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Footage of police shooting of Daniel Shaver made public

Deleted member 8860

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Oct 26, 2017
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WARNING: Graphic content in video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjr0Ts6yORE (jump to the 12 minute mark)
Relevant article: https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...lice-killing-without-a-hint-of-racism/546983/
Relevant article follow-up: https://www.theatlantic.com/politic...lice-killing-that-jurors-didnt-punish/547868/
NBC News article: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...zona-police-officer-not-guilty-murder-n827641

Yesterday (December 7), a jury in Maricopa County (home of the infamous Joe Arpaio) found officer Philip Brailsford not guilty of second degree murder or even of manslaughter, despite this video evidence showing the unarmed Daniel Shaver obeying the officers' commands and begging for his life when he was shot dead.

NB: The officer doing [most of] the shouting was the commanding officer at the scene, not the officer who fired his weapon.

On January 18, 2016, Daniel Shaver, a traveling pest-control worker, was in between shifts at his motel, a La Quinta Inn and Suites in Mesa, Arizona. In the elevator, he met a man and woman who'd just finished their own workdays, the two later testified in court. Did they want to join the 26-year-old Texan for Bacardi shots in his room?

They'd already begun drinking when one of the guests asked about an unmarked case in the corner. Was it musical instrument? No, a pellet gun. He used it at work. His job was to go hunt down birds that had flown into businesses including Walmart. Soon he was standing by his room's window showing off his pellet gun to the man. Down below, two motel guests in the La Quinta Inn and Suites hot tub looked up and saw a man with a gun near a fifth-floor window. Someone called 911.
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A guy who had done nothing illegal is ordered into a motel hallway. Six cops are there with their weapons drawn; he is presumably a bit drunk, which would only add to his alarm and confusion; he is clearly trying to cooperate from the start; but the cops are hostile, yelling at him for trying to ask a question, adding to his fear by shouting that he may not survive, and giving lots of complicated instructions—it isn't enough for the six men with guns that the man is laying on the ground with his hands outstretched and his palms up. They're ordering him to cross his legs with specific instructions for which leg goes on top; they want his eyes closed; they want fingers interlaced on his head.
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"If this situation happened exactly as it did that time, I would have done the same thing," Brailsford said testifying in his Maricopa County Superior Court trial.
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The detective investigating the shooting had agreed Shaver's movement was similar to reaching for a pistol, but has said it also looked as though Shaver was pulling up his loose-fitting basketball shorts that had fallen down as he was ordered to crawl.

The investigator noted he did not see anything that would have prevented officers from simply handcuffing Shaver as he was on the floor.
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There are consequences to America's unique attitude toward police killings. In 2016, at least 50 people were shot and killed by police in Arizona, a state with population of 6.9 million. Over a similar 12-month period in England, population 53 million, just six people were killed by police. (During the prior 12-month period, police shot and killed three people in England.) The total number of police killings in England since 1990 is about the same as the number of people killed by Arizona police last year alone.

The same year that Arizona police killed 50 people in population of 7 million, police in Germany, where the population is 82 million, killed about 13 people.
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RIP Daniel.
Daniel_Shaver.jpg

daniel-shaver-e1459302540512.jpg


Mod edit:
Morrigan said:
People have the right to react angrily to this news, particularly minorities who have legitimate reasons to fear and distrust the police. Feel free to disagree with them and challenge their views, but while we would prefer if everyone avoided sweeping and possibly unfair generalizations about entire groups of people, we will not excessively tone-police those who are reacting strongly to these news, so long as they don't take out their anger on other ERA members. Remember to be civil with one another.
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Admin edit:
Cerium said:
This is where the line is drawn: Do not under any circumstances advocate or excuse violence against the police. If you are so emotional that you cannot exercise that much restraint, then you should not be posting.
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Last edited by a moderator:
Scubamonk

Scubamonk

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,409
Its becoming very clear that trial by jury doesn't work for police. We really need to get an alternative set up because they never get punished.
 

JustinP

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,343
Scubamonk said:
Its becoming very clear that trial by jury doesn't work for police. We really need to get an alternative set up because they never get punished.
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My limited experience with jury duty gave me the impression that prosecutors have a lot of sway in being able to basically pick the jurors they want.
 
Indy in the Fridge

Indy in the Fridge

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Oct 30, 2017
15,278
LiK

LiK

Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,294
It was murder and I'm appalled he was found not guilty. Hope his conscience digs into his fucking skull for killing an innocent man.
 

Deleted member 274

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
7,564
The justice system in this country should just stop pretending cops are subject to any kind of consequence over their actions towards civilians.

Skip the juries and automatically declare them not guilty, at least that would save us some tax $
 
Luchashaq

Luchashaq

Banned
Nov 4, 2017
4,329
Scubamonk said:
Its becoming very clear that trial by jury doesn't work for police. We really need to get an alternative set up because they never get punished.
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I honestly don't think anything short of extreme vigilantism in the name of justice will make any of these fucks think twice. (This would also increase police violence at first as well among other negatives).


Sad af but the vast majority of Americans don't seem to have an issue with African Americans being murdered on a cops whim.
 
Griselbrand

Griselbrand

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,270
Unbelievable.

The guy with the gun and the training can panic and face no consequences while the person with said gun aimed at them has to remain calm at all times or risk his life and people will just shrug and say 'he should have just done what they asked and he'd be fine.'
 
Elegant Weapon

Elegant Weapon

Member
Oct 31, 2017
6,759
This is honestly one of my worst fears. I've had nightmares about Cops surrounding me with guns drawn, probably because it's happened in real life.

This fucking cop had "you're fucked etched on his gun"..? Fuck man, you know these fuckers are out for blood and they know they'll get away with killing anyone they want.

Fuck the police
 
Indy in the Fridge

Indy in the Fridge

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
15,278
Hollywood Duo said:
It's a news story, I assume all the relevant info is in the OP.
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C'mon, man. It takes 2 minutes of your time...

Shaver worked in pest control and was with friends. While drinking, he showed off a pellet gun used to kill insects. Think of those salt shotguns that you can use to kill flies. Unfortunately, he waved it outside a window where a passerby saw, who contacted the hotel, who then contacted police. Then this occurred.
 
Hollywood Duo

Hollywood Duo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
43,265
daveo42 said:
Been white.
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He was white?

Indy in the Fridge said:
C'mon, man. It takes 2 minutes of your time...

Shaver worked in pest control and was with friends. While drinking, he showed off a pellet gun used to kill insects. Think of those salt shotguns that you can use to kill flies. Unfortunately, he waved it outside a window where a passerby saw, who contacted the hotel, who then contacted police. Then this occurred.
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Well I just watched about 12 minutes of video footage. Thank you for clarifying. The initial response by the cops makes a little more sense although their shooting is completely unjustified.
 
shaneo632

shaneo632

Weekend Planner
Member
Oct 29, 2017
29,385
Wrexham, Wales
Guy was a total idiot for using the air rifle like that, and the reaching to his waist was incredibly suspect, but the cops also come off as hugely over-aggressive meathead assholes.

EDIT: Body cam footage really needs to be public record as much as possible. All this sealing crap is just blatant corruption.
 
FireSafetyBear

FireSafetyBear

Banned for use of an alt-account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,248
You shouldn't be a cop if you can't handle a simple waist pull up without firing your weapon.
 
mangopositive

mangopositive

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
2,487
American cops are fucking pussies. May karma visit that douche bag murderer with claws and other sharp pointy things.
 
GK86

GK86

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,022
Here is a thought, maybe six assholes who can even open a fucking hotel door shouldn't be holding and firing assault rifles.

Fuck the police. Murder, plain and simple.
 

jaxom

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
122
shaneo632 said:
and the reaching to his waist was incredibly suspect,
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Come on, in any normal country on earth, a suspect movement is not enough to be killed by 6 policemen armed and equipped with guns already aimed. They have time to confirm their suspicion before firing ... they are already aiming and ready, wait a bloody second more to see if you see a gun...

Not even speaking about the fact they had more than enough time to handcuff him...
 
mjc

mjc

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
5,918
Cops could have easily told him to hold position face down on the ground and cuff him.

Sickening.
 
ViviOggi

ViviOggi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
354
Even before the murder, why are US cops allowed to power trip like that in the first place? "NOW CRAWL TOWARDS ME" surely isn't protocol when you have the subject cooperating and down on the ground already? So disgusted right now
 
Big Baybee

Big Baybee

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,874
This is messed up. Fuck it, if I'm ever in a similar situation I'm laying flat, legs crossed, arms out and not moving. Not doing any bullshit commands like fucking crawl to me. Nope. If you are going to shoot me for any slight movement, I'm not going to fucking move at all.
 
Sayre

Sayre

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
729
I would suggest everyone to listen to RadioLab's story about why the police are usually found not guilty in these trials:
http://www.wnyc.org/story/mr-graham-and-reasonable-man

The short version is that the jury is instructed whether it was "reasonable" in that split second ignoring all other context outside of that second whether he had a gun or not. So ignoring whether the cops tried deescalating, whether the suspect is actually innocent and haven't done anything.

So in that blip in time, a person is seen reaching to his pants, Is it reasonable for a cop to assume that he is reaching for a gun?

I've always wondered why a jury of your peers always find cops innocent besides bias. It's really a sad state of affairs and I hope that there is change.
 
bane833

bane833

Banned
Nov 3, 2017
4,530
Always wanted to visit the US some day but not going to happen anytime soon. This police behaviour is what you'd expect from a straight up third world country.
 
jmood88

jmood88

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,529
Scubamonk said:
Its becoming very clear that trial by jury doesn't work for police. We really need to get an alternative set up because they never get punished.
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This is why I'm always skeptical of the belief that civilian review boards will help fix issues with police brutality. The problem is that the police have been lionized and too many people buy into the idea that they have to be scared for their lives in every situation they find themselves.
 
FFNB

FFNB

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Verified
Oct 25, 2017
6,319
Los Angeles, CA
Fucking awful. No desire to watch the video. It's clear to me that jury's have a fucking awful blind spot when it comes to police shootings. Justice is almost never served, and when it is, it's an exception to the rule.

This case makes me sad.
 
DeaconKnowledge

DeaconKnowledge

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,255
I scrolled to the 12 minute mark and saw the dude lie face down on the ground with an assault rifle pointed at him and I had to shut it off. I can't take watching cops execute people. American cops are trained to shoot when they pull their guns regardless of the situation. That is very clear.
 
Transhuman

Transhuman

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
380
Things like this remind me how much I take my country's gun control for granted. If something like that happened in Australia, it would be news for months, honestly maybe even years.

In America, this is such a under-the-radar event that it happened 2 years ago and this is the first time most of you have even heard about it.
 
Greg NYC3

Greg NYC3

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,772
Miami
Part of what's been bothering me so much about this issue lately is how it's being framed purely as a "white/black" issue when while African Americans are disproportionately effected by police shootings it's beyond a racial issue and is a societal issue in regards to the inability of the public to hold police officers to the same standards of responsibility as civilians. In fact it always appears that these jurors expect the victims to behave more responsibly. Painting this as only an issue of black people vs white cops allows a lot of people to handwave away the problem due to their own prejudice when I haven't seen any evidence that justice is served when the victims of these shootings are white either.
 
ChubbyHuggs

ChubbyHuggs

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,262
What a fucking power trip. There was nothing stopping them from just walking over and handcuffing them.
 
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