Reply To: Police Brutality and Possible Racism

Sam2:

Funny, I thought the exact opposite. In Louisiana, two officers were in middle of a struggle with a black man that somebody had reported was brandishing a gun; it is somewhat understandable why the officers would feel threatened.

But in Minnesota, the preliminary reports seem to show a different picture. This guy was sitting in his car after being pulled over for a busted taillight, and the officer asked him for his license and registration. While reaching for his license, as the officer had told him to, he mentioned that he had a firearm. (Which was probably not the best timing for that statement.) The officer responded by firing four shots while screaming “Don’t move!” Now, the devil here is in the details about whether the officer yelled “Don’t move!” first or shot first. But either way, I don’t think the officer should have felt a need fire in this case, certainly seeing as he had just instructed this man to take out his license.

Now, I don’t think that there is any evidence that racism played a role here; but it does seem that these cops were a little too trigger-happy on what should have been a routine traffic stop.