It's a tragedy that could have been prevented IMO. Really sad for everyone involved. We have tazers and plenty of non lethal options I don't understand why more police don't have those options.
I am pretty sure they have tasers, weren't they the state getting sued for tazing the father trying to go into the burning house his 3 yr old died in?
Who knows what to believe with this case, I am sure the guys weren't model citizens, but someone puts their hands up, you shouldn't shoot them... We don't know all the info and probably never will... But with I know that with all the law suits popping up, having cameras on each cop wouldn't be a bad idea, for their safety too.... The cost is not much at all in comparison to the benefits... I think it would stop a lot of BS that goes on...
My friends son was stopped walking home from our house, with a bag full of his football gear, so helmet, cleats, shoulder pads, ect, its a good sized duffle... The cop says, "where are you going" he answers "home' the cop says "dont be a smart ass, where are you going" so he told us he thought the cop heard him say something different, like he didn't understand him so he repeated himself and said "home" the cop grabbed his bag away from him and cuffed the kid, 14 years old walking home from football practice.. Never asked what was in the bag... Then he searched the bag and searched the kid... 14 years old of course he has no i.d., so he asks him where he lives, then he follows the kid home with the kid walking, waits until he walks in the house and drives off, meanwhile the kid is balling his eyes out!!! He is kind of soft hearted, one of the kids on the team while a big kid, you have to talk him into hitting with everything he has because he goes easy on people.. Just a good boy, from a really good family, talking honor roll, football, went to ccd with my kids, volunteers at the fire house with my son, he is a well behaved kid afraid of his own shadow....
So my friend calls the police station demanding this officer return to his house, or he is calling the state police... So the cop comes back with his commanding officer and tells his side of the story, says there was a reported b and e and he seen a "guy" walking down the street, then the kid was acting suspicious {scared out of his mind}, so he cuffed him while he searched the bag... He didn't notice he was crying until he went to question him further, then seen the tears and could tell he was very young...
So my friend Terry who is the father flipped out, screaming and yelling, which is what I would have done, picture your son who you move to a very expensive neighborhood getting cuffed to crying and shaking like a leaf by the time he gets home because some 25 year old cop wanted to yell at him for walking home.... So to get to the end of the story, the cap was made to apologize to him and his son, and they filed an agreement that this cop couldn't come near his family, he got put on a detail far away from our neighborhood....
BUT now if this happened to some inner city kid that may or may not be a good boy, who is there to stick up for him? And who will listen? I see an issue here, and I am in the camp that believes crime follows poverty not race or anything else, all people can be good and all people can be bad.. I know people that live in poverty and are very "stand up" wonderfull good people honest and giving even though they don't have enough for themselves, and I know people with tons of money that are thieves and take advantage of everything they can, but I do see much more crime in poverty stricken areas, and I see much more situations like this where the cops have done something wrong... Its a hard ball to catch you just don't know what someone is going to do... You see something happen and think, "what were they thinking" but we don't know....
We need law and order, with that comes trusting a good amount of authority with people that are willing to take the risks that come along with it, you are going to get some guys that don't make the rite decisions here and there...
