Sunday, August 17, 2014

"Gunshots, tear gas, arrests amid Ferguson curfew"

"Seven people were arrested and one person was shot early Sunday as police and protesters clashed again in a haze of tear gas despite a curfew that took effect at midnight."

The curfew, put in place by Nixon, was designed to quell ongoing unrest in the St. Louis suburb since the Aug. 9 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old. Several days later, police identified officer Darren Wilson, 28, a 6-year department veteran, as the shooter.

They also released a surveillance video purporting to show Brown stealing from a convenience store and roughing up its clerk about 15 minutes before the confrontation with Wilson. 
 
"We were unaware they were going to release it, and we certainly were not happy with that being released," Nixon told ABC's This Week on Sunday. "It appeared to cast dispersions on a young man that was gunned down in the street. It made emotions raw. "


42 comments:

chickelit said...

Noixon meant "cast aspersions" not "cast dispersions." Unless of course he meant to diffuse things.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I saw Jay Nixon on Face The Nation too. He wants Officer Wilson prosecuted for Brown's death. Very little on why Wilson would be prosecuted, only that he should be because Brown is a victim. Nixon blamed the police for trying to disparage the victim (Brown).

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I notice that when the governor and the chief of police speak to media they seem nervous... less than the composure you expect from a person in position of leadership.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Nixon on Face The Nation too. He wants Officer Wilson prosecuted for Brown's death.

Not only Nixon, Obama made comments that could be deemed prejudicial.

I'm not a lawyer, but I predict a case against the officer, given all the prejudicial comments made against him, will eventually be thrown out.

Which of course will lead to a new round of "raw emotions".

rhhardin said...

Nice reference to Blazing Saddles.

The original quote would do even better.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Just another "you can't handle the truth" moments.

Young black man acting like a criminal thug, gets killed. In the case of Trayvon Martin, beating up on Zimmerman and killed because this victim decided he didn't want to be a dead victim. In the case of Brown, we aren't sure and don't know yet, but it appears that he was attempting to grab the officer's weapon while the officer was still in the car, shortly after he (may have) committed a strong arm robbery. They were looking for someone of his description Bang. Bang. We don't "KNOW" any of this stuff, but it doesn't stop people from taking advantage of the situation, rioting, looting and inflaming with more race baiting.

Imagine if the races were reversed and it was a white kid killed by black cops and the whites were rioting,looting like savages and beating up on all the blacks they ca find.

Instead of accepting that sometimes people are bad, that people act stupidly and cause their own deaths, or that just accidents can happen..... we have to make excuses for the bad behaviour because they are "black".

Poor little Trayvon the innocent angel. Poor Michael the pure baby. /sarcasm. The truth is that not always is it prejudice or racism. Sometimes it is. Most of the time it is just what it is. Some people are just jerks, bad apples and sometimes we are all better off to have them removed from the gene pool.

The black community can't accept the truth and refuses to look inward on itself to see what the problems really are and tries to place the blame everywhere but where it belongs.

Go ahead. Call me racist. I'm not, but, I don't care any more what people think of me and sometimes I think that being racist, if that means avoiding certain people isn't such a bad thing to be. Self preservation and all, ya know.

BTW: Ferguson is a dead town. The remaining responsible black people who can will move out. The remaining businesses who can will close and leave. The remaining 23% of white people who can will also be leaving. Welcome to your new shithole, ghettoized, slum. You did it to yourselves and I don't feel sorry for you.

Trooper York said...

Scorpions are always scorpions.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

First lady Ann Romney is starting a "say no to raw emotions" campaign.

The Dude said...

It looks like there is a subculture of criminal idiots pitted against a militarized police force, cheered on by communist members of the press, led by communists/democrats.

Throw in the Black Panthers, all the reverends, and the rest of the morons who profit from such upheavals and this is what you get. Welcome to the future.

I guess my most fervent dream would be that they all lose. And die in the process.

edutcher said...

It's looking more and more like the officer shot in self-defense. Remember the perp we're talking about was a 6' 4", 300 lb dude here, that's a linebacker in the NFL.

More here.

Sixty Grit said...

It looks like there is a subculture of criminal idiots pitted against a militarized police force, cheered on by communist members of the press, led by communists/democrats.

Throw in the Black Panthers, all the reverends, and the rest of the morons who profit from such upheavals and this is what you get. Welcome to the future.


More like Back to the Future.

Sounds like a rerun of the 60s to me.

The Dude said...

Of course it does, to you, but it's not.

The National Guard was used as the military force in those days, now even small town police forces have been militarized.

The press was not 100% communist then, as it is now.

Plus, we have ways to get news from sources not approved by our communist overlords.

So, this is the future, not some bullshit from the '60s.

edutcher said...

No, by '67, the press was in full Lefty mode - any talk of anti-war types as "Vietniks" died with Henry Luce - and, for anyone who remembers Kent State, the guys in the Guard were painted as being a pack of kill-crazy burnouts straight from 'Nam.

The only thing different is alternative news sources, so Sixty's right about that.

chickelit said...

A link up a Drudge is making me doubt whether Mike Brown was fleeing or charging the officer.

I wondered the same when I saw the photo of the corpse back here.

chickelit said...

Ed already linked upthread to what I'm talking about here.

We need evidence-based rationality here, not raw emotion in motion.

Chip S. said...

So now I'm supposed to believe that it's perfectly ok for cops to shoot unarmed people "in self-defense" from a distance of 35 feet? And they can keep on firing until the people they're afraid of being beaten up by are dead?

Now, all I know about police procedure I learned from tv, but from that cell-phone video it sure seemed like that kid's body was left there like roadkill for an awfully long time before anyone bothered to attend to it at all. What were the cops doing all that time?

My guess is, getting their story straight. Which they seem to have handled about as well as everything else in this case.

The Dude said...

That's always been okay. It's the getting caught part that is awkward.

Has Springsteen released a song about this yet? He is missing out on a gold mine, I tells ya!

Chip S. said...

He could cover this, with updated lyrics.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

So now I'm supposed to believe that it's perfectly ok for cops to shoot unarmed people "in self-defense" from a distance of 35 feet? And they can keep on firing until the people they're afraid of being beaten up by are dead?

A 300 pound guy the size and shape of a professional football linebacker rushing at you after you just beat him back from reaching inside your car and struggling with you for your weapon, with which it is pretty certain said linebacker big guy would be shooting you. An UN-armed 300 pound guy in good shape can do a lot of damage. It doesn't take very many seconds to rush 35 feet. Really it doesn't. Watch football once in a while.

Don't be rushing at people/cops, especially people/cops who are armed and with whom you were just being violent. Do you think you are Superman? Can bounce bullets off of your chest?

The cop wasn't afraid of being beaten up, more likely afraid of being killed. So, I would say YES. Acceptable......And once he is down shoot him a couple more times.

What were the cops doing all that time?

Calling for back up? Think they knew they were going to need it? Waiting until an evidence team arrives to take photos and gather information and not messing with the scene? Playing Scrabble?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

We need evidence-based rationality here, not raw emotion in motion.

Motion to dismiss...

rcocean said...

I just want to agree with the Governor, please continue to withhold facts and the truth from us -the public - because you think we can't handle it.

This way, we - the public - can continue to emote and think in the approved "safe" manner.

Thanks.

rcocean said...

I'm just glad Johnny McCain doesn't care about domestic policy, because otherwise he'd probably want to bomb Ferguson Mo.

The white part of course, where all the "racists" live.

rcocean said...

Seriously, as usual we have NO IDEA what actually happened. Was it justified or not? We don't know. All we know is the cop was white and crook black. If it was the other way round, we wouldn't be talking about it.

Of course ignorance doesn't stop the usual suspects from chanting about "racism" and how "The police shot an unarmed man without cause" blah, blah.

rcocean said...

If George Zimmerman had been named Jorge Zimmerman we never would've heard about Trayvon Martin either.

Chip Ahoy said...

This bit that one of the young men was telling reporters about being accosted for merely walking down the street. He painted a picture of pure innocence. How dare blacks be stopped for something so simple as that.

He failed to mention they were walking down the middle of the street. Anybody would be stopped for that. I'm visualizing all the streets around where I live, and nobody walks down the middle of them. We'd be ticketed for crossing the middle of the street. I dare to often and I fully expect a cop to appear out of nowhere and question me and ticket me.

And that reminded me of driving in New Orleans and how the pedestrians there jaywalked like mad and so challengingly, staring me down all the while as driver, coming close to the vehicle as possible in matador fashion, "Toro!" Veritably daring me to clip them. And this happened repeatedly exuding such intense attitude that made me want to get right off the road, leave the city altogether. I never experienced anything like it, even when I lived in Louisiana.

And then I saw Russian dash cams and that superseded it all.

I'm bummed out.

I learned an acquaintance has died. I just saw him this time last year and there was nothing apparently wrong. The only thing I can recall saying to him then was, "Your premises are faulty." He owned a design shop in an upcoming part of town called Home Sanctuary and lived nearby. I have no idea what happened to him. His memorial will be at his own home and that means I'll see everybody I know and fairly well avoided successfully in their saddest psychology and at edge, and I'll have to get shined up for that besides. (Being a designer, he was way way WAY into men's fashion.)

On the other hand it means I'll see people I haven't seen in a long time and they'll be forced in their best behavior, for once, however briefly, and I'll encounter new people besides. So it's not altogether bad.

Still a bummer. I did really like that guy. He was always very nice, and was one person I wouldn't have minded knowing better.

It's raining again. Directly into my sourdough culture. This will be brief. I can see the edge. I can actually see an approaching virga and its edges as nears... wait.

Poop. Wasn't fast enough.

The virga moved in too fast. This is all very fast. Had I not been messing around talking to you, I'd have it.

Too bad.

There is only light drizzle insufficient to dampen the railing when these photos that follow were taken.

Chip Ahoy said...

Original 4288 size, too big to appreciate.

Optimized to 900 size, better to see all a'twonce.

Mind, those are after the excellent virga changed to be less excellent. You can still see he water falling from the sky as if an artist went whap whap whap with a wide brush to form clouds, then cleaned off the brush so that is it is dry then pulled down some paint straight down to depict the water literally falling straight down from the cloud, the dry thin air unable to hold it as so often happens in western skies. It's so much like a painting, that if it were painted you'd go, that isn't like reality at all. I've only seen this here in Colorado, although I sure it happens elsewhere, I've just never seen it. All other places, coastal places, the whole sky is taken over by cloud, the edges never so well defined. That I noticed.

I get so well chuffed every time I see this.

The thing is, it's dry where I'm at. This is occurring in the near distance and approaching rapidly. Soon it will be dissipated entirely, then back to dryness again. Just like that *snap*.

This is under the virga, in the rain. It passes quickly with remnant clouds still building in the foothills with the promise of additional rain later. Maybe later today, maybe tomorrow.

And this is important!

For sourdough culture collecting porpoises.

It's an experiment, you see.

Chip S. said...

A 300 pound guy the size and shape of a professional football linebacker rushing at you after you

This is pure conjecture on your part. I listened to the relevant part of that video twice and didn't hear anything about this guy "rushing" the cop. Here's one transcription of the audio from a blog that thinks it vindicates the cop:

The police kept dumpin on him, and I’m thinking the police kept missing – he like – be like – but he kept coming toward him

That can be interpreted as saying that the cop kept moving toward the suspect even after he stopped running. Now, maybe it means that the suspect was nuts enough to charge at a cop who's firing away at him, but I don't see how that's the obvious interpretation--let alone the sole one.

after you just beat him back from reaching inside your car and struggling with you for your weapon, with which it is pretty certain said linebacker big guy would be shooting you.

Of course, the guy did not have the officer's weapon so it is quite certain that he wasn't going to be shooting back while running away. Or after turning around and c̶o̶m̶i̶n̶g̶ "rushing" back.

Did you watch the video? Did you see the distance bw where the cops' car was and where the corpse lay?

The cop wasn't afraid of being beaten up, more likely afraid of being killed.

You know this how, exactly?

Don't be rushing at people/cops, especially people/cops who are armed and with whom you were just being violent.

Excellent advice. It would be crazy to do this.

So why are you certain that this is what the guy did? Mr. Background Noise didn't exactly say that this is what happened.

Calling for back up?

There were other cops on the scene by then. And the crowd of onlookers was completely unthreatening at that point.

But yeah, things sure went better once the SWAT guys arrived. That much we know for sure.

chickelit said...

Chip S. That can be interpreted as saying that the cop kept moving toward the suspect even after he stopped running. Now, maybe it means that the suspect was nuts enough to charge at a cop who's firing away at him, but I don't see how that's the obvious interpretation--let alone the sole one.

I see a dead man face in the street at quite a distance from the car. According to the initial report, the one that caused the unrest, the cop shot Brown fro no reason several times from a safe distance. In that simple scenario, Brown must have done a spectacular pirouette probably dramatic enough to have been thrown in for flourish by the witnesses. The version of the story wherein the officer exited his car and gave chase is more consistent with the emerging story.

I also see a dead man with no bloody wounds in the back which contradicts the initial stories of the original witnesses who painted the cowardly "shot in the back" scenario. The autopsy should clearly reveal how many bullets Brown took in the back, if any. It will also reveal how many shots actually hit him as opposed to being fired in warning. None of these facts will be up for dispute. Someone will be discredited.

Stick to what you see with your own eyes before believing what you'd rather were true.

chickelit said...

Actually, I'm certain that the autopsy already revealed all of the above but that a second one may be needed to verify them.

chickelit said...

Chip also wrote...Mr. Background Noise didn't exactly say that this is what happened.

I can just as easily disparage the other witnesses who gave the alternative version.

chickelit said...

During the Trayvon Martin aftermath, the people who really wanted bloodlust for Zimmerman were in total denial of the physical evidence of the concrete head slamming on the back of Zimmermann's head. Didn't fit the narrative. They surrendered their objectively then and there.

chickelit said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
chickelit said...

One more thing...I don't see any cops in hi-tech military gear in that immediate aftermath video, despite what the revenant Rand Pauls of the world want you to believe. The officer was probably wearing a kevlar vest at most. But maybe the Mark Styens of the world are upset that "constables" like the one who confronted Brown are armed at all.

bagoh20 said...

A lot of people, including cops and other armed people have been killed by "unarmed" assailants, and they don't have to be 6'4 - 300lbs to do it, but it helps a lot.

I don't know what other option you have if a guy that big is coming at you. We already have video proof that he was ready to attack anyone trying to stop him. People calling him an "innocent", a "child", or "unarmed" are purposefully lying or obfuscating.

Chip S. said...

Stick to what you see with your own eyes before believing what you'd rather were true.

I have no idea why you think I've done anything but that.

But by all means, do go on arguing w. that commie Mark Steyn.

chickelit said...

But by all means, do go on arguing w. that commie Mark Steyn.

I didn't suggest he's a commie you nincompoop. I'm suggesting that he might be wrong on one issue. He's not infallible.

chickelit said...

Oh and Chip, did the "militarized equipment" of the cop who killed DB cause the killing? How so? I want you to go on record here before the science is settled.

chickelit said...

I watched the video which probably upset so many libertarians for myself, the night it happened. My response is still my last tweet I think. I saw provocation on the part of the people in the street. Others saw only unequal and lethal force on the side of the cops.

Chip S. said...

I don't know.

I don't know who took the strawberries, either.

chickelit said...

I also tweet the SOB in the McDonalds who probably never worked retail or service industry and thus probably had no clue why McDonald's had to shut down early that night for its employees and cut off his free WiFi. But he turned it into "Free Speech Moment", man.

chickelit said...

Chip S. said...

I don't know who took the strawberries, either.

Whatever, Mr. Douglas...

chickelit said...

Or do you prefer Fred?

ken in tx said...

Wilson only shot him six times. It's a good thing he didn't need more bullets. He only had seven. The rule is shoot until the perp stops moving.