Chicago police officer charged

[GaryW]

WHAT in the world is going on with Law Enforcement now a days?????
I watched the Video and could not believe what I was seeing. I have a lot of friends in Law Enforcement. Florida Highway Patrol,, SCSO and LCSO. 2 good friends on US Marshall Service.

They agree with me,, We got alot of issues with our Police and needs to be handled fast. :BigApplause:

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

WHAT in the world is going on with Law Enforcement now a days?????
I watched the Video and could not believe what I was seeing. I have a lot of friends in Law Enforcement. Florida Highway Patrol,, SCSO and LCSO. 2 good friends on US Marshall Service.

They agree with me,, We got alot of issues with our Police and needs to be handled fast. :BigApplause:

We have 900,000 law enforcement officers in this country. I see a few incidents like this every years. I don't know that we have a lot of issues with our police. What we have is a few bad apples.

These people are in extremely stressful situations on a daily basis. They witness the worst of our society on a first hand basis. As a group they have one of the highest suicide rates in the country. It's not surprising that every once in a while one of them goes off the deep end.

[redwitch]

Doc, I agree that LEOs choose to work in a high-stress environment and that it is only a few bad apples but what bothers me is the wall of silence that permits these officers to behave the way they do. It is very rare that a murder such as this is the first incident of over the top violence committed by an officer. So long as as other officers are willing to keep quiet, are willing to work alongside these people, are willing to tolerate and go along with this behavior, they are no better than the killer.

The Chicago Police Department was forced to act in this instance apparently thanks to a whistleblower who informed the media the video existed. Otherwise, this would have stayed a justifiable homicide. All PDs need to be more open honest about these incidents. All LEOs need to stand up and say when an obscenity like this has occurred. Training must be better. Screening must be better. Action to stop this type of behavior must be quicker and to appropriately punish the perpetrators must be quicker. No LEO is innocent if s/he condones this type of behavior either passively or actively.

[Taltarzac725]

Miedzianowski and the history of no history — Chicago Justice Project (http://chicagojustice.org/blog/miedzianowski-and-the-history-of-no-history)

The thin blue line probably is very different from community-to-community. What do you think of when I say "Chicago politics?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago-style_politics

[graciegirl]

I watched just a little on National News from the protesters being interviewed last night. They were reasonable, fair and intelligent in what they said. I thought that their words will make a huge impression on everyone.


Burning and looting does not. There is a need to change some things, perhaps not shoot to kill every time. But I support law enforcement and worry that good men and women will not want to be in law enforcement because of unwarranted criticism of all of them. I feel race relations have become more tense and we have lost sight of the fact we should all teach our children to not break the law and if stopped do what they are told to do.


The drug business has caused terrible things to happen in this world and so many urban poor people have opted to make dealing in drugs their career and put themselves on the wrong side of the law. I see wrongful murders of both perpetrators and law enforcement and this is mess, just as you say, OP. But blaming law enforcement just doesn't seem like the answer. I wouldn't be willing to take the beat into a place that hates me and my uniform.


I am so saddened by the setbacks and the anger that wasn't there six years ago. Perhaps this has opened a dialogue that needed to be discussed but bad people will always do bad things and good people will always try to do good things and that has nothing to do with their jobs or the color of their skin.

[Taltarzac725]

Getting more information for potential whistleblowers and the like on the Internet as well as in public and law libraries MIGHT curb these kind of crimes by bad law enforcement or whatever individual/group is doing these bad deeds.

I have not researched what is out there though for whistleblowers lately. I did this quite a bit 15 years ago but am not sure these would be the same organizations involved now. National Whistleblowers Center - Home (http://www.whistleblowers.org/) https://www.sec.gov/whistleblower Whistleblower Protection Program (http://www.whistleblowers.gov/) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower

US State Laws on Whistleblower protections-- http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/state-whistleblower-laws.aspx

Federal employees-- https://osc.gov/Pages/dow.aspx

Florida State government employees. http://fchr.state.fl.us/complaints__1/florida_s_whistle_blower_s_act

[billethkid]

The problem is not...what is wrong with law enforcement folks these days.

It is the isloated case that unfortunately gets the media magnifying glass and then the dialogue afterwards is always as if the isolated incident was a general condition. WHEN IT IS NOT! And once again add to the sensationalizing of the incident because it was a black and white case.

[Taltarzac725]

The problem is not...what is wrong with law enforcement folks these days.

It is the isloated case that unfortunately gets the media magnifying glass and then the dialogue afterwards is always as if the isolated incident was a general condition. WHEN IT IS NOT! And once again add to the sensationalizing of the incident because it was a black and white case.

I believe that abuse of power happens every where and the media highlights certain groups doing it and often seems to ignore the misdeeds of others because it would not be all that politically correct to do so. Police have seemed to be one of these targets that the press goes after readily.

[GaryW]

See everyone's point, but what I am not understanding is why the cover ups?
Ok maybe some think it is ok that one or 20 of the many LEO go off the deep end once in awhile, but if you were the parents of one of the victims would you still think the same????

Again I have many friends all fields of Law Enforcement. Many of my Marine friends are LEO's. But to cover up and try to delete videos or badger witness to the point where they are scared is crazy.

Good friend that is a US Marshall, told me last night, he watched the video and could not understand my no use of taser, or just trying to talk. Instead just get out and unload your clip into the person.

It is a problem when there is so much cover up. I was told while in the Marine Corps one time when that I knew what I was getting in to when I enlisted, the same for LEO's, They know what is going to happen. I will be the first to tell anyone I could not do that type of work, I have no patience for it. I would be the loose cannon. So I chose not to enter that field.

The Departments need to step up training as I would told by a friend, He has had very little refresher courses on tactical situations that are very stressful such as the incident in Chicago.

And YES there are many brave and highly intelligent people in LAW ENFORCEMENT. But to say we don't have a problem would be a understatement IMHO!!

You see it more and more everyday things that happen. With everyone in a hurry to pull out their cell phone and video anything.

[Jima64]

Glad he got charged.

[gerryann]

The cover up was certainly awful and should not have happened.

As awful as the killing was, I can somehow understand how it happened. I feel that the officer was extremely frightened, felt his life was in jeopardy and justifiably shot the first shot.

After the first shot, I think he just freaked out...adrenaline kicked in and I feel he was temporarily in sane. He just went nuts and shot, and shot, and shot 16 times. Terrible and awful....but this is what I think might have happened.

I'm certainly not justifying his actions, just kind of understanding what may have happened.

[redwitch]

The cover up was certainly awful and should not have happened.

As awful as the killing was, I can somehow understand how it happened. I feel that the officer was extremely frightened, felt his life was in jeopardy and justifiably shot the first shot.

After the first shot, I think he just freaked out...adrenaline kicked in and I feel he was temporarily in sane. He just went nuts and shot, and shot, and shot 16 times. Terrible and awful....but this is what I think might have happened.

I'm certainly not justifying his actions, just kind of understanding what may have happened.

Sorry, but I have to disagree. The kid was nowhere near the police officer. As a matter of fact, he was walking AWAY from the police car. What, pray tell, was he afraid of? To come out shooting was inexcusable. To continue shooting after the first shot put the kid down was unforgivable and just plain inexcusable in my mind. This officer is a sorry excuse for a LEO at best and a racist murderer at worst, but probably falls somewhere in between the two.

[gerryann]

Sorry, but I have to disagree. The kid was nowhere near the police officer. As a matter of fact, he was walking AWAY from the police car. What, pray tell, was he afraid of? To come out shooting was inexcusable. To continue shooting after the first shot put the kid down was unforgivable and just plain inexcusable in my mind. This officer is a sorry excuse for a LEO at best and a racist murderer at worst, but probably falls somewhere in between the two.

Sorry. My mistake. I had my shootings confused. I saw one last night where a guy was coming toward the police. The LEO was tazing him and telling him to stop. He didn't stop, kept charging and the LEO shot him once. I believe that may have happened here in FL.

Too many shootings. Got confused. I'll have to read up more on the 16 shot case before I comment again.

[graciegirl]

Sorry. My mistake. I had my shootings confused. I saw one last night where a guy was coming toward the police. The LEO was tazing him and telling him to stop. He didn't stop, kept charging and the LEO shot him once. I believe that may have happened here in FL.

Too many shootings. Got confused. I'll have to read up more on the 16 shot case before I comment again.


Me too. I thought this person had a knife and slashed the tire of the police car the policeman was sitting in and hit the windshield with the knife.

[redwitch]

The reports I had heard said motorists called in a young man walking in the middle of the road, holding a three-inch knife, trying to jab people's tires. The video clearly shows him starting in the middle of the road, seeing the police car and walking towards the side when he was shot a good distance from the police car. The kid may have been a stupid punk, but there surely had to be a better solution than sixteen bullets.

[John_W]

Sorry. My mistake. I had my shootings confused. I saw one last night where a guy was coming toward the police. The LEO was tazing him and telling him to stop. He didn't stop, kept charging and the LEO shot him once. I believe that may have happened here in FL.

Too many shootings. Got confused. I'll have to read up more on the 16 shot case before I comment again.

The shooting you're referring to was on TV yesterday, it happened in Orlando at the WWE Wrestling Center August 31st but the video was just released. The employees had taken a video of the guy yelling and banging on the glass doors and trying to get in. They said he had an obsession with one of the female wrestlers and they had a restraining order against him. When the cops arrived, he ran straight at them and the cop was running backwards and finally had to shot him, but he survived.

http://www.mynews13.com/content/news/articles/cfn/2015/11/23/wwe_performance_center_orlando_shooting/_jcr_content/contentpar/articleBody/image.img.jpg/1448334071730.jpg

http://www.mynews13.com/content/dam/news/images/2015/11/4/wwe-performance-center-shooting-1.jpg

[Taltarzac725]

Protection for Whistleblowers- FindLaw (http://employment.findlaw.com/whistleblowers/protection-for-whistleblowers.html)

Thought I would add this link. Educating people about their rights and the services available to them is kind of a passion of mine.

If people have more information about this situation in Chicago please post it.

[Taltarzac725]

The shooting you're referring to was on TV yesterday, it happened in Orlando at the WWE Wrestling Center August 31st but the video was just released. The employees had taken a video of the guy yelling and banging on the glass doors and trying to get in. They said he had an obsession with one of the female wrestlers and they had a restraining order against him. When the cops arrived, he ran straight at them and the cop was running backwards and finally had to shot him, but he survived.

http://www.mynews13.com/content/news/articles/cfn/2015/11/23/wwe_performance_center_orlando_shooting/_jcr_content/contentpar/articleBody/image.img.jpg/1448334071730.jpg

http://www.mynews13.com/content/dam/news/images/2015/11/4/wwe-performance-center-shooting-1.jpg

That looks justified. Roid rage?