NFT: The online reaction of cops to the death of Eric Garner

the responses from segments of BBI would have just made me sad.

Every single officer in this arrest should be fired for gross incompetence. Can you imagine making a mistake of analogous magnitude at your job? Even asking that question is awful because you're now trying to find a mistake you could make that would be comparably bad at your job to the police killing a man.

Who wants in?

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kopinyc: A more accurate headline would be "Non Compliant Fat Bastard Gets Just Due In Resisting Law Enforcement Officers" DisGraziato: I guess it's the best thing for his tribe. He probably never worked a legit job. They city will pay off the family and they will be in Nigggaaa heaven for the rest of their lives!!

that's horrible. I felt terrible watching that video.

But I will take the bet that you'll get the defense force of Paterson Plank, Dave inHoboken, Giant24, bc4life, halfback, and a handful of others to trot out the same excuses for the police and/or same arguments to blame the victim.

And the response mostly is "Well, the fat fuck should have complied!"

Yeah, I get that a couple of online forums aren't representative of all law enforcement, but it doesn't seem to be a fringe opinion.

and a complete lack of awareness in believing the officers are the victims for facing scrutiny and criticism.

Amazing.

But nah, this was bad.

But what I've seen over the past few years up close with family members who ran afoul of the law has really soured me on law enforcement a bit.

And yet a helluva lot of cops feel compelled to defend it, and THAT is the crux of what some people consider my "bashing" of the police. It may be a small minority that use excessive force, but the majority who don't routinely refuse to condemn it, and quite of few vociferously defend it.

Instead of these guys becoming pariahs, the cops who DO condemn them become pariahs.

If only we could create robots to enforce the law.

So there should be no rationalization about how "they put their lives on the line EVERY day!" to excuse the appalling actions that took a man's life.

In comment 11778551 GiantsUA said:

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If only we could create robots to enforce the law.

Please step away from the keyboard.

You have 30 seconds to comply.

But, even I have to admit that this seemed to be over the top.

It's sad that someone has to die for there to be any kind of change.

from the cops are pretty disgusting. Just a terrible situation.

Anyone who defends the cops in this case is a fucking idiot.

of what those officers said online were disgraceful, just as as segment of the population has peopel react disgracefully when they feel they are under attack (as police offers are, image-wise at least).

I know I'm in the minority, but I'm not so sure the police officers used such excessive force that it shocks the conscience. I can't say the arrest was justified' it seems as if the cops originally thought he was a part of the fight and after he wasn't, they were trying to get on a stupid selling a loose cigarette charge when there was an actual fight heppening. But I wasn't there. I've only seen the video.

But once the police officers decided to arrest him, he should have complied. Once he started resisting, the cops had to use more force to bring him to the ground to cuff him.

I just think a 350-pound or 400-pound asthmatic smoker is a ticking time bomb, especially one who has worked himself up by screaming at the cops before they actually arrested him.

I'm not excusing the use of the choke-hold by the cops, but someone in such poor health should not be resisting arrest either.

Overall it's just a very tragic situation.

I saw it when it happened, but i never started the thread..I was wondering was it even going to make it to BBI because of the magnitude of what might lead to and the racial implications of it..

Like Kyle, it was going to be people defending the cops to the end..

but the guy shouldn't have raised (even slightly) his arms up and/or said "don't touch me man." And he did just that.

If you don't want cops to beat you down, don't fucking resist. It's that simple. Maybe the cops did act a little too forceful but the bottom line is if this guy stands down he's alive today.

I am certain a cop won't kill me because I won't give them a reason to use force.

This story is bullshit. No one should die like that but this story is pure bullshit.

In comment 11778572 Osi Osi Osi OyOyOy said:

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from the cops are pretty disgusting. Just a terrible situation. Anyone who defends the cops in this case is a fucking idiot.

The comments are disturbing. These are police officers basically condoning what these cowards did.

blaming his weight for their own incompetence.

In comment 11778580 djm said:

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but the guy shouldn't have raised (even slightly) his arms up and/or said "don't touch me man." And he did just that. If you don't want cops to beat you down, don't fucking resist. It's that simple. Maybe the cops did act a little too forceful but the bottom line is if this guy stands down he's alive today. I am certain a cop won't kill me because I won't give them a reason to use force. This story is bullshit. No one should die like that but this story is pure bullshit.

Food for thought.

Maybe, just maybe, the responsibility for the police beating someone down lies with the police who do the beatdown?

Maybe, too, the reason why the dead guy is dead is the people who killed him?

In comment 11778513 Greg from LI said:

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And the response mostly is "Well, the fat fuck should have complied!" Yeah, I get that a couple of online forums aren't representative of all law enforcement, but it doesn't seem to be a fringe opinion.

Yeah, definitely not a fringe opinion. I miss cop threads on this board here and there, but isn't it well-established and accepted by now that a good many cops are assholes? If even just 10% of them are, that's quite a few people who'd be inclined to make such posts. And I think it's well more than 10%.

In comment 11778589 Kyle said:

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In comment 11778580 djm said: Quote: but the guy shouldn't have raised (even slightly) his arms up and/or said "don't touch me man." And he did just that. If you don't want cops to beat you down, don't fucking resist. It's that simple. Maybe the cops did act a little too forceful but the bottom line is if this guy stands down he's alive today. I am certain a cop won't kill me because I won't give them a reason to use force. This story is bullshit. No one should die like that but this story is pure bullshit. Food for thought. Maybe, just maybe, the responsibility for the police beating someone down lies with the police who do the beatdown? Maybe, too, the reason why the dead guy is dead is the people who killed him?

Shhh...Dont post rational thoughts here.

The guy was an idiot and the story is bullshit!

and I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to be a cop. But I can try. I can't sit here and play Monday morning QB with shit like this. If I was a cop i'd be fucking nervous. You raise your arms even in the least and say "don't touch me" and I am taking action.

There is no doubt that some cops are assholes. Some should be behind bars or even worse. Some cops do go too far or use poor judgement. Maybe this situation is one of those times...but I still say, if you act like an asshole to cops and raise even the slightest bit of tension, you are just asking for trouble. Cops die every year. Cops watch their partners die every year. I can't really kill these guys if they get a little twitchy. Shit...they are probably right more often than not.

In comment 11778572 Osi Osi Osi OyOyOy said:

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from the cops are pretty disgusting. Just a terrible situation. Anyone who defends the cops in this case is a fucking idiot.

You know who'd probably be here defending the cops right now if he hadn't been banned?

I do. He's apparently a towering connoisseur of cinema.

but when they get twitchy, they can kill you.

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I am certain a cop won't kill me because I won't give them a reason to use force.

I wouldnt be surprised if the kid who got killed for holding a fucking video game controller thought the same exact thing.

In comment 11778580 djm said:

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If you don't want cops to beat you down, don't fucking resist. It's that simple.

I've always held firm to that same edict. Essentially, you want to give the same advise to a suspect as you would a mugging victim who should just fork over the wallet with no resistance.

and when I say the story is bullshit...I don't mean it's full of lies or full of misinformation. I mean it's gonna be impossible to decipher right from wrong. It's a fucking shit show. Like I said, who is to say from the comforts of the safe world we live in that the cops used too much force? Who knows what this guy was capable of or what the next guy is capable of?

It's an impossible situation. It's bullshit. Get it?

Death by heart attack induced by a choke hold the commissioner says is a no-no and in the rulebook is quite another.

?

really truly believe that these cops deliberately murdered this guy? That they went in wanting to kill this guy? All in broad fucking daylight?

I think we can all agree that until evidence surfaces, these cops just made a mistake...that these weren't malicious actions more they didn't read the situation as the guy was on the ground...

So if you believe the cops simply used poor judgement that clearly stemmed from the guy's refusal to stand down and act rational I think we can agree that this is a murky situation.

and I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to police because most I have known are good people trying to do a very hard job in an environment few of us can fully understand.

Having said that, that video is not someone who accidentally died because of his own stupidity. That is a man who was murdered by an overzealous idiot, and it was allowed to happen by several others who should have stopped it. The guy applying the chokehold should be in prison. The rest of them had a responsibility to protect that man and failed. None of them should ever put on a shield after they serve their deserved time behind bars.

With the authority the police are given they have a responsibility to use it judicisouly, and use force only as a lass resort. Applying a chokehold on a man laying on the ground held by several other officers is not possibly justifiable.

The comments from that forum are incomprehensible. Hopefully those are mostly former officers who are no longer in a position of authority or in contact with the public because they are a threat.

In comment 11778599 Kyle said:

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but when they get twitchy, they can kill you.

Actually you can kill a cop. It happens all the time.

In comment 11778617 Dave in Buffalo said:

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?

Garner went into cardiac arrest while lying face down on the sidewalk in handcuffs and was pronounced DOA at Richmond University Medical Center.

if the evidence or rules say that one of the cops went too far, then he will get his in the end.

Ill leave it at that.

"This anti-cop mentality of yours! I don't know what the police have done to you in the past but they may save your life one day in!

Ask any doctor, if you are talking, you CAN breathe. You cannot talk without breathing, simple as that. "I can't breathe, I can't breathe." A lot of individuals lie and use those words to get the cops to back off so they can attempt an escape or gain the upper hand.

Yes, choking is not allowed in our procedures but if it were my life against another and that was the only option, I would rather be judged by twelve than carried by six. Now you may see from the video it wasn't a life or death situation to require choking. Turns out from the medical coroner reports that the man didn't die from choking but from cardiac arrest (There was no throat damage, or any signs of sabotaging air supply). It was just a piss poor take down attempt on that cops part and he will be punished for that, even the appearance of a choke hold will hurt him even though he wasn't choking the guy. Things should have been done differently but when you're in the heat of the moment and you have tunnel vision...put yourself in their shoes.

This all could have been avoided if the deceased didn't resist arrest because he was caught in the act, breaking a "draconian law." Don't blame the enforcers, blame the lawmakers you voted for, for creating such laws."

I can understand the POV that suspects can say "I can't breathe" only to be let up and then pull out a weapon and use it. But that is a real stretch imo.

Furthermore the cop who performed the choke hold has a history.

Instead of choking people to death because of lost tax revenue maybe don't cost your city 30 grand in settlement expenses (not counting legal fees costs etc)
Officer Pantaleo - ( New Window )

In comment 11778619 djm said:

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really truly believe that these cops deliberately murdered this guy? That they went in wanting to kill this guy? All in broad fucking daylight? I think we can all agree that until evidence surfaces, these cops just made a mistake...that these weren't malicious actions more they didn't read the situation as the guy was on the ground... So if you believe the cops simply used poor judgement that clearly stemmed from the guy's refusal to stand down and act rational I think we can agree that this is a murky situation.

What I think is, too many of these stories coming out in the news. Police using excessive force is a problem. There are too many of these assholes being hired that think their badge gives them carte blanche to do what ever the fuck they want.

Read some of those posts from A POLICE MESSAGE BOARD in which you MUST confirm you are a police officer. They're practically fucking rooting these guys on. It's sickening.

You wonder why people dont trust the police? Look no further.

I trust people even less...

and struggling for air can eek out "I can't breathe." It probably doesn't mean they are lying.

And let's not pretend this was a struggle for survival between a cop and a citizen. The chokehold was still being applied when the citizen was laying on the ground with several officers laying on him. Releasing the chokehold would have put absolutely nobody's life in danger.

In comment 11778638 djm said:

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I trust people even less...

An inconveniently, policemen are people with more power (and often, more impunity) than average people.

In comment 11778638 djm said:

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I trust people even less...

That we agree on. People suck.

That got punched directly in the face by a cop and I never even got arrested during this same actual interaction. The cop didn't like me because I was trying to buy weed in NY and I was from jersey and Yada Yada Yada...cold cocked by a cop.

I'm gonna steal that "hamburger shovels" line from SAPDMAS

you don't think he knew how and how to comply? Sure he wasn't a model citizen, but the cops knew him by name and he was an easy arrest to pad their statistics. But old number 99 was not content with slapping on the cuffs, he was a fucking tough guy who took no shit. Enjoy prison, your asshole will become very elastic

"Hamburger Shovels" is what I'm taking away from this story as well. lol

In comment 11778580 djm said:

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but the guy shouldn't have raised (even slightly) his arms up and/or said "don't touch me man." And he did just that. If you don't want cops to beat you down, don't fucking resist. It's that simple. Maybe the cops did act a little too forceful but the bottom line is if this guy stands down he's alive today. I am certain a cop won't kill me because I won't give them a reason to use force. This story is bullshit. No one should die like that but this story is pure bullshit.

So during a mele, a suspect may not comply. Then it is up to the police officers to do their job and they are trained to do it a certain way. The choke hold he employed was one they were told not to use and the suspect died because of it.

At that point, I'm not as concerned about the suspect saying, "Don't touch me" when I weigh it against him being killed for it.

He didn't die because he said "Don't touch me". He died because of a wrongfully used choke hold not condoned by the police department. The suspect did something wrong. The cop who was trained on how to deal with someone resisting, did something mortally wrong.

By the cop to grab him around the neck but I want to hear an easy way to get a 400 lb resisting man into handcuffs.

He was in bad health and 99 out of 100 times they take down a guy this size the same way and cuff him with no issues. You don't resist arrest, it never ends well, have your day in court and explain it to the judge. What are cops supposed to do when someone refuses to comply and let them put handcuffs on them regardless of what the suspected crime was, just let them go? Should they have tazed him instead? Shot him?