ex-cop sentenced to 5 years for beating a man

[Millhouse]

http://www.newsweek.com/ex-police-officer-jailed-breaking-mans-legs-after-he-falsely-accused-stealing-914624

The Cliff's notes version:
A black man went into to WalMart with previously bought tomato he thought was weighed wrongly; he had the receipt on him.
On security camera, the off-duty officer working for WalMart thought he was stealing the tomato
He confronted the man, and basically just gave a severe beat down with his stick.
The officer then altered the police report to try to make it justified.
The man who was beaten went to jail for 3 days after surgery on his broken leg.
The now retired officer was just sentenced for 5 years for excessive force and obstruction of justice.

One thing about this story that does deserve some attention, is that the ex-officer is black. I say that because if he was white, this would have been reported completely different back when it occurred and during the sentencing. Even the multiple articles out there would have made that fact known that a white officer beat a black victim. But for this officer who deserved his punishment, there is no race angle involved.

Perhaps there are just bad cops who do bad things regardless of their skin color or race involved. Granted there are a few I am sure that are racist, but I think most of the things we hear that is spun with race involved is just a cop being a d-bag that day.

Quote:A former Atlanta police officer has been sentenced to five years in jail after he was found guilty of beating a man he wrongfully believed stole a tomato from Walmart. The officer also falsified a report to cover up his actions.

Trevor King, 50, a former sergeant with the Atlanta Police Department, was convicted of using excessive force during an October 2014 arrest after he used his baton to break the leg of Tyrone Carnegay while he was shopping at an Atlanta Walmart.

Prosecutors said that King was working off-duty as security guard at the Walmart store when Carnegay returned to the produce aisle to weigh a tomato—which he believed he had been overcharged for after buying his groceries.

King then spotted Carnegay on the store’s security monitor weighing the single tomato before putting it back in his bag and walking out of the store. Believing he had stolen the tomato, King stopped Carnegay by the exit and “within seconds” repeatedly beat him with his baton until he fell to the ground, according to the Department of Justice.

As Carnegay lay on the ground, King delivered a final blow which caused a compound fracture to Carnegay’s leg. Following the attack, King then found the receipt in Carnegay’s pocket which proved that he had purchased all his groceries only minutes before.

In an attempt to cover up his error, King authored a false police report justifying the beating and charged Carnegay with misdemeanor offenses for allegedly assaulting and obstructing a police officer. According to King’s falsified report, the officer began beating Carnegay after he had attempted to push past King and reach for his gun belt.

“Somebody could have come up to him and said, ‘Excuse me sir, do you have a receipt for that tomato?’ and he would've shown him the receipt," Carnagay’s attorney Craig Jones told WSB-TV in 2016. “The officer went into Robocop mode and beat the crap out of him.”

King, of Acworth, Georgia, was found guilty of using excessive force and obstructing investigation following a retrial in December 2017.  He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones to five years in prison, followed by three years supervised release.

“This sentence reflects the Department’s commitment to prosecuting official misconduct cases and sends a strong message that any abuse of power will not be tolerated,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore for the Civil Rights Division.

“It is our duty in the FBI to uphold our Constitution and laws, which prohibit law enforcement officers from willfully using excessive force against non-resistant subjects,” said David J. LeValley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “Sergeant King should have respected his authority, like the vast majority of his fellow law enforcement officers who serve and protect.”

King retired from the Atlanta Police Department in January of 2017, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

[GMDino]

Race doesn't always come into play.  When it does it needs addressed.  No matter which race is at fault.

The problem with that is white people don't want to talk about race and just hopes the problem goes away.  Black people always want to talk about race even if the specific incident isn't about that.  

So when race gets mentioned we have the same arguments over and over and we have a hard time finding out if race was a factor or not.

In this case I'd say no.  Just an idiot with ego/power issues who "thought" beating a man over a stolen tomato made sense...and then lied to cover up his mistake.  Given the circumstances he may have beat anyone...and probably did before.

[Belsnickel]

Even black people have an implicit preference for white people over other black people.

[*Nately120*]

(05-09-2018, 12:29 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Even black people have an implicit preference for white people over other black people.

Yup.  I was under the impression that the whole black lives matter thing was more about the fact that in this country "being a black male" is enough of a threat to justify the use of lethal force rather than the notion that white cops are the ones doing it.  

Semi-related, my gf lives in a super rural area and I told her to please tell her neighbors who I am because at times I have to walk back into the woods to make sure the well is working and I don't want one of her "from my cold dead hands" neighbors to heroically shoot the suspicious hispanic or arab guy who is sneaking around in her woods.

This also reminds me of that story I heard about the cops being called on a black cop who was investigating a shooting and looking for bullet casings with a flashlight.  It was reported that a suspicious black man dressed as a police officer was shining a flashlight into people's windows, or something.  Wacky.

Let's just admit we don't trust black men.  Hell, I'd wager the people who are the most anti-BLM are the most likely to admit that.

[*PhilHos*]

(05-09-2018, 12:09 PM)GMDino Wrote: The problem with that is white people don't want to talk about race and just hopes the problem goes away.  Black people always want to talk about race even if the specific incident isn't about that.  

Or maybe the problem is that people make hasty generalizations about entire groups of people which then puts someone who is a part of that group on the defensive when what is being said doesn't apply to them specifically.

[GMDino]

(05-09-2018, 01:10 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Yup.  I was under the impression that the whole black lives matter thing was more about the fact that in this country "being a black male" is enough of a threat to justify the use of lethal force rather than the notion that white cops are the ones doing it.  

Semi-related, my gf lives in a super rural area and I told her to please tell her neighbors who I am because at times I have to walk back into the woods to make sure the well is working and I don't want one of her "from my cold dead hands" neighbors to heroically shoot the suspicious hispanic or arab guy who is sneaking around in her woods.  

This also reminds me of that story I heard about the cops being called on a black cop who was investigating a shooting and looking for bullet casings with a flashlight.  It was reported that a suspicious black man dressed as a police officer was shining a flashlight into people's windows, or something.  Wacky.

Let's just admit we don't trust black men.  Hell, I'd wager the people who are the most anti-BLM are the most likely to admit that.

That was this one:

I'm a black cop. On the scene of a shooting one night. Using a flashlight to look for bullet casings between houses to collect as evidence. Dispatch gets a call of a suspicious looking black male in "police clothes" using a flashlight to "look into ppls houses" #LivingWhileBlack

— BlazinBajan (@BlazinBajan) April 22, 2018

Don't know if it's true or just a story.

More of those here: https://www.vibe.com/2018/04/living-while-black-hashtag-stories/

But people are afraid of people who are different than them.

This week's new episode of Roseanne dealt with that pretty well.

[fredtoast]

(05-09-2018, 11:53 AM)Millhouse Wrote: One thing about this story that does deserve some attention, is that the ex-officer is black.

Of course he is.  If he was white he would never have gotten 5 years for this.