breaks out at a public transit station, transit cops are called, and detain suspect, cop says suspect is resisting and he reaches for taser and mistakenly grabs gun and shoots said suspect. Kills him and a lot of camera phones captured footage. Verdict just came out yesterday of Involuntary Manslaughter. People in Oakland are pissed and protest. Of course they break into a few stores and steal stuff cause thats obviously going to change the ruling.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...html?tag=stack

 

You can easily tell the difference between a taser and a hand gun.

In my opinion this was not a mistake and the guy is getting off way easy.

Cops need to be held to a very high standard and stuff like this just can't fly

 

I would find it hard to beleive that a cop would willingly/knowingly shot someone who is just resisting, not using a weapon, in such a populated place. I could see an informed person mistaking a taser for a handgun in that situation, but not a police officer, a higher standard should be held. Mistakes are made though, this one shouldn't have happened.

 

I agree that the cop should definitely know the difference in feel and weight of a taser and a handgun and should be held accountable for his actions. But, I don't like how the race card is played yet again. If it was a black cop shooting a black kid, or black cop shooting a white kid, it would not have been as big of a story in the media as this was. Race can't just go one way. And the family members make it seem there son was this perfect great kid, but obviously he was doing something to have the cops called and he did just get out of jail for an illegal gun possession, running from the cops and resisting arrest.

 

I doubt he really meant to shoot him.

 

He made a series of blunders that were in violation of his training, in an intensely stressful situation on an already stressful night which they were expecting to be even worse. His failure to follow his training (such as it was) and his departments failure to ensure he be well and extensively enough trained that falling back to such would be automatic were in my view just the cladding on a house built of pure fail.

The underlying issue of overly militarized police forces filled with officers who started in the field post-9/11 with a chip on their shoulder (and the misguided notion that they'll be worth more than two squirts of cold **** in a real terrorism situation) is the framework that the tragedy was constructed over.

But the real disgrace in this whole situation has not even been given side mention. TASERS. When I was in the academy we trained with PR-24 batons. You need to resort to pain compliance then you smack em with a hard stick and then you have to justify each and every bruise and fracture that you dole out. As an officer you really don't want to be hitting people with it so you try to diffuse situations and be rational and reasonable and respect peoples civil rights. With a taser, you can inflict tremendous damage and cruelty and even kill someone (apart from the blinding risk inherent to the device) without leaving a mark. And since you don't leave bruises you are WAY more likely to hit someone with it outside of a true need and more likely to think that you're 10ft tall and bullet proof.

I want tasers banned. If you want to beat a perp up, use a PR-24 like a man and take your IAD investigation like a man. And when you **** up and do it too much and someone gets it on video, expect a riot.

Riots are the masses way of making sure the government and law enforcement realize just how impotent they are every few years.


EDIT: No I don't think that busting open a Foot Locker in downtown Oakland is justified by the shooting of some black guy by some white cop. If I did then I'd probably have to accept the burning down of 10 KFC's, 15 Popeye's and a watermelon stand by yuppies every time some black guy shoots some white cop.

 

As long as they can use racism to their advantage, it will persist. A lot of it is like the boy who cried wolf, I bet there are plently of real race caused issues, but things like this is what makes the whole race card a joke.

 

Agreed with most of this. Ive been following this with tid bits, and yeah the family makes it seem like their son was the most precious little angel ever, and that annoys me. However i also agree that the officer should have known the difference between his firearm and tazer, especially considering ones bright yellow. The fact is, it doesnt matter if he didnt mean to, he killed him for no just reason, so he deserves it.

 

I think theyre just playing a racism card.

It sucks for white not being a race.

Although if some black guy hit me I'll call it a hate a crime, and bring it up in the news soo quick. XD

 

That cop had good defense attorney's. The attorney's picked apart the jury on selection day which proved to be the biggest advantage. They also had to play that "high stress" environment just right to prove the cop was confused when he pulled his gun.

The media has said that the cop has 4 safety lock devices to pull his weapon from its holster. How can someone do that without knowing?

Why do cops or did these cops carry their taser guns on the same leg as their handgun? I dont get that...in a high stress minimum manned situation that gets out of control can turn bad for a cop and I could see something like this happening. The video just doesnt show that and makes you wonder what the cop was thinking when he "accidentally" pops off a shot in this guys chest.

He had good lawyers and he will do about 4-5 years total for this, instead of going to prison for life.

 

1st off, Tazers should not be used by anyone. They should be considered deadly force because tazers interrupt heart rhythms. Very unpredictable who can survive a hit or not. You see security gaurds using them at sports events for harmless ****, such as running across the field of play naked, or whatever. Don't taze me bro.

2nd. Go back to the billy club beat down. If a ******* cop tells you to stop, and obey him, then ******* do it, even if you aint done ****. If you don't obey him, then you risk a billy club beat down, but once the cop has you down then they must stop beating you.

If you're stupid enough to get up and try to run or fight back, then they get to beat you a little more. See where I'm going with this..

If the bad guy has a deadly weapon and is brandishing it. Then he is in the extreme mearsure dome. Cops have protective gear and usually are wearing it. So Cop has advantage to use his training and common sense, to analyze the situation.

Cops should train more for shooting at lower extremities, Like knees and upper legs. They can sometimes be survivable, (sometimes).. One problem with this is some cops can't shoot at a barn door and hit it. They need to weed out these lousy shooters.

Firing 45 times at a suspect and not hitting **** but buildings around them is stupid. ( happened a few years ago at a fleeing vehicle).

Race may have played into it obviously, but that's only because race brings itself into it.
Just look at the incarceration rate of young males of a peticular race vs another.

Those are hard facts that can't be overlooked and blamed on society as a whole.

But cops to should be held accountable for shooting an unarmed individual, regardless of race.

More training and higher wages for law enforcement, plus higher accountability for **** ups.
Geez I could go on forever on this.. But I won't.....

 

you know something is weird when rebelyell and me agree.

shooting people in the extremeties... nah. Bullets are for killing. Billy-club beatdowns are for breaking bones. tazers are for pussies though

 

I think there is something wrong with this story from the start, who has ever heard of an "unarmed blackman" ?????

 

Like I tried to say earlier, Regardless of race, creed, or any other thing. If a Cop tells you to do something, then do it. He has the authority to ******* shoot you. If he has made a mistake in his decision, then you still pay the ultimate price. When he says, Put your hands up, don't go grabbing for your ******* cell phone. Put your ******* hands up. Let them cuff you, and take you to jail. At least you aint got a 9mm slug in your ***.
Then after all is said and done, seek retribution if it was all a mistake. If a cop tells me to put my hands up, I'm gonna put em up. I will be saying WTF, but not loud enough for him to hear me.

Don't ever talk **** to the cop. That's where the whooping starts. Even when your down on the ground. Just say yessir, nosir. And deal with it till you can get to jail without a bullit in your ***.. Talking **** just makes things worse for you..

Best scenario is, don't break the ******* law. If you do break the law, then don't be surprized if you are in a bad situation. And I hate to sound racial, BUT, Black men and some women are really bad at this..

 

This nearly made me cry.

 

Bingo. The department I work for has strict policy. Taser on one side, gun on the other. I personally dont carry a taser....extra weight to me.....though that one night it probably could have saved my right ankle from shattering.

 

sorry, a little late on this one. I work in a government building about 3 blocks from where most of the mayhem went down. The judge in LA was quietly supposed to give most government building downtown Oakland a 2 hour notice so we could get out. I believe it ended up being about an hour notice and I've never seen so many people exiting a city at once. It was wild.

I've had private conversations with some very high up local law enforcement officials that flat out said BART cops don't maintain the level of training needed. I believe they go through the Alameda County Sheriff's academy, which is excellent, but it's the ongoing training they lack. I was also told their training with the taser was very very limited.

Anyway, it's unfortunate this happened, but it was an accident. That cop did not wake up that morning thinking he was going to kill some black guy. So the fact the District Attorney decided to prosecute him for murder 1 was a political decision and nothing else.

With all that said, I'm sick of hearing about injustice. I want to know where all these people are when they kill each other on the street....where are they when an innocent kid is shot and killed during one of their gun fights. Where were all these Oakland ***** when a black dude killed 4 cops?

It's all complete bullshit and most of the people you saw on tv are hypocrites.

 

totally valid. Agreed.

 

oakland itself is a bomb waiting to go off. REALLY bad there, not surprised this blew up like it did. accident or no, he should still get punished for what he did.