McKinney Texas pool party?

by Marvin Shilmer 305 Replies latest social current

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  Laika

  Luhe, I think the former officer should be charged with assault, I think this because there seems to be good evidence that he committed assault and I don't believe police officers should be above the law, or that there should be exceptions for when the victim is black.
  Re: authority, it's too broad a question to answer simply, as someone who wears eye glasses and takes them off when swimming, I think I would also be unhappy to leave a scene without my property and with no good reason to do so, though as a white man it is unlikely that I would have been assaulted for this.
• 

  LoveUniHateExams

  @Laika

  Officers are allowed to use appropriate force to physically restrain someone that refuses to comply with orders. Granted, the officer lost control and should be disciplined. Should he be sacked?

  'Re: authority, it's too broad a question to answer simply' - interesting reply. You imply that in some situations US citizens needn't respect authority and comply with orders. So, let's reverse the situation: in some situations, US officers needn't respect US citizens. Would you go along with that?
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  Marvin Shilmer

  The girl was hesitant to leave because she wanted to pick up her glasses.

  And the police officer wanted to protect everyone's safety in response to an emergency call of a large crowd of teenagers and violence, oh and he had no idea how many weapons might be in this crowd.

  The bikini gal was clueless when it comes to priorities. She was about herself. The police officer was about everyone else's safety.

  I get an impression that some find themselves unable to look at this incident through the eyes of someone who's drive and duty is to protect public safety and find themselves dropped into the middle of a crowd that is out of control and they have no idea who might have done what in terms of violence or criminal conduct. I can tell you personally, one of the last things of concern to me would be whether someone lost their glasses. Ultimately I'd be more than happy to help someone find their lost glasses, and would find pleasure in doing so. But in the moment of trying to restore order to protect public safety I'd find it a hindrance to have to keep giving the same instruction to the same person over and over again when her safety and the safety of others might be in much greater jeopardy from dangers yet realized.

  Folks have every right to be upset about bad police work they've been exposed to. But we should refrain from transposing those experiences onto others (like the McKinney pool party incident) by presuming they are similar in terms of what officers were thinking and why. When I look at the video I see the officer at issue working hard, and not for himself. I'm sure he'd rather not be running around in hot, humid weather after some teenager that probably a lot more fit than he is. I'm sure he'd rather not be in the middle of a street where cars are known to go to and fro talking on his radio being distracted by lots of meandering, running and gawking teens. I'm sure he'd much rather be doing just about anything else. But he's there. He's there, and he's working to protect public safety. He's working. The bikini clad gal is playing. The priority was safety; not her glasses. She should have obeyed instructions from the officer. She could have sat down, or she could have left the scene. She did neither.
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  zombie dub

  officers of the law have authority over citizens, and so can make reasonable demands of those citizens.

  Officers are citizens, and also public servants. They have no authority over the public *unless* someone is committing or suspected of committing a crime. Slamming someone to the ground and handcuffing them is only an appropriate response if someone is committing or suspected of committing a serious crime. Pretty obvious to anyone with eyes this was not the case

  What do you think should happen to the officer?

  Fired and tried for assault. The USA is so messed up no doubt people will praise him though
• 

  Marvin Shilmer

  The Italian police preyed on the black community this way. The stories could go on and on.

  When I was a boy we once lived for several years in a community comprised nearly entirely of black families. As a white kid I was a minority in that neighborhood. I found myself preyed upon by black kids in the neighborhood. I often had to run home from where I was playing to avoid being beat on by groups of black boys. I had a two mile walk to school. Every morning and every afternoon. I had to constantly change my route because black kids would wait for me to push me around and see what i had on me of value. For being white.

  You tell me: Should I look at all other situations through the lens of that experience, as though blacks are out to get the whites? I don't think so, and I hope I'm right!

  The McKinney pool party incident is not Newark, New Jersey.
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  paulmolark

  "Officers are citizens, and also public servants."

  Not in the USofA

  Officers are demi-gods in the united states along with former military veterans. In the eyes of the 40 - 80 year olds they are to be praised regardless of their actions. Especially in the Southern States and the Mid-West
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  Marvin Shilmer

  They have no authority over the public *unless* someone is committing or suspected of committing a crime.

  In every jurisdiction I'm familiar with there are laws against interfering with the work of a police officer. If someone is interfering with the work of a police officer that person is subject to being contained, probably by having them sit down or, if deemed necessary, cuffed. If in this instance an individual repeatedly fails to respond as instructed a police officer will likely act to cuff the person and, if there is any resistance, force will be met with equal-plus force until the interference is contained.
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  paulmolark

  " As a white kid I was a minority in that neighborhood. I found myself preyed upon by black kids in the neighborhood."

  Those were kids... not police officers. However if you want to do this we can. I was in Bethel and assigned to a congregation in Flatbush. Same thing happened there. I lived the first 9 years of my life in North Carolina. Family moved back to the North because of prejudice.

  I now live in an upper-class neighborhood in Florida where we are the only black family. It happens here as well. If you have read any of my previous posts. I have brothers and sister in-laws from another country who felt that Black Americans always complain about things like this. They are both upper-class families living in an upper-class neighborhood outside the capitol. After being here for a number of years they have also experienced this and remarked how they were extremely wrong.

  So regardless of it being Newark, Brooklyn upper class neighborhoods in Florida or suburbs outside of DC or lower class inter-racial cities in NC it has happened. Family members from the West-Indies who moved to this country and have lived in Chicago and suburbs outside the capitol it has happened.

  So the point here is that it doesn't matter. Discrimination is there regardless of ones station in life. There is no way to explain to your child that things are fair. There is no explaining to her friends why her dad was pulled over in front of his own home because the officer did not believe he lived in his home etc... etc...

  We just learn to deal with it. However once people start getting hurt things kind of change
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  zombie dub

  Not in the USofA

  I did google what I stated before posting, and from reputable sources and Wikipedia from that I could make out that was the case. But I don't live there, so I fully admit that I have no great knowledge of the system.

  Regardless of the laws, from the perspective of a human being, It is completely f***ed up that an officer can assault and handcuff a young girl for pretty much nothing though, and that be fine because "he has authority". I say again, the USA is an Orwellian, totalitarian police state.
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  Marvin Shilmer

  "Officers are citizens, and also public servants."

  Not in the USofA

  Officers are demi-gods in the united states along with former military veterans. In the eyes of the 40 - 80 year olds they are to be praised regardless of their actions. Especially in the Southern States and the Mid-West

  Painting police officers and the general public with that broad brush is ridiculous.