On LAPD shooting, take a broader view

[KamaAina]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/02/opinion/perry-lapd-police-shooting/index.html

Over the weekend, Los Angeles Police Department officers shot a man known as "Africa." The killing was caught on video by bystanders as well as by currently un-released body-cam and surveillance cameras. There are ongoing protests and an official investigation into the shooting has been launched....

Indeed the media and the investigation will likely focus on whether Africa was reaching for an officer's gun when he got killed.

This is the wrong question. Instead, we need to look at why the officers decided to begin the encounter by aggressively charging into the victim's tent, dragging him out, and demanding compliance.

Africa was unarmed, homeless, African-American, and disabled. When these factors intersect in a single individual, as we've recently seen with high-profile case like the deaths of Eric Garner and Kajieme Powell, encounters with police too often escalate out of control.

Okay, who hacked CNN's website?

[uponit7771]

2. Some idiot dropped the tasor on the guy who was being beat by the police and they thought it was...

... a gun and killed the guy..

[HuckleB]

3. EXACTLY! And put in the context of the thousands of police killings in this country...

... it's time for people to wake up.

I know. I hate using that tired phrase, myself. (Yes, terminology was used purposefully.)

Still...

[uppityperson]

4. k&r

[safeinOhio]

5. Hope someone can find a close relative

to contact concerning the $50 million lawsuit. When big pays outs hit, they find it cheaper to follow the law.