Ferguson

[Wokko]

Surprised this issue hasn't come up at all around here. Pretty terrible situation, especially for the people of a city that's just exploded. Pretty open and shut case as far as I can see, but there seems to be a lot of people who think the Police officer did the wrong thing.

Considering his testimony and that of several eye witnesses matched up exactly I can't understand the fury that's engulfed the black community or the support for the man who was shot (beyond sadness that a man died and wishing he'd made better choices in life).

Here's an eyewitness interview from a man who came forward.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1370930-interview-witness-10.html

Here's Darren Wilson's account (from a mainstream news source)

http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/darren-wilson-testimony-why-i-shot-michael-brown/story-fnh81jut-1227135124350

So as far as I can see Brown attacked the Officer in his car, tried to grab his gun and two shots went off, Officer Wilson called for back up and then pursued Brown who turned and charged him. He then fired until Brown stopped, then when he started towards him again continued firing until Brown went down.

There seems to be a large section of the media who are happily causing mischief, reporting in biased ways to try and elicit anger in the black community in order to cause more trouble. If someone else has a different take on this I'd be interested to hear it. Not being immersed in the racially tense culture of the USA it's hard to understand.

[David]

There was this thread here a few months back:

http://magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.php?p=1511124

To be honest, I haven't followed it that closely. I guess this is probably the ideal starting point:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Ferguson_unrest

[Culprit]

If you are Black and Live in Ferguson you are three times more likely not to have a job. That then makes Blacks more likely to commit a crime and therefore more likely to run into the Police who are trigger happy. The USA Police Mantra is to shoot if you feel threatened. The riots are merely an excuse for people who are bored and have nothing better to do.

[Wokko]

[Tannin]

Was this the one I saw the video of a while back? If so, it was indeed an open and shut case - in Australia, or any other civilised country, the policemen would have been instantly stood down and would now be facing murder charges. With decent luck, he'd get away with a guilty plea for manslaughter.

Or was that a completely different incident?

[Wokko]

[Tannin]

^ Complete garbage there from you, Wokko. One of your dumbest all-time posts. In fact, I have not seen or read any particular coverage of it from The Age, or the ABC, or the Hearald-Scum or anywhere else, at least not to remember.

I have, however, seen a full-length video of the shooting, taken on a bystander's phone, which was posted on You-tube, and (if this is in fact the same shooting) you couldn't get a much clear example of absurdly unjustifiable murder by the officer.

[David]

I think you might be thinking of the Fruitvale Station incident, Tannin.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/21/fruitvale-station-oscar-grant-trial-settlement

Still, these things happen so regularly over there that it's easy to get confused.

And people wonder why the local African-American community are so angry about this.

[Jezza]

[Tannin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmzkOXji6nw

[Wokko]

Not the case I'm referring to Tannin, but I've done my best to research it in the last 20 minutes or so.

Tough call on the cops there, I would say that having received calls about an unstable man with a knife who has just shoplifted the cops were on high alert. When the man didn't respond to commands and advanced on them saying "shoot me" they did just that.

I would think that the volume of fire is excessive and shows to me that cops in these areas are shit scared every time they get called out, of course I've never had to face a disturbed guy coming at me with a knife from 5 meters away before. A knife at that range is incredibly deadly, in fact within 12 feet a knife is a better weapon than a firearm.

I also wouldn't discount the possibility of suicide by cop, however it looks like fatal stupidity in not immediately discarding his weapon and not moving when the police arrived.

[David]

For me, the stupidity of the guy in question is irrelevant. He could be stark raving mad; it doesn't matter. The police are the professionals in that situation, and they're the ones holding firearms. They're not perfect and shouldn't be expected to be, but when a mistake has such grave consequences, it's reasonable to expect that they be accountable for their actions.

Use of lethal weaponry should only ever be an absolute last resort. Anything less and they should be culpable IMHO.

[Pies4shaw]

What's everyone think of the Brown family's lawyer's efforts over the last 24 hours? I'm setting this for you all as a professional ethics hypothetical.

[Wokko]

[pietillidie]

No comment on the specific incident as it's a media distraction from fanatical US social polarisation in all its glory.