[QUOTE=thisguy23;1053679111]
OK, this obviously proves that racism is dead and we are living in a post-racial society (extreme sarcasm warning). What are all those minorities and Democrats complaining about?
Indiana police threaten to Taser black firefighter in the face for waving at them
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/l...ing-at-officer
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/1...aving-at-them/
Well, as they say here in Texas, "Hell, it don't matter, he was probably guilty of somethin' so he had it comin' to him".[/QUOT
What makes me mad about this is the fact that my tax dollars paid for your education and it was a total waste. Read to story again slooooowly. The officer pulled his taser because he refused a lawful order to put his arm down.
Originally Posted by austxjr
What makes me sad it that you got an education and can only resort to ad hominem attacks rather than reasonable discussion of different viewpoints, much less that you obviously haven't learned to think and don't want to diminish your own ignorance. Any order a police officer gives is not a "lawful order". It has to be reasonable within the context of the situation and usually it has to be SOP. What led up to what you say is a "lawful order" is important. Why would the police officer have the right or reason to give that lawful order? Nothing the bicyclist did was unlawful or a threat except perhaps going through the stop sign (which doesn't warrant that level of response, period).
I'll keep it simple so you can maybe understand and respond rationally. Tell us
what threat a guy waving on a bicycle is to two armed police in a cruiser is to warrant that type of response (he wasn't waving an AK-47 after all)?
You read the story and did not comprehend that the police completely overreacted to a nonthreatening normal behavior (unless you believe that waving at cops at any time is abnormal). Maybe the cop was a vet and has PTSD which would be an explanation, but still not a reasonable response.
"Contempt of Cop" is not a legitimate law enforcement purpose, but a type of "occupational arrogance" when a police officer thinks he or she should not be challenged or questioned about anything he/she does. Waving while riding a bike is not a threatening behavior (and I contend would likely not have been asserted to be one if the firefighter was white) and the cops should not have driven in front of the bicyclist to stop and confront him. They completely acted out of bounds on this one IMHO. If it had been a car and they were stopping him for going through the stop sign, they would have gotten behind him, turned on their lights and waited for him to stop as SOP. As it is they endangered his life and safety unnecessarily twice by pulling in front of him and blocking him, then throwing him down on the ground and cuffing him.
I personally saw three Round Rock police officers and a sheriff three cars do this to a 12 year old girl and her 9 year old brother on his bike and detain and question them for 20 or 30 minutes. Was that reasonable too?
U. S. Supreme Court decision in City of Houston v. Hill, 482 U.S. 451 (1987), "The freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest
is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state." — 482 U.S. 451, at 463
I think we as citizens have the right to wave at the police too, but maybe I'm wrong.
The police are our public "servants" not enforcers with impunity for us to instantly follow their instructions instantly and without questioning (though that may be wise since they carry guns and if they kill you it is only their story that will be heard). There are lots of good cops and they do a hard job under circumstances that are far from ideal, but there is also a lot of "occupational arrogance" in policing where they think they are above the law and citizens, or "civilians" as they call us, should never question their authority or even question then at all in anything they do nor should they ever have to explain or appear rational or reasonable.
THINK ABOUT IT, if you were riding a bike down your neighborhood street and waved at a cop and they pulled in front of you and came out of the car with hand on gun/tazer and forced you off the bike on the ground face down with no explanation and cuffed you and threatened to tazer you when you were bewildered and thought maybe I'll call the mayor or police chief whom I know, would it be OK and reasonable (or is that reasonable with blacks but not with whites)? I wouldn't consider that reasonable or right in my neighborhood, thus I don't think it is right in any other neighborhood in the U.S.A. (Compton or downtown Detroit included). You tell me?
