BART Shooting

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Mike and I have had to close or delete several threads about this incident which is a shame. Many thoughtful comments were lost because there were those calling for the execution and lynching of the officer involved.

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!

Do I think the officer will ultimately face criminal charges? Based upon the video evidence I have seen so far, YES I DO.

Would I allow a frank discussion of the issue? YES I WOULD.

Will I tolerate these kinds of comments? NOT A CHANCE.

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Thanks for doing that; those threads were getting out of hand.

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centsi wrote:

Thanks for doing that; those threads were getting out of hand.

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The extremists making us all look bad? Nooo! Never! :lol:

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jpierce wrote:

Mike and I have had to close or delete several threads about this incident which is a shame. Many thoughtful comments were lost because there were those calling for the execution and lynching of the officer involved.

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!

Do I think the officer will ultimately face criminal charges? Based upon the video evidence I have seen so far, YES I DO.

Would I allow a frank discussion of the issue? YES I WOULD.

Will I tolerate these kinds of comments? NOT A CHANCE.

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My apologies once again...I started the thread but it was with good intentions to discuss what happened. Maybe sometime later on a discussion can take place that would not be latent with such immaturity.

Cave

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thanks for closing those threads down.

its an insult to lump hard working honest heros like me into with these rouge individual officers.

we put our bodies and emotions in the line of fire for the people we protect every night we're on the beat.

god bless me

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I apologize for my comments in several of the threads. They were in fact sarcasm, but I go too far with that occasionally.

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Closing them would be better, then we could just copy/paste our intelligent post to the new discussion.

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PaulBlart wrote:

thanks for closing those threads down.

its an insult to lump hard working honest heros like me into with these route individual officers.

we put our bodies and emotions in the line of fire for the people we protect every night we're on the beat.

god bless me

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Go home Johnny.

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jpierce wrote:

Mike and I have had to close or delete several threads about this incident which is a shame. Many thoughtful comments were lost because there were those calling for the execution and lynching of the officer involved.

THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!

Do I think the officer will ultimately face criminal charges? Based upon the video evidence I have seen so far, YES I DO.

Would I allow a frank discussion of the issue? YES I WOULD.

Will I tolerate these kinds of comments? NOT A CHANCE.

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+1

I support your decision100%

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The video certainly seems to scream murder. Victim on the ground, shot in the back.

Very bad precedent not arresting the shooter. Makes it seem like a two tier system with no justice for those in the lower tier.

Maybe it was a mistake, but whether it is murder or manslaughter is a job for the jury. Tasers are not an appropriate tool for the police. Many are killed by the continued over use of the weapons and poor training of police in their use.

Riots will continue to harm the community until the public sees that the police are not above the law.

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Thundar wrote:

The video certainly seems to scream murder. Victim on the ground, shot in the back.

Very bad precedent not arresting the shooter. Makes it seem like a two tier system with no justice for those in the lower tier.

Maybe it was a mistake, but whether it is murder or manslaughter is a job for the jury. Tasers are not an appropriate tool for the police. Many are killed by the continued over use of the weapons and poor training of police in their use.

Riots will continue to harm the community until the public sees that the police are not above the law.

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Not speaking to Thundar specifically, but -


On the surface you are correct, but video is not always what it appears to be at first to the untrained viewer. For one thing a cell phone misses some of the action because of the frame capture rate. Also it is not full frame video, so it is of severely reduced resolution. It is in compressed format further degrading what is in the image. Then all of us are viewing it on the Internet, and where it is sent to your computer to play in a 3x4" inch or lessbox. Under those conditions what you see in the video can be quite deceptive.

I agree with everyone else here that there are some serious problems based on what we know at this time.

But I do know this.

I know the person personally who will likelyprocess all the video, and that person DOES NOT work for the police department or the BART authority. I know the person to be of the highest personal and professional integrity, and ethical background. They will NOT be bullied by anyone to reach a conclusion not support by the evidence. There will be no white washing or cover up. The evidence will be allowed to speak either for or against those involved.

So all I ask is for everyone to wait until ALL the evidence comes out before anyone judges these people.

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To me the video screams accident. His body language before the shot did not look to me like someone thinking about shooting somebody and after the shot his body language was definately that of someone who really wishes they could have the last five seconds of their life back.

The only ear witness I've heard said that, right before the shot, the suspect was basically saying "Don't Tase me, bro", one of the officers appears to let go right before the shot like he was expecting a Tase to happen, and no one has given me a logical reason for the officer to suddenly decide to blatantly murder somebody who was clearly not a threat in front of dozens of witnesses.

I agree that some departments misuse Tasers, from what I saw in the video this guy looked pretty much under control and Tasing him would have been abusive, but I disagree with the idea that Tasers can't be a useful police tool. Sure bad things can happen with Tasers, but anytime police have to arrest an actively resisting person bad things happen.

All that said, police should not be above the law. This guy killed somebody, on tape, through IMO incredible negligence. They should probably charge this guy with negligent homicide or something like that and let a jury sort it out.

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Thundar wrote:

Riots will continue to harm the community until the public sees that the police are not above the law.

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I've never fully understood the whole "let's burn down our neighborhood and trash everything" rational for protesting something that was done by someone that doesn't live anywhere nearthe neighborhood involved. Why do people trash their own place to get even with someone from somewhere else? Not that I want them to go elsewhere and trash that place, it's just, what does it do to destroy your own neighborhood?

Frequently this is followed by cries for help because of economic depression in the same area. Why can't they see why businesses would not want to come to their neighborhood? They already burned out the last ones who came in.

A far more effective approach would be a peaceful march to City Hall, or the StateCapitol, like civil rights marches of the past. This still gets the attention that is necessary, but it leaves the neighborhood still intact. This would also allow for reporters to get up close and interview the people to get them on TV, present them in a good light, and show that these law abiding citizens deserve better treatment.

Rioting makes the people involved look like a bunch of thugs and punks. Of course, the government frequently gives in to the riots like an over indulgent parent giving in to a spoiled child's tantrum, so I guess that I've just answered my own question.

I suspect that the rioters are in truth, less concerned with the injustice, and more in just using it as an excuse to trash the neighborhood.

Sorry about the rant, it just drives me a little crazy.:cuss:

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I've watched the video. Suspect was in cuffs... numerous 'police 'warm bodies' involved. 'Appears that this officer wanted to get a 'lick' in and tase the man. (Unnecessary IMHO) Cop was excited... drew the 'wrong' weapon. I dunno HOW one could do that... but he definaltely shot him in the back at close range for no legitimate reason. I'm certain a jury will decide his fate.

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PaulBlart wrote:

thanks for closing those threads down.

its an insult to lump hard working honest heros like me into with these route individual officers.

we put our bodies and emotions in the line of fire for the people we protect every night we're on the beat.

god bless me

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Oh pul-eeeze! I was a 'real' cop... You look like a housecat donut depository in comparison. Anyone who callsthemselves a 'hero'... ain't.

"god bless me"(?) What'd you do... sneeze from the powdered sugar?

BTW... "God" is always capitalized.

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Sonora Rebel wrote:

PaulBlart wrote:

thanks for closing those threads down.

its an insult to lump hard working honest heros like me into with these route individual officers.

we put our bodies and emotions in the line of fire for the people we protect every night we're on the beat.

god bless me

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Oh pul-eeeze! I was a 'real' cop... You look like a housecat donut depository in comparison. Anyone who callsthemselves a 'hero'... ain't.

"god bless me"(?) What'd you do... sneeze from the powdered sugar?

BTW... "God" is always capitalized.

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don't trivialize my honored profession

i've saved lives. how many have you saved?

here is me in action, keeping this man safe.

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Sonora Rebel wrote:

PaulBlart wrote:

thanks for closing those threads down.

its an insult to lump hard working honest heros like me into with these route individual officers.

we put our bodies and emotions in the line of fire for the people we protect every night we're on the beat.

god bless me

Click to expand...

Oh pul-eeeze! I was a 'real' cop... You look like a housecat donut depository in comparison. Anyone who callsthemselves a 'hero'... ain't.

"god bless me"(?) What'd you do... sneeze from the powdered sugar?

BTW... "God" is always capitalized.

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Just FYI.

Paul Blart is a character in the new movie "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" that is a theater near you right now.

The particular person now using that name here, has been banned under other handles in the past and is now trying to fly under the radar. He is actually a "20 something" who has trolled the forum under at least the two previoushandles of"JonnyB", and "MrBiggles". Both of those handles are now banned, and I expect "PaulBlart" will not be far behind.

(Watch this space and you will see what I mean)

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Hawkflyer wrote:

So all I ask is for everyone to wait until ALL the evidence comes out before anyone judges these people.

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See there you go again,saying that we keep our opinions to ourselves. What is is with you wanting to muzzle our freedom of speech ?

I've seen "8" Different, video's of this shooting incident. You don't have to be some super sneaky LEO, who is a highly trained video watcher to know that, an unarmed man, was shot and killed, while lying face down.

An innocent man also has no need to quit his job. It's sad, but the man knows what he did was wrong. Whether it be an accident or not. I do believe it to be an accident, just a very costly one. Costly for him and his poor family.


I say theLEO went for histazer, pulled out his piece, fired, then his body language shows his suprise.

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Dustin wrote:

Hawkflyer wrote:

So all I ask is for everyone to wait until ALL the evidence comes out before anyone judges these people.

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I say theLEO went for histazer, pulled out his piece, fired, then his body language shows his suprise.

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you're most likely correct.

but the sad part is... this is happened many times... and i believe everytime the LEO has not had any charges brought against him.

it would be AT LEAST man slaughter for any "normal" person.

but heros like me get a pass, our job is hard you know

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Heh... 'ReckonI been had. 'Ain't been to a 'walk-in' movie since '98, soI don't pay much attention to that stuff.

But actually... I've saved lives (temporarily) 4 times. I say temprorarily 'causeI only prolonged their dyin' by a dayor less. They were pretty far gone.