@beschizza (Rob Beschizza) posted a new topic, subject "Cop knocks out teen for smoking cigarette". It read:

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So @kbert (karl bertelsen) replied

    With every instance like this, I ask myself:  
    “What real-time video uploader for android?”  
    Now, I'll take the next step and install one and be prepared;  
    recommendations, please?

@Mitch_M1 (Mitch_M) replied

    If the cops who murdered Amadou Diallo for taking out his wallet got away with it I see little hope for this officer to be punished.

Then @IronEdithKidd (IronEdithKidd) said

    Good job, NYPD, I'm sure all of New York feel safer now.

To which @MikeKStar replied

    Smoking While Black?

To which @RJMeelar (Reed James) replied

    for the record he knocked him down for the cigarette. He knocked him out for explaining to him that he was wrong.

So @SBarsinister (SimonBarsinister) replied

    My first thought was 'this is getting worse every day.". then I sadly realized that no, this has always been happening. I am just seeing it now that everyone has video cameras.

So @davide405 (David Emigh) replied

    Smoking is bad for you.
    
    So are concussions.
    
    You choose to smoke.
    
    A cop chooses to give you a concussion.

After which, @waetherman (waetherman the empathetic) added

    It's going to take some time, but I'm hoping that NYC's new mayor De Blasio can really change the culture of the police force.* It's really in a shambles after the whole stop-and-frisk/broken windows campaigns* over the last few years. What NYC really needs is a Civilian Complaint Review Board that actually has some power to punish officers, instead of just being a underfunded and feckless.
    
    ** isn't it interesting that even the language we use to talk about the police evokes violence and war? How come we don't have a police embrace or a police accord instead of a police _force_? A police initiative or enthusiasm instead of a campaign?

So @Mister44 (The High Plains Drifter) replied

    “… and then he knocked me out. The next day I vowed to never smoke again. And look at me, grandkids, your grand-daddy is 72 today! All thanks to Officer Johnson setting me straight. God bless NYPD and God bless America!”

Then @newliminted (newliminted) said

    Being While Black, I think it is now.

After which, @NickyG (Nick) added

    This is clearly a continuation of the policies set forth under the Bloomberg administration, which we all know was virulently anti-smoking.

Then @deedub (deedub) said

    Yes. Append “police brutality” to this xkcd comic:  
    xkcd.com
    
    ### Settled
    
    Well, we've really only settled the question of ghosts that emit or reflect visible light. Or move objects around. Or make any kind of sound. But that covers all the ones that appear in Ghostbusters, so I think we're good.

Then @SpunkyTWS said

    > “Do you wanna get fucked up?”
    
    If the situation weren't so serious–that is, if the kid hadn't been subjected to severe and unnecessary brutality–I like to think he would have responded to that question with, “If I did I would have gone with something stronger than nicotine.”
    
    And in such an ideal world the cop would laugh and say, “Yeah, sorry, I was really being an asshole.”
    
    What made me think that was a great old MAD Magazine comic that showed a cop putting a kid in prison and saying, “A night in the slammer will teach you a lesson.” And the kid replies, “Yeah, if I want to learn to be a junkie or hooker.”

@IronEdithKidd (IronEdithKidd) replied

    Oh, they show enthusiasm, all right. And that's a big part of the problem.

@futnuh (Darran Edmundson) replied

    Thank god the kid wasn't also carrying a Big Gulp. He'd be dead.

So @marc45 (Marc) replied

    So did someone call an ambulance? Getting knocked out ain't like in the movies where people recover within seconds. This can have lasting consequences.

To which @CaptainPedge (Captain Pedge) replied

    Just another one bad apple people, move along.

After which, @dacree (Donovan Acree) added

    Make the badge a camera. No working camera = no badge = no cop. If we can afford helicopters, armored vehicles, automatic weapons, banned chemical weapons, and the like, we can afford cameras.

To which @crenquis (Cary) replied

    The one that I have used is Bambuser  
    Supports most platforms (I used it under Nokia's Symbian OS).
    
    > Based in Stockholm, Sweden and Turku, Finland, we've been democratizing live video since 2008.

After which, @davide405 (David Emigh) added

    Agreed, but with the addendum that whereas the comic describes mythological creatures whose existence has been refuted, police brutality would fall under the category of denied events that have been proved.

Then @anon72705028 said

    But don't let it be a black and a white one
    
    'cause they slam ya down to the street top
    
    Black police showin out for the white cop

After which, @redesigned (redesigned) added

    SURGEON GENERAL WARNING: Police may be hazardous to your health, especially if you have a history of non-white-ness.

To which @IanMcLoud (Ian McLoud) replied

    Another specific example, in the near-endless stream of incidents, that result in me not caring at all when I hear about a cop getting ~~killed~~ shot dead in the fucking face while in a pre-dawn raid looking for an 1/8 of weed.

So @knoxblox (knoxblox) replied

    Thank You For Not Smoking

Then @MarjaE (Marja Erwin) said

    It's driving my nuts. Cops kill two or three civilians each day, and taze or gas or beat how many more? It's disgraceful. And there is _always_ someone ready to blame the victims, defend the cops, and/or threaten to shoot protesters.
    
    Also, just today, I learned about a case of a Florida inmate beaten to death after complaining about an abusive guard, a teenager pepper sprayed after being mistaken for a burglar in his own home, and a passenger tazed in a traffic stop, where there was _someone_ ready to say the victim should have thanked the police for not shooting him.
    
    the Guardian – 8 Oct 14
    
    ### Florida prison investigating death of female inmate 'threatened' by guard
    
    Latandra Elligton's body was found in her cell, 10 days after she wrote to her aunt to tell her of being ‘terrorised' by a ‘Sgt Q'
    
    Also, if some people think it's appropriate for the police to beat, gas, electrocute, or shoot people for not obeying orders, or for talking back, or for acting suspiciously, then, there are deaf people who can't hear those orders and many more people, including myself, who can't usually make sense of nonsense and orders, so they imply it's appropriate for the police to beat, gas, electrocute, or shoot us…
    
    I read those statements and I think, if they don't want me dead, these people would still gladly see me dead as part of their campaign for a more authoritarian America.

Then @crenquis (Cary) said

    MarjaE:
    
    > Cops kill two or three civilians each day, and taze or gas or beat how many more?
    
    2.566666666666667/day killed in September…
    
    Data on police killings wrath
    
    > Apparently, there is little to no collected data on police actions that result in a death on a national level, so a journalist is trying to fix that and has decided to crowd source it. Here is his post on Gawker about it: And here are the pages where you can help sort through date and add it to the pool of information: And Gawker's google doc: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aul9Ys3cd80fdHVMd0luQW5NYkVZNkhORmI0ajFma2c&usp=sharing#gid=0 Seems like a great, practical way to he…

@ChampionHack (Enderby Rosewater) replied

    Let's go with the police service, a la _Hot Fuzz_.

After which, @HTMLbyJoe (Joe Anzalone) added

    Ok, but I feel like we're seeing “another one bad apple” every week now. :\

To which @crenquis (Cary) replied

    Everybody knows that one needs to crack a few eggs when preparing an omelette du justice.

To which @Bobo (Bobo the talking chimp) replied

    Unfortunately this conversation happened with a flowerpot in the observation area of the neuro floor when young Mr . Hamer was admitted post-concussion…

@LemoUtan (Paul Sampson) replied

    You might just have one of those there waste-disposaly barrels

So @CaptainPedge (Captain Pedge) replied

    Yeah, but if they are just a few bad apples, then its not as if there are institutional issues that need taken care of. It's just one rogue cop. Every time. Each week. Across the country.

So @MarjaE (Marja Erwin) replied

    Every week? Every couple hours.

To which @knoxblox (knoxblox) replied

    Well, maybe it's time to update that to “one bad bushel”.

Then @beschizza (Rob Beschizza) said

    This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.


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