MetaFilter posts tagged with police and shooting

Who is burning Athens?

taz — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 04:27:53 -0800

"Night of terror - Madness and lunacy in Athens" reads the headline of one Greek newspaper this morning; "Night of agony and terror - Athens, Pireaus and Thessaloniki at the mercy of hooded individuals" reads another, and the rest follow suite. Three days of mass protests, demonstrations... and finally rioting, rampage and looting across Greece have followed Saturday's fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy by police in Athens' bohemian/anarchist neighborhood of Exarchia. #griots posts on Twitter have been following events as they unfold (and if you check out last night's twitter history from blogger thibet you can get an idea of the chaos as it occurs as he makes his way through central Athens). Many are also photoblogging on Flickr with the tag "griots". Live streaming news from Skai Channel (in Greek, but lots of street action; requires windows media plugin for FF) Not a few voices on the left theorize that official action (or inaction) are calculated to push the citizenry, historically wary of police action, into welcoming, even demanding repressive measures: As I write, parts of the historic center of the Greek capital remain a battle zone with police forces chasing demonstrators and several buildings set ablaze. This writer cannot help the feeling that the police is actually permitting, if not leading, ‘extreme elements’ to create mayhem in order for it to have a perfect excuse to impose a state of emergency or some similar package of ’security’ measures. - blogger st3pp3nw0lf Leftists protests and demonstrations are common occurrences in Greece, and even more dramatic anarchist actions are mostly tolerated explains former U.S. diplomat Brady Kiesling: "Greek police have limited power to use force against these groups because public sentiment will not tolerate it. This has resulted in a delicate balance in Exarchia, with neither pushing the other too far. Many Greeks cite the events of November 17, 1973 – a day that is still commemorated, when the army stormed the Athens Polytechnic University and killed a number of striking students – as a reason why the police must be restricted. ... The police stay out of certain areas, unless there's a major emergency, and the anarchists don't trash things badly unless there's a good reason," Mr. Kiesling says. But "once someone gets killed, the doctrine is massive retaliation." Others suggest that the relative savagery of this storm of rioting has been exacerbated by desperate asylum seekers who exist on the fringe of a society that is on the front lines of European countries inundated by refugees, but which has few resources for (and some say little interest in) supporting this unprecedented influx of humanity at even the most basic levels. Managing editor of the Greek Newspaper Kathimerini lets no one off the hook in his scathing and cautionary op-ed on the incident and its aftermath, in which he warns that all interests and factions, left and right, will try to make capital of "Anger's Teen Martyr" : The rising tide of anger and despair of the past few years now has its martyr, a 15-year-old boy whose blood will be used to bind together every disparate protest and complaint into a platform of righteous rage against all the ills of our society (endemic and imported). ... If Greece had already appeared difficult to govern, it will now be out of control, as we can ascertain by the government’s grovelling and the police force’s spiteful inaction in the face of widespread rioting across the country over the past two days.

Justified?

i_am_a_Jedi — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:02:12 -0800

The rush to clear police in shootings. An eight-month Chicago Tribune investigation of 200+ police shootings going back 10 years. (h/t Radley)

School shooting suspect caught via his Myspace profile

tapeguy — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 12:31:43 -0800

Marcus McKinney was arrested Wednesday for the gang-related shooting of Michael Jacola at Orange Park High School in Jacksonville. Florida. Marcus was caught because left his photo on his Myspace.com profile alongside various comments about belonging to a gang.

Video of a San Bernardino Sheriff's Deputy shooting an unarmed man who appears to be complying with orders.

Mijo Bijo — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 19:15:57 -0800

Video of an unarmed man being shot by a San Bernardino Sheriff's Deputy while appearing to comply with orders.

Senior Airman Elio Carrion, 21, had been riding as a passenger in a Corvette that was involved in a brief, high-speed chase with the deputy that reached speeds of 100 mph before the Corvette crashed into a fence, authorities said. The videotape, shot by Chino resident Jose Luis Valdes, shows Carrion sprawled on the ground and repeatedly telling the deputy, "I'm on your side." The deputy then seems to shout, "Get up!" after which Carrion appears to lean forward. "I'm going to get up, all right?" he says. The deputy then fires his gun three or four times from about five feet away. "Shut … up, you don't get up …!" he shouts. Moaning in pain, Carrion responds: "You told me to get up." The deputy then radioed in to dispatch that shots had been fired. [LA Times]

"initial claims have all turned out to be false"

funambulist — Sun, 14 Aug 2005 02:42:19 -0800

Update on the killing of the innocent Brazilian man by London police at Stockwell station. A special report by the Observer reveals some of the key elements emerging from the ongoing investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Jean Charles de Menezes "wasn't wearing a heavy jacket. He used his card to get into the station. He didn't vault the barrier. And now police say there are no CCTV pictures to reveal the truth." So now the inquiry will have to rely exclusively on eyewitnesses accounts. It appears the man they saw vaulting the barrier was one of the armed officers in plain clothes, while de Menezes "simply walked towards the platform unchallenged". The plainclothes armed unit that shot de Menezes was not the same team that had been following him from his London flat: "there was a delay in calling an armed team to arrest de Menezes, which meant he had already entered the station by the time the officers arrived". Also, it appears that once inside the station, the armed officers had no radio contact with police on the outside. As new details emerge, more questions remain unanswered.
(As previously discussed here and here.)

espada — Mon, 15 Oct 2001 11:46:46 -0800

BROWN v. MUHLENBERG TOWNSHIP A municipal law enforcement officer violates the Fourth Amendment when he intentionally and repeatedly shoots a pet without any provocation and with knowledge that it belonged to a family readily available to take custody.

crasspastor — Sat, 02 Jun 2001 13:15:26 -0800

A police shooting after an officer is allegedly dragged by car in Seattle has everything to do with skin color. While the black on white violence and subsequent murder of the recent Mardi Gras "riots", wasn't race related, but merely youthful angst. Now I'm as liberal as they come and believe the police here have sometimes blown it, which is another discussion. But, I have a feeling these protestors, know exactly as much as I do about the unfortunate shooting in ostensible self defense. Nothing.

Erendadus — Sat, 19 May 2001 21:52:14 -0800

Why Cops Shoot Police columnist Fred Reed gives practical examples of simulated situations that provoke gunplay. "Test yourself in a dark alley." Maybe the men in blue aren't as brutal as you think.

krakedhalo — Tue, 10 Apr 2001 19:47:18 -0800

Riots in Cincinnati. Cincinnati city police have this odd habit of killing unarmed young black males. In November, two men were killed. One was shot, another was crushed or suffocated while already in police custody and, according to witnesses, not resisting. Several weeks later a policeman shot and killed a twelve year old out joy-riding. Saturday night an officer chased down and shot a nineteen year old he 'thought he recognized' as someone with outstanding traffic warrants. Every time someone is killed Cincinnati city council promises to look into the matter but does nothing. Today someone decided to take action, even if it was in a destructive and politically impotent form of action.

palegirl — Tue, 05 Dec 2000 19:42:12 -0800

Actor killed by L.A. police shot in the back & the back of the head -- the wounds appeared to contradict police accounts that Anthony Dwain Lee, who carried a fake .357 Magnum gun as an apparent part of his Halloween costume, pointed the gun at Officer Tarriel Hopper, causing the patrolman to fear for his life and shoot in response.