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Do we having a running thread for citizens killed by police yet?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by bigpern23, Apr 13, 2015.

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  1. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    I'll read Kass today, but I'm skeptical about this theory. (And it's not the first I've heard this tied to the election.) It's the supposed cover-up that has people riled at the city and county leadership, not the officer's actions.
     
  2. Vombatus

    Vombatus Well-Known Member

    That's way more believable than the 9/11 truther crap.
     
  3. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    Hiding videos or blaming videos, what difference does it make at this point? As long as the hiding or blaming gets a Democrat re-elected.
     
  4. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    You understand that Rahm's challenge, nor Alvarez's, was going to come from a Republican, right?

    This is not really about partisan politics, it's about machine politics.
     
  5. SnarkShark

    SnarkShark Well-Known Member

    That's too intricate for him to understand.
     
  6. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    The bigger idea, which seemed to sail well over your head, is what Democrats are willing to put up with from their elected officials.
     
  7. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    I'm not battling you about this. Local politics are different. Alvarez, as a prosecutor, is slightly to the left of Reagan. She runs with a "D" because it's Illinois.
     
  8. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    I've watched the video quite a few times now. McDonald is walking down the center line, slowly drifting to the other side, as if he's going to walk past and away from the officers.

    Then, he seems to possibly make a very brief move back toward the center line, in the officer's direction, and that's when the officer on the scene shoots him. It's immediate.

    It reminds me a little bit of the St. Louis video last year, where the mentally ill man with a knife, Kajieme Powell, was shot when deemed to be too close to an officer who shot and killed him. I think that Powell was a little more clearly walking toward the officers.

    I suspect that Van Dyke arrived at the scene responding to a call about a suspect with a knife, pulled up, and, without much time to get his bearings and assess the situation, started firing as soon as McDonald appeared to make a move back toward the center line.

    I don't think that McDonald was trying to approach the officers. I think he was probably just straightening his path to walk down the center line. But I can see where the officer, Van Dyke, would have thought in the confusion of the moment that McDonald was making a move at him, especially if the officers were yelling at the kid not to approach them.

    This is not going to be a slam dunk murder conviction. I could also see a second-degree murder conviction, which I believe means that the shooter genuinely believed that his life was in danger, but that belief was objectively unreasonable. I could also see a full acquittal, in which case, bar the doors.

    I know that Van Dyke has a history of complaints against him, and he's probably a little or a lot impulsive. I have a hard time believing, however, that he would just cold-bloodedly murder someone for sport, in front of a bajillion witnesses, thin blue line or not. He was scared.
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2015
  9. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

  10. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Let's stipulate that this kid didn't have a chance -- no father, mom lost custody of him twice (once because her boyfriend was beating him up), then in the custody of his great-grandmother etc. -- but can the Trib spare me the "he was turning his life around" story? There's nothing in the article to back up the headline, nor the premise, of the article:

    In final weeks, Laquan McDonald tried to turn around troubled life

    Laquan McDonald said little, if anything, to Chicago police as they tried to detain him last year for breaking into trucks while carrying a knife.

    What was going through his 17-year-old mind on that stretch of Pulaski Road before he was fatally shot by a Chicago police officer won't ever be known.

    But in the teen's final month, some caught a glimpse of a kid who showed signs of hope and promise to maybe untangle himself from a troubled life.

    In final weeks, Laquan McDonald tried to turn around troubled life
     
  11. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    NYTimes editorial:

     
  12. franticscribe

    franticscribe Well-Known Member

    I agree with you on much of this. I would not be surprised by a full acquittal. This is also the type of case that can really polarize a jury and if I was the defense attorney, part of my strategy would be to play for a hung jury.

    The Kajieme Powell case was much more clear-cut to me. Powell was armed, the police were responding to a call of an armed suspect, and soon after they arrived he ignored warnings and moved toward an officer in close range. A lot of those same elements appear present here. But I'm not sure what information was relayed to the responding officers, e.g. was the report of an armed man in the street?, the physical distance between the officers and the suspect is greater; and it's not clear to me that he moved toward the officers.

    It seems significant to me that in this case none of the other officers fired and that Van Dyke completely emptied a magazine and was attempting to load another one when stopped by a fellow officer.
     
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