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[Jest Chillin]

I don't know why people keep questioning my understanding of the article. I get the larger point of it, and I AGREE with the larger point.

But the author chose to frame that argument around his brother's experience, and I do not feel, based on the information we have (which of course could be inaccurate or missing key information), that what happened with his brother is really the same as so many of these tragedies.

You are making assumptions about the manner the other cop was approaching the car, assuming it was determined by the driver's race. It may have been, but the article says the cops approached the car after a "pursuit." Perhaps the pursuit was a hostile one, and therefore maybe justifying the other cop's hand on his gun?

Or maybe it wasn't and the gun still went off when he fell?

Or maybe the other cop had his hand on his gun, but the brother did not, and only pulled his gun when he heard the shot?

Pursuit or not, Police should be trained to only resort to lethal measures in response to potentially lethal actions. I'm not making assumptions about the manner the officer approached the car but rather "wondering out loud" so-to-speak how a gun could accidentally discharge.

Even taking the Department's statement as pure fact, the state of mind of the officers before the discharge is something that should be questioned. As with the video of the officer firing on a man who simply went back into his car to retrieve his ID, that can make all the difference. Many law enforcement agencies in other countries handle legitimately dangerous situations without shooting the suspect. Yet here in the US, that seems to happen far less often. There's a reason for that.

As far as we know, the bother was in a tense situation, heard a gun shot, and reacted in a very, very unfortunate, but perhaps understandable, way. I mean, in his mind the only reason to hear a gunshot at that point was if the subject was firing at them, or possibly if his partner was firing at the subject, which (theoretically) he only would have done if forced to by the subjects actions.

Look, institutional racism is a monumental problem in the United States, and it causes far, far, FAR too many tragedies a year. But this article is the one that was posted here, and I have some issues with this article. That's it, that's all i'm saying.

Why is a routine traffic stop a "tense situation?" I think we can all acknowledge that these officers never know what to expect, even during a routine event such as a traffic stop, but they should be trained specifically not to be tense. Instead it seems as if they're trained to be tense. Ready to react at a moments notice. When people are on edge like that, they're much more likely to make a hasty decision that could very well end up being a bad one.

This is my point of view, but I'm not sure if that's exactly what the writer is arguing.

That's what I've taken away from his Op Ed. It's really the only way that he can say that his brother isn't racist but race played a role in the shooting.

 

[funkypie]

Are you really trying to use that incident to dismiss decades of systemic racism? It is not like what happened in Ferguson is some sort of rare occurrence in this country.

How did he contradict himself?

the guy tells his mother that he thinks he shot the kid because he was black, yet later on says he doesn't think his bother shot him because he was black