Alton Sterling Shooting in Baton Rouge Prompts Justice Dept. Investigation

[JANFU]

Re: Alton Sterling Shooting by Police in Baton Rouge Sets Off Protests

Why does it matter?

If both arms were restrained how could he reach for a gun??

 

[Thoreau72]

Re: Alton Sterling Shooting by Police in Baton Rouge Sets Off Protests

What percentage are justified?

That depends on who you ask, or who is doing the explaining.

 

[Cephus]

Re: Alton Sterling Shooting by Police in Baton Rouge Sets Off Protests

 

[sanman]

Re: Alton Sterling Shooting by Police in Baton Rouge Sets Off Protests

A quick google search shows lots of "news" sites reporting as you did that Alton Sterling was a "rapist" when in fact he simply had sex with a 14-year-old (ie. Statutory Rape), which is a lot different than sexual assault. He had sex with the 14 year old when he was 20.

As far as I'm concerned, none of this has anything to do with whether the guy should have died on that night. What you might as well be saying is that if you have past convictions, then you don't have a right to a fair judgement in your current life, and that anybody can shoot you dead based on your past. That's not what the US Constitution says.

We definitely need more cameras, and more recordings of police interaction with those they're trying to arrest. If there's any objection to this on the grounds that this will impede police from doing their work, then this amounts to saying that police must necessarily "do illegal things which must not be filmed" in order to carry out their work. If that's the case, then there's something wrong with police methods and rules.

 

[Deuce]

Re: Alton Sterling Shooting by Police in Baton Rouge Sets Off Protests

Why does it matter?

...because a person with their arms restrained isn't a lethal threat?

 

[Quazimodo]

Re: Alton Sterling Shooting by Police in Baton Rouge Sets Off Protests

What effect will Alton's illegal possession of a firearm have on the outcome of this case? Is there a possibility that the officers would have had prior knowledge of his record before they attempted to interview him?

 

[jaeger19]

Re: Alton Sterling Shooting by Police in Baton Rouge Sets Off Protests

A quick google search shows lots of "news" sites reporting as you did that Alton Sterling was a "rapist" when in fact he simply had sex with a 14-year-old (ie. Statutory Rape), which is a lot different than sexual assault. He had sex with the 14 year old when he was 20.

As far as I'm concerned, none of this has anything to do with whether the guy should have died on that night. What you might as well be saying is that if you have past convictions, then you don't have a right to a fair judgement in your current life, and that anybody can shoot you dead based on your past. That's not what the US Constitution says.

We definitely need more cameras, and more recordings of police interaction with those they're trying to arrest. If there's any objection to this on the grounds that this will impede police from doing their work, then this amounts to saying that police must necessarily "do illegal things which must not be filmed" in order to carry out their work. If that's the case, then there's something wrong with police methods and rules.

Just to point out.. I don't think the cameras on police are going to work.. in fact.. they could make things worse. Police will have the ability to turn them off.. turn them on... us other police to block things they don;t want to see.

In the prison system, where they use body cams a lot.. I have friends that are CO's that tell me that when officers don;t want the body camera to show.. they have ways of obscuring the video..

 

[Socrates1]

Re: Alton Sterling Shooting by Police in Baton Rouge Sets Off Protests

From what I'm reading the cops were told that Sterling had pointed a gun at someone. He was obviously resisting the officers.

The video clip doesn't show the beginning of the engagement but during the engagement you can hear one of the cops say "He's going for his pocket he's got a gun".

Frankly, there isn't enough evidence in the video for me to make a call on whether this was justified or not but I have to note that the common theme in these incidents is resisting the police. I'll say it again, whether you are in the right or in the wrong if you resist the cops your odds of getting hurt or killed go up astronomically if you choose to resist.

This guy was a FELON armed resisting arrest and assaulting two officers reaching for a pistol that he threaten a homeless man with minutes before . The police did their job !!!