Maybe we've all been wrong and there is equal treatment under the law in the U.S. What those cops did is little different than what black folks have been telling folks for decades is how cops respond to them in spite of the suspect not posing a treat to anyone's life and limb.
Police violence of the sort depicted in the video. I hope the "Oregon situation" convinces more folks that what blacks have averred for so long is in fact true. Though it's often characterised as a racial issue, it's not. It's a "cops abusing their power" or "cops being cruel, stupid, rash, and arrogant" issue.
If someone, in a confrontation with the police, reaches into their jacket, (where the police later found a gun of course), what should the rules of engagement be? Wait for him to pull the gun out and start shooting before they respond? Say, I've got an idea!
How about you don't provoke a violent confrontation in the first place?
What is it about this situation that you feel reflects an abuse of police power?
Red:
That would be my solution approach.
Blue:
It looked to me like the man was out of his vehicle and not doing anything that merited the cops taking multiple "center of mass" shots at him. Given what I could tell from what I saw, the nature and extent of force the cops used to ensure their own safety and subdue Finicum exceeded what was necessary at the time. To me, the guns and the cops' authority to have and use them is the power they exerted. Using that power, in those circumstances shown on when the man was first shot, to kill, rather than maim, the man is excessive, thus abusive.
Overall,
I believe most cops are not possessed of particularly high mental acuity. In recognition of that, were I to find myself interacting with one, let alone several, of them, I'd deal with them with that, along with my own survival, in mind. To me, what that means is to refrain from physical motion except as directed, or at least making the cop(s) aware of what any motion I make aims to do.
(I think. given the role they have, cops should all be well above average intelligence, but I also suspect cops aren't paid highly enough to make that happen.)
All the memorable interactions I've had with cops while they were performing their jobs has been re: traffic matters. Within the past decade in the U.S I've had two such encounters.....
- I got pulled over and the cop said she did so because I "accelerated too quickly." She and I both knew I had not exceeded the posted speed limit nor was I driving in a manner unsafe for the road conditions. Upon being given the opportunity to speak, my remarks to her were, "Either give me a ticket for accelerating too quickly, or let me go, or arrest me, but I'm not going to discuss the matter with you either way. I will immediately request to call my attorney if you opt to arrest me and I have no comment until my attorney (or a surrogate) arrives." She told me to have a good day and drive safely.
- I got pulled over after a cop driving an unmarked car who got so close on my rear that I could no longer see the headlights of his car. I thought it might be a carjacker, so I "brake checked" him at which point he turned on his flashing lights. He approached me and proceed to yell at the top of his lungs, gesture wildly with his arms and body, telling me about causing an accident. When he finally stopped screaming, I told him what was going through my mind.
I stated that given the recent news stories about carjackers approaching cars and tapping the rear bumper to get the driver to stop and walk to the rear of the car to examine the damage, whereupon the carjacker hops into the car and drives off, I was concerned that he was a carjacker (I was driving a $100K+ car) and I wanted to make sure that if they took my car, their's would be undriveable, or at least readily identifiable. I also directed his gaze to my "infotainment" screen that showed I had 911 at the ready to call for help. I stated that I didn't call 911 because he activated his flashers and delivered a short siren burst after I "brake checked" him.
He stated that he could take me to the police station, detain me, and impound my car. I told him to do so if he felt that be what he must do, for I would not resist, but whereas he has the authority to do that, I have my rights, and that I would be more than willing to make time to, by holding my rights and judgment up against his authority and judgment, convert the incident into something more than it need be if that's route he opted to pursue. He requested my license and registration, which I'd proffered the whole time, and upon returning to my car door, he returned them and huffed, "Drive safely," and walked away.
In the scheme of things, those two incidents illustrate minor abuses of police authority, but abuses all the same. In case #1, the abuses was merely pulling me over for a frivolous reason. In case #2, the cop visibly and orally lost professional control and abused his power by (1) yelling at me, and (2) attempting to use his police authority/ability to inconvenience me as a means of cowing me into silence and deference.
I am sure the "second" cop was pissed about nearly running into the rear of my car, but he's a cop as much as he's a person. Unlike the rest of us, cops, at least while on duty, to sublimate their emotion to reason. He did nothing of the sort.
