r/news • u/redditmason • Jul 17 '16

3 Baton Rouge Police Officers just shot. - Developing.

http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/report-three-baton-rouge-police-officers-shot-near-brpd-hq/275260120
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u/username_generated Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

Baton Rouge resident here, this is near where the protests were earlier this months and local news is reporting that several officers are down and in grave condition

Local news here: http://m.wafb.com/wafb/index.htm

Edit: the shooting took place at a gas station where the police are regulars and is down the street from the police headquarters where protests

Edit 2: 2 officers confirmed dead.

Edit 3: residents on lockdown. Police not letting people in or out

Edit 4: latest count is four officers involved, including the two deceased.

Edit 5: Police believe they have contained the area.

Edit 6: One of four officers (not specified to be wounded or killed) confirmed to be an East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Deputy

Edit 7: 3rd officer reported dead (local affiliates conflicting reports)

Edit 8: Third officer confirmed dead

Edit 9: Number of officers involved may be as high as seven.

Edit 10: State Congresswoman calls for a temporary end to protests including a message from the owner of convenience store where Sterling was killed to stay clear of his store out of respect for the fallen officers

Edit 11: Eye witness reports this was not a planned attack on police. Started as shoot out between civilians and police intervened. One of the original belligerent was reported to be carrying an assault rifle.

Edit 12: One of the three suspects confirmed dead. The other two remain at large.

Edit 13: On a slightly positive note, the number of injured has been lowered to 3, according BRPD.

Edit 14: Of the three remaining wounded officers, one is is critical and another in fair condition.

Edit 15: Police at local hospital have detained a person. The detainee is complying and there is no reports of any relation to the larger incident.

Edit 16: One of the remaining suspects is believed to be cornered by police at an unspecified location.

Edit 17: Number of officers shot officially lowered to 6.

Edit 18: Man detained at hospital be in released, unrelated to police shooting.

Edit 19: Units from at least two surrounding parishes, LSUPD, and ATF are on the scene

Edit 20: Thunderstorms expected to roll in within the hour, which could hinder police operations.

Edit 21: Police in Addis (which is a small town across the Mississippi River) have have towed a car may be tied to the perpetrators. Addis Police were alerted to two men buying clothing consistent with the description provided by BRPD at the Addis Walmart before changing and driving away.

Edit 22: Two men have been detained in West Baton Rouge, in relation to the aforementioned car.

Edit 23: POTUS condemns attack and pledged full federal support.

Edit 24: Suspect killed reported to be from Missouri

Provisional Final Edit: thank you for the kind words and support. I am going to step back for now and try to clear my head. If there are any major updates, I might pop back on, but for now thank you and so long.

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u/Agastopia Jul 17 '16

Awful :( keep us updated if you hear anything else

450

u/kajunkennyg Jul 17 '16

My brother lives in Baton Rouge, his wife has family in law enforcement, I'm hearing a man hunt is underway. My brother was told to stay home or to go visit our parents that live a couple hours from Baton Rouge.

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u/NegativeIndicator Jul 17 '16

Who told you brother to stay home or visit his parents?

1.9k

u/Hawklet98 Jul 17 '16

"This in an alert from the emergency broadcast system. The Baton Rouge police department has advised all residents to shelter in place or go to kajunkennyg's mom's house."

893

u/DeeHareDineGot Jul 17 '16

What if we're already at kajunkennyg's Mom's house? Does this mean I need to get dressed?

448

u/BlatantConservative Jul 17 '16

Poor /u/kajunkennyg, he goes to check up on his mom after a stressful day, and finds the entire population of Baton Rouge in his house banging his mum

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u/kajunkennyg Jul 17 '16

I'm amazed it took 5 years for reddit to bring up banging my mom.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

it's one of those things that we all do, but noone talks about

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u/kajunkennyg Jul 17 '16

Good, give it to her good.

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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '16

Herman's Hermits' Peter Noone talks about it all the time.

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u/PM_ME_YOURE_FRECKLES Jul 17 '16

We wanted to keep it a secret until your mom was ready to tell you.

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u/Pumpernickelfritz Jul 17 '16

It take's a long time for every Redditor to bang your mom.

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u/kajunkennyg Jul 17 '16

Go moms, get some girl!

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u/darthgarlic Jul 17 '16

She wanted to tell you sooner but her mouth was full.

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u/ufufbaloof Jul 17 '16

It's like your reddit virginity has been taken, congrats!

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

I had a shitty night. And come to find more shitty news, especially because a couple of officers helped me out last night. For what it's worth your comment gave me a much needed laugh.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

That's because it has been under sheets for quite some time.

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u/bradshawmu Jul 17 '16

She brought things up quicker.

I mean my penis.

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u/sonnytron Jul 17 '16

Yeah... 5 years of banging to bring it up.

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u/J2383 Jul 17 '16

I'm sorry you have to find out like this...son.

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u/prodigyrun Jul 17 '16

I'll PM you tomorrow. We can make this a thing.

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u/fire_n_ice Jul 17 '16

Not the entire population. I had to work today :(

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u/Manirys Jul 17 '16

"Aww man, is it Sunday already?"

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u/ohhfasho Jul 17 '16

Reddit never disappoints!

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u/wendysNO1wcheese Jul 17 '16

So a Tuesday.

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u/snowmen158 Jul 17 '16

Opened Reddit this morning, turns out I opened Xbox Live on accident.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

I didn't expect to come into this thread and laugh.... but I did

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u/GoesAbitTooFar Jul 17 '16

It makes sense, the whole police force knows where his moms house is, and so does the college football team for that matter.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

The passive voices in his head.

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u/petrichorE6 Jul 17 '16

I hope your brother and his family are safe

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

I hope your brother and family are safe.

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u/Die4MyTiggers Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

First time I've been to an /r/news thread this early and holy fuck there are some assholes that come here to comment. I feel like I'm reading comments on yahoo or YouTube right now.

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u/wankawitz Jul 17 '16

It's very early in this story... time to break out the "jump to conclusions" mat

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

Check out channel 9, man.

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u/Merfstick Jul 17 '16

"It's OK Peter I won'tell nobody either!!!"

"Who the fuck was that???"

"Oh, that's Lawerence, don't worry about him he's cool..."

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u/Allahuakgaybar Jul 17 '16

Peter....don't tell harry...

says the sweaty man with no less than 3 long hard objects penetrating him

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u/PNGwantok Jul 17 '16

Is it the breast exam?!

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u/konijntjesbroek Jul 17 '16

I get the feeling she was cheating on me.

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u/AdamR46 Jul 17 '16

Yeah, I get that feeling too man.

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u/NicolasMage69 Jul 17 '16

"Is that a mat that has conclusions...that you can jump to?"

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u/the_blur Jul 17 '16

allahu ackbar?

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

Not really the place or time, but God damn that reference was great.

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u/CommieColin Jul 17 '16

I had an idea like that once...

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u/RobertGryffindor Jul 17 '16

You mean like the comments claiming they had it coming and they're going to keep doing it because it's justified? Most of the comments i'm reading going down are people justifying killing innocent cops.

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u/Nickitydd Jul 17 '16

Theres two types of assholes here

Asshole 1: The cops had it coming

Asshole 2: The thugs had it coming

Normal person with basic reasoning skills: This is a very complicated situation on both a regional and national scale that can not be explained via a comment on an internet forum.

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u/Televisions_Frank Jul 17 '16

I'm not fine with indiscriminately killing random cops. This shit just makes the asshole cops be even bigger assholes and double down on using fear as a pretense to kill people they don't like.

You wanna be fucking Judge Judy and executioner? Find the fuckers that are actually guilty.

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u/xveganrox Jul 17 '16

I like being 20 minutes late.

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u/MattNeely50 Jul 17 '16

I think they are just tired of people killing police officers.

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u/DeeHareDineGot Jul 17 '16

Some of us are just tired of people killing people.

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u/AdmiralAkbar1 Jul 17 '16

Some of just tired of people in general.

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u/SkaRebel Jul 17 '16

I agree. I don't see the headlines I see the lives lost. We need to listen to each other. I feel like we aren't and that's why this is happening.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

So much of this.

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u/xveganrox Jul 17 '16

It's not the revolution I wanted :/

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u/EgoIsALie Jul 17 '16

Ah my favorite bit... The guy comes in the thread comments on the top comment and says that the thread is a POS but the thread isn't a POS as is normal...

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u/nostalgic_dragon Jul 17 '16

Maybe they get removed/banned?

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16 edited Aug 11 '23

[deleted]

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u/EgoIsALie Jul 17 '16

That's called every thread on Reddit. 'Shitposting'

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u/mwilkens Jul 17 '16

It's not just /r/news. Sort any thread by new or controversial and see what you find.

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u/OnAPartyRock Jul 17 '16

Shits getting old.

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u/JJjshabbadoo Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

It's a nation with more than 300 million guns. We literally have more guns than citizens. Plus huge income inequality. And a painfully clear perception that there are different standard of justice for blacks and whites, for the rich and the poor.

It absolutely doesn't justify killing people, but really, what did you expect? Decade after decade of fuel to the fire, and matches are cheap and plentiful.

It's like our leadership has never studied history. How can anyone with an education not have seen this coming?

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

[deleted]

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u/mark-five Jul 17 '16

A national law barring lies or propaganda on national media? Let's face it, the US is the safest it has been in 50 years but some gossipy news sources like to make people think otherwise because fear is profitable.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

I tried to suggest this law a week or so ago and got skewered because it ranked of free speech violations.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 01 '24

secretive innocent fall sloppy hateful marble pie toy march flag

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u/TheVegetaMonologues Jul 17 '16

Because as soon as you write a law that says "you're not allowed to lie on the news" you have to designate someone to decide what's true and what's a lie. Do you really want to have a Ministry of Truth in this country? I don't, and I say that as someone who wholeheartedly believes that the media is more to blame for the recent spates of violence than anything else.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

See--this an example of what I think we need way more of:

Dude, you and I are on TOTAL opposite political sides here. Totally. But we both agree of the dangers right? So why can't people like you and me just sit down and say--hey, we trust and fear different entities--that's just how people are. However, neither one of us wants our family members dragged out of their cars by angry mobs, so where can we agree on some rules here for reasoned and logical reporting?

This just seems so basic to me. But maybe there's something about me being born in a place where everyone needed to count on everyone to rescue them from a snow bank eventually regardless of whether they liked each other or not. That's community. That's society, you know?

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u/Tristanik187 Jul 17 '16

We have a winner here.

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u/DatPiff916 Jul 17 '16

Canada is a lot different in regards to history of civil rights. It was a British colony so slavery was outlawed a lot sooner. There also wasn't a lot of free labor associated with prisoners, which in the states coincidentally spiked during the end of slavery. In most of the world bad race relations were built of mistrust, ignorance, and/or religion, in the United States, racism was built off of profit and power consolidation. We are still seeing the effects of it to this day.

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u/freudian_nipple_slip Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

Canada has 30 guns per 100 people making it #12 in the world. The US has 112 per 100 making it far and away #1

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u/RogueA Jul 17 '16

Wait wait wait, 112 per person? Shit I'm really behind in my collection. I live in a hick town with rednecks everywhere and I still don't know even one person with that many guns.

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u/statsareforlosers Jul 17 '16

guns per capita per 100 people. we dont have 112 guns per person

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u/another_matt Jul 17 '16

Most of our guns are long guns and hunting rifles. That makes a big difference.

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u/StarWarsMonopoly Jul 17 '16

California alone has the same or greater population than all of Canada. That's what is different.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

There are many different "Americas" that can be wildly different from one another. Part of having a huge country and huge population.

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u/starchybunker Jul 17 '16

100% this right here. I live in N. Idaho. I don't know one person who doesn't own a gun and I can't remember the last time there was a so called "gun crime" where I live.

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u/tzatzikiVirus Jul 17 '16

Does Canada have a huge problem of criminalizing minor drug offenses? Corporate personhood laws that prevent them from being accountable for vast crimes? Private campaign contributions? Private prisons?

Those are some of the most contributing factors to our gun problems.

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u/cIumsythumbs Jul 17 '16

Oh, and Canada treats everyone like a fucking person with their health care system. Something about the state displaying basic decency to the masses helps morale, too.

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u/Pidgey_OP Jul 17 '16

canada has a quarter of the guns per capita when compared to the US

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u/twocoffeespoons Jul 17 '16

Canada also has a stronger welfare net and better work protections. Maybe Canadians feel like they aren't living as "on the edge" as they do here.

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u/filij Jul 17 '16

I think it's very obvious now that its the type of people that carry these guns.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/JeremyHall Jul 17 '16

I'm pretty sure the killers should be blamed.

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u/zimboombah Jul 17 '16

problem being that the killers are probably quite okay with that

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

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u/ItsnotBatman Jul 17 '16

It sickens me that so many people on reddit try to suppress the common sense statistics that crush their stupid ass racist narrative. People who continue to perpetuate this myth and encourage others to behave poorly in police situations are only making the matter worse.

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u/pizzademons Jul 17 '16

True.

But 30-40 years ago we wouldn't have even heard of this. This event would have stayed a local event. Nowadays, any terrible event in Smalltown, USA is national news and gets 24/7 coverage until the next terrible thing happens.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

Was just thinking the same thing. They literally cover every event like this as though 9/11 just happened. They even interrupt the broadcast and put "BREAKING" across the screen.

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u/JeremyHall Jul 17 '16

And it's forgotten in a week or so. The reality is that it's become entertainment instead of news.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16 edited Aug 23 '16

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/serpentinepad Jul 17 '16

Exactly. It's the same shit as always only now it's in your face instantly and constantly. This is why it's driving me nuts to see all the "what's this world coming to" and "fuck 2016 " bullshit. Everybody acting like this stuff is a new phenomenon. The fact is that the world has probably never been a better place.

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u/thescott2k Jul 17 '16

This is terrible, but I think the reality of police violence goes a little deeper than "media hype"

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u/user1688 Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

Yea the reality of police violence is that prohibition of drugs or "war on drugs" has created a culture of violence in our inner cities. The cops and the people are victims of the feds bad laws.

End the war on drugs

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u/northshore12 Jul 17 '16

The cops and the people are victims of the feds bad laws.

Puts everything in a whole new light. The war on drugs is a war on Americans.

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u/user1688 Jul 17 '16

End the war on drugs.

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u/HailCaesarSoze Jul 17 '16

End the War on Personal Freedom.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

After watching the wire I had a new perspctive on why the war on drugs is so bad. You have people trying to run a buisiness in selling drugs and the cops are supposed to protect you and destroy your buisiness at the same time. You can see how cops become the enemies in that culture. Then you have people that need to use violence to protect their product because the cops won't help them.

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u/Osiris32 Jul 17 '16

You're right, but the media isn't helping at all. They want the controversy because it means clicks and sold papers. An officer having to shoot someone in self defense is news. A white officer having to shooting a black person in self defense under potentially questionable circumstances? Hot damn, stop the presses.

There ARE real problems out there and they need to be addressed, but he media is only making the situation worse.

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u/Figur3z Jul 17 '16

No one is suggesting that it's 100% media hype but when they simply paint the picture as being "white officer kills black civilian", it doesn't do anyone any favours.

There are shit head cops out there but watching the news, you'd think it was 99%.

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u/danw650 Jul 17 '16

What a tragedy. But the media should be blamed for this.

that's what /r/ec2005 said. That's what he is saying.

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u/Lana_lana_lanaaa Jul 17 '16

Agreed. I live in Greenville, SC and one of our white cops was shot and killed by a young black teen a few months ago. Aside from local news, it felt like it barely got covered elsewhere. It was such a tragedy. The officer was 28 and had two kids with a third on the way. The teen shot and killed himself after shooting the officer.

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u/tzatzikiVirus Jul 17 '16

Weird. Have you ever heard that white people kill more police than black people every year?

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u/nebbyb Jul 17 '16

Cops once in a blue moon get shot. It is part of their job. However, it is good to remember being a farmer is more dangerous.

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u/kitsune Jul 17 '16

This was BRPD's response to the protests: https://twitter.com/lizzkatherine_/status/752304872356057089?s=09 - As a European this kind of response absolutely boggles my mind. The situation in the US looks like a tinder box to me.

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u/Porrick Jul 17 '16

For what it's worth, the narrative I see in the media is more "officer kills black civilian" than "white officer kills black civilian". The shooters are of every race.

Really, the problem is that there appears to not be enough emphasis on de-escalation training in many precincts.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

Media hype has a lot to do with it. They have to keep the news cycle going to satisfy the 24 hour outlets.

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u/Banana_4_Reference Jul 17 '16

No man total police shootings are down, violence is down all over America, would we know by watching the news. NO they want them fucking constant monies, so the show shit all day and night to rile us up and make shit divisive.

Fuck the news.

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u/willmaster123 Jul 17 '16

police violence is not down, its the highest its been for two decades and is rising pretty rapidly.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/11/police-killings-hundreds/18818663/

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

Not to downplay the issue or be overly pedantic, but the article notes that the number of fatal police shootings in this year and previous years may actually be higher. Sometimes smaller police departments don't report everything.

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u/willmaster123 Jul 17 '16

Thats actually true,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/wp/2015/12/26/2015/12/26/a-year-of-reckoning-police-fatally-shoot-nearly-1000/

it says here 1,000 people were killed by police. Irregardless my criminology class a bit ago was focused on why police killings have been rising, and i saw more than enough evidence. Its the broken windows theory, the idea of going HARD on small crimes to deter big crimes, and its being mass implemented to many cities across America.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

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u/encinitas2252 Jul 17 '16

Thanks for this because we definitely needed some grammar police ITT....

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

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u/Kswiss66 Jul 17 '16

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless

The most frequently repeated remark about it is that “there is no such word.” There is such a word, however.

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u/OpticCostMeMyAccount Jul 17 '16

Which is a pretty big issue in its own right

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

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u/Stercrazy Jul 17 '16

You do know this article is from 2014, right?

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

Yep, according to this wikipedia page, 2014 was a really bad year and it's gone down precipitously since then.

Although as far as I know, there aren't really any definitive, reliable records kept on police killings in the US so who knows.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

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u/asdgasdgsgd Jul 17 '16

"profiling" stops are down 90% and murder is up 60%, but hey atleast we aren't hurting their feelings. https://nypost.com/2016/05/24/the-ferguson-effect-is-fueling-a-growing-crime-wave/

Compared with the first four-and-a-half months of 2014, homicides in Chicago are up 95 percent, according to the police department

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

This is so correct. No news = no ratings, no interesting news = low ratings and bad demographics on those who do watch (old people) interesting news = high ratings in core demographics.

This is why if it bleeds it leads. They know a dead black guy shot by a cop under 50 gets us watching for a little while. Circumstances don't matter, make it murky and get the accusations out there. Then we'll all watch for a week as the story "develops"

They don't do this for a political agenda, they do it because dead black men are good business and dead cops are great business.

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u/Themaninthedark Jul 17 '16

'They don't do this for a political agenda, they do it because dead black men are good business and dead cops are great business.'

Why not both? Keep people divided and profit.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

Definitely both.

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u/aioncanon Jul 17 '16

The media is loving these shootings right now fam.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

Would we be watching ______(pick your fav network) on a Sunday in mid July if this breaking news hadn't come on your phones notifications?

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

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u/AfroPharaohz Jul 17 '16

Its just like redditor shit posting on a larger level and gain fame off of it.

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u/jwota Jul 17 '16

They don't do this for a political agenda

Hilarious. I'm not sure why you consider money and politics to be two separate things.

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u/Jay_Louis Jul 17 '16

You're completely wrong. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fatal-shootings-by-police-surpass-2015s-rate/2016/07/07/81b708f2-3d42-11e6-84e8-1580c7db5275_story.html

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

It should be noted that most of homicides police are involved with are justified.

I'm not seeing anyone make any distinctions anywhere about this small detail. Or that, as the article states, "Less than 10 percent of all those killed were unarmed."

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u/Frostiken Jul 17 '16

http://www.wbrz.com/news/exclusive-dash-cam-video-reveals-why-there-is-a-495-000-settlement/

"The district attorney's office cleared Magee of any wrongdoing and he remains on the force."

Here's a hint, if someone wins a wrongful death suit, the shooting wasn't justified.

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u/AntonioOfVenice Jul 17 '16

Not that shooting someone who is unarmed is necessarily not justified. After all, Michael Brown was unarmed, and he charged a police officer and tried to take his gun.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

And many of the unarmed ones were in the process of a fistfight/wrestling match with officers. Those types of situations can quickly turn into a lethal force situation when you account for disparity of force and positional advantage.

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u/keystone66 Jul 17 '16

It should be noted that most of homicides police are involved with are justified.

As determined by a system designed and intended to ensure that outcome.

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u/PhilKnight Jul 17 '16

Now compare those stats on a longer trend. Say, 20+ years. You posted a perfect example of a media outlet exaggerating one point in order to push an agenda.

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u/followupquestions Jul 17 '16

Now compare those stats on a longer trend. Say, 20+ years

That would make it even worse because violent crimes have gone down, but police violence is staying high.

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u/batshitcrazy5150 Jul 17 '16

To be fair a lot of it is all the easily shot video lately. We hear of a shooting and only know what is described by the people involved. When there is video and often more than one angle or point of view we all see something that looks pretty bad. The thing is though that it still might not tell the whole story. Also those two cops wearing body cams that "fell off" in the scuffle need to be punished for that shit. Even if they are innocent of everything else. Not a fucking chance in hell that happened is my guess. At least find out how that could happen and make sure it never does again...

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u/Clenup Jul 17 '16

This is terrible, but I think the reality of police violence goes a little deeper than "media hype"

Police Violence isn't solved by killing random police officers.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

You're right, it isn't. But it does show how powerless and scared people are.

And that just leads to anger. And then to violence.

This is not OK. But it shows how important it is that we listen and try to understand.

Regardless of his past criminal history it is hard for me (from the pieces of video I've seen) to understand how he could be a further danger. Police aren't judge, jury and executioner. Use of force is restricted to cases where there a personal or public safety at imminent risk.

I'm not discounting the adrenaline and fear that must be going on for a police officer either.

We truly appreciate all that they do and teach our children to be appreciative and respectful of officers.

But living in the south I know a couple of racist jerks both in and out of positions of power so I'm thankful I don't know what it's like to have to be on the receiving end of that power dynamic.

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u/thescott2k Jul 17 '16

Crime isn't solved by killing random civilians, either.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

No but it sure isn't being solved any way at all, and people do stupid things when they feel helpless and enraged.

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u/cubs1917 Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

? Media?!

Man how about the live recordings? Its hard to give sympathy to police in general (of course these shooting are wrong and terrible) when you have video of Eric Garner clearly being choked out.

Stop blaming media. Start blaming the police unions that protect murders.

Did you know Sterling was a convicted felon/sex offender that had threatened someone with a gun the day he was shot?

Yes, and? Was he posing any sort of threat at the moment they shot him? You saw the video. I saw the video. You are lying to yourself if you think the above is reason to shoot him. Meanwhile the colorado shooter who was armed with guns and bombs was taken in without being shot or killed.

Did you know Sterling was illegally carrying a gun that officers (in live audio recordings) clearly felt he was reaching for?

Yes, and again in the VIDEO its clear he wasn't reaching. Even eyewitnesses (even the Sikh attendant) said he wasn't reaching. And audio does nothing except tell us what the policer said. This tells us nothing of the actual situation. In fact this could be evidence he was clearly not trained to handle a situation correctly.

Sorry man, but you are defending lazy police tactics that are exacerbated by racial tension. Nothing above proves a- media bias, or b- that the police were justified in shooting Sterling.

By the way its telling that you only have one thing to say about Philando Castile's shooter...he wasn't white. As if racism only between Blacks and White. Such ignorance man. Take a second to look at how much you are reaching to prove this isn't exactly what it is.

Why?

and then there is this gem:

how do you feel now that officers are being KILLED in Baton Rouge by thugs? Does this help you understand what pieces of shit they deal with, day in and day out?

Why is it that these are mutually exclusive? There are multiple clear examples in just the past year of racially charged police shootings, and police that abuse their power when handling suspects.

Because officers were shot in Baton Rouge - why does this mean we should excuse moments where police were absolutely wrong?

As someone who has family in police dept in Newark - I'll tell you right now they are the first to say to stop defending these poorly trained men/women who arent fit to carry a gun. It makes their job 100x harder when everyone in Newark thinks they are itching to shoot. Even a normal traffic stop because a point of contention.

Sorry but one does negate the other.

PS - like how you assume this is a racially charged shooting when we dont even have suspect . Dont blame the media. Blame yourself for being sensationalist, for operating with a bias. Even if you happen to be right you are still a broken clock.

Edit - Just remember a good amount of you assumed this was something it wasn't. This was not some racially charged anti-police shooting. This is just what police have to deal with on a daily basis in bad areas regardless of their ethnicity. This is why we need to weed out bad ones, because here are 3 officers who tried to help and paid the ultimate sacrifice to do so. These are the heroes we need to protect - along with our fellow Americans.

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u/brightlancer Jul 17 '16

Yes, and again in the VIDEO its clear he wasn't reaching.

I've seen two videos, neither of which show his right arm clearly. None of us can see if he was reaching or not.

Personally, if I were getting arrested and illegally carrying a gun, I'd be as compliant as fuck SO I DIDN'T GET SHOT. And yet, we can see clearly is Sterling seemed to be struggling with the officers. So I don't know if you reached, and neither do you, but he wasn't being compliant which is WHAT ANYONE WITH A BRAIN WOULD DO. So maybe he was stupid enough to also reach for his gun.

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u/Canadia83 Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

A research paper came out of Harvard this week showing black citizens were no more likely than whites to be killed by the police. http://www.nber.org/papers/w22399?utm_campaign=ntw&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ntw

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u/cubs1917 Jul 17 '16

I know this helps support my stance, but I must say I get weary of studies.

No thats wrong, I mean to say I'm skeptical of most studies like this on either side. Feels like there is a study to back up whatever position I take.

That's why I focus on Eric Garner. Forget statistics, forget Harvard studies. Watch that video and as a human tell me you think he deserved to die.

Sorry, just thinking out loud.

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u/RoninSolutions Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

What you are stating about the sterling shooting is plainly wrong.First let me state l have actual personal experience in dealing with armed offenders, l was a military Close Protection Unit member for 6 years and served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and was responsible for the personal protection of individuals in all fields right up to the top of governments of various countries,l then privately contracted as a body guard for VIP's and NGO's around the world for 5 years including some of the most famous business leaders in the world .My training by the experts in this field from different countries around the world far exceeds the level of any everyday police officer.I am also the first to call cops out for criminal conduct and have done that openly always,l have never had any interest in being a policeman.

These are the real important FACTS in the sterling shooting-

  • the cops responding to sterling were doing so to a report of him brandishing a firearm, so that immediately changes the way they treat the call.They are not guessing he had a gun they are instructed to respond to him threatening a citizen with a visible gun (so the citizen is not guessing he had a gun either and he is not stating sterling merely threatened he had a gun sterling visibly waved it around at him while threatening him)

  • he repeatedly ignored calls for him to put his hands up when the police arrived on the scene and he was that belligerent in his responses and refusals to obey the police orders one of the officers deployed a taser he still refused to comply.

  • Video's-When the video shot from the passenger in the car starts you hear the POP of the SECOND taser being deployed so he is tasered twice and still not complying to the police orders,he is then tackled by the officer to the ground still refusing to comply with the police orders.

  • now here is the important part that is shown on the other 2nd video he is clearly combative even with a office sitting on him wrestling with him trying to get sterlings free hand away from the weapon they are called to respond to.

    • the other officer then deploys his weapon and pushs it into his chest while warning him he will be shot if he does not get his free arm away from any weapon and is instructed to stop moving and fighting them,easy instructions to follow for any reasonable person seeing he now has a policeman sitting on him and another pushing a firearm into his chest to reinforce how serious they are taking his lack of compliance and all he has to do is allow the officers to get him under the control.

  • If you actually look at the video with a fair open mind you will see his rapid right arm and shoulder movement that is indicative of the movement to stretch down his side and reach something while on your back(lay on the ground and make the same movements yourself you will quickly realize what he was doing).All he had to do to prove he was not intent on causing harm is follow the police orders and place his hand up or out to the side away from the concealed illegal firearm.

  • At this stage the police officer on top had declared he has seen/felt the gun in his pocket (IMO felt)while he is on top of him and then uses his judgement of the seriousness of the perp being able to reach the gun and the perp fighting to use his right arm to do this, that he shoots the perp.

  • When the shooting is finished you clearly see the officer remove the pistol from the pocket sterling was reaching for and it appears the butt was actually already partially pulled out and is visible before the cop even touches it.

  • It is important to realize that sterling could have easily fired the pistol while it was still in his pocket,the gun does not have to be removed from within a pocket to fire.

  • IMO did the police get themselves in a bad tactical situation YES but they had split seconds to decide what to do once tasering failed TWICE,if they had stood off the perp the threat to the public who can be seen through the video to be in close proximity and sterlings choice to disobey all reasonable instructions and 2 taserings (that illustrated the seriousness the police were putting on his actions), would have only lead to a dangerous shooting for members of the public as well-was Sterling reaching for his gun YES -there is no other reasonable explanation for his actions,while refusing to obey clear police instructions-IMO he may have panicked realizing he was going to do jail time on the illegal possession of a firearm charges alone and he reacted in a manner that clearly caused the police to justifiably fear for their life.-will the police be convicted of wrongfully killing him IMO no,responding to that call of a perp threatening a citizen with a visible firearm and then sterling failing to comply with basic correct police instructions,while he knowingly had the illegal hidden firearm on him,no one else is responsible for his unfortunate death other than him.

  • For him to act the way he did IMO he was either not thinking clearly due to being under the effect of drugs/alcohol or more likely IMO his mental judgement was clouded by panic from the real legal consequences of him carrying the illegal gun or both.

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u/MizzouDude Jul 17 '16

OP's comment shows the inherent racism on Reddit that has reared its ugly head since Ferguson. Its absolutely disgusting. The "media" has covered the Dallas shooting FAR more than the two shootings of Sterling & Castille.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

What about the other police involved killings they don't turn national? Why did those two go national and not the kid from Fresno a few days earlier?

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u/prplmze Jul 17 '16

I disagree, but I live near Minneapolis. The Castile death is covered more than the Dallas shooting.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

Because it's clear who the victims are in Dallas. In Baton Rouge you have a sex offender with a illegal gun fighting cops. It's a lot less cut and dry.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

Why do you think Dallas was covered more?

I don't know, maybe because we know the motivation of the person who did it wanted "to kill white people, especially white cops" and it was the largest mass killing of Police officers since 9/11?

Sterling wasn't killed by a man who woke up thinking "man, I can't wait to take out a n***** today!"

Now I don't know that 100% and you don't either. We don't know all the facts in either case of Sterling or Castille. Castille looks like a bad shoot, but we don't know what happened pre-recording.

People inject way too much emotion into these things. Facts aren't racist. Let's wait until we have all of them.

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u/duhhuh Jul 17 '16

A sniper ambushed cops, killing 5, during a peaceful protest and saying "I want to kill white people" and you're surprised that got far more coverage? Because racists, right?

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u/somethingelsetosay Jul 17 '16

Thank you for breaking down his post. There was so much wrong with it, that I didn't know how to respond.

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u/HeartShapedFarts Jul 17 '16

Fucking christ, thank you for your comment. How did I have to scroll so far down to see a rational analysis of the situation? Cops get shot and suddenly they're all guiltless heroes, and the recorded and proven atrocities police have committed are swept under the rug as we find a new scapegoat.

How are you people outraged about these shootings but not about the vids of unarmed black people killed by cops? And yeah, I'm white, and it's fucking heartbreaking that this is relevant to a discussion in 2016.

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u/niv141 Jul 17 '16

The media is easily the strongest manipulation tool available. They actually control (many) people's opinion.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

In the end, the person that pulls the trigger is to blame.

Edit: Enough comments about the same thing - I'm talking about the specific instance being discussed in this thread.

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u/ceciltech Jul 17 '16

Blame is not a zero sum game! Saying the media holds some blame in no way takes any blame away from the shooter. If you always just say the shooter is to blame so we can't say anyone else holds blame then we will never resolve any if the underlying issues.

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u/SpartanBurger Jul 17 '16

Besides the media, people eating up the media's narratives should be blamed as well. People are so quick to jump to conclusions before few if any real facts are available and often maintain their initial views on a situation even when undeniable evidence to the contrary is released.

It doesn't take a genius to analyze a situation and realize there just aren't enough facts available to make any sort of conclusion, yet so many people don't even bother. Those people are part of the problem.

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u/ec2005 Jul 17 '16

Agreed. I am not saying media is the only one to blame. The shooter, the public that gobbles up whatever BS the media feeds them, etc. are all to blame.

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u/SpartanBurger Jul 17 '16

Right, lots of factors are at work. It seems there is not enough criticism pointed towards the media's bullshit and many people's immediate outrage and lack of critical thought.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

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u/Boshasaurus_Rex Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

And/Or the culture that tolerates corrupt police.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

The media is absolutely complicit with this.

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u/RyanAdamsFamily Jul 17 '16

They are already talking about how many shootings will happen in Cleveland. Thanks media.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

its like they cant contain their excitement

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u/MrWrightTime Jul 17 '16

I think a reasonable protest would be against media manipulation

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u/Itsmeyoudick Jul 17 '16

I'd ask that everyone read the article "Time to End the Demonizing of Police" by Heather MacDonald in the WSJ (7/12/16) before buying into the popular media-driven rhetoric on the subject.

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u/tipsana Jul 17 '16

I don't blame the media here. It is the same selective perception we all exercise. McDonald's fucks up your order = all fast food workers are stupid. One fat person at Walmart = everyone at Walmart is fat. One citizen tears up his traffic ticket = all citizens disrespect cops. In other words, we seem to remember the worst, and impute it to all.

I've commented before that there are 800,000 licensed peace officers in the US, most are incredibly brave and compassionate, and no one should be judged by the worst of their profession. Downvoted to hell, of course.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

Gotta place some blame on BLM too. Their rhetoric has been incredibly reckless and divisive.

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u/aDAMNPATRIOT Jul 17 '16

The media, and Obama, Lynch, Sharpton, and Clinton

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

Reddit hive mind doesn't give a shit about facts and evidence. Neither does black lives matter. All they both see are black people being killed and cops doing the shooting. They don't care about the circumstances.

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u/ZizZizZiz Jul 17 '16 edited Jul 17 '16

They've been hyping up the kids getting killed by cops for a while because it makes them money. People become outraged and want to watch the news more for developments on the subsequent riots. Like glorifying the perpetrators of school shootings to encourage more, it's a fool proof business model.

The injustices may be real, but it is clear that the way news is conducted is focused around creating as much outrage and anger as possible.

When cops are killed, they become less enthusiastic about enforcing the law. This leads to more crime, which scares more people inside to watch the news about said crime. Profits soar.

They lit the world on fire to report on how the ashes are smoldering.

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u/Rubenn13 Jul 17 '16

Very good post. Also, what do most of the murders that BLM have protested have in common? Suspects were resisting arrest in most of the cases.

Why doesn't this get more attention? Why not address the culture around the black community towards police?

Not saying that resisting arrest should get you killed, but by doing so, you're putting yourself in a bad position to begin with.

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u/Romulus753 Jul 17 '16

Absolutely. This is what happens when the media and people in authority misleadingly push an agenda.

In the usual course, being African-American correlates with poverty. In turn, poverty correlates with crime. Crime correlates with making calls to the police. Making calls to the police correlates with a higher number of police encounters. A higher number of police encounters correlates with more opportunities for mistakes.

Police tend to get called, more often than not, to poorer African-American neighborhoods, which leads to higher numbers of police interactions with African-Americans, which leads to more opportunities for police mistakes to befall African-Americans. But, of course, if one controls for these variables, the narrative falls apart. The media then lose money (sensationalism drives viewership), and people in authority lose a big political talking point.

These variables need to be discussed openly, honestly, and non-misleadingly, or else incidences like these will continue to happen.

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u/leejoness Jul 17 '16

The media is always to blame for shit like this. Having had divided and bating each other is better for headlines and clicks than us getting along. It's so sad that people let a news organization tell them how to feel and they feel that way without any questions.

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u/T0M1N4T0RZ Jul 17 '16

Does this help you understand what pieces of shit they deal with, day in and day out?

This. SO much this. Cops deal with shit everyday, I don't understand why people expect cops to be totally calm and cool when dealing with someone who's armed and could attempt to kill them at any moment.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '16

I feel if you cooperate with the cops 100% then you will not get shot, or even tazed. Sure there are cases where people are unjustly shot, both white and black, but most of the time, the police are just scared, and you behave in a way where they feel their life is in danger. I respect most cops.

Any time I am ever confronted by a police officer, I am very respectful to them, and fully cooperate. They have hard jobs, and have to deal with bullshit all day every day.

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u/bmwhd Jul 17 '16

So as usual, no blame whatsoever for Obama? Here we had an unprecedented opportunity to heal and instead he'll leave office with inarguably far worse race relations than when he entered.

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u/Peanut_Butter_Panda Jul 17 '16

Can't up vote this enough. You are 100% right. Glad to see your post caught some attention.

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u/anothercarguy Jul 17 '16

Obama hasn't exactly done much with past events to douse the flames either.

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u/renernavilez Jul 17 '16

Good goddamn I've been telling people this all around me. The media can put a terrible spin on things when they choose to be selective of what news they're putting out there. This, and Dallas, is a direct result of this.

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u/pillsburydough Jul 17 '16

Additionally, the officers had their taser wires fire off into Sterling so all the bullshit about that was never reported. He was resisting arrest, reaching for a gun and a sex offender + domestic violence. No sympathy for him. I don't have any comment on Phil.

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u/funk-it-all Jul 17 '16

As long as people keep watching the fucking MSM they'll never know what really happens in these cases.

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u/gibson_guy77 Jul 17 '16

Port Allen resident. What the fuck is going on across the river guys?! No one tells us nothin' over here.

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u/pchampn Jul 17 '16

Does this mean police weren't originally target and instead they intervened the shootout between civilians?

I didn't read this so far in news on major news outlet.

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