lolgaxe wrote:
idiggory wrote:
proved by this video.
That's really the problem with videos. It doesn't
prove anything. You don't know what was really going on before they started recording. You don't know if they were throwing things, or were being belligerent, or if that barricade that was being built wasn't in actuality being
rebuilt because it was torn down. Hell, you don't even know what is really going on
during the video. You know how easy it is to hide a weapon on the body? Also, you want the police to risk their own lives when someone shows them something that looks like a weapon? If someone pulls up their shirt slightly and I see a handle, I'm taking the fu
cker out. That's how it works for all law enforcement. Doesn't matter if it ends up being a lighter or a bladeless knife. You also don't seem to understand that people who are out to make a point aren't always innocent.
Like I said, numerous times, the video makes the police look like villains, but automatically assuming they
are villains is exactly what those videos are intended to do. That is brainwashing.
Anything happening before the video begins is irrelevant--by law, police have no right to use pepper spray outside of an immediate threat to themselves or others. If there's a 1-4 minutes gap between an unruly event and the actual spray (during which, the people weren't even struggling), then he's still lost all right to use the weapon.
If it was a case of a concealed weapon, then it makes absolutely no sense for the lieutenant to just walk away afterwards. He doesn't even bother to talk to the cops right there, who stay right there. If they had a weapon, his first impulse should be to have them restrained.
Furthermore, his use of the spray was clearly not intended to target one person, he sprays it in a wide arc, hitting at least 4 people in the crowd and at least 1 cop standing outside the barricade.
Frankly, it's hard to see how he could have been using the spray for anything but crowd control. And that is absolutely unacceptable.
I get that the videos all obviously want to paint the cop as the bad guy. But that doesn't mean the cop wasn't the bad guy. I've watched 7-10 different versions of the video (which capture the scene from many different angles for at least a minute ahead of the event), trying to pay close attention to what the victims were doing before hand. The answer is literally nothing criminal.
None of these videos were made with foreknowledge, and none of them show any signs of editing in any form. For there to be so many separate versions that confirm the testimonies of the victims, yet still dismiss their claims as being unlikely, is absurd. It would be nice for the police to provide their side of the story, sure, but the fact that the story they DID provide absolutely doesn't mesh with the videos available just casts more doubt on their side.