Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

Manslaughter too:

The state attorney of Baltimore, in a unexpected announcement, said Friday that she had probable cause to file homicide, manslaughter and misconduct charges against the police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, who was died after sustaining a spinal cord injury while in police custody.

In a news conference Friday, the state attorney, Marilyn J. Mosby, said that the death of Mr. Gray had been ruled a homicide and the police had been negligent in his death.

“We have probable cause to file criminal charges,” Ms. Mosby said. As Ms. Mosby spoke outside the War Memorial here, dozens of police officers dressed in riot gear stood nearby.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-man-who-filmed-freddie-gray-video-has-been-arrested-at-gunpoint-10217973.html

I'm getting a lil emotional thinking about 1) the fact that the officers were charged but 2) the very long road ahead

All I can say rn is go Mosby

incredible

btw, in NYC our ex-Sandinista mayor has learned his lesson and sez the #1 concern protestors should have is "listen to the police"

xps I wanna say "finally" but yeah there is a long road ahead

“To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America, I heard your call for ‘no justice, no peace,’” Ms. Mosby said. “Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man, those that are angry or hurt or have their own experience of injustice.”

As she ran for office last fall, Ms. Mosby vowed to be tougher on violent criminals and also more aggressive on police misconduct. People like Tawanda Jones, whose brother Tyrone West was killed after a violent scuffle with police, campaigned forcefully for her — in part, Ms. Jones said, to get rid of her predecessor, Gregg L. Bernstein.

“I would have been a supporter of anybody to get him out of that chair,” Ms. Jones, who has been protesting police treatment of black men here since her brother died, said in an interview. “I was trying to get anybody that would take this seriously.” She said that after watching Ms. Mosby, she became convinced that she would.

“I’m so happy, I’m so excited I can’t stop crying,” Ms. Jones said Friday, moments after Ms. Mosby’s announcement, which she saw on television while working at the preschool where she teaches.

“She gave us her word. I said, ‘How will you handle police brutality?’ She said, ‘If you put me in this chair, I don’t care if they are in uniform or not. I come from a family of officers. Some are good, some are bad, I will hold everybody accountable to the law.’ And thank you, Jesus, she lived it out.”

feel like this is some kind of national turning point, to have a prosecutor do/say these things and have this background. at least, I hope it is.

Rabid conservative fuckholes already in rare form:

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/this-is-a-war-on-police-twitter-conservatives-lash-out-at-racist-indictments-of-baltimore-cops/

FOP calling for appointment of a special prosecutor due to possible conflicts of interest: "your personal and professional relationship with the Gray family attorney, William Murphy and the lead prosecutor's connections with members of the local media." I sincerely hope she is able to run them the fuck off.

fuck the FOP

there is nothing in history like the archives of human vileness that social media will bequeath to the study of future generations

well, the turkey sandwich I just ate is pretty vile

let's keep things in perspective here

idk, i mean, for every despicable thing ppl have wrought upon the world it is a salve to the humane mind to point to the leaders and say it was those headcases what done it and so retain some basic faith in the species but that kind of consolation is hard to muster if you have access to the diary of every cunt who cheered along

wrong place and time. just upsetting

@FOP_DC_LODGE · 6h
I want to let everyone know that Police Week 2015 is NOT cancelled! Please share this so we can stop this rumor. Please retweet.

btw w/ all the "racist" accusations flying around social media... do we even know the races of the cops who have been indicted? a significant % of baltimore's police force is black, so it wouldn't be surprising if several of the officers involved were black (indeed, IIRC, at least one in the video is).

I'm sure the BPD will be tweeting out their mugshots any second now

i mean, it doesn't really matter. but it's like it hadn't occurred to some of these social-media trolls.

er, to be clear, I'm talking about the reactionary assholes who are saying that the prosecutor is "racist" for bringing indictments against the cops.

haha that was definitely NOT clear

!!

i know, i realized that after i made those posts. yikes.

apologies for just dumping this link randomly without any discussion, but has the Killed By Police site been discussed here before?

http://killedbypolice.net/

of course, the cases on there are not necessarily race-related and maybe in some cases those deaths were somehow justified, even though I rarely agree with the police killing *anyone*

heated "discussion" is my poly-sci class on wednesday revolved around a white guy in the class yelling at the rest of the students (the vast majority of whom are non-white) about how
a) the protests are predominantly apolitical people looking for an excuse to riot
b) it's racist of us to presume he's white
c) freddie gray had a preexisting back injury

several students walked out while this was going on. it was fucking awful. i'm still upset about it. don't know what's going to happen at the next class meeting but hopefully he's too embarrassed to show up.

sorry just had to vent. never experienced this bullshit in a classroom before.

he had a confrontational "come at me bro" demeanor the whole time.

are you the T.A./professor or a student

just a student. the prof calmed things down periodically but things kept flaring up and finally he just had to say "enough, we're moving on"

I have v vivid memories of walking out of a class during a similar discussion re: Rodney King, and mostly I was incensed that the professor let things get so out of control and was content to just sit there while students shat out incoherent arguments

xp

the professor should have schooled that person. that is the professor's responsibility.

xp okay i'm glad he tried but ugh

WTF was the professor doing while this was going on?

xpost

professors let shit like that get out of control way too often. like at the very least, he or she could have pointed out that the claim that freddie gray had a preexisting spinal injury has been thoroughly debunked.

dying @ replies https://twitter.com/FOP3/status/594251734601478144

he hadn't a clue that the back injury claim was bogus, he kept trying to bring it back to legal theory (it's a constitional law class)

omg so many twitter lolz

xp

okay i also think it's kind of a dumb, as a professor, to try to bring the lesson back when people have begun talking about a highly relevant and motivating current event. you have to be a little flexible! it's not like police brutality has no connection with con law.

yeah, seems like a 'let's throw out the syllabus today' thing

i am just here to judge people's teaching choices.

and hate on the FOP

Fuck the FOP.

Bail has been set for the officers charged in Freddie Gray's death. | Bail for Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr.-- charged with Second degree depraved heart murder, Manslaughter, Assault/second degree , Manslaughter by vehicle, and Misconduct in office was set at $350,000 | bail for Officer Edward M. Nero--charged with Assault/second degree , assault/second degree, Misconduct in office and false imprisonment was set at $250,0000 | bail for Officer William G. Porter-- charged with Manslaughter, Assault/second degree and Misconduct in office was set at $350,000 | bail for Lt. Brian W. Rice-- charged with Manslaughter, assault/second degree, misconduct in office and false imprisonment was set at $350,000 | bail for Officer Garrett E. Miller-- charged with Assault/second degree, misconduct in office and false imprisonment was set at $250,000 | bail for Sgt. Alicia D. White--charged with manslaughter, assault/second degree and misconduct in office was set at $350,000.

Sorry about the formatting. Copying from a FB post. Just wanted to note that $350K seems a little low for depraved heart murder

professors let shit like that get out of control way too often.

to be fair (and speaking as a teacher), it can be difficult. you want students to feel comfortable speaking up, and you need to give them a little leeway to say inaccurate or misguided things (since otherwise, undergraduates would be a pretty quiet bunch…). of course, it’s also important to keep discussion civil and not allow anyone to command the floor too long, and to correct bad ideas and information. but figuring out — in real time — the precise moment when you need to step in can be difficult. every teacher has had days where they go home and beat themselves up over not stepping in sooner to redirect/refocus a classroom discussion.

yes OTM. I taught a class this semester in which Wikileaks, Snowden, and the murder of Iraqis at the hands of private American militias played an essential role. The trouble came from students as liberal as I who wanted to bait. Questions like, "Professor, doesn't this prove that Americans just like murdering Arabs?" (and there are ROTC students in this class). I hesitate a few seconds before answering, usually. To that one I responded, "Well, X, I'm looking forward to your proving this is true in your capstone project."

the one time i called out a student strongly and immediately was when one made disparaging remarks about the homeless people who panhandle on campus. i basically called him an insensitive bigot, because there wasn't really ambiguity about it, and he needed to hear it. to be fair, he seemed pretty chastened, as if he'd never thought about it before.

i basically pointed out that it's a inexcusable thing to put down people who are already incredibly disadvantaged in relation to you, and that he needs to do some thinking about why he would feel entitled to do such a thing.

anyway. just thinking about that guy makes me mad, still.

understandable, but try to forgive his common youthful ignorance

or not *shrugs*

Maybe point out that other factors could be involved, such as apocalyptic unemployment levels.

words can hurt, maybe you should have just kicked him in the nuts

I can't blame you for your reaction, but I do know having positive or even healthy attitudes towards the homeless is difficult at a younger age, when you're more naive and black/white about things, but ESPECIALLY when you have parents who tell you never to give money to homeless people because they're going to spend it on alcohol, like mine did.

I kind of ignored mine and would give money anyway (although admittedly I am very anxious about being approached in public by anybody, homeless or not), but no doubt there's a lot of kids who get taught from a young age these guys are social parasites and it takes them until college to learn otherwise.

though I think your method of delivery is probably a vehicle for them to learn. I know having a lot of my beliefs challenged in a provocative way like that is what led me to more closely examine things that I'd previously thought were unassailable gospel and change my mind on them. If his feelings were hurt for five minutes, maybe it's worth it if he winds up critically thinking and adopting an opinion that doesn't indirectly lead to homeless people feeling more like lower-class citizens than they already do.

almost anything even slightly good is worth hurting a college kid's feelings for five minutes. in fact the good might be inherent.

but yeah your entire civilization tells you homeless people are parasitic scum whose condition is proof of their lack of discipline, so.

also one's parents tend to not have any idea how shit is. at the height of the recession when i'd been looking for a job for months and months and was only alive because my parents were paying for me they visited me in portland and my dad told a panhandler to get a job and i almost pushed him into a bus.