5 ms·

There has to be something else going on when a person is confronted by the police and they decide to arrest you. I can only imagine that he was agitated someho

by Nrsolis 11y ago

There has to be something else going on when a person is confronted by the police and they decide to arrest you. I can only imagine that he was agitated somehow and may have been either mentally unstable or intoxicated. Suicide is not a normal response to being locked up by the police for a few hours.

purplerabbit 11y ago
Agreed. He was definitely in a manic state, the poor guy.
- Nrsolis 11y ago
  From http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/30/ian_murdock_debian_founder/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/30/ian_murdock_debian_f... "According to the San Francisco police, officers were called to Steiner and Union St in the city at 11.30pm on Saturday, December 26, following reports of a man trying to break into a home – that man was identified as Ian Murdock. He reportedly fought with the cops, and was given a ticket for two counts of assault and one for obstruction of an officer. The techie had been drinking, according to the police logs. A medic arrived to treat an abrasion to Murdock's forehead, and he was released so he could be taken to hospital. A few hours later, on Sunday, December 27 at 2.40am, police were called again to reports of Murdock banging on the door of a neighbor at the very same block. A medic arrived to treat him for any injuries at the scene. Next, the cops took Murdock to the county jail where he was held in a cell. Murdock was bailed later that day, on Sunday, after a bond, said to be $25,000, was paid. He died the next day."
SwellJoe 11y ago
Bullshit. Police beat the shit out of people, unprovoked, every day. They murder 12 year old boys without hesitation (Tamir Rice). They'll kill a woman in her jail cell because she knew her rights and tried to exercise them (Sandra Bland). They'll chase down (stealing a car to make the chase more exciting) and execute an innocent man because he happens to be black and trying to go into the bank where he has an account (Larry Jackson, Jr.). I could type all day and not finish the list of unarmed people who did nothing wrong who are dead by the hands of cops. The number who've been beaten by police is astronomically higher. Ian is a well-known quantity, and what we know is that he was extraordinarily kind and generous. I don't believe for a second that he did anything to deserve to have a police officer beat him up. Not all police are vicious bullies, but I'm more willing to believe Ian had the misfortune to cross paths with a vicious bully than I am to believe he deserved being beaten up.
- res0nat0r 11y ago
  Ignoring all the nonsense from the first paragraph above, it is most likely he was having some major mental issues just due to the tweets linked here. The police were called by someone worried about him, and he is taking his anger out on them and blaming them for intervening. There is nothing in the local papers about this so far, which is usually on par unfortunately with suicide. Sad to see another person gone due to unfortunate mental/emotional issues.
  - Eleutheria 11y ago
    You're a fucking shill trying to impose a suicide situation when it was clearly a police murder.
    - dang 11y ago
      We've banned this account for breaking the HN guidelines. If you don't want it to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com.
  - cthalupa 11y ago
    >is most likely he was having some major mental issues just due to the tweets linked here I don't think we're in any position whatsoever to say this. Was he experiencing major mental issues when he wrote the tweets? Probably. Are such mental issues feasible to occur due to abuse at the hands of police? Sure. Is it also feasible that such mental issues could result in routine policework seeming like abuse? Yes. There's not enough information available to us for it to be anything but irresponsible to speculate on whether this mental condition was the cause or the effect of whatever it was that occurred with the police.
- RapLyricsFTW 11y ago
  Yeah, your first paragraph will fall on deaf ears here. All white tech nerds.
- Nrsolis 11y ago
  Right now, all we have is his statements that he was treated roughly by the police. The police handle quite literally millions of interactions with the public every year. Ascribing some sort of persistent malice to them as a group is as bad as blaming an entire race of people for the acts of a single individual. If you don't believe he did anything for a second, then consider what might be going on when a neighbor calls the police to deal with a man banging on their door. Is it really so hard to believe that he might have been intoxicated and/or mentally compromised to the point where he was scaring people. Is it further so unbelievable that he might have directed that behavior towards police who are specifically trained to deal with unruly or uncontrolled individuals? It's happened to some very famous people. Why does it surprise you that it might happen to one of our own?

by Nrsolis 11y ago

purplerabbit 11y ago

Agreed. He was definitely in a manic state, the poor guy.

Nrsolis 11y ago
From http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/30/ian_murdock_debian_founder/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/30/ian_murdock_debian_f... "According to the San Francisco police, officers were called to Steiner and Union St in the city at 11.30pm on Saturday, December 26, following reports of a man trying to break into a home – that man was identified as Ian Murdock. He reportedly fought with the cops, and was given a ticket for two counts of assault and one for obstruction of an officer. The techie had been drinking, according to the police logs. A medic arrived to treat an abrasion to Murdock's forehead, and he was released so he could be taken to hospital. A few hours later, on Sunday, December 27 at 2.40am, police were called again to reports of Murdock banging on the door of a neighbor at the very same block. A medic arrived to treat him for any injuries at the scene. Next, the cops took Murdock to the county jail where he was held in a cell. Murdock was bailed later that day, on Sunday, after a bond, said to be $25,000, was paid. He died the next day."

SwellJoe 11y ago

Bullshit. Police beat the shit out of people, unprovoked, every day. They murder 12 year old boys without hesitation (Tamir Rice). They'll kill a woman in her jail cell because she knew her rights and tried to exercise them (Sandra Bland). They'll chase down (stealing a car to make the chase more exciting) and execute an innocent man because he happens to be black and trying to go into the bank where he has an account (Larry Jackson, Jr.). I could type all day and not finish the list of unarmed people who did nothing wrong who are dead by the hands of cops. The number who've been beaten by police is astronomically higher. Ian is a well-known quantity, and what we know is that he was extraordinarily kind and generous. I don't believe for a second that he did anything to deserve to have a police officer beat him up. Not all police are vicious bullies, but I'm more willing to believe Ian had the misfortune to cross paths with a vicious bully than I am to believe he deserved being beaten up.

res0nat0r 11y ago
Ignoring all the nonsense from the first paragraph above, it is most likely he was having some major mental issues just due to the tweets linked here. The police were called by someone worried about him, and he is taking his anger out on them and blaming them for intervening. There is nothing in the local papers about this so far, which is usually on par unfortunately with suicide. Sad to see another person gone due to unfortunate mental/emotional issues.
- Eleutheria 11y ago
  You're a fucking shill trying to impose a suicide situation when it was clearly a police murder.
  - dang 11y ago
    We've banned this account for breaking the HN guidelines. If you don't want it to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com.
- cthalupa 11y ago
  >is most likely he was having some major mental issues just due to the tweets linked here I don't think we're in any position whatsoever to say this. Was he experiencing major mental issues when he wrote the tweets? Probably. Are such mental issues feasible to occur due to abuse at the hands of police? Sure. Is it also feasible that such mental issues could result in routine policework seeming like abuse? Yes. There's not enough information available to us for it to be anything but irresponsible to speculate on whether this mental condition was the cause or the effect of whatever it was that occurred with the police.
RapLyricsFTW 11y ago
Yeah, your first paragraph will fall on deaf ears here. All white tech nerds.
Nrsolis 11y ago
Right now, all we have is his statements that he was treated roughly by the police. The police handle quite literally millions of interactions with the public every year. Ascribing some sort of persistent malice to them as a group is as bad as blaming an entire race of people for the acts of a single individual. If you don't believe he did anything for a second, then consider what might be going on when a neighbor calls the police to deal with a man banging on their door. Is it really so hard to believe that he might have been intoxicated and/or mentally compromised to the point where he was scaring people. Is it further so unbelievable that he might have directed that behavior towards police who are specifically trained to deal with unruly or uncontrolled individuals? It's happened to some very famous people. Why does it surprise you that it might happen to one of our own?