Houngan
1761
Okay, so then if anyone attacks anyone, then anyone can shoot that person. There are any number of arguments about how the police are better trained, more capable, etc. that would indicate that the average person should be able to shoot sooner rather than later than a cop. I don’t like the slope down which we are sliding.
Police sharpshooter in helicopter opens fire on fleeing pickup truck, killing two.
http://news.yahoo.com/trooper-fired-chopper-stop-truck-kills-2-013027265.html
LA JOYA, Texas (AP) — A Texas state trooper who fired on a pickup truck from a helicopter and killed two illegal immigrants during a chase through the desert was trying to disable the vehicle and suspected it was being used to smuggle drugs, authorities said Friday.
…
When the helicopter with a sharpshooter arrived, officers concluded that the truck appeared to be carrying a “typical covered drug load” on its bed and was travelling at reckless speeds, police said.
After the shots were fired and the truck’s tires blown out, the driver lost control and crashed into a ditch. State police said a preliminary investigation revealed that the shots fired from the helicopter struck the vehicle’s occupants.
Eight people who were in the truck were arrested. At least seven of them were also from Guatemala. No drugs were found.
…
An expert on police chases said the decision to fire on the truck was “a reckless act” that served “no legitimate law enforcement purpose.”
“In 25 years following police pursuits, I hadn’t seen a situation where an officer shot a speeding vehicle from a helicopter,” said Geoffrey Alpert, professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina. Such action would be reasonable only if “you know for sure the person driving the car deserves to die and that there are no other occupants.”
In general, he said, law enforcement agencies allow the use of deadly force only when the car is being used as a weapon, not “just on a hunch,” Alpert added.
The Texas Department of Public Safety referred questions about its policy governing the use of deadly force to its general manual, which says troopers are allowed to use such force when defending themselves or someone else from serious harm or death. Shooting at vehicles is justified to disable a vehicle or when deadly force is deemed necessary…
rowe33
1763
Cop tasers student during Career Day visit
Holy crap, good thing he didn’t pull out and fire his gun-that-he-thought-was-unloaded instead!
Maybe NSFW: http://gawker.com/5969786/texas-state-trooper-accused-of-using-one-glove-to-conduct-a-roadside-body-cavity-search-on-two-women
tl;dr - Two women in Texas get stopped for tossing a butt out the window. Cop thinks it may have been marijuana. A search of the car turns up nothing. He thinks they’re acting goofy so he calls a female cop over to do a cavity search on the women. The female cop conducts the search on the roadside, with illumination from the police car, without their consent, in view of passing motorists. She does not change her latex glove at any time during the procedure.
Lawsuit!
rowe33
1765
Wow, nothing like a little sexual assault to liven up a routine traffic stop. Insane…
Scuzz
1766
I heard a national comedy radio show commenting on this video this morning. I do see a lawsuit and probably a firing or two coming out of this.
Houngan
1767
C-C-Combo Breaker!
Manhattan Federal Court Judge Shira Scheindlin ordered police to refrain from making trespass stops outside private residential buildings — even though the landlord has given officers permission to do so as part of the NYPD’s “Clean Halls” program.
“While it may be difficult to say when precisely to draw the line between constitutional and unconstitutional police encounters such a line exists, and the NYPD has systematically crossed it when making trespass stops outside buildings,” Scheindlin wrote in a 157-page ruling.
The New York Civil Liberties Union argued in an eight-day hearing in October that “Clean Halls,” which exists only in the Bronx, leads to people being hassled by cops and sometimes cuffed near their own abode for no legitimate reason.
Dear God I hope this is a trend.
RichVR
1768
The female police officer did not at any time reach in to a body cavity. This is common practice. The officer was not using the gloves to diddle the women. Or to invade their body cavities. She was doing a simple underwear search. This is where they check underwear for drugs. There is a very simple search that NYC cops do and it’s called a ball search. They do it to men. Trust me when I tell you that they hate to do it. But it’s what they do. If you’re on the receiving end of this, you would hate it.
All I saw there was checking for hidden contraband.
Do I think it’s a good thing? No. Is it a rape? No. Should she have changed her gloves? Maybe. But nobody is going to get a disease from it.
Houngan
1769
These are the people we trust to keep us safe?
In the official NYPD account and Howell’s own affidavit, Howell heroically tackled and subdued the killer. But Lozito tells a different story.
The 42-year-old mixed-martial-arts fan says he watched Gelman approach the cab window, barking: “Let me in!” Gelman even claimed to be a cop, but a dismissive Howell turned away, he says.
Gelman walked off. A straphanger recognizing Gelman tried to alert the cops, but was also rebuffed. A minute later, Gelman returned and set his sights on the 6-foot-2, 270-pound Lozito.
“You’re going to die,” Gelman announced — then stabbed him in the face.
Lozito says a grand-jury member later told him Howell admitted on the stand that he hid during the attack because he thought Gelman had a gun.
WarrenM
1770
Wow, “straphanger”. That’s a word you don’t see used everyday…
Houngan
1771
Serve and Protect until you puke:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T0WhVGIg5g
How dare you sit on the lawn, here are some beanbag rounds and an attack dog.
Your tax dollars at work:
Yes, I’m sure she has developed Stockholm syndrome and is helping the fugitive escape by suspiciously hiking in a hiking area.
Finally, for the “If you’re not doing something wrong, you’ve got nothing to fear” crowd, drones now in play domestically:
Houngan
1772
Texas leads the way in progressive policing:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/22/texas-bans-shooting-immigrants-from-helicopters/
Officials in Texas announced on Thursday that State Troopers would no longer be allowed to open fire on suspects from helicopters after the recent killing of two immigrants.
Everything is bigger in Texas, including police restraint!
Oghier
1773
North Carolina Police respond to a call from a family having trouble with their mentally ill son. Guess what happens next?
ShivaX
1774
Listen, there were donuts that needed to be eaten.
