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Following the call, police were dispatched to the suite for a "domestic situation" at 12:09 a.m. In the meantime, the woman fled to another suite in the building, Smyth said.

Seven minutes later, the woman called police back and said her boyfriend had fallen down the stairs from their second-floor suite and was lying in the snow at the base of the stairs. Another caller said the man had wandered into the parking lot but had fallen on the ground, said Smyth.

Pete said at one point he told a 911 operator that it looked like the man had passed out and wasn't moving anymore. He said he also told the operator the man was flinging his arms out, but again, said it looked like he was passed out and needed help.

When police arrived, the man was still lying on his back in the snow. Police descended on him, using force in a manner that escalated things unnecessarily, Pete said.

"They just kept beating him. They just kept beating him, they wouldn't stop. He actually at one point reached out his hand, and he says, 'please stop, please stop.'"

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[-] PineRune@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

There's a pretty bold line between excessive force and outright murder. If you can't tell, then you're part of the problem.

[-] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 2 points 8 months ago

What color is that line?

this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
44 points (95.8% liked)

THE POLICE PROBLEM

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    The police problem is that police are policed by the police. Cops are accountable only to other cops, which is no accountability at all.

    99.9999% of police brutality, corruption, and misconduct is never investigated, never punished, never makes the news, so it's not on this page.

    When cops are caught breaking the law, they're investigated by other cops. Details are kept quiet, the officers' names are withheld from public knowledge, and what info is eventually released is only what police choose to release — often nothing at all.

    When police are fired — which is all too rare — they leave with 'law enforcement experience' and can easily find work in another police department nearby. It's called "Wandering Cops."

    When police testify under oath, they lie so frequently that cops themselves have a joking term for it: "testilying." Yet it's almost unheard of for police to be punished or prosecuted for perjury.

    Cops can and do get away with lawlessness, because cops protect other cops. If they don't, they aren't cops for long.

    The legal doctrine of "qualified immunity" renders police officers invulnerable to lawsuits for almost anything they do. In practice, getting past 'qualified immunity' is so unlikely, it makes headlines when it happens.

    All this is a path to a police state.

    In a free society, police must always be under serious and skeptical public oversight, with non-cops and non-cronies in charge, issuing genuine punishment when warranted.

    Police who break the law must be prosecuted like anyone else, promptly fired if guilty, and barred from ever working in law-enforcement again.

    That's the solution.

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A demonstrator's guide to understanding riot munitions

Adultification

Cops aren't supposed to be smart

Don't talk to the police.

Killings by law enforcement in Canada

Killings by law enforcement in the United Kingdom

Killings by law enforcement in the United States

Know your rights: Filming the police

Three words. 70 cases. The tragic history of 'I can’t breathe' (as of 2020)

Police aren't primarily about helping you or solving crimes.

Police lie under oath, a lot

Police spin: An object lesson in Copspeak

Police unions and arbitrators keep abusive cops on the street

Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States

So you wanna be a cop?

When the police knock on your door

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