2. I used to listen to the DKs.

3. It wasn’t so much a serious suggestion as an expression of eyeball-swivelling, vein-throbbing, hair-tearing frustration².

Was it made clear to the grand jury that the cops had no legitimate reason or legal authority to force their way into the apartment? I strongly doubt it. I also doubt that the grand jury heard all the audio.

The prosecutor works hand in glove with these cops all the time, in every case. She ignores when they lie. They or their fellow officers may have dirt on her, but they can certainly make her job difficult in many ways. She’s not going to go after them.

Note to medical alert device manufacturers:
Please design a simple-to-lift cover over the medical alert button so that more innocent people don’t die due to police brutality/racism when they roll over in bed and accidentally press the button.

No charges. At all.  Even with the recorded, racist proof.

Wow.

But if this case is not cause for outrage, what is?

Many people may indeed be jumping to the conclusion that the grand jury was bent or got it wrong or only saw skewed evidence.  I don’t know.  I am also aware that the law never promises perfection; injustices will necessarily exist in a system designed and mediated by humans, and such are the price iof having any justice at all.  

I do know, though, that if this can happen and no charges are laid, then there is something very, very wrong somewhere.   Something so big it cannot be ignored.  I don’t necessarily have a good idea, from my armchair, of where that monstrous injustice might be hiding.

I am afraid that that which should not be ignored will be.  I fear that perfectly reasonable calls for restraint will be used by those who wish the evil to remain hidden, that some enormity will scuttle again unmolested back to its hiding place.

Maybe instead of just assuming based on a couple news articles that the grand jury was horribly biased and wrong, we should assume that they, having seen all the evidence in the case, know something we don’t?

Or we could assume that most Americans are pinheaded lickspittles who do what they’re told by anyone in a uniform.

According to Democracy Now, lawyers  and family who viewed the video from the Taser stated it showed that when the police entered the apt, Chamberlain was standing quietly facing them, with his arms at his sides.  Then the Taser fires.  

Funny how that part seems to slip by some people.  Actually, it’s not funny.

According to Democracy Now, lawyers  and family who viewed the video from the Taser stated it showed that when the police entered the apt, Chamberlain was standing quietly facing them, with his arms at his sides.  Then the Taser fires. 

NYDaily News:
“After an hour-long standoff, the cops took the apartment door off its hinges, and shot Chamberlain with a Taser and a beanbag gun before White Plains Officer Anthony Carelli put a bullet in his chest.

Cops said Chamberlain was coming at them with a knife and a hatchet.”

CBS NY:
“Family members said Chamberlain told officers he was OK, but they insisted on seeing him. Police took the door off and, they said, Chamberlain came at them with a cleaver and a knife.”

No knife, no cleaver.

Democracy Now-Family’s Attorney and former prosecutor:
“And in this case, Mr. Chamberlain didn’t have a gun. Mr. Chamberlain, when I saw the videotape, did not have a knife when he was in his apartment. You see a 68-year-old man with no shirt on and boxer shorts and his hands down at his sides. And I didn’t see any weapon in his hands there.

And the other thing that’s troubling to me is the fact that a taser was used at all, because you’re there for a medical response. You’re not there investigating a criminal act. You are there with the understanding that there may be a person who needs medical assistance.”

Lindsay Keipper:
“What ACTUALLY happened is that prosecutors filed charges, and the grand jury heard the evidence and decided that it didn’t support the charges.

No.

They likely decided the evidence was not provable in court, despite the obviously unconscionable behavior of the ‘cops.’ The evidence could entirely support the charges, but proving it in court without a victim only suggests the liars, department dissemblers and gas-lighters from the police department demonstrated the convoluted mess they could transform any attempt at justice.

With hope, the civil trial will produce what a broken criminal justice system and cowardly police force has yet again failed to do.

But they frigging tazed an elderly man with a heart condition, mocking him and calling him names till they KILLED HIM. 

And he knew that’s exactly what was going to happen. 

it breaks my heart.  Was justice always a fantasy?

USC 241:

If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or

If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured—

They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title orimprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.

*
A much more complete account than that in the news stories linked in this article can be found at: http://www.democracynow.org/2012/4/5/exclusive_cop_in_fatal_shooting_of

Hey commenters: the grand jury heard from 42 witnesses, they saw 100 exhibits including the full audio and video that was recorded.  There’s no evidence that anyone was playing hide the ball.  Maybe instead of just assuming based on a couple news articles that the grand jury was horribly biased and wrong, we should assume that they, having seen all the evidence in the case, know something we don’t?  Just a thought.

That these guys are not only not being charged, but still being allowed to serve is utterly inexcusable.  They executed a man in his own home – for the crime of being there.  Unless there were extreme exculpatory circumstances (like “he had an assault rifle”).  they should be on trial for man slaughter.  At a minimum, their career in law enforcement should be OVER.  

If you want a more “balanced” portrayal, that is great.  Start posting incidents of officers engaged in abusive or violent behavior that are being rejected and having their genitals nailed to the wall ( metaphorically only, please ).  The problem is, there aren’t many events like that to post.  Hell, even the stories in the news today about corruption in ICE and TSA are about expense fraud, not the greater crimes perpetrated on any americans unfortunate enough to have to enter an airport.

Yes, MOST cops are decent people trying to do a very difficult job, but everyone has bad days.  When your bad day has the potential to make people DEAD you get held to a higher standard.  Period.

Until they start standing up for justice there are no good cops. Right now, those who actually try to serve and protect the people are fired for it

 Closing the door and calling an ambulance so that intelligent and well trained medical personnel is clearly out of the question. After all, cops aren’t trained to back down or to protect the innocent.

Makes sense. If a man is very very upset and holds a cooking utensil in his own home, their job is to make the situation safe as soon as possible. What is safer than dead after all?

I don’t get it. Anyone with experience with tasers want to inform?

I am afraid what happened was that the police who showed up were made responsible for making the situation “safe” as soon as possible, and as a result rash decisions were made.

Safe? I don’t think that word means what you think it means.  The victim was safe until they tased him and shot him dead. The police were safe until they fucking broke into the guys house and provoked a confrontation. Ok, they were safe even afterwards, because they were armed.
You are part of the problem.