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To the 4 white male policemen who beat me for checking the health of [detainee]

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Re: To the 4 white male policemen who beat me for checking the health of [detainee]

#31

Post by lingben »

gozur88 wrote: post #27
dleslie wrote: post #4

This is why I teach my children never to speak to police officers, to avoid them as much as possible, and to leave the area should they become visibly present. And I live in Canada; when I travel to the USA on business I stay in the hotel or the venue and restrict my traveling as much as possible. I don't fear the citizens, I fear the police.

Frankly, you've allowed yourself to fall prey to US election year propaganda. If you look at the numbers you're very safe travelling in the US, and to the extent you're in danger it's from criminals and not police.

The problem as I see it is that while 99% of police officers are not only law abiding and do their job with integrity, the 1% out there can and do destroy innocent lives. It is like walking into a mine field. You could very well walk out unscathed but one 'routine' brush with the wrong police officer and your life may never recover. So are you willing to take such a small but catastrophic chance? An intelligent person would do all they can to minimize the risk.

Re: To the 4 white male policemen who beat me for checking the health of [detainee]

#32

Post by koenigdavidmj »

powertower wrote: post #14

Wait for the evidence, and the other side of the story, before making a judgment. The last 9 out of 10 of these types of stories turned out to be completely hoaxed on the part of the victim.

I can write the other side for you right now, the same as the last few dozen times this type of thing happened: "We investigated ourselves, and found ourselves free of fault. The man in question was acting suspiciously and interfering with us protecting you. Our officers have to make snap judgments about circumstances like whether a suspicious person's ID is fake; they shouldn't be tried with perfect hindsight."

Re: To the 4 white male policemen who beat me for checking the health of [detainee]

#34

Post by moheeb »

dleslie wrote: post #4

This is why I teach my children never to speak to police officers, to avoid them as much as possible, and to leave the area should they become visibly present. And I live in Canada; when I travel to the USA on business I stay in the hotel or the venue and restrict my traveling as much as possible. I don't fear the citizens, I fear the police.

That sounds ridiculous to me.

Do you use a paper towel so that you don't have to touch the door handle on your way out of the bathroom, too?

Re: To the 4 white male policemen who beat me for checking the health of [detainee]

#35

Post by powertower »

wfo wrote: post #28
joesmo wrote: post #13

I'm sorry that this happened to the author, but the author has no common sense whatsoever. In addition to suing these officers and the police department, he should probably consider getting some common sense and never approaching a police officer again. I mean, seriously, what did he expect would happen? That they would let him check the suspect? That's so incredibly far-fetched and ridiculous, I cannot even imagine…

"Common sense" is only common to the people who know it already. There are plenty of people who think the vast majority of the police are public servants trying to do their job, serve and protect. Maybe they're right. Some are. I've had good interactions with police officers and bad ones. The author was trying to do the right thing and maybe save someone's life. If a woman screams for help in a dark alley, it isn't c…

He witnessed white cops and a handcuffed black male who he claims was possibly muttering to himself.

No one was beating anyone, no one was bleeding out.

Common-sense is he interfered and made the situation worse.

Re: To the 4 white male policemen who beat me for checking the health of [detainee]

#36

Post by wfo »

mdadm wrote: post #15

Why does "white"/"male" matter? I understand that this is potentially a very contentious question, but I genuinely don't understand why those are listed in the title, or why "white" was the first in a list of insulting words used at the end of the article.

I think the tacit claim made by the article was that the entire interaction was almost entirely race-driven, suggesting that:

1) The person he tried to help would not have been accosted by police if he were white

2) The author would not have been beaten and abused if he were white.

3) Perhaps neither would have happened if the officers were not white.

As the story fits in with the over-arching narrative of so many police departments across the country being explicitly or implicitly racist and heaping brutal unspeakable abuse and murder on nonwhite populations.

I think all 3 explanations above are plausible, but there's certainly enough police brutality floating around out there that white people can get their fair share as well. And nonwhite officers can certainly dish it out.

Re: To the 4 white male policemen who beat me for checking the health of [detainee]

#37

Post by oconnore »

powertower wrote: post #25
mdadm wrote: post #15

Why does "white"/"male" matter? I understand that this is potentially a very contentious question, but I genuinely don't understand why those are listed in the title, or why "white" was the first in a list of insulting words used at the end of the article.

What really gets to me is the fact that white societies are the number #1 immigration destinations for non-whites, and are entirely responsible for this person's opportunities and high standards of living. Yet all he sees is white racism. edit: since I can't reply anymore; to that one person... You've missed the point entirely. 1. You don't know that race had anything to do with what happened. All you have is one sid…

But he's probably right (and he's certainly the most qualified to comment on this incident). I'm pretty sure if I had walked up and said, "Is everything all right? I'm a medical doctor in case you need a hand with anything." the situation would have gone much differently.

Furthermore, even if he isn't right, there is plenty of evidence of a growing white nationalism/racism in this country that the article wouldn't be any less relevant if you could somehow prove that these four particular officers are not racist.

Re: To the 4 white male policemen who beat me for checking the health of [detainee]

#38

Post by roflchoppa »

trungonnews wrote: post #21
roflchoppa wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

when i had to pay a ticket at the santa clara court house the cops there are a bunch of smart asses. Except for that black cop who was at the door, he was very helpful.

Agree, officers of color are usually nicer. The Asian cop who helped me retrieve the impound release paperwork was nice to me. Even waived the $100 paper work fee. But I'm still pissed about the whole situation. Wasted three hours and $300 because of some cop decided to arrest a sober person to kill time rather than patrolling the street and catching the real criminals. Edit: had to change colored to officers of colo…

What a complete waste of time, impound lots are even worse, i assume they did not give you an opportunity to call someone to get your car.

No breathalyzer on spot?

Re: To the 4 white male policemen who beat me for checking the health of [detainee]

#39

Post by MichaelGG »

dleslie wrote: post #4

This is why I teach my children never to speak to police officers, to avoid them as much as possible, and to leave the area should they become visibly present. And I live in Canada; when I travel to the USA on business I stay in the hotel or the venue and restrict my traveling as much as possible. I don't fear the citizens, I fear the police.

Are you exaggerating or are you seriously concerned that the police will harm you? No matter what your race/gender/color/face/etc., citizens are far more dangerous. There's simply tons of them. Even in the US, this whole police-violence thing is a bit of a red herring. Yes, it's terrible, police need to be checked more, etc. But no, it's not a "massacre" or remotely the top reason someone will be killed.

Re: To the 4 white male policemen who beat me for checking the health of [detainee]

#40

Post by soneil »

cmdrfred wrote: post #16
soneil wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's always made me sad. My ex was American - when we moved to Ireland, I made a habit of routinely (once a week or so) asking random policemen for directions to places, just to teach her that they're entirely approachable here. The closest thing we had to a bad experience, was one chap who took it upon himself to walk with us until we could see our destination, just to make sure we found it. I'd only wanted to was…

In some rural communities this is how the police behave in the US. I've seen police changing tires for people near my house countless times for example.

I lived in rural Michigan for a few years. I knew every city cop by first name (very small city. like "how on earth to do you call that a city" small), and it'd generally fit that description. But the sheriff, state police and tribal police .. wide berth.

Obviously anecdotal so I can't disagree with you. Just that my experience of rural police was a mixed bag. Black uniform good. Blue uniform bad. Brown uniform really bad.

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