What The Hell Is Going On?

     Again via WRSA, we have another report that looks like a murder committed by uniformed police:

     MARKSVILLE, La. (AP) — A police body camera recorded the father of a 6-year-old autistic boy with his hands up and posing no threat as police fired into his car, severely wounding the motorist and killing his son, the man's lawyer said Monday.

     "This was not a threatening situation for the police," said Mark Jeansonne, an attorney for Chris Few, who remained hospitalized and could not attend Monday's funeral of his son, Jeremy Mardis.

     Derrick Stafford, 32, of Mansura, and Norris Greenhouse Jr., 23, of Marksville, were ordered held on $1 million bonds Monday on second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder charges, Jeansonne said.

     The lawyer said he hasn't seen the video himself, but its contents were described during the hearing. Louisiana's state police chief, Col. Mike Edmonson, said Friday that "it's the most disturbing thing I've seen — and I will leave it at that."

     These cops were equipped with body cameras. They had to know that their actions were being recorded in a fashion that would prove difficult, perhaps impossible to refute. Yet they fired into a vehicle whose operator was visibly unarmed – and whose toddler son was sitting beside him?

     The story is more complex than most of its kind. The cops are both black; the driver and slain child are not. One of the cops is related to one of the county’s assistant district attorneys. Two other, as yet unnamed cops were also involved in unknown ways.

     We’ve all read about the attempts by the federal government to militarize local police forces. There was a recent story that America’s urban police will somehow be put under United Nations supervision. Despite those stories and others, I’ve resisted the suggestion that the police forces of America are unanimously being transformed into instruments of cruelty, plunder, and oppression. But I’ve never heard anything like the spate of stories coming out lately about police intimidation and needless violence against private citizens.

     I want answers. I’m not sure I’ll get them.