75 year old man seriously injured by police

[backtrack]

www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-us-canada-52932611

I feel truly sick at the world we live in today. I don’t know what the answer is. The police are wrong to act with brutality, the protesters are wrong to act with violence, to loot and destroy property. This is not positive.

[Please note, title edited as it originally stated that the man had died]*

[SkaraBrae]

Still nor known whether the poor man will survive.

[CanWeComeIntoTheOutNow]

picklemewalnuts thank you. You've put into words something I have been struggling to formulate: it's like the police are just reacting to everything as an extreme threat, including a rather frail looking elderly man. It's inexcusable but I think what you've described explains it to some extent.

[Lordfrontpaw]

I saw another where an officer (similar setup - line advancing along a street) shoved one man back very forcibly, then another officed shoved over an older man with a walking stick. Other police (or are they guards?) helped him up.

The white-haired man - lying there with blood on the pavement - my god. You could see that some officers looking/reacting but I assume they were being shouted at to leave him and someone was radioing for help (I assume). Shocking.

[Siameasy]

Life seems so cheap in the US and the police have a herd mentality. Loads of police there-not one of them had the courage to intervene. Ditto George Floyd. Four officers were there-none of them stopped it. How can anyone in the US trust the police?

[backtrack]

Oh god I’m glad he isn’t dead, thank you for correcting my title my mistake I’m sorry.

Things like this seem to bring out the best and the worst in people. Some of the things we see are heartwarming and makes us feel united, but a lot are using this as an excuse for senseless violence.

Absolutely things need to change in the US and globally with regards to racism and police brutality but destroying small businesses, the groups of young black men stamping on any ‘whites’ they find, cheering when UK police officers are quitting their jobs, the fighting and looting, how is this the answer to positive change and respect for each other.

Gun rights seem to be behind such a lot of America’s problems it’s incomprehensible to me. There seems to be a nervousness with police that they’re too quick to pull the trigger because they expect to get shot themselves.

We need the police, they do a job, but I think we can all acknowledge too many are on a power trip even here in the UK, never mind armed in the US.

I don’t know, it gets to the point where I have to switch it off because I can’t see any answers. I just wish people could be bloody reasonable!

[Lordfrontpaw]

57 officers from the force have resigned over the treatment of the two officers who were ‘following orders’. They don’t they it? So many just don’t get it - that really shows the mentality.

[lljkk]

Good riddance.

[picklemewalnuts]

The thing is Lord, they were supposed to be advancing in a line, pushing back anyone that breached that line. In their heads, they were defending each other and maintaining the line, doing what they were told to do.

Watching that video, it's seemed like cognitive dissonance was going on. They were looking for threats, he wasn't a threat so they sort of looked past him. Then suddenly he was too close and in their way and stopping them looking for threats so he was shoved out of the way.

Until those 57 men switch off that attitude they won't be able to see what they've done wrong.

[Lordfrontpaw]

I was listening to the radio and there was a ex US police officer (I think he was senior) and he said that there is something like a ‘duty of care’ (not the expression) so you didn’t just step over a bleeding civilian, so they were not doing what they were supposed to do. The whole force there has now resigned.

[RedPanda2]

They're doing this elderly white men, imagine what they are doing to black people. There are slso videos of police advising well known white supremacists to 'stay indoors while we pepper spray protesters'.

[RedPanda2]

They haven't resigned, they're not on emergency duty at the protests. They're still on the streets, getting away with whatever.

[AnyFucker]

Another shocking video

The way the old chap went down like a fallen tree and what looked like a mobile phone slip out of his hand as he lost consciousness

One cop tried to attend to him but was prevented by another. Awful.

[TheFencePainter]

What happens though if they do disobey orders? Will it lead to some discharge and loss of pension? Loss of medical cover for them and a family? In UK we have safety nets, what I heard about US not so much so I can kiiiind of see why they do not disobey orders and if they were ordered to do x and did x why colleagues are angry about their colleagues' suspension. Imagine you got suspended for doing exactly what boss told you to do knowing you can lose everything.

I am NOT standing up for violence here. It is abhorrent what is happening. I am just saying that it's not all just black and white (not a skin colour in this sense). I wouldn't want to lose my family's medicare seeing the hospital bills from there....

It's the system. The system needs overhaul. The whole country needs overhaul

[IncrediblySadToo]

Yes, it definitely made me feel sick.

Pleased the others have resigned and I hope they stay resigned! Shame it's for the wrong reason. Utter bastards, the lot of them

@picklemewalnuts I've read what you wrote. I understand to a point, but not that far. They're not in a highly dangerous situation.

[slipperywhensparticus]

In the last few days I've watched america taser unarmed students smashing their windows and using a taser again and again screaming at the passenger to put the car in park get out the car she is clearly terrified they shove over an old man arrest a journalist live on air and claim they refused to move when they didnt even ASK them to move shoot another journalist in the neck with a rubber bullet deliberately charge a journalist the list goes on I'm fucking horrified if this goes on blatantly in front of the cameras what goes on when no one is watching

[ShirleyPhallus]

57 officers from the force have resigned over the treatment of the two officers who were ‘following orders’. They don’t they it? So many just don’t get it - that really shows the mentality.

“Just following orders” - who does that remind you of...,?

[Lordfrontpaw]

I need to listen to the interview again (R4 about 8am). He was an ex policeman from the us and he explained how the police is set up in the us - so it’s state not national - and why this man should not have been basically knocked down and stepped over.

[amusedtodeath1]

It's appalling, there was just no reason for it. But there was no reason for George Floyd's death either. It's just sickening the way humans treat each other, makes me ashamed to be one.

[Porridgeoat]

Race, age, sex.

Read a long time ago that the rates of domestic abuse among the police force are twice that of civilian domestic abuse rate.

[Awwlookatmybabyspider]

Suspended!!!!!. The aught to be arrested.

[OrangeGinLemonFanta]

TheFencePainter "I do wonder what differences are between US and UK police in terms of training, bodies overseeing them and punishment for misconduct."

First off, I know full well the UK police are very far from perfect, I'm not saying that. But (particularly since the G20 clusterfuck) training has a very strong emphasis on facilitating protest, de-escalation, accountable decision making processes (national decision model), and the misconduct and complaints procedures are outlined by national law in England and Wales. (They've recently had a change of legislation). Misconduct is subject to written or final written warnings, gross misconduct is tried publicly by an independent chair, and almost all complaint and all conduct investigations are overseen by the IOPC. Sacked officers are placed on a barred list (publicly searchable) so they can't just go join a different force, and the article linked to above made me about the power of the unions - UK police aren't allowed to unionise, it's illegal. US police also operate under a system where they can't be prosecuted for acts that haven't been held to be illegal previously so they basically have complete impunity. It's a very VERY different policing world.

[Toomboom]

I watched this and just couldn't believe that the police just walked past him when he was on the ground bleeding!!

That poor man, I just hope he recovers. I doubt very much that any of the so called police officers will be charged. They just see to get away with things and have no come back.

[TheFencePainter]

@OrangeGinLemonFanta thank you! I have wondered if the US police has more like an army mentality rather than for the community.
I am just trying to wrap my head around why there would be so much of this bad behaviour.

[Lordfrontpaw]

Why no marches and demos for Breonna? There was only mention of ‘police killing black men’ on a radio interview this morning.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/14/breonna-taylor-louisville-police-shooting-kentucky

[Ughmaybenot]

It makes me fucking sick. I hope he makes a full recovery, what a way to treat another human being.
There’s videos circulating of so many incidents like this, running over a woman protester with a police horse, driving police cars at and making contact with crowds of protesters, pushing people over so they hit their heads with no warning, spraying tear gas at random and it goes on and on and on. And these are just the incidents caught on camera, just the ones caught at the time. The police have proven time and again that covering each other’s arses at any cost is their priority.
And it’s being questioned why people are so angry, why there’s riots, why the anger has boiled over.
I think it makes it even worse that the police behaving like this now, when they know that the world is watching.

To clarify, before anyone says anything, I know it’s not every single police officer... but there’s definitely a high number within their ranks who think this is acceptable and a higher number still of those who will blindly follow orders and cover arse.