June 18, 2020

"Hours after the Fulton County district attorney announced felony murder and other charges against the former Atlanta police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks... a number of Atlanta police officers called in sick just before a shift change Wednesday evening."

"The city was left scrambling to cover absences as the Atlanta Police Department tried to tamp down rumors of a mass police walkout that spread widely on social media.... 'We do have enough officers to cover us through the night,' Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) told CNN. 'Our streets won’t be any less safe because of the number of officers who called out.'... 'This is not an organized thing, it’s not a blue flu, it’s not a strike, it’s nothing like that,' Vince Champion, a spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, told NBC News. 'What it actually is is officers protesting that they’ve had enough and they don’t want to deal with it any longer.'... Champion added that many officers felt prosecutors had not publicly shared sufficient evidence to back up the charges leveled against Rolfe, in part because the district attorney only released a video still that appears to show the former officer kick Brooks rather than the full video itself.... Although the quick action in Atlanta has been praised by civil rights advocates and hailed as a victory for activists, some in the police department have decried the quick process. Bottoms said that morale in Atlanta’s police department was at a low.... 'The thing that I’m most concerned about is how we repair the morale in our police department,” Bottoms.... 'and how do we ensure our communities are safe as they interact with our police officers.'"

WaPo reports.

In the comments over there, somebody says:
They harassed the guy for 45 minutes and when he panicked and grabbed their taser, they shot him when he was running away. Then kicked him. Sorry guys, if you think that's what policing is, you should be calling in sick.

Why do these cops think someone like Dylann Roof should be gently apprehended (and given a cheeseburger) but a black guy should be harassed? And that he isn't expected to panic? And that those cops couldn't let him run, and go after him later?
That draws this sarcasm:
Cops should wait until 0.1 milliseconds before the stun gun barb pierces the cornea of the eyeball before shooting the perpetrator in the kneecap of their non-dominant leg to slow him down and then snuggle him into compliance.

70 comments:

Mark said...

Don't show up for work? Fire them.

I seem to recall that was the proposed solution here to WI teachers walking out during the Act 10 time.

If they don't want to show up to their shift, I'm sure there's a shift at the local McDonalds that would work for them.

Birkel said...

I hope you get your wish, Mark.

Leland said...

Out: the lie of "hands up don't shoot".

In: the lie of "he was running away and they shot him in the back".

Full Video: He turns around and shoots the tazer in the direction of the officer's face.

Meanwhile in Houston; over a dozen officers, ordered by the city to work protests, have contracted COVID-19.

MayBee said...

I don't think Brooks should have been shot, but....

Either drunk driving is a thing or its not. Last I knew, it was a big thing, and a kind of life-ruining offense. You get caught drunk driving, it's a night in jail, and its a lot of money to get out of more jail time. You'll lose your license for a time. Our society has made it a major, major thing.
So falling asleep in the middle of a Wendy's drive-through is definitely something anybody is going to get in trouble for (unless you are a local politician or coach). They didn't harass him, they assessed him. Then they did what is going to happen to anyone- he was going to be arrested.
Brooks was totally in the wrong for fighting them, and for taking their stun gun and running. 100% wrong. ( I have heard he was on probation, so that's why he absolutely did not want to go in for drunk driving. )

Now, I do wish their training would have been...they've got his car, they've got his id, they can go pick him up again. I wish their training was not to shoot him, because he didn't deserve to end up dead.

But you can't just brush aside what he did up to that point, and I don't blame other cops for thinking the felony murder charges are too much, or for realizing Atlanta is going to go after them to appease the crowds.

Mary Beth said...

"They harassed the guy for 45 minutes"?

The person who wrote that must have watched a different video than I did. I do not have the patience to put up with a long BS story about how his girlfriend drove him over there and somehow, mysteriously, left him there asleep in his car.

I didn't watch the whole thing, but in what I saw, the cop was calm and reasonable.

rehajm said...

...Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms...

Heh.

Browndog said...

..shooting the perpetrator in the kneecap of their non-dominant leg..

Horrific!

Not only barbaric, but a clear violation of the suspect's civil rights. He may never be able to kneel for the Anthem ever again!

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

I really don't want to go through the whole video. I'm suffering from news overload.
1. Is it true that Brooks had agreed to move his car to a parking spot, park it and pocket the keys? What happened to the family's story that he agreed to walk to his sister's house? In other words, he was committed to doing no more impaired driving that night?
2. Did he agree to a breathalyzer? Was he simply saying: either there is a way to negotiate a solution such that I'm not charged with anything, or there is not. Can I just walk to my sister's?
3. Police are supposed to de-escalate, not escalate. Why were they trying to physically restrain him after so many minutes? How many of us would take that calmly? One of the shots fired by police almost killed an innocent bystander.
4. We are often told that the taser or stun gun is non-lethal or less lethal force. Apparently the stun gun requires actually being in contact with the other person; the taser can fire at a distance using a wire. Apparently it was a taser in this case. Why exactly is he shot to death for using a taser, whether he's aiming at the cops or not? They have his ID, they can find him if they want to charge him with assault, impaired driving, whatever. One account says the cop who still had a taser had fired it three times, ineffectively. One model of taser apparently allows for three shots.
5. There is probably some truth to the suggestion that the cops felt comfortable treating a young black man (27), whom they probably confirmed had been in trouble with the law, differently than a white person, almost regardless of criminal record. The Minneapolis police used excessive force on Floyd, who was well into his 40s; shooting a running man in the back seems excessive in this case. On the other hand, it also seems true the DA rushed to press charges for his own political reasons.

rhhardin said...

Cops are not paid for the legal jeopardy they're now put in. If you lower the net pay, people opt out.

Expat(ish) said...

@mark - you or I could show up cold and teach a semester of high school - I could do everything but math beyond calc 1. YMMV.

It takes a year to be able to do simple policing and several to be safe at it.

Having said that, we were thinking of moving to ATL from Florida for work and social reason. No way in hell now.

-XC

Todd said...

I can see both sides. If this country wants to really fix this, they would do two thing. End the made up "qualified immunity" that was invented by judges to protect bad cops (and DAs, etc.) AND change the police union such that it STOPS protecting bad cops.

Bad actors exist in every profession and it is just too hard to fire and FLAG bad cops so that they are OUT of the profession instead of having to fight for [in many cases] years to get them gone whereas they just get hired at another jurisdiction.

These folks put their lives on the line daily and do a difficult job. Yes, they signed up for that so to a degree, tough-titties, deal with it or get another job. They also deserve a "fair" working environment. Where the rules are spelled out and they understand the results of specific behaviors. Today is NOT that, especially right now. Right now they are political pawns to a higher degree than normal.

All these "blue zones" want to defund the police, well some of them will start getting a taste of what the actually looks like.

Sebastian said...

"how do we ensure our communities are safe as they interact with our police officers.'"

Easy: teach felons not to fight officers.

"They harassed the guy for 45 minutes and when he panicked"

Huh? No harassment in evidence. No kicks as far as I can tell. Officer performed CPR.

"And that those cops couldn't let him run, and go after him later?"

If they were social workers, they could.

"Cops should wait until 0.1 milliseconds before the stun gun barb pierces the cornea of the eyeball before shooting the perpetrator in the kneecap of their non-dominant leg to slow him down and then snuggle him into compliance."

Snuggle: that's the sort of kind and gentle post-policing progs say we need.

Dude1394 said...

Good for the police. I would like to see this be a country wide protest.

rehajm said...

I seem to recall that was the proposed solution here to WI teachers walking out during the Act 10 time.

If they don't want to show up to their shift, I'm sure there's a shift at the local McDonalds that would work for them.


Whatever point being made here was lost on me. WI teachers weren't having their lives threatened by an angry mob, weren't living in the wake of the targeting and murder of their fellow teachers. They didn't have to fear murder charges for following procedure and doing their jobs...

McDonalds workers should be valued for the services they provide and deserve admiration and respect for participating in the labor market.

Rick said...

They harassed the guy for 45 minutes and when he panicked and grabbed their taser, they shot him when he was running away.

I'm so old I remember yesterday when left wingers pretended to care about DUI. Now arresting someone for DUI is "harassment".

See how easy it is to support the appropriate side if you just divorce your words from reality? It's magic.

Birches said...

Since when are we supposed to trust drunk guys that pinky swear they're not going to drive drunk? Some of you people have lost your minds. Drunk black people cannot be arrested seems to be what you are saying. The guy wasn't asleep in the Wendy's parking lot, he was in the Drive Through lane. Who wouldn't get arrested for that? As someone else said, probably the only people getting away with that are celebrities or politicians.

Yes, he had a breathalyzer. He blew a .10 well after the cops first showed up which means he was very, very drunk.

There's been reporting that he was on probation or parole. Did the cops have that information? Was that a factor in their reaction? It would be nice if someone in the MSM would actually do some reporting instead of showing up at the family's lawyer's press conferences and then transcribing what they said.

AustinRoth said...

Yesterday: drunk driving is a serious crime that kills people. We must have zero tolerance and harsh punishment to severely deter this behavior

Today: hey, drunk driving is a victimless crime. Why didn’t the cops just let him go?

Leland said...

I really don't want to go through the whole video.

Fair enough; I won't go through explaining all the misconceptions you have from not watching the video. I doubt it would change your mind about anything.

Mike Sylwester said...

Why do these cops think someone like Dylann Roof should be gently apprehended (and given a cheeseburger) but a black guy should be harassed?

Did Dylann Roof evade or resist arrest?

Lovernios said...

I watched the video of the police officer's body camera. Brooks was clearly drunk. He couldn't keep his story straight. He agreed to take the breathalyzer. It was after that that the police began the arrest procedure. He turned around, but as soon as the cuff was put on his left hand Brooks spun around and swung at the cop. Then the melee began as he wrestled with both cops.

The officer's camera fell to the ground and you couldn't see any more video, but you heard the shouting and the gunfire. A different video showed that during the wrestling Brooks managed to grab the taser and run off.

Lucid-Ideas said...

Good. All police should go on nationwide strike. The first people that should be targeted during their down-time are liberal politicians who threw them under the bus.

They say most homicides not solved in the first 48 hours don't get solved.

Birkel said...

Brooks was out on parole, I believe you will find.

So his DUI arrest was going to mean a long prison sentence.
Not only for the DUI, but also for the previous convictions.

Quit believing the lying MSM.

Michael K said...


Now, I do wish their training would have been...they've got his car, they've got his id, they can go pick him up again. I wish their training was not to shoot him, because he didn't deserve to end up dead.


It sounds like you don't know about his career criminal history or the outstanding warrants.

Lefty Mark should apply for one of the LEO jobs. Probably better than that minimum wage job you have. Meanwhile the cops are applying to the surrounding small cities that appreciate law enforcement. That has been happening with the LAPD for years.

These blue cities are going to see a hot summer and fall. Good for the suburban real estate business.

Michael K said...

Bad actors exist in every profession and it is just too hard to fire and FLAG bad cops so that they are OUT of the profession instead of having to fight for [in many cases] years to get them gone whereas they just get hired at another jurisdiction.

Are you aware of this cop's outstanding record or don't you care ?

Automatic_Wing said...

It's amazing how many people think the cops were assholes for arresting this guy and think they should have just told him to sleep it off or whatever.

A drunk driver who happens to be on probation for felony child abuse. Just cut the guy some slack! He's an oppressed black man.

As far as the shot, if you decide that cops are to be prosecuted for shooting people who are trying to taze them, you are going to get less law enforcement. A lot less law enforcement. I know that's what a lot of people want these days, but they might not like the results.

Jamie said...

Not to put too fine a point on it - what happens when you're tased? You're temporarily disabled, right? What happens if a drunk person tases an armed police officer? The officer would be temporarily disabled, right? And his gun is then available to a drunk person who has already demonstrated that he is willing and able to take a weapon from a not yet disabled officer.

If it went down as everyone is describing (I don't ever watch the videos of people being killed - I thank those whose job it is to do so for the benefit of the rest of us), the officer had to protect himself and retain his firearm. Could he have known that the taser was out of juice or whatever kept it from firing, and could no longer be fired? I don't know. But it was literally a split second decision he was called on to make. You shoot the way you train, and police train for center-mass and head shots because they're what's needed in the worst case scenario.

I wish the man hadn't died. But based on what we know right now, the cop didn't do anything criminal or I gather even against policy. Charging him with murder is a travesty.

narciso said...


never mind
https://www.dailywire.com/news/da-says-brooks-wasnt-threat-toward-cop-he-shot-taser-at-said-two-weeks-ago-taser-is-considered-a-deadly-weapon

Browndog said...

People are not thinking this through.

Was this guy going full Forrest Gump and keep running forever?

Or, was he going to eventually fall, or the cops catch up--then what?

He already kicked both their asses simultaneously and took a weapon off one of them. How was this going to end?

"peacefully" no doubt.

Drago said...

Dumb Lefty Mark: "Don't show up for work? Fire them."

It appears Dumb Lefty Mark is afflicted with Inga Forgetfulness Disease and doesnt understand how democrat-supported public sector union contracts operate.

I would tell Dumb Lefty Mark to google it but he has already demonstrated that's not in his skillset.

I'm Not Sure said...

"'We do have enough officers to cover us through the night,' Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) told CNN. 'Our streets won’t be any less safe because of the number of officers who called out.'..."

So- a bunch of officers called in sick (or whatever), but it's not a problem and the streets won't be less safe. Is it SOP in Atlanta to typically schedule (and pay) more police officers to be on duty than is necessary?

Michael said...

Just like the sainted criminal Floyd this guy had quite a record. And like the sainted Floyd he did something you should not do which is to pivot from cooperation to resisting arrest. This man was awaiting sentencing for child abuse among other things. But once dead he is naturally the model citizen Working hard to rehabilitate himself. . Contemplating medical school or the ministry.

Matt Sablan said...

"I seem to recall that was the proposed solution here to WI teachers walking out during the Act 10 time."

-- But that's not what society decided the rules would be.

buwaya said...

Its clear to me from the various videos that the policemen were in a difficult fight with a very strong man for a considerable time. After which this fellow took the taser gun and ran off with it in his hand, and then turned and fired it wildly at the pursuing policeman. Only then did the policeman fire at him. This all happened in split seconds.

1. I have been in "hostile" fights (fists, wrestling, kicking, knees, etc., I had an active childhood) and "life threatening situations", with guns pointed at me by people with ill intent. I know what happens to me under these circumstances. There is a set of physiological reactions that are difficult to describe, but all of them contribute to a reduction of mental capacity. Unless, maybe, these policemen were trained extensively in "sports" type no rules fighting (MMA?), it is difficult to retain situational awareness due to, for instance, the intense focus adrenalin brings to the combat. One can miss details because of, for one thing, being hyper-focused on other details.

2. It seems unlikely to me that the policeman in question could process the idea that the fellow had taken a taser and not a pistol, in that mad scramble.

3. The policeman had a split second to decide to fire, or not, after being fired at. Such a detail as it being a taser and not a pistol likely could not be expected to get processed accurately in the time available. Or not by an ordinary human being anyway.

4. A violent criminal suspect known not to be in his right mind, brandishing a gun, cannot be permitted to run off with it. The danger to the public is too great.

Bruce Hayden said...

The DA grossly overcharged, for obviously political reasons. Instead of suspending the officer with pay, which is usual, and waiting for the state investigators to determine whether or not the shooting was justified, then submitting their findings to a grand jury, and only then taking action, if justified. Instead, the DA made up a story, rushed to judgment, and grossly overcharged the cops, and had the one officer fired. All guaranteed to estrange the cops from the government. The union, not surprisingly, denies that the cops responded by a work slowdown and acute Blue Flu. But multiple people in blogs last night attested that the scanner for radio traffic for at least two of six zones were effectively dead of radio traffic last night.

The story we heard the first day seems to be holding up, at least so far. Apparently the people at Wendy’s called the police to remove a car where a guy had fallen asleep (passed out) in their drive through lane (which negates the story that someone else had been diving). He was apparently cooperative until they went to arrest him for DUI, at which time he violently reacted, assaulting the two cops, and then stealing the taser, and running off. He then, at one point, turned, and appeared to have pointed the taser at the pursuing officers, possibly discharged it, and the one officer fired three shots, taking him down. That officer then proceeded to perform CPR until the paramedics arrived. I should add that the decedent was apparently under probation, which probably meant back to prison with a DUI conviction.

That, at least, was the story from the attorney for the fired officer, and so far it seems to be confirmed by the other evidence, including body cams and Wendy’s video. If it continues to hold up, I think that it is likely that the state investigators will determine the shooting to be justified, or at least not murder. And a murder conviction is unlikely unless the jury is almost exclusively black (which means that if held in Atlanta, it will likely be a bench trial).

This is what the rank and file Atlanta police are seeing. Which means that one of their officers has been sacrificed at the BLM alter to appease the braying crowds of looters and rioters, and they cannot depend on the mayor or the DA to have their backs, if they risk their lives to do their job proactively, so many of them won’t. Criminal elements have just been given the green light to commit violent crimes, knowing that many, if not most Atlanta PD are not going to risk their lives to protect civilian lives.

buwaya said...

The videos show sufficiently well that there was no time for considered decisions.

Gahrie said...

Where does the right to commit a crime and resist arrest come from? Is it emanations and penumbras, or the 14th Amendment?

Static Ping said...

From what I understand, Mr. Brooks was facing revocation of his parole and a DUI arrest would almost certainly clinch said revocation. That explains why he became so violent; this DUI arrest was effectively going to be years in prison. He was fine until he realized he couldn't talk his way out of this and possibly sobered up enough to figure out how bad this situation had become.

In addition, if you point a weapon at a cop you are likely to get shot. This applies to anyone with a weapon threatening anyone with a gun, whether the gun owner be a cop, a civilian, or a criminal. Taking said weapon from the gun owner just makes it worse. Starting a fight with the gun owner for dubious reasons just makes its worse. Of course, drunk people with criminal records tend to make bad decisions. However, it would be nice to know the mind set of the police officer, though that is basically impossible. If he knew the taser was now harmless but shot him anyway, that's bad. If he is a making a split second decision not knowing exactly what Brooks was pointing at him, then that's something completely different.

There is also the matter that police shootings are supposed to go through a certain procedure before any charges are brought. The D.A. ignored this. The organization that is supposed to investigate the case and provide its findings to the D.A. for action was surprised as anyone that the charges were announced before they had completed their findings and, for that matter, had even been notified by the D.A. that he was bringing charges. If you are an Atlanta police officer, this is basically a big **** YOU! I'm not sure what they were expecting. They could at least have tried to fake being even-handed, but they couldn't even do that.

Gahrie said...

1. Is it true that Brooks had agreed to move his car to a parking spot, park it and pocket the keys? What happened to the family's story that he agreed to walk to his sister's house? In other words, he was committed to doing no more impaired driving that night?

I can't get out of a ticket for not wearing my seat belt, but this guy is supposed to get a pass for DUI?

2. Did he agree to a breathalyzer? Was he simply saying: either there is a way to negotiate a solution such that I'm not charged with anything, or there is not. Can I just walk to my sister's?

He wasn't buying produce at a farmer's market, he was passed out drunk in a drive thru.

3. Police are supposed to de-escalate, not escalate. Why were they trying to physically restrain him after so many minutes?

They were arresting him for DUI.

How many of us would take that calmly?

I would. I bet most of us would. You know why? You might do something stupid and get shot if you don't.

4. We are often told that the taser or stun gun is non-lethal or less lethal force. Apparently the stun gun requires actually being in contact with the other person; the taser can fire at a distance using a wire. Apparently it was a taser in this case. Why exactly is he shot to death for using a taser, whether he's aiming at the cops or not? They have his ID, they can find him if they want to charge him with assault, impaired driving, whatever. One account says the cop who still had a taser had fired it three times, ineffectively. One model of taser apparently allows for three shots

Have you seen the video? There was no time to think, much less do all of the Monday morning quarterbacking you are doing.

5. There is probably some truth to the suggestion that the cops felt comfortable treating a young black man (27), whom they probably confirmed had been in trouble with the law, differently than a white person, almost regardless of criminal record.

Are you suggesting that the police in Atlanta don't arrest White people for DUI? What evidence do you have? You do realize that it's actually White people who are killed disproportionally by the police...right?

Matt Sablan said...

"Which means that one of their officers has been sacrificed at the BLM alter to appease the braying crowds of looters and rioters, and they cannot depend on the mayor or the DA to have their backs, if they risk their lives to do their job proactively, so many of them won’t. "

-- I can't say this is an incorrect interpretation. Honestly though, once I saw that "the suspect turned and fired a weapon at police," I pretty much thought, "well, that's... going to be really hard to argue as a NOT justified shooting."

phwest said...

My understanding is that Rolfe was a prominent DUI officer within the department. He had been recognized and commended for his DUI arrest record. For this reason, I would assume that the decision to arrest was based on policy, rather than anything personal about Brooks. I don't know the policy, but there has obviously been widespread public pressure over decades to crack down on DUI nationally. Obviously in retrospect it would have been preferable to let him go for the moment rather than end up shooting him, but the officer didn't know that arresting him would lead to that outcome.

The public in this country has a very poor understanding of the trade-offs involved in law enforcement. Every push to crack down on some behavior carries with it the virtual certainty that there will be some set of circumstances somewhere like this that ends up with someone dead. That needs to be balanced against the presumed benefits from reducing the behavior, not handwaved away with the assumption that it is somehow possible for have clairvoyant police and avoid any unintended consequences. Blaming an officer for the decision to arrest that leads to a death after honoring him for making that same decision over a hundred times previous to this is irrational.

Michael K said...

Criminal elements have just been given the green light to commit violent crimes, knowing that many, if not most Atlanta PD are not going to risk their lives to protect civilian lives.

Two friends of my wife's recently sold their big house outside Atlanta and moved to a condo in the city. I think that was a mistake that many will now avoid. They might want to reverse that decision but I'll bet real estate in Atlanta has crashed for years.

Browndog said...

It doesn't matter what the law is, or what is right or wrong.

This is dystopia.

All they need to convict these cops is to inform the jury their identities will be made public after the trial, whether it be done legally, or using the new norm--illegally.

narciso said...

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2020/06/17/nypd-withdraws-from-offices-of-prosecutors-going-soft-on-protesters-hard-on-police-n544744

Jupiter said...

'how do we ensure our communities are safe as they interact with our police officers.'"

Simple. Defund the police. What did they call that scene in Gone With The Wind? "Atlanta Burning", I think they call it.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

MayBee said...

Now, I do wish their training would have been...they've got his car, they've got his id, they can go pick him up again.

What if he's 20 miles from home? You expect his drunk ass to walk the whole way? If so, what happens if he wanders out into traffic and gets hit by a car?

What if he doesn't get hit by a car, but is assaulted and robbed while staggering down the road? What then?

So now you'll say; "They should call someone and have them pick him up!". Ok, what if whoever comes to pick him up is drunker than he is? You want them on the road?

What if he, in his drunken state, steals a car, hits an SUV and kills a family of four?

What if he drunkenly assaults someone as he's walking home?

I've been hearing this argument since 10 minutes after Rayshard Brooks body hit the pavement. It's totally unrealistic and I'm tired of it.

n.n said...

They harassed the guy for 45 minutes and when he panicked and grabbed their taser

50 shades of Charlottesville or Miami.

The Crack Emcee said...

I can't wait until the military pulls this shit.

Lovernios said...

Most of these guys, black and white, are high or drunk. They're already veterans of law enforcement encounters. And they are dumb as they come, black and white. Anyone with half a brain knows not to resist arrest. It can only turn out bad, for you.

CStanley said...

Buyawa’s comment at 8:49 is on point, as is the sarcastic comment featured in the OP.

Which is why people are now retreating to the idea that the officers should never have tried to arrest Brooks to begin with.

So now, in addition to requiring police to possess superhuman abilities to always make the right decisions on use of force in highly charged situations where their own fight-or-flight responses are fully activated, these folks are saying that the police officers should sometimes preempt these situations by deciding that certain individuals may become too dangerous to arrest and therefore should be allowed to avoid criminal prosecution.

Under those circumstances, we might as well do away with police, and they ought to all resign in protest.

cubanbob said...

Next time I get a solicitation from MADD I'll reply if this a whites only issue before I donate.

Douglas B. Levene said...

@Lloyd W Robertson: Two weeks ago, the Fulton County charged several cops with using a taser to make an arrest, which he said was illegal because a taser is a “deadly” weapon. So which is it? A deadly weapon or not? If it’s a deadly weapon, then the cop here was justified in shooting the perp.

cubanbob said...

White big city cops should start looking to move from the big cities and to the suburban police departments. Let officers of the big cities employ only black or other POC cops. As for qualified immunity, strip all of them from cops to prosecutors to judge, mayors and councilmen.

hombre said...

The later story here appears to be that the Wendy’s was burned because the manager called the police to deal with a disturbance.

A logical extension of this, justified by circumstances in several cities is, if your neighborhood is invaded by “protesters” and you call the cops: either they don’t come because their Democrat masters have told them to stand down; they come, in which case BLM retaliates by burning your home; they don’t come because they are fed up and have “blue flu”.

I live in a Democrat ruled community where the police were stood down as rioters did massive property damage downtown and the mayor, an avowed neo-Marxist, declined National Guard assistance because it is “too expensive,” although we do have city funded rainbows painted on the streets.

It is certainly a surprise that gun stores are sold out of tactical shotguns and are low on buckshot

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

This will be a lesson for Ignas everywhere. The Boogaloo won’t happen because 4-Chan trolls wear Hawaiian shirts and trick Blacks into burning down fast food joints. If it happens, it will be because there will be no one to prevent or stop it after the police are forbidden to act.

hombre said...

All these black male “victims” of police have criminal records. But we can’t talk about black crime. It’s racist.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Fulton County DA and sexual predator Paul Howard lied in his presser/campaign speech almost as much as Brooks.

The DA’s reasoning is is flawed, and typically negroid. So what if the interaction was cordial? It was until it wasn’t. Is cordial behavior by the police a crime, or is it a crime to stop being cordial as the situation changes? So what if Raytard was “almost jovial” until he resisted arrest? He had a plan B. Why does it matter that the cops showed no fear of Brooks AFTER he was subdued!? Does it make sense to fear a threat that has ended? Claiming that the cops kicked and stepped on ‘Tard is simply spin, and refuted by the video. Howard showed still photos that seemed to show those actions, but not video — guess why. How is not rendering first aid until “over two minutes” incriminating? If that’s true, and I have no reason to trust him, it’s fairly quick action, and police can’t administer aid until they first make sure the scene is secure, and they were immediately beset by ignorant and hostile bystanders. One of the cops administered CPR while enduring taunts and threats from the crowd. Anyway, the perp was shot in the heart, and the wound was not survivable.

Do you want Boogaloo? Because this is how you get Boogaloo.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

The day violent felons flee by running backwards is the day I care if they’re shot in the back.

LA_Bob said...

MayBee said, "Now, I do wish their training would have been...they've got his car, they've got his id, they can go pick him up again. I wish their training was not to shoot him, because he didn't deserve to end up dead."

The man flees the scene. Do you know he's going home? Bad guys can be stupid (like handing the bank teller the robbery note on the back of his utility bill), but you can't count on it.

Suppose a cop encounters a man raping a woman at the park. The rapist flees the scene. Does the cop just let him go? Proven danger to society, don't you think? If shooting is the only way to stop him...

Police have to control a situation. It's not that Brooks deserved. to die. It's that he created the condition which made his death likely.

Tina Trent said...

The entire video shows officers doing precisely what they were trained to do. DA Paul Howard stole $250K from a charity for youth outreach -- paid himself the whole amount as salary for no work. So he's throwing the cops under the bus. Brooks has a prolific record of serious domestic violence, child abuse, battery and assault. You don't go to prison in Georgia for merely beating a child unless it was some beating. Keisha Lance Bottoms also doubled dipped two salaries and is now openly encouraging rioters. Three police were followed home from the riots and their cars firebombed or destroyed with bricks in their home driveways.

bagoh20 said...

Mama, don't let your babies grow up to stupid.

How hard is it to understand that picking a fight with armed men is a bad idea. Do you know somebody who that worked out for? Does that work for Whites guys? Do the cops just say: "Oh, you're White. Our bad. Off you go. Have a nice day."?

bagoh20 said...

They way things are going, it's going to require an extremely stupid individual to become a cop. Who wound want a job that oscillates between people trying to kill you and your own employers trying to put you in jail for defending yourself. I really can't think of a worse job.

After decades of crime reaching new lows, get used to violence and robbery as a regular part of your day. Thanks again, lefties. You couldn't fix a toilet without filling your house with excrement, and then blaming the neighbors. A real talent for always making things worse.

Mary Beth said...

In other words, he was committed to doing no more impaired driving that night?

He had already promised the court and his probation officer that he wouldn't drink. What are his drunk promises worth?

Jim at said...

The left won't like how this turns out. And that's fine by me.

Bruce Hayden said...

“@Lloyd W Robertson: Two weeks ago, the Fulton County charged several cops with using a taser to make an arrest, which he said was illegal because a taser is a “deadly” weapon. So which is it? A deadly weapon or not? If it’s a deadly weapon, then the cop here was justified in shooting the perp.”

I think that if I were defense counsel, I would try to get that admitted into evidence, as, essentially, an admission against interest, or as exonerating evidence, because (as noted) if a taser is a deadly weapon, then self defense is pretty much slam dunk as a defense. I expect that prosecutors would gnaw off their own foot to keep it out. Should be fun.

Jim at said...

Brooks was out on parole, I believe you will find.

It's my understanding he was released from prison - like thousands of others - due to the coronavirus.

Bruce Hayden said...

We don’t know the BAC of the decedent. But I would bet that it is likely verging on what many states consider Extreme DUI. The fired cop’s primary job appears to have been DUI enforcement. He had had extensive training in DUI enforcement, and had one of the top records in the PD. Someone like that isn’t going to just give someone like the decedent a ticket, and let him go, promising to show up in court. And, indeed, he likely isn’t going to give anyone, black or white, a free pass, short of the mayor’s wife. We will know when the autopsy report is released, but my guess is that the decedent’s BAC was in the range that this officer would always make an arrest. We shall see.

rehajm said...

So which is it? A deadly weapon or not?

It's on a case by case basis and the governing principle is whichever is perceived as benefiting the Democrats most in November.

Doug said...

But once dead he is naturally the model citizen Working hard to rehabilitate himself. . Contemplating medical school or the ministry.

Bonfire of the Vanities.

Doug said...

Stay away from Atlanta and Minneapolis when the policemen's cases are heard in a court of law, and their lawyers get them every benefit that the accused deserve.

The verdicts in these cases are very likely to ignite Civil War II.

Mark said...

Don't show up for work? Fire them.

Geez, "Mark." Not only do you say stupid stuff politically, with pretensions being Chuck Mini-Me, you have zero common sense.

The whole point of the work stoppage is for people to see what things descend to without the workers on the job.

You've got it backwards -- let's see how the cancel culture and their social and political suck-ups like living in a community without police protection.

They want Purgeville, they will get Purgeville. And it is the police officers themselves that will give it to them.

In any event, it's not safe for anyone to be a cop these days.

They all need to walk off the job. Nationwide.