There’s a reason why the new GOP House Majority has a 70% disapproval rating in recent polling.
The fact that The Onion is still able to parody current events is a testament to their enduring genius.
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If you want to know what happens in the video without watching the video, here you go. Text only recap:
I have watched the videos. They are horrific and disturbing on so many levels but, sadly, we have seen videos of police brutality before far too many times. So what makes this different? To me, it was the fact of how slow and deliberate it was.
These weren’t cops caught up in the adrenaline rush of a chase (not that that’s an excuse). They began with instant violence at the initial traffic stop but the deadly beating took place a while later. This was revenge or payback because Nichols escaped the initial, unjustified, beating they were giving him.
They took turns in setting up Nichols for each other. They would position the poor man and then make room so that one of them could get a full swing or a clear run up (yes, run up). One would land a haymaker with a fist or foot and then they would back off. A few moments later, they would reposition Nichols for the next guy to take his turn. Rinse…repeat.
I am sick. How do you reform this?
Get rid of qualified immunity?
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The problem is finding the delicate balance between overreaction and fear of action because of legal consequences. These guys are clearly over the line, as are many others. But there are others cases that aren’t so clear, and you don’t want police so afraid of post facto sanctions that they won’t act in the moment. I don’t have an easy answer, although I’d like to see much more stringent vetting procedures up front, because it sure seems like a lot of these guys are borderline psychopaths.
Training. Training. Training. And more training.
There needs to be minimum federal standards for the 18,000 different police departments in the country.
And the backstop to it all is accountability. Qualified immunity is necessary, but the operative word is “qualified”. The definition of where that starts and ends needs to be a bright line, and officers need to be properly accountable when they cross it.
But is a bright line possible? A lot of his stuff is so subjective, and their lives are on the line sometimes.
But I wholeheartedly agree that they need lots and lots of training, including live simulations. It doesn’t seem that there’s enough of that currently. Along with trying to weed out the freaks early.
And the training itself needs to be better-vetted. They need training in de-escalation, not that “Killology” bullshit that’s being used.
But it’s going to be hard to train anyone if there are no applicants. Our local police can’t get enough people to apply at all, and when they do get some to the academy, a few flunk out and others get hired by someone else.
Hopefully young people are just making a moral decision to stay away from law enforcement as it currently operates.
Pay them more. Raise taxes.
Yes. Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t but the fact that sometimes their lives are on the line isn’t carte blanche for all the other times. Context and facts matter. The bright line is established by the context.
Those cops brutalized that poor man. Not one good man among them. No reasonable person could justify a fraction of the beating. Hell, just seeing the EMS doing nothing, standing idly by while the poor man was flouncing in agony on the ground in front of him, was beyond appalling. At one time there were at least 8 people standing about and not one had the humanity to offer aid to a person in need. A total absence of mercy. Horrific video footage. People ain’t no good.
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Two sheriff deputies have now been suspended for their involvement in the initial stop and assault. The fallout here needs to be widespread, including the EMTs who showed up and shot the shit instead of attending to a clearly desperately injured man.
This happens because cops think they can get away with it. They do getaway with it because of the code of silence. That code needs to be broken, and the way that happens is for anyone who was in attendance and did nothing to stop it or help the victim is fired/charged along with the active perpetrators.
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Really makes you wonder how much this was going on pre bodycam
I’m sure the cops just assumed the body cam footage would get corrupted somehow in transfer.
Memphis PD has said that they have reviewed all the footage for the night, and they can find no evidence of Nichols committing any traffic infractions, let alone driving erratically.
Basically, from Nichols’ perspective, I think we saw everything we need to. He was pulled over for no reason and they began beating him before he even got out of his car.
How the fuck is that not pre-meditated? Why is this not FIRST degree murder?
Probably the cops were fearful of their lives? You know, fuzzy line and all that…
Every motherfucker in that video is at MINIMUM an accessory to murder. Every motherfucker in that video committed their crime under color of authority. Every motherfucker in that video should spend the rest of their lives in prison without possibility of parole. EVERY MOTHERFUCKER in that video deserves to have that fuzzy fucking line shoved right up his ass and out his throat. FUCK your fuzzy line.
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