Minneapolis Police Shoot Unarmed White Woman To Death - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#14824368
Shooting death of Justine Damond by US police sparks calls for federal investigation

AN Australian woman just weeks away from her wedding was shot dead by police in her adopted new hometown in America’s Midwest after calling 911 for help.

The devastated family and friends of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, 40, on Monday demanded a federal investigation into how she died in her pyjamas late Saturday night.

Ms Damond had called for help after hearing what police said was “a possible assault” in a lane outside her home in southwest Minneapolis. She was killed at 11.30pm by at least one shot from the two officers who responded to the call. Local media reported she was speaking through the door of their patrol car to the driver when the passenger shot her.

A crowd of more than 100 gathered at a vigil yesterday to remember the corporate speaker and meditation teacher, who moved from Sydney’s Northern Beaches three years ago and was to marry US businessman Don Damond, 50, next month.

“This woman was a beautiful light. She was a healer, she was loved, she should be alive — she should still be here,” said neighbour Bethany Bradley.

Damond’s soon-to-be stepson Zach posted a poignant video about his “best friend”, who had previously spoken out about America’s gun culture.

“Basically my mum’s dead because a police officer shot her for reasons I don’t know,” he said.

“America sucks.”

The two officers involved in the shooting were immediately placed on administrative leave while the local Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigates.

Don Damond, the vice president of Little Six Casino, was away on business when his partner was murdered and arrived at their home yesterday afternoon.


We all know the names by heart; Travon Martin, Michael Brown, Phillip Castillo and on and on. For some reason the media in the US only makes a big deal when police shoot black men.
Last edited by maz on 17 Jul 2017 15:22, edited 2 times in total.
#14824375
I will be curious to see what 'facts' come out about this. An officer shooting a woman, for no reason, who was talking to them as they sat in their car seems a little one sided to the point of being too fantastic for me to accept at face value. The mayor called for immediate release of any information, yet the story contains no such information. :?:
#14824379
The lack of information is very odd indeed; as of one article from yesterday, they didn't even want to identify the woman.

I would like to believe that there is a lot more to this story than a police shooting a woman after she called 911.

Usually the media puts the officers on blast when they report on these shootings but I can't find a photo or even a name. My guess is that at least one of the officers is black or Hispanic.

I hope this incident blows up to the point where President Trump is forced to comment.
#14824383
One Degree wrote:I will be curious to see what 'facts' come out about this. An officer shooting a woman, for no reason, who was talking to them as they sat in their car seems a little one sided to the point of being too fantastic for me to accept at face value.

Given how trigger-happy - and, frankly, fucking stupid - American police officers are, that doesn't sound "fantastic" to me at all. We're talking about a country where cops will pull someone over, demand to see their driver's licence, and then shoot them when they go to take it out of their wallet because they "thought they were reaching for a gun". :roll:
#14824389
@Heisenberg
Given how trigger-happy - and, frankly, fucking stupid - American police officers are,


Yes and don't forget, "all Blacks are lazy", and "all Italians are secretly in the Mafia", shall I continue?
Yes, anything is possible when dealing with humans no matter what group they belong to, but the exception is not the rule and should not be our first choice when discussing any group. I prefer to see facts first.
#14824407
skinster wrote:Heisenberg is correct. American cops are out of control.

Hundreds have already been killed by cops this year.


Today is the anniversary of Eric Garner who was choked to death by savage cops.


Yes, and if the police increase their shootings dramatically they may catch up with lawn mowers as a threat to US citizens.
#14824415
I can't stop people from believing what ever they want but the truth is, shit happens and the facts are the number of police shootings, where no crime was involved, are almost non existent. We should look at things from the 'level of risk' and not judge any group by rare horrific acts. Again, I see no difference between blaming the 'police' and blaming 'blacks'. Individuals commit acts, not groups. The idea that prejudice can be erased by prejudice is too absurd for me to understand.
#14824416
No one is accusing cops as a group. The problem is that the individual cops who kill people like this are effectively exempt from any punishment.

If I wanted to kill someone in the US, I would become a cop and then I could shoot them in broad daylight and get away with it.
#14824421
One Degree wrote:Yes and don't forget, "all Blacks are lazy", and "all Italians are secretly in the Mafia", shall I continue?

Yes, American police officers are definitely an oppressed minority group who are routinely subjected to unlawful discrimination and then stereotyped for it. How silly of me to forget that. I suppose I'm a racist now!

One Degree wrote:Yes, anything is possible when dealing with humans no matter what group they belong to, but the exception is not the rule and should not be our first choice when discussing any group.

There certainly seem to be an awful lot of "exceptions to the rule" lately, and not very much condemnation of said "exceptions" by their peers.

One Degree wrote:I prefer to see facts first.

So far, the available facts suggest that a woman was shot in her pyjamas while talking to police officers after making a 911 call to report an assault. No weapon was found at the scene, and, of course, the officers did not have their body cameras switched on - which seems to be a common problem among police officers in Minneapolis:

Police department records indicate there were 420 officers who worked in March and were assigned a body camera on their shifts. The body camera policy is complicated, but essentially every officer who wears a body cam must turn it on while responding to critical incidents, traffic stops and domestic disturbances.

Those records show that on average officers across the city uploaded between 5.2 to 6.1 hours of body camera video footage for the entire month. The seven City Hall officers assigned to wear a body camera averaged 16 hours of uploaded video for the month.


So, I suppose we have to just take their word for it. The same police force where a guy was just acquitted for doing exactly what I referred to in my original post: namely, asking for Philando Castile's licence and then shooting him when he went to take it out of his pocket. Police officers are learning that as long as you scream a lot and exercise no self-control whatsoever, juries will apparently believe that you "feared for your life" when you shot someone pointing a deadly driver's licence at you.
#14824423
Killer-cop-apologists are the worst people, after liberals, but often they are the same. :D

maz wrote:That is a good link skinster. I'll have to bookmark that one.


No problem. I'm glad activists began recording these everyday murders so we can see in black and white just how outrageous cops are in America.
#14824426
Pants-of-dog wrote:No one is accusing cops as a group. The problem is that the individual cops who kill people like this are effectively exempt from any punishment.

If I wanted to kill someone in the US, I would become a cop and then I could shoot them in broad daylight and get away with it.


Trump can not even pass an immigration ban that he has every legal right to do, yet police officers can shoot people and not be held accountable? :?: How is that possible? People are currently using our legal system to prevent the President of the United States from doing things, but you and others say the police are immune. Everyday we see CEO's, movie stars, and government officials arrested. Everyone seems to be subject to our laws except police officers?
Perhaps, they actually did not do anything illegal. Perhaps you have accepted a narrative that has no real basis in fact.

Edit: Do you know how many of these police officers, who were found innocent, were forced to resign by public pressure?
#14824432
@skinster
Show us which cops were convicted for killing the 600 or so people killed by cops this year.

Show us which were forced to resign.

So not only do you not offer any arguments, you ask me to do your research. :?:
Perhaps it'd take for one of your kids to be shot by a cop before you saw what a danger they are to people. Some people are selfish like that.

Brings my children into it, and calls me selfish. Nope, still don't see anything other than "Wah, I want it my way!"
#14824435
You made some dumb claims in your penultimate post and are now complaining when I ask you to provide evidence for them. My arguments can be proven by the link I already provided.

And yes, you are that type of selfish person who is totally oblivious to this shit until it affects you directly, that's exactly the type of person you are. I on the other hand have yet to be murdered by cops, but I see it happen to others, it's recorded almost every day and oh so very common as you can note by other posters ITT.
#14824438
One Degree wrote:So not only do you not offer any arguments, you ask me to do your research.

:lol: HINT: the answer is vanishingly small. I refuse to believe you are this naive.

One researcher reported that there are about 1,000 police shootings each year in the United States.
Black men nearly 3 times as likely to die from police use of force, study says
Between 2005 and April 2017, 80 officers have been arrested on murder or manslaughter charges for on-duty shootings. During that 12-year span, 35% were convicted, while the rest were pending or not convicted, according to work by Philip Stinson, an associate professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

So, over a 12-year period - approximately 12,000 shootings - 80 officers were arrested. Of those, 28 were convicted of murder or manslaughter - a conviction rate of roughly 0.23%.
#14824440
skinster wrote:You made some dumb claims in your penultimate post and are now complaining when I ask you to provide evidence for them. My arguments can be proven by the link I already provided.

And yes, you are that type of selfish person who is totally oblivious to this shit until it affects you directly, that's exactly the type of person you are. I on the other hand have yet to be murdered by cops, but I see it happen to others, it's recorded almost every day and oh so very common as you can note by other posters ITT.


You win. I am already bored with a discussion we have had too many times before. I am not aware of a single officer in these high profile cases who still has his job, but doing the research would take a great deal of time and you would simply ignore it anyway. As far as the type of person you think I am, that is probably totally dependent upon the type of person evaluating me. Humans have a strong tendency to accuse others of their own faults.
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