Dead Ringer

Pardon the pun …

H/T maggief at FreeRepublic whose post link will not copy over for.some.reason.

Fox has a article up this AM about the situation in Ferguson, MO where, as we all know, there is great unrest over the shooting by a police office of a young unarmed black man.

It turns out that the officer was in the area due to a 911 call about a strong arm robbery.  Michael Brown fit the description, which is why the officer had initially approached the teen. 

As you can see from the photos above, the clothing on the deceased fellow are a spot on match for the outfit the live strong arm robber was wearing as he was shaking the stuffing out of the much smaller store clerk.

While I am not too sympathetic for the giant punks demise, I do feel sympathy for his immediate family.  Whether they knew of his activities or not, whether they approved or whether they were distressed by his criminal activities, they are in deep pain at his loss, I am sure.  Lets hope that does not encourage them to turn their faces from the facts, and there are many being disclosed now which need to be accepted by that family and their community.

Ferguson Police Chief Jackson, who should not have allowed the fucking media to control the narrative, finally put out a bit of info for us all, via FOX, link above:

Jackson said Wilson, along with other officers, were called to the area after a 911 call reporting a “strong-arm robbery” at a nearby convenience store. snip

snip: Jackson said Swisher Sweets cigars were stolen in the robbery.

Police have said Brown was shot after an officer encountered him and another man on the street. They say one of the men pushed the officer into his squad car, then physically assaulted him in the vehicle and struggled with the officer over the officer’s weapon. At least one shot was fired inside the car before the struggle spilled onto the street, where Brown was shot multiple times, according to police.

But a much different story has been told by Dorian Johnson, who says he was walking down the street with Brown when he was shot. He has said the officer ordered them out of the street, then grabbed his friend’s neck and tried to pull him into the car before brandishing his weapon and firing. He says Brown started to run and the officer pursued him, firing multiple times.

Something screams at me in that last paragraph.  The second suspect in the robbery, this Dorian Johnson, states that the officer who shot Brown first “grabbed his friend’s neck and tried to pull him into the car before brandishing his weapon and firing“.

Let’s ignore that this witness was in on the robbery.  Lets ignore that he is giving the sort of statement that he hopes will put the officers actions in the worst light possible, and his own in the most innocent.  Let us pay attention to some words. 

“ tried to pull him into the car“

Does it strike anyone reading this as at all likely that a lone police officer will grab hold of a HUGE guys neck and try to PULL that big fella into the cruiser?  Was he trying to pull him into the drivers seat? (update: I just heard that the struggle was in the back of the cruiser)  Why?  Do cops who are solo generally try to grab hold of the neck of an enormous violent guy, and pull him on top of themselves? 

Even if this information had been shared within a day of Brown’s death the riots and looting would have gone on anyway.  It is now a cultural thing.  If a black gang member had shot this guy, no one would have cared. We all know that.  Hell, I don’t think most of the protestors actually even give a shit at all about Brown, rather they want to make empty worn out accusations that life is unfair to the American black person.  So, riot, rob, and burn, excuses abound because … black.

But they will settle down now.

Not because the truth is emerging, a truth which shows that the officer was in a dangerous situation and reacted with deadly force.  Did he go over the top?  Don’t know.  If a giant like that was wrestling me for my gun I’da shot his ass.  But I am not a trained officer.  No, the unrest will quiet because the signal has been given to the community that they are to have special attention from special officers who are specially ordered in to treat them as though they are too special for the ordinary local cops to connect with. 

But on Thursday, county police in riot gear and armored tanks gave way to state troopers walking side-by-side with thousands of peaceful protesters. The dramatic shift came after Gov. Jay Nixon assigned oversight of the protests to the state Highway Patrol, stripping that authority from the St. Louis County Police Department.

“All they did was look at us and shoot tear gas,” Pedro Smith, who has participated in the nightly protests, said Thursday. “This is totally different. Now we’re being treated with respect.”

See, it’s beautiful.  All they wanted was respect.

Nixon’s (MO Governor)  promise to ease the deep racial tensions was swiftly put to the test as demonstrators gathered again Thursday evening. But the latest protests had a light, almost jubilant atmosphere among the racially mixed crowd, more akin to a parade or block party.

The streets were filled with music, free food and even laughter. When darkness fell — the point at which previous protests have grown tense — no uniformed officers were in sight outside the burned-out QuikTrip convenience store that had become a flashpoint for standoffs between police and protesters.

“You can feel it. You can see it,” protester Cleo Willis said of the change. “Now it’s up to us to ride that feeling.”

Nixon appointed Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, who is black, to lead the police effort. Johnson, who grew up near Ferguson and commands a region that includes St. Louis County, marched alongside protesters Thursday, joined by other high-ranking brass from the Highway Patrol as well as the county department. The marchers also had a police escort.

“We’re here to serve and protect,” Johnson said. “We’re not here to instill fear.”

No, the police are not supposed to instill fear.  That is the job of the looters and rioters.  That is why the Ferguson police responded the way that they did.  Was it over the top?  Hindsight is indicating that it was.  Hindsight is funny like that.

Question: how can the black community in that area outnumber the rest of the various combined races 2 to 1, and they are still the minority who has no influence in how things are run, in the condition of their own neighborhoods and personal lives?

More from maggief:

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~ by ladysforest on August 15, 2014.