Quote Originally Posted by bae View Post
I think it has always pretty much been the case in this country that laying hands on someone else is considered assault and battery, and when force and intimidation are used like this to steal property, that's robbery.

As to your understanding of use of force, when it is appropriate, and how people are trained, I suspect you are misinformed and lack understanding. (For instance, I'd be curious to hear if there was any struggle before the shooting, or any perception by the officer of an assault on his person. Or did the officer simply decide out of the blue to gun down this young man for fun? It'd be handy if someone had video, for instance, so we could see the body language and movement...)

As to the exact circumstances, the facts matter. Facebook and Twitter aren't facts, or evidence.
Something interesting here Bae that ties into your last sentence. Today in USA Today there is an article stating that due to social media, the Ferguson police lost control of this story. Thank Goodness. Based as I said above on their behavior back in 2009, I'm glad social media is here to stifle them a bit and put them much more quickly in their place. This amazes me as prior to this I was not a great fan of social media but I'm starting to see what positive uses it can have. It can transfer power and weaken former power bases - in some cases, a very good thing indeed. Were it not for twitter and Facebook and the Internet in general, were we back in 1985 or so, who knows what the police could have gotten away with? Now there can be no real hiding as the world knows.....In this case, a good thing. Though the officer that was involved? Due partly to social media, his life is now ruined, at least the life he's had up to now with stable employment as a law enforcement officer. Rob