Posted on 04/28/2015 7:53:47 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Even if it were twice as long, it does not justify an extra-judicial killing.
I don’t buy so much time needed for investigations, either. Anyone who can’t interview the police involved and review any video footage and figure out the facts in short order is part of the problem.
Investigators and officials should know by now that this is the year 2015 and news is on a 24/7 cycle- you have at *MOST* 24 hours to determine and publicize the facts.
But somehow this is all my fault?
That was my first thought
Unless his arrest record was for beating up cops this is barely relevant
It plays into usual freeper logic of law breakers sorta have it coming
Circumstantial evidence can be extremely powerful evidence. Here, Gray was walking (running, even, away from the police). Then he was arrested - according to the officers, "without force or incident." Then, he was in a coma with a broken neck.
He was clearly injured and unable to use his legs, and howling as the cops “escorted” him to the police van. Need video of the capture, or what happened before.
It should be investigated. But bad things can happen when you are resisting arrest. It is not a good idea.
That is a trait of some Freepers that I will never understand. It just baffles me how someone who is in favor of freedom and individual liberty--and concerned about tyranny, totalitarianism and other forms of oppressive government authority (so concerned, in fact, to spend time on a site like FreeRepublic)--can reflexively jump on the side of the police in every single incident involving allegations of brutality of misconduct.
And George Zimmerman “chased down” little Trayvon Martin and “shot him just because he was black” right? And Michael Brown “didn’t do nothing” and was gunned down in cold blood, and....
Resisting arrest?
“The defendant was arrested without force or incident.”
Umm, what? Who said anything about Zimmerman, MArtin or Brown? Certainly not I. I'm not lumping all of these cases together. I'm discussing this case, with the facts that we know about this case.
And, based on what we know about this case, yes, I am a bit....skeptical....of how someone who is "arrested without force or incident" wound up in a coma with three fractured vertebrae in his neck, and later died of his injuries.
ping
We know next to nothing about the circumstances of Mr. Gray’s death, yet numerous people here have already convicted the arresting officers of murder. You’re conservatives? Sound more like Paulestinians.
Damn this guy turn into character on the Wire
Who has “convicted the arresting officers” of anything? Yes, I’m skeptical of their story—again, vertebrae usually don’t fracture themselves. But I’m not charging them, much less convicting them, of anything. I just want to know what happened.
Grey was arrested at 8:40 AM. At that time, he complained of trouble breathing and asked for an inhaler. The transport is called and he is loaded in. At 8:46, the driver says that Grey is acting "irate." The police stop the transport "to complete paperwork" and Grey is taken out and placed in leg irons. Bystander video shows him being placed back in the van, his legs dragging. At 8:59, the driver asks another unit to check on Grey. At this time, another arrestee is placed in the van, but they are separated by a metal divider.At 9:24, an ambulance is called. They find Grey not breathing at 9:37.
Actually there is a continuum from intentional homicide, through negligent homicide (which includes foreseeable accidents which those having custody of a person are responsible for taking measures to prevent) to accidental death for which those who having custody of the person cannot be considered legally responsible because it arose from circumstances which could not reasonably be foreseen.
Even death resulting from negligence on the part of the police while in police custody is culpable to the point I do not regard my rhetoric as extreme. We do know Mr. Gray died of a severed spinal cord. This is not something that happens without extreme violent trauma. Absent a vehicular accident caused by someone other than a police driver, a freak accident involving slipping and falling onto a sharp edge or projection, or a sudden attack by another prisoner — none of which seems to apply in this case — I cannot conceive of any circumstance which would subject a prisoner in police custody violent trauma severing his spinal cord, for which the police would not rightly be held culpable.
Because, although they're unlikely to admit it, they're glad that the police are roughly handling--and sometimes killing--criminals. Because they fear crime and they believe that this sort of police behavior will never touch them. That's why, anytime one of these incidents occurs, there's a rush to find anything bad that the victim did. Because then they deserve it.
I agree 100%. One of my very favorite quotes from any Supreme Court case (and yes, I have "favorite quotes" from Supreme Court cases) is from Justice Frankfurter's dissent in U.S. v. Rabinowitz:
It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people.
Worth keeping in mind in any of these cases.
It has not yet been proven that the police broke his back, intentionally or otherwise. Was he alone? Or was he a Crip/Blood wannabe thrown in with one or more of the otherclan and assaulted? Did the vehicle hit one of the numerous potholes (not repaired because the cops can't spare the manpower to protect the repair crew at work)?
If it is proven that the cops intended to harm him, they should be punished appropriately. If negligence caused the injury, the same. But accidents DO happen, and given a choice of street thug vs. cop thug, I'll be more inclined to trust the latter.
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