Discussion for article #247521
Yes. We need more of this. From what I saw in the video, all the deputies did was quickly subdue the man WHO WAS PUNCHED, and haul him out. Seems like that man could have a case, making this disciplinary action an attempt to mitigate the fallout. Frankly, I’m surprised by the move at all.
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So, there you have it, Trump fans:
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Trump tells you to commit violence against protestors and promises to pay your legal fees.
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You respond by sucker-punching an obviously “bad” guy who allegedly flipped off the whole crowd, and had the nerve to be Black while doing it.
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You get charged with assault and battery.
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Trump refuses to pay your legal fees.
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Five cops are suspended without pay, three get demoted and all are on probation for a year.
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Trump walks away as if nothing happened.
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The only concern I would have, if I were you, is what would the sheriff and his deputies have done if it wasn’t videoed and all over the internet?
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Video appears to show McGraw suck-punching Rakeem Jones as he was led out of the rally by security.
“Appears to show”? Really? Shows it plain as day from what I’ve seen. But you “journalists” just keep on trying to find the truth!
And for the non-existent editors at TPM, the term is “sucker-punch”. The standalone “suck” part comes later…in quiet rooms, I’m sure.
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The Deputies Union Rep will argue: “Hey, it was a Ni(CLANG!) getting punched! We HAD to arrest him (and ignore the guy who assaulted him right in front of us) to PROTECT HIM from the crowd. 'Cause we all know that in N.C. that Ni(CLANG!) get lynched for less.”
I shit you not. They will try this.
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“The actions of the deputies and their failures to act in situations such as that which occurred during the Trump rally at the Crown Coliseum have never been and will not ever be tolerated under the policies of this office,” Cumberland County Sheriff Earl “Moose” Butler said in a Wednesday statement on Facebook.
Okay, my head just exploded a little bit.
When I was a boy, sheriff’s with names like “Moose” would have had their deputies beating up the protesters, and a lot more efficiently than this 78-year old amateur did.
Good for Moose.
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DUH!, you would have been charged with resisting arrest, you’d be lucky if they did nothing.
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I suspect these deputies were disappointed they couldn’t administer the beat-down themselves with all the cameras watching.
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The deputies’ defense will be they thought they were at a Klan rally, and were fearful the Grand Wizard red-necked guy leading the rally would have them forcibly removed if they tried to arrest the guy. After all, the deputies are neighbors of these people, and they all may even attend the same churches and actual KKK rallies together.
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What you have to understand is that Cumberland County went for Obama in 2008 and 2012…an elected official (i.e. Sheriff) is inviting trouble if he didn’t get involved…
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Makes sense. The sheriff has been wonderful and his response to all involved should be a model to LEOs dealing with Trump rallies going forward. My only regret is that they couldn’t make a case to arrest Trump, but there’s a lot more ammunition now and I’m sure some other LEO will get sick and tired of his schtick.
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I suspect that at least part of the reason for this action is (as Slagathor suggests) to head off the obvious lawsuit and/or full and frank discussion with the Department of Justice. When uniformed deputies pull a black guy out of an event and don’t even say boo to the white guy who commits assault and battery on him, that’s an awfully good prima facie case under 18 USC 242 (deprivation of civil rights under color of law), with a penalty of up to 10 years in the federal pen.
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Suck-punch-ing v 1. A sado-masochistic sex practice banned in 38 states. 2. The retaliation by a prostitute against a county deputy who refuses to pay for the oral sex he has just received in his squad car.
They were just trying to protect the kid from that meanie who got the drop on him. I think he thought he was playing the knockout game. That old buzzard made a huge mistake when he went on camera and talked about killing. He’s going to jail. A fair fight is one thing, but sucker punching when there’s no threat to you is cowardly.
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Being from Fayetteville, and currently living there…
I am NOT surprised by this. There has been a lot of movement leftward here, and we also have a pretty sizable minority population (whites and African Americans are split almost evenly) and race relations have been a major topic of public debate here for the past few months… Long before trump had to go and make things worse.
Edit: I forgot, “Moose” is a Democrat by the way.
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Because those officers sympathized with the aggressor, that’s why they did nothing. law enforcement and white supremacist have a long and intimate relationship
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What? Trump doesn’t “allow” anyone to assault anyone. He doesn’t have the authority to do that. And he can’t.
In this case a guy heckled Trump and then flipped off the audience. He was being escorted out ( and Trump can ask that be done ) and while in Police custody was assaulted by a red neck. The Cop’s let the assault go and went after the heckler who had commented no crime.
It exploded as it should. A gratuitous arrest was made that fooled no one. And now we have the Cops acting quickly to right this mess.
Black has nothing to do with it. Trump has nothing to do with it. He did not force that kid to heckle. He did not force that red neck to strike and he did not instruct the Cops to fail in their duties. I can’t stand Trump just like everyone else in here but I sure as hell am not going to be like him and bullshit.
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I am stunned that they received punishment. And a demotion is actually pretty severe for a cop. The most I would have expected was a reprimand.
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I wonder if the mouth is going to pay their legal fees too?!
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“Trump has nothing to do with it. He did not force that kid to heckle. He did not force that red neck to strike and he did not instruct the Cops to fail in their duties. I can’t stand Trump just like everyone else in here but I sure as hell am not going to be like him and bullshit.”
Trump has been openly calling for his supporters to punch and beat protesters, to carry them out on a stretcher, and promising to pay their legal fees if they do. He may not have said, ’’somebody punch that particular guy’’, but he has made it clear, since before there was any violence at his rallies, that he supported violence against people who were opposed to him.
As for your claim that you arent “going to be like him and bullshit”, you are papering over his culpability with bullshit, just like he does.
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