stepping into the car that holds his children . . .
under what circumstances would shooting a man in the back eight times at close range be a reasonable action for a police officer?
are men in uniform not held responsible?
silence
the long whir of the fan
into the night
.
.
©️2020 Ontheland
Researchers have collected stats about police shootings in the United States. The hundreds of people killed by police each year (many unarmed) and the disproportionate number of black victims is troubling.
Here are two informative links:
Report of Police Integrity Research Group, Bowling Green State University
Ontheland 
There’s no way to express the horror and tragedy of this, but thank you for trying. There are no circumstances where this would be OK.
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I can’t think of any circumstances either …except very extreme scenarios of immediate danger(such as a nuclear weapon) which obviously was not part of this situation…mere suspension of the perpetrators seems ridiculous. They should be in jail, but police rarely get convicted even when charged.
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All very true.
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We have the same silence here in Australia. The police have too much power.
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Yes, and here in Canada racism and police violence are also a problem. I agree with those that suggest that the whole concept of policing needs to be reformed. Everyone should feel safe and protected while people of colour and other marginalized ‘groups’ often feel threatened. I’m sick of hearing about police brutality. The only good thing is that perhaps more of these incidents are coming to light because more people are speaking up and because cell phones allow video recording which unlike witness accounts cannot be as easily denied.
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Yes, I agree with everything you’ve said here.
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Now why does that make me think of In the Heat of the Night, I wonder? Well said. How many more centuries is it going to take for a fully integrated society to happen?
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A scary question … among many more we could ask and I could start stringing out “if onlys” but I’ll abstain.
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It’s unfathomable.
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It is frightening… and I hope the situation doesn’t escalate further. Dangerous times. From afar, it is possibly wrong for me to be critical but it does seem as if one wears a uniform you can use a gun as the first tactic, sadly go often its the last.
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Another terrible tragic death
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It is terrible and tragic. Amazingly the young man, Jacob Blake, is alive though paralyzed from the waist down. I have just read that he is chained to the bed. The insanity of this whole situation is endless.
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Awful.
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