He did exactly what the officer ordered him to do, was shot for doing so, and then apologized to the officer for getting shot? At least he was fired immediately and has been charged with something.
These shootings are disgusting, disappointing, and not surprising. There is a long history of police brutality and abuse against blacks and it is understandable to view these repeated incidents as a continuation of that historical, systemic oppression. We must be careful not to read the past too much into the present that we overlook important trends like the continued militarization of our police and fascist-like attitudes of some officers and many citizens. Many police officers are undertrained and abusing their power. The circumstances under which they choose to abuse their authority vary and are influenced by many factors including class-bias and racial prejudice. Social science research continually confirms that this type of violence occurs overwhelmingly against blacks. And, cause you know it is coming, it is not strictly correlated with crime rates or types of crime. This neo-conservative "but what about white people" response is a distraction that avoids discussing the central issue -- no one is claiming that because a series of black dudes are getting shot by police that no white people are getting shot. Just acknowledge black people have historically gotten the short end of the stick and point out that this is (increasingly?) a problem for more than just black people. But we should all be concerned about behavior amongst officers that is interpreted as OK against one class of people being expanded to larger and larger groups, especially in the face of the deployment of private security forces and contractors. Just so we can have a discussion based more on data than political proclivity: Mother Jones looked at this issue: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/police-shootings-michael-brown-ferguson-black-men The killing of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri, was no anomaly: As we reported yesterday, Brown is one of at least four unarmed black men who died at the hands of police in the last month alone. There are many more cases from years past. As Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Missouri chapter put it in a statement of condolence to Brown's family, "Unarmed African-American men are shot and killed by police at an alarming rate. This pattern must stop." But quantifying that pattern is difficult. Federal databases that track police use of force or arrest-related deaths paint only a partial picture. Police department data is scattered and fragmented. No agency appears to track the number of police shootings or killings of unarmed victims in a systematic, comprehensive way. Here's some of what we do know: Previous attempts to analyze racial bias in police shootings have arrived at similar conclusions. In 2007, ColorLines and the Chicago Reporter investigated fatal police shootings in 10 major cities, and found that there were a disproportionately high number of African Americans among police shooting victims in every one, particularly in New York, San Diego, and Las Vegas.
Richard Pryor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf3ZiSZPMYU Dude didn't announce his intentions and move in slow motion.
Adding history of police department race relations to things Bobby knows nothing about. This list is getting long!
Its not the specific shooting that matters, its the "we're human too so cut us some slack" mentality that officers in this country have. Being scared is not enough of a prerequisite to attempt to gun someone down. Sorry, you're a cop. You are held to a higher standard. Deal with it.
And I have learned that is exactly what you should do when interacting with the police. I never step out of the car when pulled over unless the officer tells me to do so. In this case, I can see why the officer opened fire. I'm not saying he should have fired, I'm just saying I understand that the officer felt the guy was possibly going for a weapon. But, I feel the officer made mistakes in giving his instructions to the person he stopped. He also should have understood that when asking someone for their license they may have to reach into their car for the license. Poor police work lead to the shooting in my opinion. Glad the guy wasn't killed.
You should cut them some slack, they have a very dangerous job, there are over 50,000 incidents of police officers getting assaulted every year and around 150 officers die in the line of duty every year. There's a reason for them to be paranoid. How often do we see video of cops making routine stops only to get shot or shot at? I know that some people would like to blame the whole thing on racism, but that's short sighted. Cops are paranoid about just about everyone. That said, the screw ups should be kicked out and incarcerated if they screw up badly enough, but let's not spread the stereotype that cops are racist as a whole, it's false and it's counter-productive.
Oh what a crock of utter ****. The statistics out out there NFL Scout. Law enforcement isn't even in the top 10 of most dangerous occupations. Your takes on everything I've seen you in are straight garbage.
Who is this "we" and I'm just stating facts. And that's the problem. Cops think that they are going to be the victim all the time and that the public is out to get them. Don't know why that cop couldn't comprehend in his mind that he just asked the man to get something. What's next? A cop asking for insurance and someone opening their glove department "too fast" only to get shot at?
Watching the video again (a longer version is here: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/sean-groubert-south-carolina-police-shooting ), it appears the guy was getting out of his vehicle when he noticed the officer has reversed and pulled up toward him. So it wasn't the case that the guy who got shot got out of the vehicle during a traffic stop. The only mistake that dude made was not following the Richard Pryor/Chris Rock rules for interacting with the police. But the officer, the guy in control who initiates the confrontation, was just straight up Barney Fife with the whole thing.
I think law boy was itchin for some action. Sees black dude without seat belt on and goes off Rambo style after asking for him for his license? Just ridiculous.
