Australian woman in Minnesota calls cops then is fatally shot by one of the officers

[Bengalzona]

(07-18-2017, 11:34 AM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Not a one, I can assure you.  The fact that the officers were sitting in their vehicle while having this discussion exemplifies the fact that they considered themselves to be in a situation in which the potential for violence was non-existent.  Sitting in a car seat is a horrible tactical position to be in.  This would also explain why the body cameras were not on, as the idea of engaging in a behavior that would need to be documented was apparently remote.  This leads to the shooting itself.  The only way this shooting could be explained as anything other than a horrific blunder would be if this woman suddenly brandished a weapon and attacked the seated officers.  Of course, the scenario does not easily (or at all) lend itself to believing such a thing occurred.  You really have to wonder about this officer and his judgment.

This is a real no win scenario for this department.  If nothing happens to this officer you get the standard refrain of officers acting with impunity and the trope of the gang in blue.  If they go after this guy you'll get a, unfortunately not insignificant, number of people claiming the only reason they didn't protect him, as "they always do", is that he's a black immigrant and therefore expendable.  Write it down now, you will absolutely see an article claiming exactly that on HuffPo or Vox if it goes down that way.  Either way this plays out the department is going to be put through the wringer.

The articles I'm seeing claim that it is only getting attention because the victim was white.

It sounds like this guy had some flawed judgment. Of course the fact that the overwhelming majority of the time, cops make the right judgment is lost in the news and never really reported. Which is interesting since our society is built upon the fact that they do right and wise thing almost all the time. That's why it is shocking when something like this happens. 

I get that there are incidents where bad things have happened between law enforcement and minorities and that there are probably some racist cops out there (a reflection of society in general). But I also think that cops do make the best decisions overwhelmingly more often than these incidents occur. I'm also not convinced that there is any systemic racism in any of the various police forces. Rather, I think it is just a bad apple or two here and there. 

When I'm in trouble or see something bad happen, I'll stick to calling the cops to sort it out.