Jul 6, 2016 I know it's easy to be desensitized to these stories. It doesn't matter if you've witnessed endemic, racist, virtually unchecked police violence for years, or whether you were rattled awake two summers ago by St. Louis. But it's important that we continue to acknowledge the victims and continue to push for change. About 24 hours ago, a man names Alton Sterling was murdered by two Baton Rouge police officers. Sterling was 37, and had an 11-year-old son; minutes before he was murdered, he was selling CDs outside of a convenience store, where he was known and welcome. Police responded to an anonymous call about an altercation in the parking lot of that convenience store. In video footage filmed by a bystander, there are no people visible aside from Sterling and two officers. (Police claim the officers' body cameras fell off.) In the video, Sterling is wrestled to the ground, then pinned by two police officers, one by his neck and one over his chest. The officer near his neck pins Sterling's left arm to the ground. (Sterling remains here for some time, the actions are not instantaneous.) Each officer draws his weapon, one pointing his gun at Sterling's head, the other at his chest. At some point, one of the officers yells "Gun!" One or both of the officers fire shots into Sterling. He dies instantly. An autopsy has confirmed that four to six bullets to the chest caused Sterling's death. As his body lay on the concrete, one of the officers retrieved a gun from Sterling's pocket. In Louisiana, it is legal to openly carry a firearm without so much as a license. The owner of the convenience store was "two feet" away from the altercation and insists Sterling's hand was nowhere near the gun; from the video, it appears unlikely his arm could have reached his pocket or waistline even if he had tried to do so. The store owner says one of the officers said "Just leave him" in reference to Sterling's body. Here's a good article, with link to the video in question, from The Advocate, an important Louisiana news outlet: http://theadvocate.com/news/1631198...tal-shooting-of-suspect-on-north-foster-drive
Jul 6, 2016 Saw this, to me it was even worse than most of these other incidents. In the Mike Brown case for example he tried to attack the cop and take his gun. In this case, Alton Sterling was already contained on the ground with 2 officers there. There was zero reason to even s---t him once in the leg or something, much less enough times in the chest to k--- him. This was flat out murder.
Jul 6, 2016 See? Even people who think the Michael Brown case wasn't clear-cut enough agree this was an out-and-out execution. I'm not trying to start a huge back-and-forth with you about a 23-month-old case with you Kon, but suffice to say you and I are worlds apart on that one. And even we can agree that there is no ambiguity here.
Jul 6, 2016 What's sick about this is that the police officer is probably going to get off. BRPD has always been known as racist. This is sickening. It's even worst that this happened in my hometown. This town is one of the more racially divided cities in Louisiana and there's tons of them.
Jul 6, 2016 pretty terrible how they are allowed to do this. It seemed to me they had him restrained. Theres no way that he could have grabbed a gun from the angle he was at, even if it was in his right hand pocket. although the video angle makes it hard to tell. might be worse than the tamir rice shooting
Jul 6, 2016 Guy was a piece of s--- pedophile but the video looks really bad. Apparently he had a gun and was reaching for it, but idk, doesn't look like that to me.
Jul 6, 2016 fwiw, he was charged w/ carnal knowledge of a juvenile back in 2000, when im assuming he was ~21. (Carnal knowledge of a juvenile is a sex crime when someone 17 or over has sex with someone who is between 13-17 years old and is 4 or more years younger than the offender).. not good, but am assuming he slept with a teenager. still gross/immoral/wrong, but just in case ppl think he was molesting young boys. and obviously besides the point. the state shouldn't be allowed to murder civilians, even if they are vaguely threatening them. more training needed
Jul 6, 2016 So apparently before the cops arrived he got into some kind of altercation with someone and he threatened someone with a gun. of course the store owner says that it never happened. guy was also previously arrested for aggravated battery, property damage, domestic abuse, battery, and carrying an illegal weapon. He was on probation when he died and he wouldnt have been allowed to carry a gun - so all in all he wasnt a very good guy and he never should have been resisting the cops the way he was - but theres no way anyone can justify this.
Jul 6, 2016 I personally think some cases you can look at things from different perspectives but this one is just 100% murder. Absolutely disgusting.
Jul 6, 2016 http://theadvocate.com/news/1631198...tal-shooting-of-suspect-on-north-foster-drive Another one The brutality continues. Discuss.
Jul 6, 2016 btw - if i ever get arrested by some cops in that manner and I am legally carrying a gun- One of the first things Im going to do is tell the cops I have a f---ing gun to avoid any problems
Jul 6, 2016 It's hard being a right winger sometimes. Especially when people try to justify this s---. f---ing bootlickers. Wish Americans would realize cops shouldn't be so aggressive like they aren't supposed to be these militarized group of badasses wbo can k--- anyone. Police by default are an institution of violence, you don't abide by laws they will threaten you or hurt you, even k--- you.
