Imagine if you were the security guard at literally anywhere and did this. Not only would you be fired. You would likely not work security ever again. Also, you'd face criminal charges. I get cops have more responsibility than a security guard at the mall. But the video evidence shows us a clear psychopath that wouldn't qualify for a security guard position. Will there be punishment? Maybe an investigation? Not really. American police are not police any more. They're the SS. And they will shoot kids dead for looking in the wrong direction. We are far beyond the point of no return.
A Boring Dystopia
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Private security here! Spent eight years as a guard before moving up to corporate level.
I think about this daily. How an armed guard could get not only fired, but potentially blacklisted from the entire industry (at least locally) for pulling their gun at the “wrong” time. If I were on duty and shot a journalist with a rubber bullet on fucking TV….its just inconceivable. If I were a manager and got a call that one of my guards did this, I can’t even imagine, I’d have to Japanese-train-conductor myself live on the 5pm news after reading a 20 page apology. There aren’t responses strong enough in my repertoire for something like that.
Cops just do it and saunter on to their next abomination.
Like it or not, private security have ten times the liability, accountability, damn near any metric you wanna use, that police do. We get fired (or removed from contracts at client request) for tiny shit daily. A guard being caught burping by a dickish client manager could lose a contract worth millions and dozens of people their jobs.
There are enough bad apples in our industry that I can’t really argue against the leeriness, ridicule, etc, from the public. I get it; there are a lot of IRL Paul Blarts out there. It means the industry needs to raise standards…meh, I’m getting off topic here.
You’re entirely correct, and I’m glad to see this pointed out. Police get away with shit that would get any guard super-extra-mecha fired, whether it’s a highly trained armed guard working a federal contract or an unarmed kid making $9 an hour to sit in an empty parking lot.
From both sides of the fence, this is not how this should be working.
Bullet proof west with PRESS on it and a helmet/glasses. Trump made a war zone so it should be treated as a war zone.
I mean yes but its not a 'lost bullet'. he willingly fired on her, and at that distance he could clearly fucking see she has a microphone and is in front of a professional news camera.
You're assuming he's even literate.
This wasn't a "stray round." That shot was deliberate and that pig knew exactly what he was aiming at.
The dude literally waited until he was on camera to take the shot. Not only did he know exactly what he was aiming at, he wanted to be seen doing it.
LA cops are notorious assholes. He could hardly wait to get home and pull it up the clip and show everybody: "Hey everybody! Look what Daddy did at work today! I shot an unarmed journalist for doing her job! Funny, right?"
Guaranteed he's emailing the clip to everyone he knows.
I think Trump dreams of a civil war. That will be the perfect excuse to hurry the slow dictatorship takeover.
That is slowly happening anyway, while people are still having wet dreams of democracy.
LAPD shot a protester in the head with rubber bullets and refused to call an ambulance for her as she lay there bleeding and concussed; another protester was trampled and concussed by mounted police; countless other protestors were beat over the head savagely with batons... and this is only what was on video.
California should pass a ballot initiative making it legal for any random person to shoot police with less lethal munitions whenever they want. You should just be able to walk up to any cop, any time you want, and shoot them with a rubber bullet. If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander.
Police with this behavior should be fired and prosecuted. Unacceptable.
I think they'll get a promotion for this one
They'll get a two week vacation and maybe a promotion.
You know shits getting real when the cops will shoot at a blonde white girl.
I was watching Hasan being at the protests to get a sense of what is actually going on and a European left a comment on his video that succinctly put the US police into perspective.
As a European I don't get how the police is just shooting rubber bullets instantly, why do they not have riot shields and water throwers and such, it seems so uncivilised.
And that pretty much sums up the cops in the US. They're just uncivilized. Their idea of "deescalation" is escalation until you're too incapacitated to fight back.
It’s called flirting. Or maybe he asked her out and she rejected him. It really could go both ways.
Have they identified the cop that commited this assault?
Of course not. They're above the law.
There’s zip about this in the Australian TV news this morning. One of their own and they still don’t have the balls.
A lot of Australian news corps are are owned by Rupert Murdoch. I feel this explains enough.
Channel 9 reported it as her being "caught in the crossfire", as if she got hit in a gun battle between protesters and cops or something
Especially since you can see the cop in question pointing his weapon directly at her and her news crew.
Mainstream media is complicit with Trump’s fascism. Which is to be expected with capitalists.
Sure, that's why the goddamn prime minister is now weighing in. Because it's so hidden.
Zero justification, not a stray bullet etc, he literally aims and shoots at the camera, what in the fuck is going on over their?
can't have eyes on the situation. it goes away faster the less people see it
The US spent the last 24 years spreading freedom and democracy in the Middle East, it ended up running out of it at home
It should also be noted that the term "rubber bullet" is exceedingly euphemistic.
So-called 'rubber bullets' are huge and have been known to maim and blind people. These aren't tiny little paintball rounds, folks.
Because most of them have a core of metal or other high density material and a softer exterior. It's like wrapping a brick in a couple of layers of bubble wrap and hitting someone if the face with it.
A good time to remind everybody that while rubber bullets are considered "non-lethal," they can kill.
Back in 2004 a college student in Boston died from a bullet that missed its intended target, hit the ground and ricocheted into her eye.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Victoria_Snelgrove
So, while the shot certainly wasn't warranted, IMO its worse because of what could have happened because this officer was taking a shot for fun.
Even if less-lethal ammunition were risk free, that should still be a crime. Even in the ideal risk-free case, how is this any different from assault, if the cop came up behind a reporter swinging his baton. There was clearly no justifiable reason, it was clearly assault for fun or intimidation, and any reasonable person would know that.
"non-lethal" Oh, boy! What an infuriating misnomer that is.
This is also a good time to remember nothing here in this context is "non-lethal". All of these things (sand bags, tear gas, tasers, pepper spray, mace, rubber bullets, batons, shields, tactical holds, etc.) are accurately called "less lethal" because all of them can and will kill under certain circumstances, even when used by trained officers with good intentions. (I know. How often does that happen, right?) It doesn't take much to cross that line between "not intending murder" and "actual fucking murder", often something as simple as a common medical condition or simply falling while moving over hard ground like curbs and sidewalks. If a reporter is using the term "non-lethal" in the context of police brutality, that's a pretty good sign that you are being lied to.
I want to tell all the centrists who acted like leftists were radical, dangerous people for the last 30 years in the US while treating violent, rightwing conservative ideology as if it was innocent and defenseless... to personally eat shit you naive idiots, leftists were trying to warn you about this moment in the US for decades, fucking DECADES and y'all still chose to listen to fascists over learning some basic things about leftist ideology. Even after violent rightwing fascists attempted a literal coup on Jan 6 y'all still wanted to be afraid of leftists more than rightwing mobs actually assaulting the U.S. capitol.
Over the years I have wasted soo soo soooooo much breath talking to older boomer conservatives who believed themselves to be centrists or even democrats, and it was all a damn waste of time, these people have brainworms and admitting they have been living inside a bubble that popped late in their life interferes too much with their ego and sense of impending mortality (have I lived a life and learned worse than nothing about what the future will be????) for them to listen to kindness. Bypass these people and organize with people who understand, leave the naysayers I am criticizing behind and let them catch up once they realize how truly alone they are (with no younger people on their side from the conservative or leftist end of the spectrum).
spits on the authoritarian, rightwing dictatorship at my feet
Unfortunately there are quite a few young people on their side. We're going to have to address the amount of Gen Z support we saw for Trump in the last election.
If I recall correctly, the officer broke article 19 of the UDHR. I have a sneaking suspicion that that officer isn't getting any reprecussions for their actions.
Much more likely he'll get paid leave to deal with the "trauma" of the negative attention he'll get.
People killed by the german police in 2024 (record year): 22 People killed by the police in the united states in 2022: 1176 Well i guess we only have 1/4 of the population so 50 times the number of deaths is normal is to be expected.
I think the provocation was her reporting facts. Can't have that when most voters have chosen Trump.
While I detest violence in all forms, and respect peaceful protest and the power of the ballot box; it seems like the current administration is doing everything it can to disenfranchise the voters of this country, and preemptively using violence against peaceful protesters. I hope things don’t tip too far, because while Americans don’t riot like the French at the drop of a hat, there is an enormous amount of anger simmering among the working class people in this country, and I’d hate to see that erupt. If it does come to a head it will make the Paris riots like a sunny day on Lake Geneva.
Somebody should mirror that video somewhere that isn't a nazi platform.
And a British one, too.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/world-news/los-angeles-protest-photographer-surgery/
Surely that guy will now be fired and charged with assault? This was completely unwarranted.