Discussion for article #228599
So the neighbor has managed not to see this kid going in or out of this house once in four months, but was lucky enough to spot that black kid breaking in at just the right moment! And it really sucks that this young man’s sense of belonging has been damaged by this, it’s hard enough for foster kids without being afraid they’ll be pepper sprayed in what’s supposed to be their own homes.
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Same as it ever was. The difference now is that we have enough low-cost media outlets and video cameras to better broadcast Standard Racist Constabulary Overreach™. It’s everywhere, from populated urban sites to hicksville. Please notice how cops everywhere use the same lame excuses for their unprofessional behavior.
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“The police also told the TV station that the neighborhood has recently been the target of criminal activity.”
And neither the tv station nor TPM nor the rest of the MSM will check on the veracity of that claim.
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Whom should they ask for verification? The police?
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The police also told the TV station that the neighborhood has recently been the target of criminal activity.
Of course!!!
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It is always, always, always the victims fault the police beat, attacked, or killed them. The baby that had a flash grenade thrown in his crib had it coming, he should’ve followed directions. The girl who was shot and killed by police while sleeping in her bed had it coming too. She should’ve slept on her stomach.
The police also told the TV station that the neighborhood has recently been the target of criminal activity.
That’s really pretty irrelevant. Because there have been break-ins in a neighborhood doesn’t give the police the right to harass and assault innocent people.
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WTVD reported that the Fuquay-Varina police department released a statement saying officers responded to reports of criminal activity and pepper-sprayed Currie after he refused to follow their directions. The police also told the TV station that the neighborhood has recently been the target of criminal activity.
Gee, all that’s missing is a video of Currie stealing cigars from a QT and them saying he was moving in a threatening manner.
This kid’s sense of belonging is ruined and I’m not sure that can ever be rectified.
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Sure. Unless they’re willing to fake police reports, then they’d either have to hand them over as public documents and say “see, told ya so” or admit they actually don’t have them. As cynical as I generally am, I’m not about to simply assume the police department is going to go inventing a number of police reports regarding reports of criminal activity in the neighborhood just to make excuses for themselves pepperspraying some black kid, especially in NC where I’m 100% certain they think it was just fine and dandy to spray this kid silly. And if they did fake the reports, I have some faith that they’d be caught in the fabrication pretty quickly.
Seriusly. Think these things through before simply going with the knee-jerk conspiracy theory stuff. I mean, I’ll be the first to say I’m no fan of the po-po and that I’m enraged by the constant stream of reports like this one, or the one yesterday about the dude who got tazed after the busted his car window, but you have to keep it all at least somewhat tethered to reality.
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I suspect this “good Samaritan” neighbor was just itching for an opportunity to pursue a racist agenda.
When we first moved into a house, a new neighbor told me that she thought the racist covenents from the 1920s, banning Asian- and African-Americans from living in the neighborhood, should be enforced! And of course she can’t be racist because she’s Hispanic, she claims!!
Pepper spray that neighbor who made a false police report, please!
Oh, that’s right, this is North Carolina so they’ll give the racist neighbor a medal…
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How’s that working out in Ferguson? Tethered to reality?
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Whose reality? White folks are real?
First thought I had, too. Assuming you’re talking about the hinky voter registration stuff.
On a positive note, the police showed restraint in not killing the young man. 
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I’m referring to the handling of the Michael Brown case by the Ferguson police department. Then there’s the hinky voter registration stuff.
From the 80s. (The reference to SPG is about a particularly violent unit widely known as Maggie’s Stormtroopers)
Failure to immediately and fully comply with each and every contradictory command screamed at you by an amped up cops is just grounds for the use of force.
“FREEZE! HANDS ON YOUR HEAD!!! DON’T MOVE!!! LET’S SEE SOME I.D.!!! SHUT UP!!! ANSWER MY QUESTION!!! DOWN ON THE GROUND!!! HANDS ON THE WALL!!! ON YOUR KNEES!!! STAND UP!!! SIT DOWN!!! STAND ON ONE LEG!!! I TOLD YOU NOT TO MOVE!!!”
Whatever other cultural factors are in play, it just seems like something has gone systemically wrong with law enforcement education in this country.
Postscript:
And just to amplify, what I mean is that there just seems to be an extreme, and I use that word advisedly, emphasis on putting the cop’s personal safety over the rights, lives and property of the people they’re supposed to be serving and protecting. That’s a statement that can easily be twisted out of context. Nobody wants cops to get injured or put themselves into unnecessary danger, but it seems like the training emphasizes emptying your gun into anyone at the slightest false movement or treating every episode of non-compliance as a situation that will inevitably escalate into violence and thus must be preempted by quick resort to pepper spray or beatings.
It’s so widespread and consistent, it can’t be just a local culture thing. It has to be coming from the college law enforcement programs most cops go through these days and from the police academies staffed by their graduates. And the way cops respond after an episode like this indicates the total lack of awareness of a problem that only the convictions created by training can create.
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And if the neighbor had seen a white kid going into the house … isn’t it nice that the SCOTUS has declared racism dead?
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Goddamn! Fucking racist cops. I’m practically speechless.
And he was in his own home!!!
Professor Gates redux, only with pepper spray.
Bet there won’t be a beer summit with this young man.
Sue the bastards.
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I’ve been to Fuquay-Varina.
It’s a small town with more than its share of barely-suppressed racism.
If there has been “criminal behavior” recently, it was unlikely to have been caused by the very small number of non-white people there (only about 19% of the population of 18,000 is black). The population has almost doubled since 2000, leading to some angst among the native population.
It’s on the western edge of Wake County, which also includes Raleigh, Apex, and Wake Forest.
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