31–40 of 137 posts
This was posted previously and drew a mountain (793) of comments [0], including mine [1]. 0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7233730 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7235079
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The police report is now posted in the story (it wasn't there when this was posted a few weeks ago after the incident). It sounds like the cops told him to leave (aka cross the street) and he didn't, so they pushed him down and cuffed him for refusing to leave. Sounds like excessive force to me, and wtf @ arresting him and putting him in jail for that. But really, it sounds like the whole thing could have been avoide…
They made a (EDIT: seemingly) nonsensical request and used his confusion as an excuse to abuse their discretionary powers. Sounds like a strategy they use to bag naive bystanders. Power tripping / stats-boosting, plain and simple.
> She turned to me and abruptly said that I was not needed as a witness and should leave immediately. "I then walked home." should have been the next line, and I'm fairly sure the author knows it. That doesn't excuse what the officers did, but it's not "being a good Samaritan" that backfired. Being nosy is the part that didn't end well. I'm not even sure the use of force wasn't justified - even in this immensely bias…
> Being nosy is the part that didn't end well. Neither did being obnoxious, I imagine: "I told them that it was an early stage startup; I’m doing this because I feel it’s a way to make the world around me better, to bring people joy through better food." I don't condone the violence and abuse of authority, obviously. But imagine being a cop, and having to deal with this at 1 am after a long day at work.
Here's the basic rule: as a police officer, you must be polite, fair, kind, and law-abiding, even if the public you deal with is rude, nasty, entitled, somewhat drunk, and otherwise unpleasant. Period. If you can't do that, you're in the wrong profession. And if the profession permits people who can't do that, the profession has systemic issues that need to be corrected.
How does "Hello Sir," imply that "Oh yeah, he’s going to be a problem."?
When cop 1 says to cop 2 "I think he's going to be a problem" cop 2 probably says "oh yeah, he's going to be a problem" regardless of what the suspect says.
The HN lens has certainly been showing the US police force in a bad light over the last year or so. What are the origins of this strange behaviour? Why is force regularly used against people that verbally query the police? Even the army is trained to use dialogue where possible. It does sound like cameras will help but surely good and regular training programs should encourage good engagement with citizens.
There's police corruption, etc. But there's also the fact that American cities are war zones. The homicide rate in San Francisco, a relatively safe city, is 8 times higher than the homicide rate in London. It's 31 times higher in Oakland. Police in the U.S. are surrounded by violence.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Being nosy is the part that didn't end well. Neither did being obnoxious, I imagine: "I told them that it was an early stage startup; I’m doing this because I feel it’s a way to make the world around me better, to bring people joy through better food." I don't condone the violence and abuse of authority, obviously. But imagine being a cop, and having to deal with this at 1 am after a long day at work.
And yet your reply condones the violence and abuse of authority. Why is that? Here's the basic rule: as a police officer, you must be polite, fair, kind, and law-abiding, even if the public you deal with is rude, nasty, entitled, somewhat drunk, and otherwise unpleasant. Period. If you can't do that, you're in the wrong profession. And if the profession permits people who can't do that, the profession has systemic is…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
TLDR: Guy calls 911 to report someone else's bicycle accident. When the cops turned up they decide to rough him up and stick him in solitary confinement over night. He reports doing nothing that could reasonably justify this.
He reports doing plenty that would unreasonably "justify" the response he received. The causal void that you object to (which would shed doubt on his story) simply doesn't exist.
I'm not sure how essentially "hanging around" justifies violent treatment, solitary confinement, etc. Perhaps you could explain?
> She turned to me and abruptly said that I was not needed as a witness and should leave immediately. "I then walked home." should have been the next line, and I'm fairly sure the author knows it. That doesn't excuse what the officers did, but it's not "being a good Samaritan" that backfired. Being nosy is the part that didn't end well. I'm not even sure the use of force wasn't justified - even in this immensely bias…
> "I then walked home." should have been the next line Unless it's against some kind of law for someone to observe police, you should know better than that. And seeing the way these animals acted, I'd say being concerned for the welfare of the downed biker is a perfectly legitimate reaction. > Being nosy is the part that didn't end well. Not illegal, and certainly not worth violent treatment and solitary confinement.…
You can't do that and expect to not get physically removed.
> She turned to me and abruptly said that I was not needed as a witness and should leave immediately. "I then walked home." should have been the next line, and I'm fairly sure the author knows it. That doesn't excuse what the officers did, but it's not "being a good Samaritan" that backfired. Being nosy is the part that didn't end well. I'm not even sure the use of force wasn't justified - even in this immensely bias…
Obviously the cops should have handled the situation better, but the mature response would be to walk away.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Being nosy is the part that didn't end well. Neither did being obnoxious, I imagine: "I told them that it was an early stage startup; I’m doing this because I feel it’s a way to make the world around me better, to bring people joy through better food." I don't condone the violence and abuse of authority, obviously. But imagine being a cop, and having to deal with this at 1 am after a long day at work.
And yet your reply condones the violence and abuse of authority. Why is that? Here's the basic rule: as a police officer, you must be polite, fair, kind, and law-abiding, even if the public you deal with is rude, nasty, entitled, somewhat drunk, and otherwise unpleasant. Period. If you can't do that, you're in the wrong profession. And if the profession permits people who can't do that, the profession has systemic is…