Ferguson, MO

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by KDCat

Darion Johnson and Darren Wilson are the only two people who saw the whole thing.

The other witnesses corroborate both of their stories. They are all over the place. It's not an either/or.

This is really a swearing contest between Wilson and Johnson.

And that is exactly what I meant when I said you can't put all your faith in trust in the testimonies in this case. What is telling is the evidence.

Originally Posted by KDCat

Pot doesn't make people charge cops with their head down.

Not sure what you are getting at but someone putting their head down when charging at something is not uncommon at all.

Originally Posted by DrPhil

After watching The View, some of the biggest things to come from this:

1. Police need cameras and recorders on uniforms to protect themselves and the public at all times.

2. The public needs to know more about law enforcement training and the policies regarding use of "force", use of "deadly force", and firearm use. Most states have this information available online. This also highlights why officers cannot shoot to warn or injure, as depicted on shows like Criminal Minds.

3. Not all officers have tasers and not all members of the public agree with the use of tasers. We can't have it both ways. Either pepper spray, taser, baton(?), or gun. Some police departments carry multiple methods. That doesn't mean they will have access to every method during a physical altercation. I don't want an officer dying because the officer couldn't access the taser during an altercation and was afraid to use the police gun.

1. I'm a supporter of body cameras and recorders. I have several peers that have their own that they bring to work with them even though their agency doesn't mandate cameras or recorders. It's a great CYA measure in cases of false accusations or reports of misconduct. A lot of officers and unions are against body cams for fear that they will be used by management against officers for petty reasons (I.E. unauthorized smoke break or sitting down for a lunch) as well as privacy issues. Everything recorded should be subject to FOIA so the idea of someone requesting my recorder footage of a non incident day creeps me out but if at the end of the day it saves my career and reputation I feel it's worth it.

2. I'm not holding my breath that the public will self educate themselves on this. The things that people think the police can or can't do sometimes scare me, other times it just makes me laugh. As I've said, as long as we have the entertainment industry churning out cop dramas and action movies people will continue to be misinformed.

3. Tasers were brought onto the scene as being the magic less than deadly force solution for law enforcement but it hasn't been the case. There have been deaths and serious injuries resulting in taser use, and on the opposite spectrum I've seen police videos where a suspect is tased 6-7 times and is still up and fighting with police. There are also a lot of rules of when and not to use a taser. Just a few months ago my agency changed the taser policy so it's advised not to use the taser while the subject is standing on a hard surface or in the position to fall down and hit his head on something, so that itself is quite limiting.