St Louis police murder scandal (PLUS: riots, idiotic press conferences, etc.)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Wot, no thread?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M8vei3L0L8

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

So apparently reporters have also now been arrested by St. Louis police.

[dead0man]

Wot, no thread?

Yeah, I've been wondering when this one was going to pop up.

[Lief 🗽]

I'm not sure which is more insane/outrageous: the original murder of Michael Brown or the police response to the demonstrations since then. Of course the police in this country have a long and storied tradition of turning peaceful black protests into riots and then gunning down as many as they can in the name of law and order.

[Joe Republic]

Some fascinating statistics about Ferguson, MO

[ElectionsGuy]

What's outrageous is (some) right-wingers are already defending the cop, trying to say that we don't have enough evidence and that Brown could've been violent. No matter what, what the cop did here and what they do across America on a weekly basis is unacceptable. The evidence is that this cop shot multiple times when Michael Brown didn't pose a threat, as he had his hands in the air. The core problem is that they assume people are guilty until they are proven innocent, not the other way around. Especially if your a young black male walking around the streets at night. I do think that this had a racial element to it, they assume people like Brown are violent just because the way the look and/or stereotypes. Nothing makes my blood boil more than when people like Hannity or O'Reilly try and defend this injustice.

[Simfan34]

Tragic.

[TJ in Oregon]

What's outrageous is (some) right-wingers are already defending the cop, trying to say that we don't have enough evidence and that Brown could've been violent. No matter what, what the cop did here and what they do across America on a weekly basis is unacceptable. The evidence is that this cop shot multiple times when Michael Brown didn't pose a threat, as he had his hands in the air. The core problem is that they assume people are guilty until they are proven innocent, not the other way around. Especially if your a young black male walking around the streets at night. I do think that this had a racial element to it, they assume people like Brown are violent just because the way the look and/or stereotypes. Nothing makes my blood boil more than when people like Hannity or O'Reilly try and defend this injustice.

Yeah, unless more information comes out that makes this vastly different than it appears, some heads need to roll in the Ferguson Police Force for this one. And it would be nice if people stop trying to defend the indefensible.

[Yank2133]

Yeah, unless we get evidence that says other wise, Ferguson is going to have to clean house in their police department.

This is some Alabama circa 1963 type of nonsense.......

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

They just deployed tear gas on live TV. An MSNBC reporter got caught in it on air.

[Gass3268]

Where is Governor Nixon?

[Marokai Backbeat]

Tragic.

"Tragic" is an understatement.

[Paul Kemp]

Displays of force such as the one the Ferguson police are currently exhibiting should be reserved for the rarest and most extreme circumstances. This is not such an event.

Every member of local law enforcement who has allowed the streets of an American city to look like a warzone and allowed these cowboy cops to play soldier for a few days should be ashamed and removed from their positions of power.

[Lief 🗽]

White teabaggers with guns "peacefully" protesting = nothing happens
Unarmed black folk peacefully protesting = tear gas & (rubber) bullets

[Lief 🗽]

St. Louis County Police Chief studied counter-terrorism tactics in Israel

Also a disgusting and shameful lack of action from Jay Nixon.

[King]

Suburban cops are the absolute worst.

They sign up to go to war and then go crazy when they realize there aren't that many crimes in the quiet residential areas they police.

[traininthedistance]

Yeah, I've been following this story with morbid horror since the weekend.  This is a situation where the epithet "pigs" is, in fact, appropriate.

And I don't say that lightly.

[Sbane]

I wonder if the usual suspect(s) will come in here and defend this as well.

[Beet]

If guns weren't so prevalent, I would completely advocate that street cops should not be armed with lethal weapons. As long as they are, you are going to get tragedies like this.

[7,052,770]

If guns weren't so prevalent, I would completely advocate that street cops should not be armed with lethal weapons. As long as they are, you are going to get tragedies like this.

Yeah, I've never given this much thought, but I'm starting to think cops shouldn't have guns unless they are on a specific mission that requires them. At least in low-crime suburban areas.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

This whole situation is quite disturbing.

Given the violence that occurred the other night, law enforcement has a responsibility to be there and ready to preserve the peace.  However, their actions against peaceful protests are making circumstances less peaceful.

Its sad when you turn on Al Jazeera and they have heavily armed officials in military regalia firing tear gas and intimidating a peaceful crowd... and you realize this isn't Egypt or Iran, its Missouri.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Among other things, I think the entire Ferguson Police Department should be sued under the RICO Act.

[dead0man]

This whole situation is quite disturbing.

Given the violence that occurred the other night, law enforcement has a responsibility to be there and ready to preserve the peace.  However, their actions against peaceful protests are making circumstances less peaceful.

Its sad when you turn on Al Jazeera and they have heavily armed officials in military regalia firing tear gas and intimidating a peaceful crowd... and you realize this isn't Egypt or Iran, its Missouri.

and not even BFE Missouri, but St.Louis funking County.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Not surprising. All over the US, one can find police departments with more than their fair share of authoritarian, racist a$$holes.  And they are almost never held accountable.

Makes one suspect (at the least) that this kind of thing is not a bug, but a feature.