Constitutional Law, Criminal law

Ferguson Officer Suspended After Captured On Video Pointing Weapon At Protesters and Threatening To Kill Them

1408576057271_wps_9_UPDATE_The_St_Ann_Police_The St. Louis County Police Department has announced the suspension of an officer who was seen pointing a semi-automatic assault rifle at a Ferguson, Missouri, protester and threatening to kill him. The confrontation occurred during the protests and looting following the shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. [Warning: foul language]

The confrontation was caught on video, as shown below. The officer can be seen walking around with his assault rifle raised and pointing the weapon at protesters while saying “I’m going to fucking kill you. Get back. Get back.” When asked for his name, the officer is heard to say “Go fuck yourself.” He was later led away by another officer who appeared to get him to lower his weapon.

The police issued a statement that”The unified command strongly feel these actions are inappropriate, and not indicative of the officers who have worked daily to keep the peace.”

He has been “relieved of duty and suspended indefinitely”

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/20/us/missouri-police-officer-suspended/index.html?hpt=ju_c1

292 thoughts on “Ferguson Officer Suspended After Captured On Video Pointing Weapon At Protesters and Threatening To Kill Them”

  1. Karen S
    It’s reported that it used to make her vomit after every performance. I can’t get through it without crying either.

  2. Max:

    That Nina Simone rendition of Strange Fruit makes me cry every time. I can’t even listen to it, even though she sings it beautifully, and haunting.

  3. Squeeky:

    “That is part of it. The other part is that he had to have a government structure which included many powers, and hardly any restrictions.”

    Agreed. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely. It gave him the scope to really run amuck.

  4. SWM:

    “Most of the time I lived in Texas the rumor was that Rick Perry was gay. There was a cash offer made for someone to come forward, but no one did.”

    Do you recall the obsessive backlash when that rumor was repeated that Hillary is supposedly gay? The rumor was started by one of the (many) former lovers of Bill Clinton, as something he said, so who knows if it’s true.

    But as I recall, there was extreme pushback that it was beyond the pale of normal to even question such a thing. And I asked people if they ever talked about gay rumors of conservatives, especially those with cash prizes if they’re proven true.

    Well, here we go. Several people have wondered if Rick Perry is gay, and remarked on a cash prize if it’s proven. I’m still waiting for the berserk firestorm of outrage at the question even being asked.

    Or is it yet again “one way for thee, another for me?”

    Personally, I don’t care about his sexuality in the least either way, although I would be curious. But I don’t follow Perry.

  5. @karens

    You said: “Your point, as I understood it, was not that Hitler was a real stand up guy. It was that he was a well-trained orator that managed to enthrall an entire nation, until they were swept up in unspeakable horrors and it was too late to stop it, unless they joined an underground movement.”

    That is part of it. The other part is that he had to have a government structure which included many powers, and hardly any restrictions. For example, we have a “free press” here, and even though they usually seem to parrot whatever the leftist policy is, they theoretically could come to life at any point and actually do their jobs. Plus, we now have bloggers who are able to disseminate information.

    But in Germany, any papers who disagreed with Hitler at some point became unable to continue to criticize him through legal and extra-legal pressure. Similarly, Hitler legally disarmed the Jews before he began the wholesale roundups. Here, we have a Second Amendment, for the time being.

    Sooo, those who think a new Hitler with stick out like a sore thumb because of all the evil vibes emanating from him, will be looking for a devil. OTOH, I will be watching for people who try to use the government to deprive me of my constitutional rights, such as those contained in the First and Second Amendments. Because with those protections, a new Hitler will have an uphill battle.

    For example, people who try to force bloggers out of their anonymity. People who support government agencies discriminating against certain political viewpoints. Or try to force preachers to conform to some secular propaganda. People who try to deprive us of our Second Amendment rights, or try to pressure us into thought conformity.

    I bet my method will catch the next Hitler, before the Devil Hunters’ methods.

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

  6. wrxdave:

    “This does not mean they may not be rehabilitated, it means that their intent and their actions to carry it out is simply evil. Intrisically evil.”

    I agree. Anyone who desires such a thing has allowed evil to take root and grow in their hearts.

    And eugenics was very popular in CA. In fact, Goebels travelled here and was inspired. They used to forcibly sterilize gays, the deaf, anyone with disabilities, and girls and boys who were sneaking around. The doctors determined who were unfit, not the parents, in most cases.

  7. Squeeky:

    I’m just wondering if the same people who’ve called you a White Supremecist and a Hitler Admirer would also consider the class you took on Great Speakers, which included Hitler, as White Supremacist? Are they going to hold a protest at the university?

    I recall once reading an interesting discussion on one of the propaganda photographers under Hiter. There was a great debate on whether or not to display her landscape work, which was universally admired as stunning, because she was justly tainted by her active support of the Reich.

    The debate was whether you could separate the serious failings of the artist from their work, or whether the work could stand alone.

    I felt that I could not enjoy her work because of the evil she had done. I cannot separate the artist from the work, and so it was ruined for me. If I never knew the backstory, I would have just loved many of her photographs.

    But, according to the standard of some of the people here, any discussion at all about what a great artist she was, and the connection between artist and work, would be labelled “White Supremist” or “racist.”

    Your point, as I understood it, was not that Hitler was a real stand up guy. It was that he was a well-trained orator that managed to enthrall an entire nation, until they were swept up in unspeakable horrors and it was too late to stop it, unless they joined an underground movement.

    It is a warning so that history does not repeat itself. If we dismiss Hitler as an evil buffoon, almost a caricature, we do not fear the rise of his replacement. But if we understand that a smooth orator can capture popular support and still have evil intent and terrible character flaws, we can always guard against our leaders gathering too much power to themselves. Because they typically do not lay down the powers they usurp, and either they, or their successors, can become a tyrant.

    1. Karen S – I think the photographer you were commenting about is leni riefenstahl, the brilliant cinematographer. Her work set new standards in film. She was responsible for the film “Triumph of the Will.” But her best film is ‘Olympia’ which is rarely seen. She always contended that she was apolitical and no one was able to prove otherwise, but Triumph of the Will both made her as an artist and destroyed her international career. However, if you want to see her at the top of her game, track down Olympia (a documentary on the 1936 Olympics). For the females who read this, Leni loves to photograph the near-naked male body. 🙂

  9. John Oliver,
    I agree. This can be a nexus for change alright…
    … If the disenfranchisement train would just let up a bit.

    Voter Registration Drives in Ferguson Are “Disgusting,” Says Missouri GOP Leader
    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/head-missouri-gop-calls-voter-registration-drives-ferguson-disgusting
    Voter turnout was just 12 percent in Ferguson’s last municipal election, and in a city that’s 60 percent black, virtually all city officials are white. In December, the black superintendent of the Ferguson-Florissant school district was fired by the then all-white school board, and the longtime St. Louis county executive, who is black, recently lost his seat to a white opponent in a race seen as “racially charged.” “Five thousand new voters will transform the city from top to bottom,” said Jesse Jackson Sr., who told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Monday that he was meeting with local clergy to organize a door-to-door voter registration drive.

    But the prospect of more registered black voters has greatly perturbed the executive director of Missouri’s Republican Party, Matt Wills, who expressed outrage at the new registration booths to Breitbart News Monday:

    “If that’s not fanning the political flames, I don’t know what is,” Wills said. “I think it’s not only disgusting but completely inappropriate…Injecting race into this conversation and into this tragedy, not only is not helpful, but it doesn’t help a continued conversation of justice and peace.”
    (continued)

    2. Max-1 – I am always disgusted by racially charged voter drives, does not make any difference the race. So, I find the immediate death of Brown being used as an voter drive impetus to be disgusting. However, Jesse Jackson is known for ‘waving the bloody shirt.’

  11. What “Hitler admiration?

    Squeeky pointed out that absolute power corrupts, absolutely.

    Take anyone and make him a dictator for life, with zero responsibility, and he’ll become a tyrant with a forum for all his prejudices and flaws to grow in evil and scope.

    Why do you think the Founding Fathers created the separation of powers as a safeguard against an Imperial President? They’d lived under a tyrant and wanted better for the US.

  15. Max-1,
    That’s all the more reason for the community to participate in elections and to do what they need to do to qualify for service in law enforcement. IMO, we have a large percentage of the population that has been conditioned to believe they are victims and therefore aren’t responsible for their lot in life. Instead of fueling that paradigm, why not teach them how to break out of this cycle of dependency? If we are going to foment this kind of divisiveness then we aren’t much better than Hamas.

Comments are closed.