Curious FDC, do you think zero percent of these shootings were justified???
I guess it would depend upon what the barometer is as it relates to "justifiable homicide". I think there is plenty of reason to believe that law enforcement shoot and kill a disproportionate number of black men illegally and without fear of justice being enforced upon them and certainly not to the degree that those officers exacted upon their victims.
I do not believe that any of the above mentioned killings was anything less than murder. I believe the department used its resources to distort and cover up the evidence in order to protect the officers. All murder doesn't have to be pre-meditated.
In the Rodney King case, the public saw the entire video of what happened as well as the jury. I saw the video and I was much younger then but even at that time there was no doubt in my mind that the video evidence clearly showed excessive force. Upon hearing of the acquittal the statement made to the public as to the reason for the acquittal was that we, the public, didn't see the video frame by frame, therefore we couldn't trust our own eyes but must rest our trust in the justice system that they did indeed see something nobody else did. Fast forward to the Alton Sterling case. The video is very clear. There is no evidence that police asked to speak to, question, or even identify the man. There was no attempt to properly investigate a singular report of a man waving a gun, nor is there any evidence of how Sterling was identified as the accused. There is no evidence of a weapon being brandished, nothing. What is on the tape is the police taser, tackle, and shoot him at point blank range while Sterling questions why they are attacking him. Mysteriously, all three officers at the scene, (yes there were three although some would have you believe there were only two) had somehow lost their body cameras in the fray yet one officer never had any physical contact with anyone. That gives me some serious doubts.
Shortly after Alton was killed, the police force involved in his death leaked his juvenile records which are supposed to be sealed, and his criminal records to the press while publicly stating that the names of the officers involved would not be released out of respect to the officers. They couldn't give a flying suck on a rolling donut about someone's father lying dead in a gutter while they purposely start a smear campaign against him in order to distort and pervert the evidence in the case. Even if I ignore all of that, when the police chief holds a press conference and makes the statement that what every single person can physically see on the only video evidence of the incident isn't what I should believe to be what happened because "what you don't see on the video is that the perps (yes he now referred to him as being guilty of something even though he was never shown due process for the alleged crime) that his right arm was free and that he was reaching for a gun. A gun that nobody had seen prior to that moment. You don't see him brandishing one and neither do police. So basically, I am supposed to accept as fact not what I can physically see with my own eyes, not what several eyewitness reports contain, but accept as fact what the person who shot someone 6 times at point blank range said happened. Just like the Rodney King video.
Look around sports and see how many people easily accept being told "what you don't see is" as fact and now even defend as fact something they never saw. If you saw a man physically kicking a dog to death, could you legally testify in court that the dog bit him several times before you arrived on the scene? No you couldn't. You only know the facts that you can physically attest to seeing. So why is it that so many so easily accept an explanation that is contrary to what you can physically see from the very person doing the shooting? Why is that? How can one say in any discussion going forward that he was fighting back and going for his gun? That isn't what they saw, but they'll sure keep saying it. They'll figuratively deny all the rules of evidence just to believe he deserved it.
So there you go. I don't believe police should have a standing assumption of innocence. I also know the public was very surprised to learn the extent, drpth and size of organized crime when first exposed as they were allowed to operate for years without anyone having any knowledge of its existence. I feel the same way about police and law enforcement. Corruption and criminal activity isn't something new to law enforcement in many other countries, with the advent and promulgation camera phones I believe we are starting to see the extent, depth, and size of the corruption that has been allowed to go unchecked forever.
Now everyone can make fun of my long answer. I prefer to explain myself and answer when asked a question, and some will criticize or deny this or that but the only absolute fact is that video and your eyes. What you see is exactly what happened, what you choose to believe is your own decision. I believe in my own eyesight far more than a cop that just unloaded six rounds to the chest of someone he had pinned and subdued.
Hope this helps,
FDC
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