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"_____" while black (Page 6)
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Laminar
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Oct 2, 2019, 08:43 AM
 
Stirring the pot: If the officer had been a man instead of a woman, what result would we have seen? Her department was very quick to turn on her. How much of that was them recognizing the gravity of what had happened, and how much of that was because she was a rookie female officer?
     
reader50
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Oct 2, 2019, 12:48 PM
 
She also admitted everything in her 911 call. Even police departments and unions would have trouble arguing against a recorded confession.

She should have handled it the traditional cop way. Admitted nothing, "smelled something suspicious" in the house, and oops - forgot to turn her camera on. Or accidentally smashed it against a nearby hammer.
     
andi*pandi
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Oct 2, 2019, 01:03 PM
 
She admitted it, expressed remorse, wish she'd died instead. Have no idea why the judge allowed castle defense but glad the jury didn't buy it.
     
reader50
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Oct 2, 2019, 01:55 PM
 
I might buy her position. Trouble is, it doesn't matter. What she did isn't forgivable. You don't walk into someone else's home (innocent & unarmed), shoot him dead, then get a hall pass.

As a cop, she was a trusted party. Openly armed in public. Tired or not, she was supposed to exercise responsibility. Be sure of her target(s) and circumstances. If she was too tired, she should have left her gun in the locker at work. Same as calling a friend (or cab) if you're drunk.
     
OreoCookie
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Oct 2, 2019, 07:14 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
I might buy her position. Trouble is, it doesn't matter. What she did isn't forgivable. You don't walk into someone else's home (innocent & unarmed), shoot him dead, then get a hall pass.
I don’t subscribe to the idea that people cannot be forgiven. But I’d say they do have to bear responsibility for their actions. The fact that she was professionally trained and does know better is, as you correctly point out, increases her responsibility. Overall, 10 years seem fair. I hope that judge and jury will take such a measured approach in other circumstances. I think the verdict would have been quite different if a black man mistakenly entered a white, blonde woman’s apartment and shot her because he made an honest mistake and thought she was an intruder.
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OreoCookie
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Oct 2, 2019, 07:16 PM
 
Originally Posted by Laminar View Post
Stirring the pot: If the officer had been a man instead of a woman, what result would we have seen? Her department was very quick to turn on her. How much of that was them recognizing the gravity of what had happened, and how much of that was because she was a rookie female officer?
Ditto if race were a factor in the opposite direction. I think those are fair questions, that merit discussion.
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Thorzdad
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Oct 2, 2019, 07:40 PM
 
Or, if Botham Jean had been armed and shot and killed the intruder in self-defense.
     
reader50
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Oct 2, 2019, 08:00 PM
 
I agree with the 10-year sentence. Perhaps the jury found her testimony credible. She did own up to her mistakes.

It would be nice if other cops-kill-citizen trials were as balanced as this. The outcome, not counting the judge's Castle Defense instruction. That doesn't seem proper for the intruder.

btw, it appears the door question did get addressed.
... when she mistakenly parked on the wrong floor in the garage and was able to enter Jean's apartment because he had left the door slightly ajar.
     
OAW
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Oct 2, 2019, 10:51 PM
 
While a conviction for murder was a shock to say the least (a testament to a diverse jury no doubt) given the sentence this is food for thought ....



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reader50
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Oct 3, 2019, 02:42 AM
 
I don't know the 2nd example offhand, can you clarify (or link)? It sounds like over-sentencing-while-black. Where the 2nd jury got it wrong.
     
OAW
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Oct 3, 2019, 08:31 AM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
I don't know the 2nd example offhand, can you clarify (or link)? It sounds like over-sentencing-while-black. Where the 2nd jury got it wrong.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marissa_Alexander_case

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andi*pandi
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Oct 3, 2019, 10:57 AM
 
that's obviously asinine.
     
reader50
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Oct 3, 2019, 11:42 AM
 
There's problems there beyond the jury. I disagree with the prosecutor - if the intent was to kill, why didn't she fire more times?

So over-prosecution, hefty sentence with no one injured and no clear intent to injure. And bonus appearance of one of the famous Stand Your Ground laws. Which produce an odd number of minority shooting stories, with questionable justifications.
     
Laminar
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Oct 3, 2019, 12:53 PM
 
The State Attorney has quite the resume. There's another case listed there with someone "standing their ground" and firing warning shots into the ground. Warning shots are (were?) specifically not covered by the Stand Your Ground law.

In 2009, Ronald Thompson, a 65-year-old army veteran fired two shots into the ground to scare off teenagers who were demanding entry into his friend's house in Keystone Heights, Florida.[48] Corey prosecuted Thompson for aggravated assault, and after he refused a plea agreement with a three-year prison sentence, won a conviction that would carry a mandatory 20-year sentence under Florida's 10-20-Life statute. In a similar case, Fourth Circuit Judge James Harrison called a mandatory minimum sentence "a crime in itself" and declared the 10-20-Life statute unconstitutional. Judge Skinner gave Thompson three years instead.[48]

Corey appealed the 3-year sentence and won, sending Thompson to prison for 20 years.[48]

In June 2012, Fourth Circuit Judge Don Lester granted Thompson a new trial, ruling that the jury instructions had been flawed in his original trial regarding the justifiable use of deadly or non-deadly force given the circumstances of the case.[49] While awaiting his new trial, Mr. Thompson was offered a plea deal for five years in prison with credit for time served. He reported back to prison on October 31, 2013, where he is serving the remaining two years.[50]
So if you're going to shoot, shoot to kill. If all you do is firing warning shots, you've committed a crime and get a 20 year minimum sentence. If you shoot to kill, you have a better chance of claiming you were standing your ground and getting off without charges.
     
OAW
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Oct 7, 2019, 06:06 PM
 
I suspect this is NOT a coincidence ....

A message has clearly been sent.

Joshua Brown, a key witness who testified for the prosecution on Tuesday in the trial of killer cop Amber Guyger, was fatally shot outside of his apartment building in Dallas on Friday night.

The neighbor of Botham Jean, who was murdered by Guyger, Brown’s body was found on the ground, his body riddled with bullets, the Dallas Morning News reported.


He was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he died from his injuries.

According to civil rights attorney S. Lee Merritt, Esq., who is representing the Jean family, Brown’s immediate family said he was shot in his mouth and chest after Merritt was told the young man was shot in his back.


“We will have to await the autopsy to be sure,” he wrote on Twitter Saturday night.

On Facebook, Merritt wrote that Brown’s execution “underscores the reality of the black experience in America.”

“Brown lived in constant fear that he could be the next victim of gun violence…Brown deserves the same justice he sought to ensure the Jean family.”

Witnesses reportedly told police they heard several gunshots and saw a silver four-door sedan speeding away from the parking lot.

Brown 28, testified last week about the night of Sept. 6, 2018, when Amber Guyger, a white Dallas Police officer, entered Jean’s apartment, allegedly thinking it was hers and shot him dead, believing the black certified public account was an intruder.

The diverse jury, mostly made of women and people of color, found Guyger— who has a history of making racist remarks on social media—guilty and then sentenced her to 10 years in prison for the murder. She will be up for parole in five years.

Ponder that.

Brown was a former athlete turned entrepreneur, according to Merritt, who is working closely with his family in seeking justice.

On Saturday, the lead prosecutor in the Guyger case, Jason Hermus, applauded Brown’s decision to come forward.

“He bravely came forward to testify when others wouldn’t, ” he told the Morning News. “If we had more people like him, we would have a better world.”

Dallas police say there is no suspect information available at this time.
Joshua Brown, a Key Witness in Amber Guyger’s Murder Trial, Killed Outside Apartment | TheRoot.com

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Thorzdad
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Oct 7, 2019, 06:24 PM
 
Jesus.
     
reader50
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Oct 7, 2019, 06:46 PM
 
It's weird, and doesn't seem coincidental. I want more info.
     
andi*pandi
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Oct 7, 2019, 09:34 PM
 
The two shots seem... pointed.

     
OAW
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Oct 8, 2019, 02:30 PM
 
Even more retaliation. Fired from her job. Personal and business Instagram accounts shut down. Etc.

The only video footage of the aftermath of Amber Guyger’s murder of Botham Jean came from police body cameras -- and the cell phone of a witness who lived in a floor beneath Jean. Now, the neighbor who offered the footage to the Dallas district attorney’s office has been labeled a “Black radical” by her employer for doing so, and was fired from her job.

According to the woman, who has only been identified as Bunny, she had seven minutes of footage on her phone of Guyger pacing back-and-forth on the balcony of the South Side Flats apartments just moments after the off-duty police officer shot and killed Jean. She says she turned over the footage to the District Attorney’s office. Now, she’s claiming that the decision resulted in people harassing her and even the termination of her employment.


During an interview with African Diaspora News Channel, Bunny says that after some people in her Dallas community found out she turned the video over to the D.A., they subsequently found out she worked at a pharmaceutical company. Phone calls were made to her employer, demanding she be fired.

“People in the community found out where I was employed at and started harassing the company, posting to my company’s Facebook page, calling, emailing the corporate office, telling them I’m a radical, I’m anti-police, I’m a Black extremist, all that type of stuff,” said Bunny, who refused to reveal her real name or that of her employer. “And my employer actually fired me for that.”

Bunny also says that when she threatened to take the story to the media, her company took further action.

“I threatened to go to the media over it and they actually took it a step further and blacklisted my credentials so my credentials are no longer valid in the state of Texas,” she said during the interview. “They gave me a chance to explain myself and they simply told me they didn’t want their company associated with a high-profile case, and because of that they were letting me go.”

During the interview, Bunny says that many of the initial statements Amber Guyger made about the immediate aftermath of the shooting contradicted what she witnessed.

Watch the full interview below.

Woman Who Filmed Amber Guyger Minutes After She Shot Botham Jean Says She Was Called A ‘Black Extremist’ And Fired From Her Job | BET.com

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OAW
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Oct 14, 2019, 01:24 PM
 
Chilling in your own front yard while black.

The definition of loitering, as it relates to criminal offense, generally runs along the lines of this: to hang around a public place with no expressed—particularly, legal—purpose. It follows then, that one place you can’t loiter in, by definition, is your home; a very not public place where the expectation is you do whatever (hopefully legal) sh*t you want.

This was not the case for a black Pennsylvania family. As KYW Newsradio reports, one family is questioning why the Chester Police Department arrested them—twice—for allegedly “loitering” in their own yard.

The chain of police buffoonery kicked off on Oct. 1, when Officer Pasquale Storace III arrested Rachel Briggs’ sons and nephew for playing in her front yard; Storace, who is white, charged the young men with “loitering.”

According to Briggs, the boys were thrown in jail, forcing their families to scramble to raise money for their bail. When they were freed the next day, family members were on hand to welcome them back—right back on Briggs’ front lawn.

Some of the arrests were caught on video. As police arrest two of the family members, family members scream and beg for an explanation.

“They maced my son. He got asthma,” Briggs says later, as her son sits in the cop car. “My son can’t breathe, sir.”

According to Briggs’ family lawyer, Storace showed up and re-arrested the boys, along with other members of their family, charging them with loitering and resisting arrest. Attorney Kevin Mincey said the family wasn’t violating any of the township’s loitering statutes, which have been updated after being deemed unconstitutional in 2012.

“It essentially says there are to be well-posted areas of no loitering signs up that say ‘no loitering.’ There are no ‘no loitering’ signs in this particular neighborhood,” Mincey told KYW.

The family is traumatized from the arrests,

“It’s a terrifying thing,” Briggs told KYW. “It makes me feel as though the police can knock down your door, and drag you out of your home at any time. This is an incident that made me feel like I’m a prisoner in my own home.
Black Family Says They Were Arrested for 'Loitering' in Their Own Front Yard | TheRoot.com

OAW
( Last edited by OAW; Oct 14, 2019 at 01:35 PM. )
     
OAW
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Oct 14, 2019, 01:34 PM
 
Playing video games in your own home with your nephew while black.



Two seconds after he shouted commands outside a house, a Fort Worth police officer opened fire into what looks like a dark room.

Moments later, Atatiana Koquice Jefferson died in the bedroom of her own home with her 8-year-old nephew nearby.

Now Texans are outraged over the death of another black person killed at home by a white police officer.

"There was no reason for her to be murdered. None," said Lee Merritt, an attorney for Jefferson's family and the family of Botham Jean, an unarmed black man killed at home by a Dallas police officer. "We must have justice."
Police responded to Jefferson's house around 2:25 a.m. Saturday after a concerned neighbor noticed her doors were open in the middle of the night.

The neighbor, James Smith, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he called a non-emergency police number for a safety check. He said he was worried because he knew Jefferson was at home with her nephew.

Officers searched the perimeter of Jefferson's house and saw "a person standing inside the residence near a window," Fort Worth police said.

"Perceiving a threat, the officer drew his duty weapon and fired one shot striking the person inside," police said.


Officers then went inside and gave emergency medical care. Police have released one minute and 17 seconds of the officer's body camera footage leading up to the shooting.

The video shows the officer approaching an entrance to the home, where the screen door is closed but the solid door behind it is wide open. The room inside is lit.

The officer then walks around the house and approaches a window, shining a flashlight into what appears to be a dark room.

"Put your hands up! Show me your hands!" the officer screams. He does not identify himself as police.

Within two seconds of starting his verbal commands, the officer fires a shot through the window while he's in the middle of saying "show me" for the second time.

That's when the edited video footage provided by police stops.


"The Fort Worth Police Department is releasing available body camera footage to provide transparent and relevant information to the public as we are allowed within the confines of the Public Information Act and forthcoming investigation," police said.Jefferson died at 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the bedroom of her home, the Tarrant County medical examiner said.

Police have not named the officer, who joined the department in April 2018. He has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.

"The officer did not announce that he was a police officer prior to shooting," Lt. Brandon O'Neil told reporters Sunday. "What the officer observed, and why he did not announce 'police,' will be addressed as the investigation continues."

O'Neil confirmed that Jefferson's 8-year-old nephew was inside the room at the time of the shooting.

"The members of the Fort Worth Police Department share your very real and valid concerns, as do the members of this city and people across the country," O'Neil said.

CNN requested the unedited body camera footage but has not received it.

Immediately after the edited clip of the bodycam footage, a black screen appears with words "still frame 1 where weapon was located inside bedroom."

Fort Worth police then show a photo of a room completely blurred out, except for a gun. Police did not say whether Jefferson was holding a gun at the time she was shot.

Critics like Merritt, who is representing Jefferson's family, said he's concerned about police "villainizing" Jefferson or "turning her into a suspect, a silhouette, or threat."


He said an independent law enforcement agency should take over the investigation.

"We don't think that Fort Worth Police should be investigating it on their own," Merritt said.

Just before she was killed, Jefferson was playing video games with her nephew, Merritt told CNN.

She had moved into her ailing mother's home earlier this year to take care of her, the attorney said. Jefferson's mother was in a hospital when her daughter was shot by police.

Merritt said Jefferson graduated from Xavier University in 2014 with a degree in biology and worked in pharmaceutical equipment sales.

"She was very close to her family," Merritt said on a GoFundMe page benefiting Jefferson's family. "Her mom had recently gotten very sick, so she was home taking care of the house and loving her life. There was no reason for her to be murdered."

Merritt said the funds collected "will go directly to funeral cost and other expenses associated with this tragedy."

Jefferson's Fort Worth house is about 30 miles west of the Dallas apartment where Jean was killed last year.

An off-duty Dallas police officer, Amber Guyger, allegedly mistook Jean's apartment for her own and shot Jean, thinking he was an intruder. Guyger was convicted of murder this month and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Smith, the concerned neighbor who called police to Jefferson's house, said that he now regrets trying to help.

"I feel guilty because had I not called the Fort Worth Police Department, my neighbor would still be alive today," he told CNN affiliate KTVT.

Community activist and pastor Michael Bell said it's a harsh reality that "you don't know if you will survive a wellness check call."

"African Americans, we have no recourse ... This has to stop," he said. "We're trying to obey the law, raise our families and get our kids into school, and we don't know if we're going to survive long enough to do that."
A Fort Worth police officer shot a black woman in her own home as she played video games with her nephew | CNN.com

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andi*pandi
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Oct 14, 2019, 03:56 PM
 
how can you loiter in your own front yard? I loiter in my yard all the time then.
     
OAW
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Oct 14, 2019, 06:28 PM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
how can you loiter in your own front yard? I loiter in my yard all the time then.
Precisely. This is just a simple case of police harassment. "Loitering" just like "Peace Disturbance" are the BS charges cops use when you haven't done anything illegal but they want to flex on you regardless just to be power tripping.

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reader50
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Oct 14, 2019, 07:27 PM
 
Originally Posted by OAW View Post
Precisely. This is just a simple case of police harassment. "Loitering" just like "Peace Disturbance" are the BS charges cops use when you haven't done anything illegal but they want to flex on you regardless just to be power tripping.
You left out repeatedly yelling "Stop Resisting" for the microphones. While any camera they missed shows nothing of the sort.

My personal favorite is an arrest solely for resisting arrest.
     
Thorzdad
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Oct 15, 2019, 07:59 AM
 
Originally Posted by OAW View Post
Playing video games in your own home with your nephew while black.
Whoa. I sure didn't see this coming, especially so quickly.
     
OAW
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Oct 22, 2019, 03:12 PM
 
Driving with an air freshener while black.



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andi*pandi
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Oct 22, 2019, 03:18 PM
 
That's a silly thing to stop for. A pretense to look for other reasons. Seemed convinced there'd be drugs. Wow. A field sobriety test? Was he swerving? driving erraticly?

Although I will note that I have been told by the law that I should not have dangly crap from my mirror. I still have dangly crap from my mirror. I'm a rebel.
     
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Nov 11, 2019, 02:15 PM
 
Eating a sandwich on the train platform while black ...

A Concord man is speaking out after he was handcuffed and detained by BART police for eating on the platform at the Pleasant Hill station.

Steve Foster of Concord tells ABC7 News this all happened Monday morning at the Pleasant Hill station when he was approached by a BART police officer.

"I was just up there eating my sandwich waiting for the train to come."

Foster says the officer, wearing the name badge McCormick, walked past several other people eating and drinking on the platform and confronted him. His girlfriend caught the interaction on her cellphone.

He was even handcuffed.

"I'm definitely upset, mad, a little frustrated, angry about it," said Foster.


BART says state law prohibits people from eating or drinking in the paid portions of the station. In other words, from the time you enter the turnstiles to the time to exit them at your destination.

BART released a statement on Friday in response.

"He was not arrested. He was cited for eating, which is a violation of state law," said spokeswoman Alicia Trost.

She adds the man was lawfully handcuffed after refusing to provide his name multiple times. Once he provided his name, he was cited and released."

Foster doesn't plan to sue, but he does have some advice.

"I hope they start focusing on stuff that actually matters like people shooting up dope, hopping the BART, people getting stabbed."
BART police handcuff, cite man for eating sandwich on platform | ABC7News.com

See the video here ....

https://twitter.com/QasimRashid/stat...15720468406273

Gotta love how the people showed their support and protested this foolishness ....

A man detained this week by BART Police for eating a sandwich on a train platform, is sparking some outrage with the public.

Many have seen the incident that was caught on tape.

ABC7 News first brought you the story on Friday. On Saturday, some gathered to protest the incident by eating their own sandwiches on BART property.

"I've got my lunch here, it's very threatening as you can see," said JJ Naughton from San Francisco.

There was a defiant lunchtime eat-in on the platform inside the Embarcardero BART station, where eating isn't allowed.

"My first political awakening was back at a lunch counter in the '60s, now we're back to 'eat-ins," said John Reimann from Oakland.

About 30 people gathered for lunch to protest an incident recently captured on cellphone video at the Pleasant Hill BART Station.

Steve Foster of Concord says he was detained, even handcuffed by a BART Police officer, because he was eating a sandwich while waiting for a train.


"I'm definitely upset, mad, a little frustrated and angry about it," said Foster.

BART says state law prohibits people from eating or drinking in the paid portions of the station.

Law or not, Kelly Groth was passing out breakfast sandwiches in the station Saturday for what she called brunch on BART.

"People should be able to eat on the platform without getting harassed," said Groth.

"I wanted to make sure I showed up and ate on the plaza which I've done hundreds of times before to show what they did to us was embarrassing for BART Police," said John Jacobo from San Francisco.

"To me, I have no doubt this guy was treated differently because he is a young black man," John Riemann added.

BART Board of Directors member Janice Li was also here and brought her own lunch. Li believes there are bigger issues to deal with.

"I realize some things are illegal with our penal code, but I want to be mindful of how we're using resources to enforce our system," said Li.


The full video shows that Foster did insult the officer and used a homophobic slur.

In a statement, BART said about Foster: "He was not arrested.. he was cited for eating which is a violation of state law. The man was lawfully handcuffed after refusing to provide his name multiple times, once he provided his name he was cited and released."

BART says the video will be reviewed by their independent police auditor.
BART riders hold lunchtime 'eat-in' protest after man detained for eating sandwich on platform | ABC7News.com

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Thorzdad
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Nov 16, 2019, 11:20 AM
 
     
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Thorzdad
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Dec 18, 2019, 09:03 AM
 
On a far, far more upbeat note...
Competing in beauty pageants while black
     
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Dec 18, 2019, 07:33 PM
 
Originally Posted by Thorzdad View Post
On a far, far more upbeat note...
Competing in beauty pageants while black
History was made indeed.

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Jan 10, 2020, 12:51 PM
 
This one again. It's getting better since Mayor DeBlasio took office. But still ....

New York is built for the tough, the impatient, the bold, the ones who live to take risks. Basically, it’s a city built for jaywalkers. It’s a great unifier: people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, races, ages, and creeds united in their disdain for the city’s cars, bikers, and assigned crosswalks. And for the most part, the cops seem to get that—unlike other American cities, jaywalking is typically not cited across most of New York.

But, just like other American cities, there are exceptions that depend on who you are and where you live.

A recent StreetsBlog analysis found that, between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2019, NYPD issued 316 summonses for jaywalking—and nearly 90 percent went to black or Latinx people (as the article notes, this rate dwarfs the city’s black and Latinx population, which sits around 55 percent).
Jaywalkers between the ages of 18 and 25 were also disproportionately targeted, receiving 44 percent of all tickets despite being just 7 percent of the population.

This is a question of which neighborhoods are being ticketed as much as it is which citizens. More than half of the summonses (164) came from police precincts in the Bronx. Despite the fact that Manhattan has the most pedestrians, police in that borough only issued 29 jaywalking summonses in that 9 month period.

According to the most recent Census estimates, the Bronx has the highest concentration of black residents of any of the city’s five boroughs, with approximately 43 percent of Bronxites identifying as black (it’s also the only borough that has a majority Latinx population). This means, if you live in the Bronx, you’re most likely to be cited for walking illegally in a city where walking is a way of life.

And the ticket is more than a small inconvenience: As StreetsBlog notes, “people who receive ‘jaywalking’ summonses must go to court, which forces people to take time off their job or from their families. Undocumented immigrants risk additional charges.”

For what it’s worth, the median household income in the Bronx is $38,467—the lowest of all the boroughs.

The number marks the first uptick in anti-pedestrian tickets during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure. To his credit, when de Blasio first took office, NYPD issued 1,659 jaywalking tickets. In 2018, that number was just 198.

But enforcement of jaywalking has been selective—and confusing— for quite some time in New York. A 2015 article, “The NYPD Enforces Jaywalking When It Damn Well Feels Like It,” noted that jaywalking enforcement at the time didn’t match the stated goal of keeping pedestrians safe.

It’s hard to see any logic at all in the numbers. Most of the areas with the highest pedestrian fatalities are in Manhattan. But of the five most heavily targeted precincts, none are in Manhattan, and only two are listed in the highest danger category on the city’s Vision Zero map, which codes various precincts by the frequency of traffic accident fatalities and injuries per square mile. Some precincts listed in the highest danger category, like the 19th, on the Upper East Side, don’t even crack the top 50 for jaywalking enforcement.
The article noted that while New York, on the whole, was a lot friendlier to pedestrians than Los Angeles, it still lagged behind Boston and Philadelphia, where such pedestrian citations were rare.

While the numbers of jaywalking tickets are still relatively low, they’re part of a larger and much stickier pattern of NYPD disproportionately targeting young black people for all manner of smaller violations, like last year’s crackdown on black and brown bikers for not having bells on their bicycles.

Queens Council Member Costa Constantinides told StreetsBlog he plans to reintroduce legislation he hopes will ease some of the burden of a jaywalking ticket, by striking the court appearance requirement.

“We have to stop criminalizing crossing the street,” Constantinides said. “It’s just unfair to make a pedestrian face a court appearance, while drivers can simply settle many offenses with a few clicks online.”
NYPD Doesn't Punish People for Jaywalking—Unless You Live in the Blackest Borough in New York | TheRoot.com

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Waragainstsleep
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Jan 15, 2020, 07:54 AM
 
I wonder if there is any correlation between the jaywalking citation and other charges. If you cite someone for jaywalking, can you then legally search them? Just wondering if they are using it as a means to another end. Also I expect if its usually tolerated then maybe they cite people who piss them off somehow.
None of this makes the disproportionate ethnicity rates any better, though if they are targeting poorer areas, this areas typically have higher crime rates overall so if it is being (mis)used as a way to stop and search then there is some slight justification for it. Still sounds like there's some profiling going on though.
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BLAZE_MkIV
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Jan 15, 2020, 01:28 PM
 
Those neighborhoods may also have a higher % of police on streets to witness the jaywalking.

"plans to reintroduce legislation he hopes will ease some of the burden of a jaywalking ticket, by striking the court appearance requirement."
Couldn't possibly just have the courts open outside of bankers hours.
     
andi*pandi
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Jan 15, 2020, 01:39 PM
 
You should be able to pay a jaywalking fine via mail/online just as you do for car violations, totally makes sense for everyone.

However, to protest a car violation, you have to go to court, so why remove the court option here? Going to court for anyone is a burden (plus ties up the courts with small stuff). Maybe what both need is a court via skype option.
     
andi*pandi
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Jan 15, 2020, 07:24 PM
 
As if reading my mind, this article just popped up:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/01/...et-challenges/
     
subego
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Jan 16, 2020, 03:22 AM
 
Paywall.
     
andi*pandi
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Jan 16, 2020, 12:32 PM
 
first few paragraphs:
Everett is launching virtual hearings for ticket challenges
By Chris Van Buskirk State House News Service,Updated January 15, 2020, 4:04 p.m.

The city of Everett plans this month to start offering "virtual hearings," giving individuals looking to challenge outstanding parking tickets and code enforcement issues an opportunity to take care of business remotely.

The option, which will be extended with the assistance of FaceTime and Skype, is scheduled to begin Jan. 21.

"Any function that you have to come to city hall to do, our goal is to make sure you can do it all online," Mayor Carlo DeMaria told the News Service Wednesday. "This is easier. Hearing officers see the residents, they plead their case, and a decision is made."

It's part of a push to integrate technology into city government to help people save time and potentially free up space at city hall for public meetings, retail ventures, and free work areas, the mayor said.

When the program is fully implemented, individuals will be able to go to the city hall website and schedule a virtual hearing. On the site, they will submit their parking ticket and personal information for review by the hearing officer and pick a hearing date.
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subego
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Jan 16, 2020, 01:20 PM
 
Thank you!
     
OAW
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Apr 7, 2020, 12:21 PM
 
Because this is America and it was bound to happen.



You really don’t need me to give you the customary “Yo, this pandemic sh*t is crazy” intro. At this point, I’m sure you’ve realized that this pandemic sh*t is indeed crazy. What’s even crazier is that cops have still found a way to keep with the bullsh*t, even as people are doing their best to keep themselves safe.

The Telegraph reports that two black men were recently escorted out of a Walmart in Wood River, Ill. for wearing surgical masks. Jermon Best and Diangelo Jackson were shopping for supplies when a cop followed them around the store. The cop told them they were violating a city ordinance that doesn’t allow people to wear masks inside businesses. The men started recording the incident as they were escorted out and uploaded it to YouTube on March 18.

From The Telegraph:

Wood River Police Chief Brad Wells said he had been reluctant to make a public statement about the incident because the video didn’t look good on the surface. He said the posted video doesn’t show the entire interaction between the officer and the men involved, adding the incident took place before there were a lot of people wearing surgical masks in public.

“There’s not much I can say,” said Wells. “I backed the officer by what he tells me. Just like anything, there’s more to the story.”
Wells said the officer “was mistaken when it came to the store’s policy prohibiting masks” and it was “the one error” made in the incident.

Best told The Telegraph “I don’t know if he was having a bad day. I’ve never said that the guy was racist. All I’m saying is that his actions were suspect.”

So obviously, there are racial undertones here. Why approach two people during a public health crisis about wearing surgical masks? At the time of the video’s release, a national emergency had been declared, COVID-19 had been labeled a pandemic and people were being asked to stay at home. There was an abundance of signs telling us that sh*t had indeed gotten real. Even if there was a policy prohibiting masks, this is probably not the time to enforce it.
Black Men Kicked Out of Walmart for Wearing Masks During Pandemic | TheRoot.com

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andi*pandi
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Apr 7, 2020, 12:30 PM
 
And now wearing masks is mandated. Sigh.
     
reader50
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Apr 7, 2020, 01:09 PM
 
Cop approaches with hand on gun. Way to insure a clothing policy doesn't escalate to life-threatening. When the caucasian lady stopped to speak with him, his hand didn't drift towards his gun. She could have been packing a glock or worse, coupons.

And yes, the coronavirus was serious by March 18. The WHO had declared it a pandemic a week earlier, on March 11.

Now you see occasional people in full cosplay gear. There are storm troopers and superheroes / villians shopping the stores with us. Along with desperate types wearing self-suffocation plastic bags.
     
OAW
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May 6, 2020, 01:05 PM
 
Jogging while black.



On Tuesday, a graphic video was posted online showing the deadly shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man who was killed in February by two white men as he went for a jog in a Southern Georgia suburb. As video of the killing spread far and wide online, a Georgia prosecutor recommended the case go to a grand jury to decide whether to bring criminal charges.

In a statement shared on Facebook Tuesday morning, District Attorney Tom Durden, representing the Atlantic Judicial Circuit, said that after “careful” review of the evidence, “I am of the opinion that the case should be presented to the grand jury of Glynn County for consideration of criminal charges.”

The cellphone video, originally posted online by Georgia radio station WGIG Tuesday afternoon, appears to be taken from a person driving behind Arbery as he ran through the Satilla Shores neighborhood just outside of Brunswick, Ga., on Feb. 23.

Arbery, wearing a white t-shirt, can be seen running down one side of a sunny two-lane road when he comes upon a white pick-up truck parked in the middle of the street. On the driver’s side door is Travis McMichael, holding a shotgun, and in the bed of the truck is his father, Greg McMichael, who was also armed with a pistol.

Arbery runs on the passenger side of the truck before coming across the vehicle’s front, just as one shot goes off. Travis McMichael and Arbery struggle over Travis’s shotgun, as Greg can be seen drawing his own pistol. As they struggle over the gun, Travis and Arbery momentarily veer off-camera; the shotgun fires off again before they come back on camera. Arbery continues trying to fight Travis off before a third shot is fired, after which Arbery draws back and tries to run off.

He stumbles and collapses in the middle of the street, bleeding out in broad daylight. Police say he died on the scene.


WGIG says the cell phone footage was given to them by an anonymous source.

“We debated whether to put it out,” the station wrote on its site, “but determined it was in the best interest of the public.”

“This is murder,” Arbery family attorney Lee Merritt said. “The series of events captured in this video confirm what all the evidence indicated prior to its release.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, was among thousands who responded to the video Tuesday.

“The video is clear: Ahmaud Arbery was killed in cold blood,” He tweeted. “My heart goes out to his family, who deserve justice and deserve it now. It is time for a swift, full, and transparent investigation into his murder.”

“The video of #AhmaudArbery sickens me to my core,” tweeted California Senator Kamala Harris. “Exercising while black shouldn’t be a death sentence.”

Governor Brian Kemp also responded to the video, writing that “Georgians deserve answers.”

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Jones, told CBS News the video “proves that my son was not committing a crime. He was out for his daily jog and he was hunted down like an animal and killed.”

Before the video was released, the case had appeared to be at a standstill for months.

The McMichaels claim they suspected Arbery was a burglar and chased him down, attempting to perform a citizen’s arrest.

According to the police report, the McMichaels said they spotted Arbery and thought he resembled the suspect in a series of break-ins in the neighborhood, according to the BBC. They armed themselves and got into a white pick-up truck to give chase. Greg McMichael said once they caught up to Arbery, they told him to stop so they could talk to him, after which Arbery “violently” attacked his son during the confrontation, attempting to take Travis’ shotgun when Travis shot him twice.

At some point before or during their pursuit of Arbery, Greg McMichael called 911, according to dispatcher records.

Greg McMichael: “I’m out here at Satilla Shores and there’s a black man running down the street.”

911 dispatcher: “I just need to know what he was doing wrong, was he just on the premises and not supposed to be?”

Greg McMichael: “And he’s been caught on the camera a bunch before at night. It’s an ongoing thing out here.”
Greg McMichael said his son was acting under the scope of citizen’s arrest and that he shot Arbery in self-defense.

As multiple outlets have reported, District Attorney Durden is the third prosecutor to handle the case. Two previous prosecutors recused themselves from the investigation because of their professional connections to Greg McMichael, who had recently retired after working as an investigator for the Brunswick District Attorney’s Office.

The elder McMichael also worked as an officer in the Glynn County Police department for seven years.

According to documents obtained by the New York Times, one of the earlier prosecutors, George E. Barnhill, representing Waycross Judicial District, told police there was insufficient probable cause to arrest the men chasing Arbery. He argued, as Greg McMichael did, that Arbery’s pursuers “acted legally under the state’s citizen arrest and self-defense statutes,” the Times writes.

The case has bounced from Glynn County to Ware County, finally landing with Hinesville District attorneys. Since the shooting in late February, no one has been charged with a crime in Arbery’s death.

It may still be some time before that happens. Although Durden has recommended the case go before a grand jury, because of the coronavirus, the Georgia Supreme Court has banned grand juries from convening through June 12.
After Graphic Video of Black Jogger's Killing Goes Viral, Georgia Prosecutor Recommends Case Go Before Grand Jury | TheRoot.com

OAW
( Last edited by OAW; May 6, 2020 at 07:22 PM. )
     
andi*pandi
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May 6, 2020, 01:22 PM
 
That's horrible. They basically stalked him.
     
OAW
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May 6, 2020, 02:17 PM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
That's horrible. They basically stalked him.
Trayvon Martin all over again. Where's CTP to make excuses for stalking and murdering an unarmed black kid when you need him?

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Waragainstsleep
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May 7, 2020, 12:31 AM
 
Paying to hunt them on some billionaire's private island?
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
OreoCookie
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May 7, 2020, 02:27 AM
 
I saw the video on Twitter — and wasn't prepared for it. I  … really can't understand how the two shooters aren't in jail.
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
OAW
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May 7, 2020, 11:05 AM
 
Originally Posted by OreoCookie View Post
I saw the video on Twitter — and wasn't prepared for it. I  … really can't understand how the two shooters aren't in jail.
Here’s my Top 10 reasons why ...

1. They are white.
2. It’s coastal Georgia. You don’t get anymore “Deep South” than that.
3. The father is a former cop.
4. The father is currently an investigator for the local DA.
5. This happened on Feb. 23. The video only leaked within the last few days.
6. When the father called 911 and reported “a black man running down the street” notice the first thing out of the dispatcher’s mouth ...

911 dispatcher: “I just need to know what he was doing wrong, was he just on the premises and not supposed to be?”
Not “What is the nature of the emergency?” Or “Did you witness a crime?” Oh no ... the immediate assumption was that the black man was “doing wrong” based solely on a white man’s word. This type of bias is ingrained into the very fabric of America.

7. Given the realities of #5 and #6 the white men were protected by a local DA who said they were acting in “self defense” while making a “lawful citizen’s arrest”. And absent the video showing that they are lying through their teeth that would have been the end of it.

8. They could and should be arrested immediately based on the video alone. If it were two black men ambushing and killing a white jogger like that they most assuredly would be. But ....

9. ... The new DA is looking to take it to a grand jury instead. Which in all likelihood will be lily-white so he can steer them to not indict just like what happened in the Mike Brown case in Ferguson. Given the evidence the DA doesn’t need a grand jury to charge them with murder. He only needs a grand jury to provide political cover for NOT charging them.

10. Did I mention that they were white?

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Waragainstsleep
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May 7, 2020, 05:42 PM
 
You guys need a federal post whose job is to look at these incidents and say "No, those mother****ers need to go to jail for that shit." And then they go to jail. Or at least they get charged.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
 
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