Shit, as prior military we were taught you don't point your weapon at anything or anyone unless you're prepared to pull the trigger. The fact that all the others on that line had their weapons down, but this dude has his up the whole time, tells you all you need to know about the lack of training of that individual.
We put too much stock in training here, for things that should be obvious. How do we know you shouldn’t do that? I haven’t had any police training.
This is related to that “qualified immunity” bullshit. Somehow we let what could have been an appropriate thing turn into cops being above the law except in rare cases they were specifically trained for and there is existing case law. Bullshit. All too many of these look interesting headline cases start with “any sane person knows …” yet cops are above the law
That is fucking nuts. If you have 50 police officers you do not need to shoot a woman who is VERY clearly not a fucking threat. Holy shit they treated her like she was carrying
My european brain could not handle why this would be the way to treat a pregnant person until I realized, that this might be about a weapon instead of a child.
The context might make this obvious for people who are more used to guns than babies, but I was very confused.
My Canadian brain was in the same boat. I had to wonder if it was an joke about cops shooting pregnant people that I wasn't american enough to understand.
They kept shooting at her even when she was limping away crying and someone trying to help her. So being a threat I think was the least of their concerns. Seems more like they were enjoying target practice.
No way I could be a cop. If I was standing in line with those guys and saw my coworker shoot a girl close range I'd punch him in the face. This is what people mean when they say ACAB. There's no way a decent person can see a woman get shot like that and not want to help.
I've known two people that were briefly cops. They got out around one to two years doing it. That's about how long you can be a cop before the other cops expect you to mutually get your hands dirty.
I absolutely won't be friends with one. They have a dangerous mentality of escalating non-violent situations into violent ones, and they'll never admit when they are wrong. Not the type of people I would ever want to associate with.
Person who took this video is an actual hero. I don't want to imagine what could have happened to that woman without them.
Also: don't make the mistake of looking at the replies to this on Twitter. I forgot just how bad it was, but nearly every top reply is by verified accounts trying to justify this somehow. It's actually insane to me the complete lack of empathy these people show - past party lines and political differences, isn't this obviously a bad thing that shouldn't have happened?
I abandoned Twitter for Mastodon a few months after Musk bought Twitter. I figured I'd keep the account around to DM people who there, just in case my need to do so arose. Then I kinda forgot about it. Cut to a few months ago I sent a message to someone on a different service. I knew they were doing a project, but I politely asked them "hey, do you have the interest and time to do xyz?"
They said "I'm sorry, I'd normally love to, I'm just really busy right now and don't have the time; you probably know I'm doing ABC myself." And that was legit. But they added "Also, you should know I generally don't work with people who have Twitter accounts anyway, for future reference."
Initially I was "But wait, I don't USE it..." But I took a few minutes to think about it. I mean, he wasn't wrong. I DID have an account at the Nazi bar... And I don't use it. It just lends my name to the service for no benefit to me. And that's why I decided to download my data and delete my account. Sometimes calling people out (in a helpful way,) can be a positive.
And that, dear reader, not necessarily the person I'm replying to but you reading this, is now me reminding you that you can delete your Twitter account and stop supporting the Nazi bar.
Manufacturers of "less lethal" rubber rounds do not consider them safe at that range. They're considered very dangerous with a high risk of death within about 10 meters.
That's a seriously injured, unarmed, citizen and not only do they not lift a finger to help they seem to fire at the woman trying to help her.
I think you’re thinking of tear gas rounds. Trying to bounce rubber bullets sounds less predictable. But yeah, don’t shoot this close, especially not at a peaceful citizen.
Stories like this are why despise Biden and Obama so much. Both enthusiastically armed the police while pretending to support change and helped give them this sense of invincibility, and both had the power to make real change in policing but cared more about being reelected than doing the right thing.
Despite Obama’s “hope and change” promises the first time around, they were both status quo presidents who needed to ensure the dominance of the state above all else.
That's because these things do not happen in a vacuum, and if said Democratic presidents had made real reforms, the actions Trump is committing right now wouldn't be possible.
No cop has ever been held accountable for whatever bullshit they pull when they're in riot gear. They're basically anonymous and the worst that will happen is a civil settlement with the city (which won't even come out of the police budget!).
Have you seen the damage caused by their bullets? It's like using frozen paintballs, at the high end of allowed PSI, but the size of a golf ball. LA civilians rn are under hostile armed force. They need an armed* resistance to take out the members of the police that do not act as police. They do not get punished. They just get deployed again.
*I know this is difficult. Non lethal weapons are harder to obtain than lethals, and the moment the resistance use lead is the moment the invading army do too.
Pigs love rolling in shit. Responding to protest is a blank check to do whatever violence you want while being paid massive amounts of overtime.
All of the cops I've known personally are from very similar backgrounds, basically straight edged nerds with paladin brain. People who weren't necessarily bullied, but just perceived themselves as a tormented outsider. They want action, they want violence, and they think they are completely righteous in whatever they do because the badge makes them good guys.
Every cop is a looser wannabe Rambo, but was too chicken shit or lazy to actually join the military.
Rubber bullets are sold under the legal pretext that they’re acceptable to use in this fashion, while the manufacturer and the police department and probably every lawyer and judge in the country knows they’re just going to shoot at people.
That is for 37mm foam that splits on the ground to spread at the crowd, they are primarily using 40mm foam rounds with a metal core, if you bounce it off the ground it can rotate and impact with the hard plastic backing, which is likely how the UK journalist who required calf surgery was injured. It's specifically recommended not to bounce them but to aim near the naval, arms or legs.
In 1992, LA had riots sparked by police brutality. Since then, the LAPD has striven to uphold the utmost standards in police work . . . lol, no, they made sure ACAB applies double to them.
I used to live right by the un and my block was always closed 2ce a year. Security wouldn’t let me in to get home and I had to call the doorman to come and vouch for me. No one shot me but they were dicks.