4 ms·

With the best possible motives, the goal of a story like this is to apply pressure on the police department to discipline officers who fail to exercise due care

by dbt00 5y ago

With the best possible motives, the goal of a story like this is to apply pressure on the police department to discipline officers who fail to exercise due care when dealing with the public. Here two officers tazed someone who couldn't hear them and held them in jail for 4 months because one of them fell and broke their leg while trying to jump the poor kid who, again, couldn't hear them. One of the officers was later fired for excessive force. Maybe if they'd handled this situation better that second incident wouldn't have happened and some 75 year old man wouldn't have have been unnecessarily assaulted by government forces. Maybe with enough public pressure, we create a climate where officers are less likely to assault some guy with his hands up yelling "no ears" instead of throwing him in jail for 4 months for maybe rolling a stop sign.

SkipperCat 5y ago
Agreed. Until people understand how much power US police forces have and how poorly they regulate it, we need to keep seeing these articles. I hope, at some point, there will be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back and broad sweeping changes will occur. We do not need to get rid of policing, but we definitely need to change the way they treat the people they serve.
willcipriano 5y ago
>He was also charged with possession of forged currency, the suit says, because police found movie-prop money in his wallet. Maybe rolling a stop sign and having counterfeit money. They buried that part pretty far into the article.
- ianhawes 5y ago
  They discovered the counterfeit money after having assaulted the suspect. It has no bearing on the lawsuit.
- Afforess 5y ago
  Anyone handling a decent amount of cash might be carrying counterfeit money. Everyone rolls through stop signs. You could arrest 5% of America on those two things any given day.
- Scalestein 5y ago
  Well the charges were dropped so evidently not a big enough deal to actually prosecute him. Regardless are either of those offenses reason to tazer and tackle the perpetrator who isn't actively resisting?
  - willcipriano 5y ago
    That bit of spin makes me question the rest of the story frankly. I'd like to see how this case shakes out, I feel like I'm missing something.
  - jollybean 5y ago
    " to tazer and tackle the perpetrator who isn't actively resisting? " He admitted to resisting in the article. You can see how changing one small fact completely changes the nature of the article. If police are trying to arrest you, and you fight back, that's a major escalation it almost puts 'the thing in question' they were pulled over for as a side show. And - he's deaf, he's not blind. The notion that 2 Police officers in uniform are upon you, and you can't tell they are police is a bit rich, it sounds like something made up by an attorney. 'Blinded by the light' would make sense when they were in their car or behind the lights. And certainly maybe he didn't recognize them or hear them at that time. But by the time the police are upon him, it would seem very well within reason that he knew they were police. That said, we don't quite know the details: maybe they came up on him from behind. Maybe they walked straight up to him and it was perfectly evident that they were cops. That nuance is really important, because 'resisting arrest' is a serious thing, and if he did in fact know they were police, and he fought them, well then he's not going to have much of a defence in getting tased. If he was legitimately surprised then obviously some kind of reaction like that is warranted. All of that said, why was he in prison for 4 months, that seems very bad.
- renewiltord 5y ago
  Counterfeit money? It’s movie prop cash. That shit is obvious. I have some from a long forgotten marketing joke. “Counterfeit money” lmao what a joke. Online commenters are so big on this legalese upgrade business. This guy had some joke currency on him and it’s now “counterfeit money”. Next thing you know you’re going to be calling kids using twigs to play cops and robbers “brandishing replica firearms”. Oh oh, I know, we could call water balloons “simulated improvised explosive devices”. Coffee pods? “Psychoactive drugs”. “Counterfeit money” hahahaha. I declare your comment “domestically sourced misinformation”.
  - flavius29663 5y ago
    AFAIK a kid can get in trouble at school for using a twig as a pretend gun. https://www.newsweek.com/boy-13-who-drew-stickman-holding-gun-suspended-school-over-doodle-861680 https://www.newsweek.com/boy-13-who-drew-stickman-holding-gu... Also, coffee really is a powerful drug, just that it's not regulated.
    - renewiltord 5y ago
      Interesting that you are “spreading knowledge about unregulated use of psychoactive drugs and assault weapons”. Clearly something to be ashamed of.
- LocalH 5y ago
  "movie-prop money" You do realize that movie-prop money is clearly identifiable, and only meant to "look" like real money from a distance, and this is completely legal to possess until it is attempted to be passed as tender. If they have no evidence he was doing so, then this is just "hmm what charges can we throw at him" bullshit that is regularly employed in the US to trump up one incident to a whole list of charges.
  - willcipriano 5y ago
    Understand that this story is entirely one sided. That's what his lawyer framed this as, movie prop money, who knows what it actually was. The article has a ton of spin, did you get the part where they mentioned off have that he may of broken one of the police officers legs? They glossed over that fairly quickly, maybe interview the cop who had his leg broken as well? I just don't understand the motivations of the police officers in this case, they just wanted to beat this guy up because they are big meanies? Just picked his car out and said "I want to use the taser on this random guy"? It couldn't have been due to his disability as it isn't visible to someone in another car. I feel like a lot of detail is missing from this account.

by dbt00 5y ago

SkipperCat 5y ago

Agreed. Until people understand how much power US police forces have and how poorly they regulate it, we need to keep seeing these articles. I hope, at some point, there will be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back and broad sweeping changes will occur. We do not need to get rid of policing, but we definitely need to change the way they treat the people they serve.

willcipriano 5y ago

>He was also charged with possession of forged currency, the suit says, because police found movie-prop money in his wallet. Maybe rolling a stop sign and having counterfeit money. They buried that part pretty far into the article.

ianhawes 5y ago
They discovered the counterfeit money after having assaulted the suspect. It has no bearing on the lawsuit.
Afforess 5y ago
Anyone handling a decent amount of cash might be carrying counterfeit money. Everyone rolls through stop signs. You could arrest 5% of America on those two things any given day.
Scalestein 5y ago
Well the charges were dropped so evidently not a big enough deal to actually prosecute him. Regardless are either of those offenses reason to tazer and tackle the perpetrator who isn't actively resisting?
- willcipriano 5y ago
  That bit of spin makes me question the rest of the story frankly. I'd like to see how this case shakes out, I feel like I'm missing something.
- jollybean 5y ago
  " to tazer and tackle the perpetrator who isn't actively resisting? " He admitted to resisting in the article. You can see how changing one small fact completely changes the nature of the article. If police are trying to arrest you, and you fight back, that's a major escalation it almost puts 'the thing in question' they were pulled over for as a side show. And - he's deaf, he's not blind. The notion that 2 Police officers in uniform are upon you, and you can't tell they are police is a bit rich, it sounds like something made up by an attorney. 'Blinded by the light' would make sense when they were in their car or behind the lights. And certainly maybe he didn't recognize them or hear them at that time. But by the time the police are upon him, it would seem very well within reason that he knew they were police. That said, we don't quite know the details: maybe they came up on him from behind. Maybe they walked straight up to him and it was perfectly evident that they were cops. That nuance is really important, because 'resisting arrest' is a serious thing, and if he did in fact know they were police, and he fought them, well then he's not going to have much of a defence in getting tased. If he was legitimately surprised then obviously some kind of reaction like that is warranted. All of that said, why was he in prison for 4 months, that seems very bad.
renewiltord 5y ago
Counterfeit money? It’s movie prop cash. That shit is obvious. I have some from a long forgotten marketing joke. “Counterfeit money” lmao what a joke. Online commenters are so big on this legalese upgrade business. This guy had some joke currency on him and it’s now “counterfeit money”. Next thing you know you’re going to be calling kids using twigs to play cops and robbers “brandishing replica firearms”. Oh oh, I know, we could call water balloons “simulated improvised explosive devices”. Coffee pods? “Psychoactive drugs”. “Counterfeit money” hahahaha. I declare your comment “domestically sourced misinformation”.
- flavius29663 5y ago
  AFAIK a kid can get in trouble at school for using a twig as a pretend gun. https://www.newsweek.com/boy-13-who-drew-stickman-holding-gun-suspended-school-over-doodle-861680 https://www.newsweek.com/boy-13-who-drew-stickman-holding-gu... Also, coffee really is a powerful drug, just that it's not regulated.
  - renewiltord 5y ago
    Interesting that you are “spreading knowledge about unregulated use of psychoactive drugs and assault weapons”. Clearly something to be ashamed of.
LocalH 5y ago
"movie-prop money" You do realize that movie-prop money is clearly identifiable, and only meant to "look" like real money from a distance, and this is completely legal to possess until it is attempted to be passed as tender. If they have no evidence he was doing so, then this is just "hmm what charges can we throw at him" bullshit that is regularly employed in the US to trump up one incident to a whole list of charges.
- willcipriano 5y ago
  Understand that this story is entirely one sided. That's what his lawyer framed this as, movie prop money, who knows what it actually was. The article has a ton of spin, did you get the part where they mentioned off have that he may of broken one of the police officers legs? They glossed over that fairly quickly, maybe interview the cop who had his leg broken as well? I just don't understand the motivations of the police officers in this case, they just wanted to beat this guy up because they are big meanies? Just picked his car out and said "I want to use the taser on this random guy"? It couldn't have been due to his disability as it isn't visible to someone in another car. I feel like a lot of detail is missing from this account.