Let’s discuss it – Shooting in Madison

[moparkid25]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, which isn’t a bad thing, you have heard about the officer involved shooting that took place Friday evening in Madison. Protests started almost immediately, as the victim was a 19 y/o African American male.

The officer who shot the subject was also involved in another shooting in 2007, that he was cleared of any wrong-doing as the former police chief deemed the incident Suicide by Cop.

The young man who was shot has a felony record for burglary, but according to friends and family, he was a good person who turned his life around.

I’m not a reporter, and there is plenty of other details related to help one make their own decisions regarding this situation.

My questions are:

1. If this was a black cop who shot a white subject, would people protest in outrage?
2. Where are these concerned protesters when black gang members are shooting at each other in the parking lot of West Towne Mall?
3. What time does Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton arrive at Truax?
4. If Obama had a son, would he look like Tony Robinson?

Here is my feelings on the incident:

No one should ever want to take another persons life. However, if you attack an armed police officer by hitting him in the head and knocking him to the ground, expect to receive the worst of consequences. The medical examiner will be performing a toxicology test, and given the reports of the call-in, I think it would be in the best interest of those outraged to wait for the test results as this young man may or may not have been under the influence of something. Do I think that will sway anyone’s outlook on the ordeal? Of course not, people want to protest. Welcome to Ferguson, WI.

If black lives matter, do white lives matter? Do Native American lives matter? Do Asian lives matter? Again, the media would not report any of this had this young fella been anything other than black.

The fact that this officer was previously involved in a shooting will not help the situation. Or the fact he’s white.

In my post, have you noticed how much mention I have made to color. This is because the race card is overplayed way too much. To quote Rodney King, “Can’t we all just get along?” Why does the color of one’s skin even play a factor anymore? Are we not all people? 50 years ago, the phrase ‘White Priviledge’ was a real thing. We as human beings have come along way thanks to guys like MLK, Jr. Yeah, those with closed minds still hide under a white hood… Or a black beret for that matter. When tradegies like this happen, it’s race bait for guys like Jackson and Sharpton. It saddens me that race plays a factor in the 21st century, in every situation.

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[Gunner]

Well said! I think you addressed most of the issues. Like many, I am waiting for additional info on exactly what happened. DCI is still investigating and hasn’t released any additional info, although the Attorney General has promised a transparent proceeding.

I am concerned that the Chief of Police seems to be throwing the officer involved in the shooting, under the bus. This started early on. Who is going to advocate for the police officer? And, I’m sure that if someone like me (a private citizen) can see and sense this, what are the rank and file officers of MPD thinking?

[circletrack]

Since this kid went to Sun Prairie schools, we have been getting calls and emails from the district all weekend.

I think you said it all, but will add – his family is making him out to be an innocent kid who never did anything wrong. While no one should be shot five times, none of us will never know what really happened on Friday except for the two people involved, and one of them is dead. This kid was a convicted felon, and should have been in jail instead of out on probation, which he just started serving – he knew right from wrong and possibly made the wrong decision. He was also the father of a 1 year old he wanted nothing to do with, doesn’t sound like an ideal citizen.

More information will come out soon, the race card should not come into play. It shouldn’t matter what color or race you are, we’re all taught to obey the law, the officer was doing what he was trained to do – his job. I feel for both families, they have been changed forever, this didn’t need to happen.

[jonmandude]

Here are my thoughts on this. And I won’t hold back

They always say “he was a good kid who was turning his life around”…Bullshit. He was arrested for an ARMED home invasion and burglery. ARMED! And he plead guilty. He was sentenced to 6 months in prison and was given a suspended sentence. Gee, if the law is so hard on black people and “whitey” always gets breaks, it sure does seem like this kid got a break.

Now the reports I have read..He was running between cars on Williamson St and tried to choke two of his friends, which is why the police were called. He then went into an apartment where (from what I have read) he was trying to strangle his girlfriend when the police arrived. The officer kicked in the door when he heard a struggle inside. Once inside the boy punched the cop in the head and knocked him to the ground. Then the officer fired his weapon striking the young man 5 times.

Now that does not sound like a “good kid who was turning his life around” that sounds like a punk headed for trouble.

The initial radio calls said the “no weapon has been spotted”….now this DOES NOT MEAN UNARMED!! This simply means that when the police were called, they asked if he had a weapon and were told “didn’t see one”.

This young man has a record for using a weapon in his class C felony and the call reported violent and erratic behavior (running between cars and choking his friends). As for the whole unarmed thing..Once he was inside he was “armed” in my book. There are any number of weapons inside every single residence on this planet. Do you have knives? Yep weapon. A lamp can be used as a blunt object to hit someone with, or a book, or a shoe, or any number of objects. Just because the initial call said a weapon was not seen, does not mean he didn’t have one.

Now for the 5 shots fired. Look this isn’t TV land. Police DO NOT shoot once and wait for you to stop. They are not crack marksmen who shoot the gun out of your hand. They are trained that when they are threatened they use deadly force and do not stop using that force until the threat is stopped.

I went thru some of training that police go thru when I was trained as a bouncer years ago. The reasoning that is taught is, that anyone who is willing to strike at a police person is a threat to everyone. If they do not respect the badge, they do not respect anyone. If they are a threat to you, they are willing to hurt anyone without pause. Your duty is to stop them before they hurt someone else….and this kid had already tried hurting other people that night.

Notice how I haven’t mentioned race? Because race is not a factor here. The color of this young man’s skin DID NOT make him do these things, and the color of this police officer DID NOT make him react the way he was trained.

In 10 years of bouncing at nghtclubs in LA, Dallas, Minneapolis, and here, I have asked countless people to leave when they were acting in a manner that was unacceptable. Never once did the skin color make them act that way. And every single time that the person was black, they accused me of being racist and said it was because of color.

And for “white privilege” that these clowns spout off. All successful people have one thing in common, and it isn’t race. They all worked hard and did not accept excuses. Racism and “white privilege” are excuses. Whatever happens to you is from your choices, actions, and attitude, nothing more. If you are failing at life, you are choosing to. Nobody is holding you back.

[maddog]

Every ones comments here all mirror mine.
IMHO it comes down to choice; the young man made some bad ones which resulted in his death.

AND I am also so sick and tired of having the race card brought out right away; if this situation had been reversed; a black cop killing a white 19 year old man would we have seen demonstrations rise up that same night; would CNN be in town covering this story; I think not.

[Author]

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