[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Only half-way through, but I'm not seeing anything to excoriate him about. So far my biggest take-away is police officers really need better training.

Thanks for the link, the article was well-written and did a good job painting a 3-dimensional picture of what has happened. And it emphasizes that Wilson is the product of a system with inherent racial bias and a lack of focus on violence-free conflict resolution.

While I think it's natural to see things in a more nuanced way once you know the circumstances and Wilson's personality better, I don't think any of them suffice to give him a pass. Even if you are a good guy getting caught in unfortunate circumstances, you have to take responsibility for your actions. I don't think what Wilson said indicates he has critically revisited the system he was a part of (e. g. he said that the DOJ's numbers are “skewed” or that he contributed to criminalizing the poor in Fergueson), and I think that's quite reprehensible. Unfortunately Wilson was not free to talk about the most interesting aspects of the story because of the on-going lawsuit, so perhaps he was not able to show remorse freely as it could be interpreted as an indication of guilt.

[The Final Dakar]

Sam DuBose, Ray Tensing case: Coroner: Liquor bottle seized during DuBose traffic stop was air freshener - 10News.com KGTV ABC10 San Diego

---

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

Thanks for the link, the article was well-written and did a good job painting a 3-dimensional picture of what has happened. And it emphasizes that Wilson is the product of a system with inherent racial bias and a lack of focus on violence-free conflict resolution.

Funny you mention that...
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/us...ater.html?_r=0

[OAW]

I literally have no words for this case ....

A police officer in Alabama proposed murdering a black resident and creating bogus evidence to suggest the killing was in self-defence, the Guardian has learned.

Officer Troy Middlebrooks kept his job and continues to patrol Alexander City after authorities there paid the man $35,000 to avoid being publicly sued over the incident. Middlebrooks, a veteran of the US marines, said the man “needs a god damn bullet” and allegedly referred to him as “that n*gger”, after becoming frustrated that the man was not punished more harshly over a prior run-in.

The payment was made to the black resident, Vincent Bias, after a secret recording of Middlebrooks’s remarks was played to police chiefs and the mayor. Elected city councillors said they were not consulted. A copy of the recording was obtained by the Guardian.

“This town is ridiculous,” Bias, 49, said in an interview. “The police here feel they can do what they want, and often they do.” Alexander City police chief Willie Robinson defended Middlebrooks. “He was just talking. He didn’t really mean that,” he said in an interview.

Within months of the recording, Middlebrooks was the first officer to respond to a controversial fatal shooting by a colleague of an unarmed black man in the city. He was closely involved in handling the scene and gave a key account of what happened to state investigators. His fellow officer was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing and both men continue to police the city of about 15,000 people about 55 miles north-east of Montgomery.

Middlebrooks, 33, made the threatening comments to Bias’s brother-in-law during a May 2013 encounter at his home, which Bias was visiting. Police came to the home after they discovered an unleashed dog.

A lawsuit from Bias that the city paid to settle before it reached court stated that while Bias remained inside the house and out of earshot, the officer remarked to Bias’s brother-in-law, who is white, that he was tired of “that n*gger” being released from jail.

Middlebrooks had arrested Bias on drug charges earlier in the year and Bias had been released on bail after paying a bond, according to Bias and his attorneys.

Middlebrooks expressed his frustration. “Something’s going on with that f*cking lawyer he knows, and that ****ing ... the judge or something,” he was recorded saying.

Middlebrooks allegedly went on to say “the police were going to pull [Bias] aside on a routine traffic stop and [Bias] would get killed.” According to the lawsuit, which has since been filed to court in a separate ongoing case against the city, this prompted the brother-in-law to retrieve a voice recorder that Bias had been carrying around with him in an attempt to monitor alleged harassment by police, and then return to the conversation with the officer.

On the recording, Middlebrooks is heard suggesting Bias had been behaving threateningly towards his relatives. The officer said if he were in the same position he would “f*cking kill that motherf*cker with whatever I had in that f*cking house”.

“And before the police got here, I’d ****ing put marks all over my shit and make it look like he was trying to ****ing kill me. I god damn guarantee you,” Middlebrooks said. “What would it look like? Self f*cking defence. **** that piece of sh*t. I’m a lot different from a lot of these other folks. I’ll f*cking tell you what’s on my f*cking mind.”

Middlebrooks also mocked the brother-in-law for allowing Bias to get the better of him. “That motherf*cker right there needs a god damn bullet,” he said. “And you f*cking know exactly what I’m talking about. The way he f*cking talks to you? Like you’re a f*cking child? Like he’s your ... Are you his b*tch or something? He talks to you like that.”

Robinson declined to make Middlebrooks available for an interview. Reached by telephone and asked whether Middlebrooks could discuss the incident, his wife said: “We’re not interested in making any comment about that, thank you,” and hung up. Middlebrooks subsequently said in a text message that he did not wish to comment in detail.

The officer did say he had been cleared by a state inquiry into the incident and referred the Guardian to the state bureau of investigation (SBI) and Larkin Radney, the city attorney for Alexander City. A spokesman for the SBI, however, said: “We have no record of us investigating this case.” Radney said: “I really don’t know what he’s talking about.”

During the interview at his office, Robinson said Middlebrooks “was disciplined” when the recording came to light, but declined to elaborate. Asked if the officer was ever suspended from patrols, Robinson repeated: “He got disciplined.” When it was put to him that some agencies might have terminated the officer’s job, the police chief said: “I don’t know what other departments do, but I made that call, and I’m going to live with that.”

Alabama officer kept job after proposal to murder black man and hide evidence | US news | The Guardian

OAW

[The Final Dakar]

Alexander City police chief Willie Robinson defended Middlebrooks. “He was just talking. He didn’t really mean that,” he said in an interview.

This defense can be used for literally anything. Fire him, too.

[OAW]

Very reminiscent of the Abner Louima case in NYC ....

A Houston man has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Shreveport, La. and several police officers, who he alleges falsely arrested and brutalized him, including sodomizing him with a nightstick while he was in the back of a patrol car, the Shreveport Times reports.

According to the lawsuit, Lewis was walking away from Walgreen's pharmacy on the evening of July 12, 2014, when he was approached by two police officers (identified in the lawsuit as Officer Bordelon and Officer Owen) in a patrol car.

They were allegedly in the area responding to a burglary call and demanded that Lewis come toward the vehicle.

Lewis alleges that he ran away out of fear, then Bordelon and Owen, and a third officer identified in the lawsuit as Officer Hayes, chased him "without cause." Once they caught up to him, they allegedly took him down with a straight-arm bar tactic" and handcuffed him.

According to the lawsuit, the officers admitted that Lewis was not the suspect they were looking for in the area. Still, they allegedly insisted that he must be arrested for something since they had used force in apprehending and detaining him.

It got even worse from there.

After pushing Lewis face first into a patrol car, Officer Bordelon allegedly punched Lewis several times in the face without provocation and beat him across the legs with his nightstick. It was then that Bordelon is reported to have sodomized Lewis, who was then face-down in the patrol car.

Lewis was allegedly bleeding so profusely through his shorts that after he received medical attention from paramedics with the Shreveport Fire Department, they recommended that he be transported by ambulance to the Louisiana State University hospital for "required treatment."

Despite allegedly being brutalized, Lewis was charged with resisting arrest and battery of a police officer. Though the charges were subsquently dismissed, he spent 40 days in jail before he was released.

Lewis, who suffered "physical pain and suffering, mental pain and suffering, emotional distress, disability and loss of normal life," claims that the officers violated his fourth amendment (which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires any warrant be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause) and fourteenth amendment (which requires all born and naturalized US citizens have equal protection under the law, including freed slaves and their descendants) rights under the United States Constitution.

Lewis is seeking damages on all that are allowed by law, including: compensatory and punitive damages, costs and attorney's fees, and a trial by jury on all issues that are triable.

Lawsuit Details Brutal Attack on Innocent Man by Shreveport Cops Who Allegedly Beat and Sodomized Him - The Root

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Sam DuBose, Ray Tensing case: Coroner: Liquor bottle seized during DuBose traffic stop was air freshener - 10News.com KGTV ABC10 San Diego

How stupid do you have to be to use a liquor bottle as an air freshener in your car? "Makes me look badass, doesn't matter that if I'm pulled over it automatically makes the police think it's an open container of alcohol..." Derp.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants 

How stupid do you have to be to use a liquor bottle as an air freshener in your car? "Makes me look badass, doesn't matter that if I'm pulled over it automatically makes the police think it's an open container of alcohol..." Derp.

It's pretty ****ing crazy, I agree

[The Final Dakar]

Robinson tried to stress that Middlebrooks was in fact proposing that the brother-in-law carry out the killing. “He wasn’t saying that he was going to do that,” said the police chief. “He was talking about the man doing it himself.”

This is also not helping

[The Final Dakar]

Santa Ana police officers sue to quash video of pot shop raid - The Orange County Register

Three Santa Ana police officers want to quash a surveillance video that shows officers making derogatory comments about a disabled woman and possibly snacking on pot edibles during a recent raid of a medical marijuana dispensary.

Matthew Pappas, a lawyer for Sky High, pointed to the irony of police seeking to shoot down the use of video as evidence in an investigation when they routinely use videos to investigate other crimes.

Corey W. Glave, a Hermosa Beach attorney representing the Santa Ana Police Officers Association and the three officers, said the video was taken without the officers’ knowledge and was handled by Pappas, among others, prior to being made public.

Glave said Pappas has altered the video in a way to make the police look bad.

After entering the building, police are seen dismantling video cameras inside the store.

After most of the cameras are taken down, a camera they didn’t detect shows the officers talking about a woman with an amputated left leg who at the time of the raid was in her wheelchair inside the dispensary.

“Did you punch that one-legged old Benita,” a male officer asks a female officer, apparently referring to the woman in the wheelchair.

“I was about to kick her in her (expletive) nub,” the female officer replies, according to subtitles with the video.

In another clip – which Pappas has titled “Officers eating edibles and playing darts” – a voice can be heard asking, “What flavor?” before an officer is seen unwrapping a small package and putting something in his mouth.

The lawsuit argues that the video doesn’t paint a fair version of events. The suit also claims the video shouldn’t be used as evidence because, among other things, the police didn’t know they were on camera.

I got nothing

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Funny you mention that...
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/us...ater.html?_r=0

I have the impression our analysis here similar to how the FAA and organizations like it investigate air crashes: accidents are caused by a chain of unfortunate events, and in order to avoid future accidents, you look beyond what has happened in the cockpit and include other factors. Let's compare the crashes of American Airlines Flight 587 and Korean Air Flight 801. The co-pilot of AA 587 executed a maneuver to counter wake turbulence that he was taught by American Airlines even though Airbus had advised all airlines that this maneuver could lead to catastrophic failure of the rudder. In case of the Korean Air flight, the captain (who was very experienced and had just received a commendation for his airmanship) suffered from fatigue in part due to the strenuous schedule and his other crew members did not stop him from executing a non-precision approach.

From a simple point of view, both crews are to blame in the losses of these aircrafts, but you would certainly differentiate between the two situations: if a pilot is in a precise situation and follows the training to the t, he has less culpability than the crew in the latter case. Personally, I think Wilson's case is more similar to the latter while I get the impression you think it's more of the former.

The article serves good purpose because a lot was written from the perspective of the victim and the community he belonged to. I can put myself in the shoes of both, Brown and Wilson, and understand why they acted as they did. But to me this merely explains the why, but does not change his culpability: A simple change in attitude on Wilson's part could have prevented an unnecessary death (plus the careers of more than two cops).

[OAW]

Bruh ....

A Bellefontaine Neighbors man was charged Sunday with ramming a St. Louis squad car and injuring two city officers on Friday night.

Kevin Labriado, 48, of the 1500 block of Comet Drive, was charged Sunday with two counts of second-degree assault on a law enforcement officer and child endangerment.

Police said in court records that Labriado rammed a police car from behind about 8:35 p.m. Friday in the 1100 block of Riverview Boulevard. The two officers in the car, 33 and 25 years old, were on patrol at the time and believed it was an accident until Labriado struck their squad car a second time.

Labriado tried to drive off but struck a city fire hydrant, court records say. Police grabbed him, and as they were arresting him, Labriado yelled several times that "This is for the black people!" Several other people were in the car with Labriado at the time, including his 5-year-old daughter, police said.

The officers were not seriously hurt. They and everyone in Labriado's vehicle, including the girl, were treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

Labriado's criminal history includes burglary and drug possession. He was jailed in lieu of a $20,000 cash-only bail.

Man claimed he rammed St. Louis police car 'for the black people,' charges say : St. Louis Post-Dispatch

OAW

[The Final Dakar]

One year after Ferguson, Americans are far more worried about black rights - The Washington Post

[OAW]

Re-enactments of the Ferguson grand jury testimony by actors. The testimony is verbatim. It goes back and forth between Darren Wilson and Dorian Johnson's testimony. The disparity between each person's version of events is quite striking. Which one makes the most sense to you?

‘Verbatim: The Ferguson Case’ | NYTimes.com

OAW

[OAW]

Wow. Two unarmed 19 year olds killed by the police recently.

19-Year-Old Unarmed College Student Fatally Shot by Texas Police - The Root

Fatal Shooting of Unarmed White Teen Zachary Hammond: Autopsy Pokes Holes in Police Account - The Root

OAW

[subego]

Originally Posted by OAW 

Re-enactments of the Ferguson grand jury testimony by actors. The testimony is verbatim. It goes back and forth between Darren Wilson and Dorian Johnson's testimony. The disparity between each person's version of events is quite striking. Which one makes the most sense to you?

‘Verbatim: The Ferguson Case’ | NYTimes.com

OAW

The system is so stacked in favor of the cops, it isn't until Wilson got out of the car before Johnson makes a claim to have witnessed actions the system would consider malfeasance... and Wilson had already shot at Brown twice by this point.

IOW, it doesn't matter if what Wilson says is nonsensical. Both sets of testimony prompt the same jury result.


This changes once Wilson leaves his car, but at that point, Johnson's testimony varies considerably from what the physical evidence shows.

[subego]

Let me put this in concrete terms.

If a cop grabs your arm, and it causes your hand to lightly brush against them, for all intents and purposes, the system says this cop may execute you.

The only defense in this circumstance is incontrovertible evidence you were behaving like Mother Theresa.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by subego 

Let me put this in concrete terms.

If a cop grabs your arm, and it causes your hand to lightly brush against them, for all intents and purposes, the system says this cop may execute you.

It went wrong before that: there was no reason for Wilson to do maneuver that's perhaps suited for an encounter with armed robbers shooting at the police rather than two young guys walking on the street. That's akin to the case of the 12-year-old who was playing with a toy gun in a park where the cops forced their hand with their own maneuvers.

[subego]

What maneuver?

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by subego 

What maneuver?

They took the squad car right up to the boy who, understandably, was shocked, and then because they deprived themselves of the opportunity to judge the situation calmly, shot the boy. Instead the boy and the policemen had about 2 seconds to make up their mind. There was no one around but the boy himself, so he didn't pose any threat to a third person at the time. You can read more about the case here.

[subego]

I'm familiar with the story.

I was talking about Wilson. What maneuver of Wilson's do you mean?

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by subego 

I was talking about Wilson. What maneuver of Wilson's do you mean?

I am referring to Wilson barricading the road with his car, and doing it way too closely to Brown and Johnson. Wilson was escalating the situation needlessly. What is worse, if hypothetically Brown and his friend were armed, that maneuver could have been enough to set them off, two-against-one. These are all links in the chain of events where Wilson could have made a difference by not escalating the situation.

[subego]

I don't disagree with you, but this seems like a separate question from whether the system considers what was described by Johnson as malfeasance.

What was described by Johnson, until Wilson leaves the car, the system doesn't consider malfeasance, this includes the escalation.

My comment had nothing to do with what should be, my comment is about how the disparity between Johnson's and Wilson's testimony was irrelevant to the grand jury result.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

People get irate over the killings, and they should, but the methods they're using to "get justice" don't work, leaving them all pissed off and sore. Why? Because the cops aren't breaking the letter of the laws. Want to see real change? Use the ****ing system and change the ****ing laws. That's why you elect legislators who will do that, you numbnuts.

[Snow-i]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants 

People get irate over the killings, and they should, but the methods they're using to "get justice" don't work, leaving them all pissed off and sore. Why? Because the cops aren't breaking the letter of the laws. Want to see real change? Use the ****ing system and change the ****ing laws. That's why you elect legislators who will do that, you numbnuts.

Not while these guys are still handing out the checks....

Better society or lose welfare? I think we know where most of these "activists" stand by the virtue of the people they keep voting in.

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by subego 

I don't disagree with you, but this seems like a separate question from whether the system considers what was described by Johnson as malfeasance.

What was described by Johnson, until Wilson leaves the car, the system doesn't consider malfeasance, this includes the escalation.

My comment had nothing to do with what should be, my comment is about how the disparity between Johnson's and Wilson's testimony was irrelevant to the grand jury result.

I was referring to simple ways this whole tragedy could have been avoided, so maybe we have been talking past one another. Many of these police violence cases are the result of a system where this behavior is deemed acceptable — and the public's reaction can and should be used as an engine for change up until the point where people say “This shouldn't be legal and we will take the necessary steps to make it illegal.”

[The Final Dakar]

No mention of the crazy cop that pulled his gun for being taped?
Northern California cop placed on leave after pulling gun on man recording him - LA Times

The video shows the officer stopping his police SUV and appearing to film McComas with a camera or cellphone.

On the video, McComas moves in closer to record the license plate number on the officer’s vehicle. The officer gets out of the SUV and tells McComas to take his hand out of his pocket.

McComas replies: “No sir, I’ve done nothing. I have done absolutely nothing. No.”

The officer removes his gun from his holster, speaks into his radio and says, “Seriously.”

McComas responds, “Put your gun down, really?”

The video shows McComas backing away as the officer moves the gun toward him.

McComas repeats he did nothing wrong and tells the officer not to touch him.

When McComas asks why the officer stepped out of his vehicle, the officer responds, “You're taking a picture of me. I am taking a picture of you.” The officer then asked whether McComas was “some kind of a constitutionalist or crazy guy or something like that.”

“Why are you doing this?” the officer asks McComas, who responds, “Why are you sitting here with your gun on me? This is why I am doing this. To protect myself from you.”

McComas was not detained or arrested.

As the officer walks away, he tells McComas, “Go ahead, have a nice day and put it on YouTube. I don’t really care.”

[The Final Dakar]

Also, I realize people like Shaddim will reiterate anything that makes the job more difficult is untenable, but I do wonder if having cops do their first year with just a taser and pepper spray might improve things. Or even better, instead of firing negligent cops, we just disarm them to non-lethal levels.

[BadKosh]

How about re-inventing the HR process used to hire cops? Perhaps LESS union interference?

[OreoCookie]

Originally Posted by BadKosh 

How about re-inventing the HR process used to hire cops? Perhaps LESS union interference?

No, I don't think these things are particularly useful, you need to start with the education of police officers: if there is one interesting thing in the article on Wilson, it's that the police training is lopsided and needs to be overhauled (although I had read that before). I don't think we will change all the old timers, but the next generation may change those old pesky habits.

[OAW]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

No mention of the crazy cop that pulled his gun for being taped?

You beat me to the punch with this one. As I've stated many times before. That's a prime example of how sometimes it's not about training ... it's about temperament.

OAW

[OAW]

And in local news ....

A peaceful day of protest and remembrance dissolved into chaos late Sunday when a man fired multiple shots at four St. Louis County plainclothes detectives in an SUV. The detectives fired back and the shooter was struck, said county Police Chief Jon Belmar. He was in critical condition.

Tyrone Harris identified the victim as his son, Tyrone Harris Jr., 18, of St. Louis. Harris said shortly after 3 a.m. that his son had just gotten out of surgery.

He said his son graduated from Normandy High School and that he and Michael Brown Jr. "were real close."

"We think there's a lot more to this than what's being said," Harris Sr. said.

In a 2:30 a.m. press conference, Belmar said there is a "small group of people out there that are intent on making sure we don't have peace that prevails.

"We can't sustain this as a community," he said.

Belmar said two groups of people exchanged gunfire on the west side of West Florissant Avenue at the same time the shooting took place, shortly after 11 p.m. Shots were heard for 40-50 seconds, Belmar said. "It was a remarkable amount of gunfire," he said.

The people doing the shooting "were criminals," Belmar said. "They were not protesters."

Man shot by police in Ferguson after he fired at officers, police say : St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Unfortunately a handful of dumbasses saw to it that this was the headline on the one year anniversary of Mike Brown's killing. All the positive events that took place all day long now barely get a blurb in the media. I didn't even follow this nonsense on the local news this time around. Just too depressing.

OAW

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Also, I realize people like Shaddim will reiterate anything that makes the job more difficult is untenable, but I do wonder if having cops do their first year with just a taser and pepper spray might improve things. Or even better, instead of firing negligent cops, we just disarm them to non-lethal levels.

Might as well send them out with a cap gun. Either an officer is ready and properly trained or they aren't.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Cap'n Tightpants 

Either an officer is ready and properly trained or they aren't.

When its the latter, I'm giving a third option.

Edit: Also there is that inbetween phase we call on-the-job training. Which is what I'm alluding to. On-the-job training without a deadly option.

[Cap'n Tightpants]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

When its the latter, I'm giving a third option.

Then they go back for more/proper training or they're cut loose.

[The Final Dakar]

St. Louis Co. Exec. Issues State of Emergency « CBS St. Louis

In light of last night’s violence and unrest in the City of Ferguson, and the potential for harm to persons and property, I am exercising my authority as county executive to issue a state of emergency, effective immediately.

The recent acts of violence will not be tolerated in a community that has worked so tirelessly over the last year to rebuild and become stronger. The time and investment in Ferguson and Dellwood will not be destroyed by a few that wish to violate the rights of others.

I commend the St. Louis County Police Department, the Missouri Highway Patrol, and other local agencies for their professional response as they work daily in the service of law, order, and peace.

Pursuant to my executive order, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar shall immediately take over the operation of police emergency management in the City of Ferguson and surrounding areas.
Chief Belmar shall exercise all powers and duties necessary to preserve order, prevent crimes, and protect the life and property of our citizens.”

This is absurd. The police keep over-reacting at a drop of the hat.

[subego]

Isn't this to free up money?

[The Final Dakar]

If you have more info from another article do tell. On the face of it, it looks like a re-enactment of last year.

[subego]

If I had supporting evidence I wouldn't have phrased it as a question.

My understanding is...

1) A SoE is usually about things like natural disasters.

2) The main reason it gets declared is so you can call up all your first responders without that crushing your budget. You are now authorized to use emergency funds. The second reason is to rearrange the chain-of-command to something more appropriate for a large scale.

[The Final Dakar]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the SoE last year was used to impose curfews and suspend or limit the protesting. I have no idea what they're planning right now, but neither would surprise me.

[The Final Dakar]

*disclaimer that twitter has no journalistic credibility and this may be bunk*

Doesn't this sound like something that would happen last year?

[subego]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the SoE last year was used to impose curfews and suspend or limit the protesting. I have no idea what they're planning right now, but neither would surprise me.

I'm not saying the two things I listed are the only things which happen in a SoE, I'm saying these are the things which happen in all SoEs.

IOW, they can declare a SoE and receive tangible benefits without using the iron fist. They may intend to not act like idiots.

I wouldn't necessarily bet on it, I'm only pointing out my understanding is the declaration isn't a slam dunk on the idiocy. We'll see how that shakes out tonight I imagine.

Does that make sense?

[subego]

I said tonight, I guess I meant "right now".

[OAW]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

St. Louis Co. Exec. Issues State of Emergency « CBS St. Louis


This is absurd. The police keep over-reacting at a drop of the hat.

Mass arrests are going down in STL today. Funny how yesterday they were careful to differentiate between the handful of criminals and the crowds of peaceful protestors. And now today they are using this "State of Emergency" to round up masses of peaceful protestors. Let's be clear. There were no riots or any sort of mass violence last night. A few knuckleheads started shooting at each other ... one of them was stupid enough to shoot at the cops when they approached ... and he ended up getting shot. Which unfortunately is an all too common occurrence in certain areas around here. Just another night in STL ... but no "State of Emergency" declarations.

OAW

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by OAW 

A few knuckleheads started shooting at each other ... one of them was stupid enough to shoot at the cops when they approached

Not even that. Wasn't it gang related? In which case putting it on the protesters is extra-garbage.

[OAW]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Not even that. Wasn't it gang related? In which case putting it on the protesters is extra-garbage.

Most of the shootings that the media likes to characterize as "random violence" around here is gang-related and anything but random. There also appears to be a dispute between the police and witnesses on whether the guy that got shot was the one shooting at the cops.

OAW

[OAW]

The local authorities should have know better than to start doing mass arrests. Those tactics are backfiring. Again.

Protesters blocked rush-hour traffic in both directions on Interstate 70 near the Blanchette Bridge in Earth City Monday evening.

Aerial footage from a KTVI (Channel 2) helicopter showed lines of protesters joining hands to block the highway as drivers sat in their cars, or got out to watch and wait. Protesters also set out barricades to help block traffic. One driver nosed an SUV through the line of people, with a protester kicking at the vehicle's door as the SUV pushed against protesters.

Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Al Nothum said police departments dispatched troopers and officers to the scene shortly after receving reports of the shutdown. “It's a matter of getting them removed and taking down their barriers,” he said of the protesters.

About 5:40 p.m., most protesters cleared off the road and traffic began to move again. Others protesters refused to move and were arrested.

Earlier in the day, police arrested 57 protesters in St. Louis who were demanding the dissolution of the Ferguson Police Department.

Meanwhile, St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger has declared a state of emergency and turned oversight of the Ferguson situation over to County Police Chief Jon Belmar, in the wake of at least three shooting incidents overnight Sunday.

"Chief Belmar shall exercise all powers and duties necessary to preserve order, prevent crimes, and protect the life and property of our citizens,” Stenger said in a statement issued early Monday afternoon.

Stenger later said in an interview that he has not ruled out imposing an curfew on Ferguson, depending on events Monday night.

The protestors were very strategic with this action. This bridge is the major route across the Missouri river on I-70 from St. Louis County into neighboring St. Charles County. It's how the residents of the more far flung suburbs get to and from their places of employment. And it's not just that bridge because other surrounding highways that feed traffic that direction will start to back up as well. Depending upon how long this goes on highway traffic will grind to a halt in the northwestern part of the metro area. And this being STL there's always the racial component to consider. Many residents of St. Charles County moved there as part of the "white flight" over the last few decades from the older inner ring suburbs like Ferguson and its neighboring cities. For the most part they have been comfortably unaffected by the unrest in Ferguson or even downtown STL or the STL County seat in Clayton. Not anymore ...

OAW

[subego]

Is three "shooting events" a lot down there?

I assume it's not like here, where three is like, a Tuesday, but state of emergency grade event?

[OAW]

Originally Posted by subego 

Is three "shooting events" a lot down there?

I assume it's not like here, where three is like, a Tuesday, but state of emergency grade event?

In one area yes. But if it was spread out over a weekend it wouldn't be surprising. Especially in the summer.

OAW

[Cap'n Tightpants]

If they do call in the nat'l guard, as Lt Gov Boyd Rutherford suggested on CNN, do you honestly believe things will get better?

[OAW]

Absolutely not. The local authorities continue to take actions that only escalate the tension. And they will continue to backfire. The cops should only be keeping crowds from attacking other people and businesses. Other than that just leave the people alone. Quit trying to make them "disperse" and firing tear gas at peaceful protestors.

OAW