Protest rights Vs: Right of way.

[Morrovvind]

 

When an unarmed person of any color gets shot and killed, it's a travesty. I could understand if they had a bomb or a flamethrower or automatic machine gun and are harming others, but unarmed? Why not just call for backup to help subdue the suspect instead of becoming judge/jury/executioner and killing them on the spot? Where's the due process of law? Heck, the Boston Bomber got more due process.....

 

 

I think you have to take a minute and look at this from the cops perspective....Brown had just robbed a store, was walking down the middle of the street like he owned it, refused to take to the sidewalk when asked, reached into the cops car (to grab his gun?) when pulled by the cop, runs away with a bullet wound to the hand after, then turns and charges the cop (allegedly).

 

What would you do if your were the police officer? Remember, Brown was a big strong dude, do you wait for him to get to you before you pull the trigger??

 

Oh...and how did the cop know he did not posses (in the moment) a firearm?

 

 

Not trying to stray too far away from the topic, but I'll try to address these points with my own opinions:

 

1. I don't have any training that would qualify me to become a police officer, so I don't know how I would react in that situation. But if I could, I'd call backup if I couldn't deal with the situation by myself in a satisfactory manner. Satisfactory meaning nobody dies.

 

2. How does a cop know that anybody does or does not possess a firearm? Any random stranger can pull out a gun and start shooting without any warning. Mere suspicion doesn't warrant gunning someone down.

 

Back to the subject, I believe the protests were necessary to give the subject matter national attention, but I'm sure they could have been organized better to not interrupt local businesses and such.

[edgeburner]

: I don't think I'm exactly comfortable lumping all protesters together. All it takes is one person with a flaming bottle to ignite a frenzy, but not everyone there has a motive to loot or destroy stuff. While many might have been breaking the law, I'm sure a good many were also compliant. And shooting tear gas canisters anywhere and everywhere isn't exactly going to de-escalate things; people do crazy things when they are afraid.

 

 

Problem is,,,they are all lumped together.... by location, sheer logistics. As you stated, not all are in it to cause problems, but, how do you separate/differentiate the good from the bad in a mob scene run amok? This is what the small minority of antagonist want.....and, unfortunately, it works.

 

 

[edgeburner]

 

1. I don't have any training that would qualify me to become a police officer, so I don't know how I would react in that situation. But if I could, I'd call backup if I couldn't deal with the situation by myself in a satisfactory manner. Satisfactory meaning nobody dies.

 

2. How does a cop know that anybody does or does not possess a firearm? Any random stranger can pull out a gun and start shooting without any warning. Mere suspicion doesn't warrant gunning someone down.

First off, let me thank you for being so civil and honest in your opinions.

 

To answer number one, *and i am not a cop, but have friends and relatives who are* "If" is usually not an option "if" will get you dead if you bump up against the wrong guy.

 

To answer number two. (according to my "cop" friends)...."You are exactly right, but that wasn't exactly the case with Brown. There were a lot of "if's" rolled up in that scenario, "if's that can get you dead IF you aren't correct in your judgment. ...

 

Again, TWO perspectives at play here.

Edited January 22, 2015 by edgeburner

[Morrovvind]

 

 

1. I don't have any training that would qualify me to become a police officer, so I don't know how I would react in that situation. But if I could, I'd call backup if I couldn't deal with the situation by myself in a satisfactory manner. Satisfactory meaning nobody dies.

 

2. How does a cop know that anybody does or does not possess a firearm? Any random stranger can pull out a gun and start shooting without any warning. Mere suspicion doesn't warrant gunning someone down.

First off, let me thank you for being so civil and honest in your opinions.

 

To answer number one, *and i am not a cop, but have friends and relatives who are* "If" is usually not an option "if" will get you dead if you bump up against the wrong guy.

 

To answer number two. (according to my "cop" friends)...."You are exactly right, but that wasn't exactly the case with Brown. There were a lot of "if's" rolled up in that scenario, "if's that can get you dead IF you aren't correct in your judgment. ...

 

Again, TWO perspectives at play here.

 

 

Yeah, it's a tricky issue; cops are humans too, and I imagine the job would certainly be terrifying at times. I predict that there could be a lot more of these types of incidents in the future. With the advent of body cameras, though, hopefully there should be enough evidence in the future to quell any protests in the cases where the civilian happens to be at fault.

 

In my mind, the perfect solution would be a type of robo-cop; robots don't have feelings and could be perfectly programmed to deal with these types of issues, and no humans would have to risk their lives to do the job. That is a huge step, though; many people are distrustful of robots with movies like The Terminator or The Matrix. It could be a gradual transition, so that current officers can keep their job to retirement, but any new positions are filled by robots. Kind of a pipe-dream, for now, though.

[Aurielius]

Armed robots?...no thanks. If one just looks at friendly fire incidents with RCA's on the battlefield where choices are in theory clearer in terms of who is hostile and then look at civilian life where most choices are shades of grey. Nope I want human neural net making the final call....at least until Asimov's three laws are implemented. One thing I do know for sure is that in split second life or death choices, one falls back on your training or you are the guest of honor at your funeral.

[HeyYou]

In the case of Mike Brown, and the officer in question... consider this: When seconds count, backup is only minutes away. Sure, he could have called for backup, but, had he waited for them to show up, we would be seeing an entirely different outcome.... Darren Wilson would be dead, and Mike Brown would be wanted for murder.

 

I WAS a cop. Given the information available, Officer Wilson acted in accordance with his training. He saw a real threat, and reacted in the best way possible. Neutralize the threat. He had zero hope of subduing Mike by any other physical means, he was the only one there, (no backup) and did not have time to wait for anyone else to show up. He did what he had to do, and the legal system agreed with him.

[Beriallord]

 

Off-topic for a second: Everybody has a right to life in this country, regardless of whether they are a "thug" or not. Regardless of what gas station they stole from. Regardless of how "unruly" they could be. When an unarmed person of any color gets shot and killed, it's a travesty. I could understand if they had a bomb or a flamethrower or automatic machine gun and are harming others, but unarmed? Why not just call for backup to help subdue the suspect instead of becoming judge/jury/executioner and killing them on the spot? Where's the due process of law? Heck, the Boston Bomber got more due process.....

 

Officer Wilson also has a right to life, which means he was within his rights to defend himself. Michal Brown committed suicide when he rushed at officer Wilson. The police mean business, and I don't know why anyone expects them to put the kid gloves on when someone insists on doing something crazy like rushing a police officer who has a gun pointed at them. I don't think anyone is going to dispute that Michael Brown was a pretty big dude, and could have easily overpowered officer Wilson without his gun. Michael Brown should be a candicate for the Darwin Award.

Edited January 25, 2015 by Beriallord

[Gracinfields]

To add in on this it was found that Brown had always attempted for the officers gun earlier in the car when the gun discharged. This is what lead the officer to chasing him and when Brown turned and charged the officer his certain death. If people had respect for the law and those that enforce it this wouldn't have happened. The people of that town also showed they don't care about law and order they want to do what ever they want and get away with it and any attempt to correct them leads to them whinning like children.

[edgeburner]

 

To add in on this it was found that Brown had always attempted for the officers gun earlier in the car when the gun discharged. This is what lead the officer to chasing him and when Brown turned and charged the officer his certain death. If people had respect for the law and those that enforce it this wouldn't have happened. The people of that town also showed they don't care about law and order they want to do what ever they want and get away with it and any attempt to correct them leads to them whinning like children.

Yup....not only that, but, Brown was walking down the middle of the street and refused to take to the side of the road after the officer asked him to...AFTER ROBBING A STORE!!!

 

s#*!, only in America.