America has become a police state. Private citizens -- whom the cops resolutely strive to deny the means to defend themselves -- are now in more danger from “the forces of order” than they are from non-badge-wearing criminals.
I’ll stop saying so when someone finds an innocent explanation for events such as this:
A woman was shot and killed by a Minneapolis police officer on Saturday after she called 911 to report a possible assault near her home just before midnight, authorities said.
The woman was fatally struck near her home in Minneapolis’ Fulton neighborhood after two police officers responded to the 911 call at around 11:30 p.m., according to authorities.
Officials have not released the woman’s identity, but ABC’s Minnesota affiliate KSTP identified her as a 40-year-old Australian native who had been living in the area with her fiancé. The two were planning to get married next month, according to KSTP.
"My mom is dead because a police officer shot her for reasons I don't know," Damond’s stepson, Zach Damond, told KSTP on Sunday.
The Minneapolis Police Department told ABC News on Sunday that both officers had been placed on paid administrative leave pending investigation.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is investigating the incident along with the MPD, said that the officers’ body cameras and the squad camera were not on at the time of the shooting. Investigators are working to determine whether any video of the incident exists, the department said.
That last paragraph is the real punch in the gut. Why were the cops’ body cameras not on? Why were they so quick to unholster their sidearms, let alone to fire them? Have American cops become that eager to kill and that confident that they’ll get away with it?
As outrageous as this is, I don’t expect that the uniformed perpetrator(s) will face anything worse than a modest “administrative penalty.” If they apprehended a private criminal, some way will be found to lay the blame on him. And that upsets me more than the rest of this atrocity.
Please note the shooter was a less than 2 year Somali officer, who already has 2 previous complaints regarding his actions, including a federal lawsuit. The driver, a community policing officer, has less time than that on the job and reportedly was "stunned" at the shooting. There is no reason for this shooting, and I hope the city pays through the nose to her family. It won't bring her back, but they should get something from the ordeal. Someone should also look into why the reported rate of bodycam use is less than 45% for their police force. Seems a little fishy to me.
ReplyDeleteThe filthy cop and his filthy diversity-hiring boss should pay personally through their noses, not the oppressed taxpayers.
DeleteWhy on earth would any American police department hire a Somali as an officer? Are there no qualified Americans for the job or is a Somali the only black person who did not go to American public school and therefore can pass the written entrance exam therefore fulfilling a quota? And if the tax payers are paying for body cams why are hey not on? Funny how the cops remember to don their bullet proof vests, load their gun but somehow neglect their body cam.
ReplyDeleteDiversity hire, and diversity is our strength...
Delete