This video is profane and loud, so don’t play it at work. Wait, it’s Sunday morning — it’s perfectly OK to play it in church, if you find yourself wasting time there.
Anyway, a cop pulls someone over for failure to use his turn signal, and walks up to the driver with his gun drawn…because you know that someone who forgets to signal when driving on an empty street is one badass renegade wild thing who is likely to be on his way to a bank robbery or a murder or, I don’t know, a shoplifting spree. Only this guy turns out to be worse: he’s a man with a cell phone camera and a righteous rant.
Cop pulls over a black man for failure to signal, walks to his car with his gun drawn… Black dude is my fucking hero💯💯💯💯💯🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆😂😂😂😂👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 pic.twitter.com/S8ef8Mx4Kk
— SIX_FOOT_5 (@Choco_Optimus) September 10, 2017
I wish I could say I’d do the same, except the cops look at the color of my skin and see me as an agent of the status quo, so they would never come up to my door with their gun in hand. I’d probably be terrified into silence if they did.
Kudos to this man standing up to The Man.
Phew. I am so glad that driver is still alive, and in the video, that cop looks unbelievably embarrassed, and I hope that’s the reality, that he’s mortified, for his whole life, over a stupid action which could have resulted in a death.
OK the driver is absolutely right, but I give this cop some credit. He let the guy go off on him and didn’t escalate it into a situation that would have turned out tragically. His post go-up-with-gun-drawn behavior is what cops should do all the time. Deescalate. He does look embarrassed and I hope he learns a lesson. I believe many cops would have escalated it from there. Like PZ, being white I suspect no cop would ever do this to me. Most of the time they let my traffic violations go with a warning. But I would be too scared to move or make a sound if one ever did do something like this to me.
This is great video and maybe cops could use it in training instead of teaching military style behavior with trigger happy magazine emptying responses.
No, that cop doesn’t deserve any fucking credit at all – why aren’t you asking why he thought it was perfectly okay to go up to a car and driver for an incredibly small traffic infraction, with his fucking gun out? That’s a perfect encapsulation of every wrong damn thing.
You know, it’s funny – I can’t hear the cop saying “I’m sorry.” He said that, right? Right…? …
I applaud the driver. I think he handled this really well. Good for him.
Meanwhile in Dearborn, MI, two “open carry” guys in cammo and tacticool walked into a police station to complain about a traffic stop. They were disarmed safely and are up on multiple charges and nobody was hurt. Oh, yeah, they were white.
Meanwhile in Dearborn, MI, two “open carry” guys in cammo and tacticool carrying loaded AR-15s walked into a police station to complain about a traffic stop. They were disarmed safely and are up on multiple charges and nobody was hurt. The cops who disarmed them gave them multiple warnings. Oh, yeah, they were white. Philando Castille.
Oooops. Gateway error and re-post. Sorry about that.
Wow… I dont know whether to laugh or cry. I should shop for a cheap camera and a mount for my car. However, I would not shout at the cop because I would have died of a heart attack seeing him creep on to me with his gun pulled out. Sorry !
# 2 Chuck Stanley
I give this cop some credit
For not murdering the driver? That’s holding a police offcer to a high standard!
Still, after the Salt Lake City incident….
Chengis Khan, The Cryofly @ #8 — It’s written that the reason there are so many Russian car cam films of accidents is because Russians install them to document corrupt police activity as well as for evidence in insurance claims. It makes sense in the US if you’re in the targeted and marginalized part of the population, and you can afford it.
given the drivers situation at the time the chances that he could deescalate by normal politeness and compliance were probably very close to zero. The only thing he could expect from that cop with his gun drawn was he was pretty wound up and in an unknown state of mind and just might be going to shoot as not. The driver had nothing to lose by by what he did.
he did what Dylan Thomas recommended “Do not go gentle into that good night,”
it takes courage to confront life my hat is off to him!
uncle frogy
If we start giving credit to cops for not doing the literally worst possible thing in every situation, we’re going to run out of credit. You know, slowly.
A factor affecting police behavior in any encounter is that over the last year or two there have been assasinations of police and many cops are frightened as a result. I heard from a colleague that his cop son no longer wears his uniform home after his shift is over so he won’t be a target. With these increased levels of fear it is expected that there will be an increase in defensive behavior by the police. I’m not saying this to justify this cop’s behavior but the cop who killed the motorist who was reaching for his license some months ago seemed genuinely terrified on the tape. I submit he was reacting in part to the fact that some people have killed cops.
Re robro@10:
Re Russia dashcam ubiquity:
Thanks for the second bit of info. Was previously well aware of insurance scams resulting in insurance mandating dashcam for insurance coverage (we need that here as well) Was not aware of “dirty cops” as a motivation dashcam documentation.
Thanks. I guess we’re not the only first world with dirty cops
Yes, you are.
I’m pretty sure that if cops didn’t continue murdering innocent citizens and getting away with it, they wouldn’t have to be as paranoid. Just a thought.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/number-of-fatal-shootings-by-police-is-nearly-identical-to-last-year/2017/07/01/98726cc6-5b5f-11e7-9fc6-c7ef4bc58d13_story.html?utm_term=.6d50b0c8764e
“The pace at which officers have been killed in the line of duty has held steady over the past two years.
According to the FBI, 21 police officers were killed from January to June 29, two fewer than in the same period last year. The 2016 year ended with 66 officers killed, not including accidental deaths. Since January 2015, according to the FBI, 128 police officers have been killed in the line of duty.”
In that same time period, going by the figures on the graph in the story for 2015, 2016, and January-June 2017, over nineteen times as many people were shot and killed by police.
hotspurphd@13: “I’m not saying this to justify this cop’s behavior but the cop who killed the motorist who was reaching for his license some months ago seemed genuinely terrified on the tape.”
Protip for you, hotspurphd: When J Random Whoever says “I’m not [something regressive or otherwise icky], but…”?
One: Everything after the ‘but’ is a bullshit rationalization.
Two: Yes, J. Random Whoever is the regressive/icky thing they said they’re not.
In principle, I am willing to grant the philosophical possibility that there are a non-zero number of instances of “I’m not [regressive/icky thing], but…” to which the two points I listed above do not apply. In practice, said two points do apply to every instance of “I’m not [regressive/icky thing], but…” I have seen in the wild, so I know which way I’m betting.
Some people have always killed cops.
People who can’t keep it together knowing that shouldn’t BE cops.
Chuck Stanley, #2
Why would he escalate?
He’s being reprimanded by a person he’s a public servant for (to protect him and look out for his safety). Pulling a gun on a person you serve and protect is a very bad thing and deserves scolding at a bare minimum.
The main problem with law enforcement is that society has been led to believe that we owe them our respect and obedience, not the other way around.
hotspurphd wrote:
Oh for fucks sake. Policing in the United States isn’t even in the top 10 for most dangerous jobs. There’s two reasons for this fear. The constant onslaught of 24/7 news stories about the most horrific events around the country leads people to make incorrect conclusions like fearing that violent crime is rapidly increasing, and that policing is extremely dangerous. Neither are true. The second is that it’s a useful justification for being violent. Much like “stop resisting” and “stop grabbing for my gun”, “I feared for my life” is an instant excuse for any violence a “bad apple” cop might want to engage in that will always be accepted by the public and courts, and they understand that fact very well.
You offer 77 words of justification for the acts committed the cop, and then try to claim you’re not justifying it? Try again. A cop with such irrational fear should find a different job, or spend the rest of their career behind a desk because they’re a menace to the public if they’re wandering around and shooting at their own shadow.
Re #21.” You offer 77 words of justification for the acts committed the cop, and then try to claim you’re not justifying it? Try again. A cop with such irrational fear should find a different job, or spend the rest of their career behind a desk because they’re a menace to the public if they’re wandering around and shooting at their own shadow.”
No, it is not justification that I offer, it is EXPLANATION. There is a difference. It’s always the same here. Offer a different explanation and you are attacked. I wasn’t offering a justification, not a denfense, rather an explanation. I agree with one commenter that cops who react this way should not be cops. To say that one is in fear of his life when present circumstances don’t justify that fear to explain the cops behavior is not to excuse him but to explain. The reason I said ” I’m not justifying” was to ward off the criticism. If I hadn’t said I would get the same criticism as saying it. Some you you might remember the video I mentioned. The cop was terrified . I wasn’t excusing, or as you say justifying, trying to find a way to understand why he seemed terrified.
JoeBuddha
10 September 2017 at 4:26 pm
I’m pretty sure that if cops didn’t continue murdering innocent citizens and getting away with it, they wouldn’t have to be as paranoid. Just a thought.
Of course. Sure. I agree. Nothing I said opposes that.
Also while the number of cops killed may not have increased there have been some famous incidents of cops being ambushed by black men. This had to raise the fear factor of many cops making these stops. Again, just an attempt to explain.
#23 are you saying that black men are a unified category that al cops have good reason to fear or just that cops are racist assholes who use these events to decide how to treat othet non related people? Are there no incidents of non black men ambishing police? What are the famous incidents of which you speak?
Perhaps police should have a code of conduct about proper respect for the populace?
Saad #20
I totally agree.
But I also think we can probably relate to someone forced to keep their cool in the face of a (justifiably) enraged person. It may be part of a civil servant’s job, but we can still recognize that this isn’t an easy thing to do as a human being. It’s worth positively reinforcing instances where a cop responded appropriately to being told off by a member of the public, because too often cops behave as though their role imbued them with infallibility. Remember that cop a couple weeks back who tried to arrest that nurse for protecting her patient? He couldn’t handle being told he was wrong. Low bar, I know.
Here is a listing of recent ambushes of police:http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/07/05/police-ambush-killings-in-us-and-its-territories.html. There was of course the shooting in Dallas where six officers were killed. Remember. There are several more where more than one cop was ambushed and killed by black people. By whites also. But we know that white and black cops are quicker to shoot black people Than whites.
Imagine this: a cop has a psychotic break and as he approaches a car with black people in it he becomes very paranoid ,believes they have guns and want to kill him, sees a flash of light and hallucinates people with guns and in fear for his life opens fires and kills people. His mental illness is responsible for his behavior here. If I say he feared for his life some of you will say I’m trying to justify the behavior. I’m not.
I continue to be surprised that some people here such a low level of psychological mindedness so that they would see my first comment as trying to justify the cops behavior. I was not.
I think it is safe to say that as cops’ perceived threat rises with the high profile ambush killings of cops that the number of bad shoots will increase. Trying to explain that is not trying to justify it. As some of you who love to insult and excoriate would say FOR FUCK’s SAKE. I would have thought all this was obvious but there are some here who see these behaviors in a simplistic way. I should know better by now.
hotspurphd
Maybe we don’t understand you because you don’t write clearly.
hotspurphd@26
Fuck right off to Fucketyville after your layover in Fucktown, you fucker.
hotspurphd, #23
Holy fuck, that’s like straight from the Blue Lives Matter play book.
The “fear” cops have of black people didn’t come after the ambush incidents.
Adam James, #25
I understand your point about keeping your cool while being yelled at by a person you’re serving. It happens to people in the retail business regularly. They deserve kudos for not yelling back.
A cop being reprimanded for pulling a fucking gun out on someone during a routine stop for absolutely no reason other than the color of his skin doesn’t get kudos for not responding by hurting or killing him.
I mean I just can’t get myself to say “Kudos, officer, for not beating up someone who got angry that you pulled your gun out on him”.
throwaway, butcher of tongues, mauler of metaphor
10 September 2017 at 8:51 pm
hotspurphd@26
His mental illness is responsible for his behavior here.
Fuck right off to Fucketyville after your layover in Fucktown, you fucker.
You have an apt handle- butcher ,mauler indeed. Fuck you.
Completely understand.
“The “fear” cops have of black people didn’t come after the ambush incidents.”
It’s reasonable to think it has increased. My colleague’s son reports being more afraid recently because of theses ambushes, which some of you are aware of. What the fuck is wrong with you people. There are many factors here, it complicated ,and the explanations I’ve given here are not mutually exclusive re other factors. And despite PZ’s recent post which did pretty much paint all cops with the same brush, most cops are not the way they are portrayed here. And blue lives do matter. Fuck.
These terrified cops in fear for their life ought to be pulling their guns when they stop white people for traffic infractions, then — it’s the white supremacists/far right militias/open carry assholes who should be considered a greater risk.
hotspurphd, #34
lol
hotspurphd:
Cops choose to go into a field that they know is dangerous, and where they have a chance of being killed (but not as high a chance as delivery drivers). If they are incapable to remaining calm in stressful situations, they need to find a different line of work. No explanations. Change jobs. They are not fit to be cops.
I work in a field that is physically dangerous. I’ve been bit in the face. I had a dog lunge for my throat (and got within 12 inches) and 100+ pound great dane mix tried to rip my arm off but I have fast reflexes. Oddly enough, despite these injuries and close brushes with death and/or maiming I am still capable of working with dogs and not escalating things until the animal itself first shows signs of being unsafe.
And merely existing while a great dane or german shepherd is not a sign of a dog being unsafe, which is in complete contrast to how cops tend to view existing while not-white to be a sign of someone dangerous.
All cops are bastards.
ALL cops.
hotspurphd @26:
Okay, you lost me as soon as you published a link to Fox News as your “source” for the “information” you were citing. Why? Because I’m Australian, I live in a country where the Murdoch press pretty much dictates the media environment, and I know how much stuff they provoke, exaggerate, misconstrue, or just plain make up out of whole cloth to suit their agenda as necessary. So I’m going to say you need to find another, corroborating source for your data, and preferably one which is not part of the News Corporation behemoth[1]. Then I might start listening to you and taking you seriously.
Here’s a hint: Rupert Murdoch, the very rich old man who owns News Limited? He makes lots of money out of people being anxious and worried and buying his papers and watching his television networks to be told what they should be afraid of. It is not in his best interests to tell people that things are going fine. Quite the opposite, in fact.
[1] I specify this because the various media organisations in the News Corporation stable have this lovely habit of passing a fabricated story around from A to B to C, and pointing to its prior publication somewhere else in their organisation as a way of “validating” their story.
dam I am not aware that people can go from calm well adjusted people who posses an above average degree of courage to people who “have a psychotic break” and go all paranoid all of a sudden without the signs being visible from their co-workers and supervisors, who all have a lot experience in dealing with those kinds of people ( on a daily basis) so I guess it’s OK when they go overboard and shot up the population or empty a couple of clips into some guy who “scared them”
???????
“…you didn’t get no pussy in school…”
did I hear that wrong?
Yes: it’s “you didn’t get pussy in school”. It’s spoken fast, but I’m pretty sure there’s no “no” in there.
Anyway, you’re right: toxic masculinity won’t go away for another generation at least.
Fear isn’t automatically justified.
If you want a full-length philosophical discussion about this, here you go.
A thing that has me utterly baffled is why so many police officers are members of the NRA.
I mean, if we lived in a sane society, the NRA and the National Police Union or whatever it is they’ve got should be the bitterest of enemies. Police should be doing everything in their power to keep guns out of the hands of the rest of us — if nothing else, to maintain their monopoly of violence. If guns were banned, the police wouldn’t NEED to be paranoid.
@43, brucegee, if they had a Like button, I’d have pushed it. This. It’s about culture and tribalism and identifying THEM as the enemy of all that is good and white and steroidal –it has nothing to do with safety or serving the public.
In a proper world, the cop should face charges of criminal brandishing, which is a form of assault (the “threat” kind of assault, not the “battery” kind of assault).
What are the odds that someone else would face some sort of criminal charge if they walked up on someone with their gun drawn? Pretty high if they’re not a cop, and higher still if they’re not white. If they’re a white cop? They get to break the law with impunity.
@45: For a non-cop, pulling (even showing a weapon to intimidate) would rate a charge of “Menacing” in Seattle — had this happen to me, and I went to court (I was in the passenger seat and someone showed a gun at the tow truck driver picking up my car). Cops charged the gun owner with menacing, I had to go to court as a witness, the driver (who was “menaced” did not show up so I got to deal with the unhappy accused after the case was dismissed. Not fun and, I suspect, not something a POC would want to deal with when menaced by a cop – especially after the case gets dismissed.
Oooh, all this cop defendin’, my my. I grew up with a cop in my family. I heard all the stories. I heard about choir practices, in detail. Cops aren’t terribly stable people, and they sure as fuck aren’t terribly ethical. They do a lot of illegal, dangerous, fucked up shit.
My relative? He told me once, don’t ever trust a cop. Ever. Including himself. He also told me to never, ever be alone with a cop. For good reason, too. Back then, in SoCal, there weren’t any rules about cops transporting women. Wasn’t long after that, a statewide release was issued, that if single woman drivers were pulled over, they were to put up their windows, and keep driving, to the nearest populated place or cop shop. Why? ‘Cause women were getting raped. Some of them were getting murdered. By cops.
Fuck blue lives matter with spiky bells on. When the citizens they are supposedly supposed to *serve* are treated like human beings, and with respect, yeah, maybe I’ll consider it. Until then, fuck ’em.
@39. Meg
“Okay, you lost me as soon as you published a link to Fox News as your “source” for the “information” you were citing. ”
Fox News is not the source. The source ,if you will bother to check, is the Associated Press. The same story is printed in numerous newspapers with the exact same title. It’s a news story about ambushed cops, not an opinion piece” here it is in another newspaper,the Boston herald.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/2017/07/a_list_of_police_ambush_killings_in_the_us_its_territories
Google the title and you will see it in many publications, us news and world report, tv stations, etc.
The bias here on this subject is unbelievable. All cops are bad? Really?? Get a grip folks. So many of you really cannot find hint staight on his issue.
So many of you have said things here that I agree with but they don’t negate what I said.
I give up on this. Too much emotion and prejudice.
Sent from my iPad
And I have not been “cop defending’