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    bitemekinjaAndy Cush
    1/08/15 1:15pm

    These two cops are so fucking incompetent it's mind-boggling.

    I'll never understand why, in the face of a threat which existed only in their minds, they decided to roll up on the "suspect" so closely that they left themselves literally no time or space to ascertain the true facts of the situation.

    Oh, and then they went and assaulted the dead kid's sister. Brava, you shitstains on humanity.

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      JoaquinPhoenixCleftLipbitemekinja
      1/08/15 1:26pm

      Don't really disagree, but that "threat that only existed in their minds" was based on a 911 call they were responding to, and in the long video this same boy is seen pointing a gun at people as they walk by, hence the call. This is also a poor area prone to violence so the threat was indeed warranted.

      I'm thinking this kid had some developmental issues.

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      bitemekinjaJoaquinPhoenixCleftLip
      1/08/15 1:43pm

      The guy who made that 911 call noted it was possibly a kid with possibly a fake gun, no? In fairness, I can't recall if that point was related to these officers.

      But assume the worst: that the caller's prevarication wasn't relayed. That makes these two look even dumber. By driving directly up to the muzzle end of Tamir's (fake) gun they not only exposed themselves to a hail of bullets (as they got out, which never came of course) with no capability to return fire, but no time for themselves to assess the situation correctly.

      (I realize you basically agreed with me and all, just expanding on my previous comment I suppose.)

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    ╰(　´◔　ω　◔ `)╯< Woke and BokeAndy Cush
    1/08/15 1:14pm

    If this fucking cop doesn't see any jail time they should burn down the whole fucking state of Ohio.

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      Thesmallestsmurf╰(　´◔　ω　◔ `)╯< Woke and Boke
      1/08/15 1:17pm

      I think you can skip the qualifier in the first part of your sentence.

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      Burnereko╰(　´◔　ω　◔ `)╯< Woke and Boke
      1/08/15 1:22pm

      This is America. They'll award him the Congressional Medal of Freedom before he'll get so much as an indictment.

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    Denzel WashyourtongueAndy Cush
    1/08/15 1:13pm

    Loehmann was found unfit for duty

    Understatement of the century.

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      ThePriceisWrongDenzel Washyourtongue
      1/08/15 1:14pm

      This is the guy who "wasn't seeing enough action" in his small town police department so went searching out conflict in a major metropolitan police department. Fuck this guy.

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      citecheckThePriceisWrong
      1/08/15 1:31pm

      This mentality, where douchebags become cops because they want the legal right to treat real life like a fucking video game, combined with subconscious racism that leads them to treat POC like AI villains instead of real fucking human beings is probably the biggest reason why this shit keeps happening.

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    SoapBoxcarWillieAndy Cush
    1/08/15 3:50pm

    What was their reason for detaining/arresting the sister? Accessory to a murder (that the officers committed)? Good thing it was Tamir Rice's sister and not a brother, or else they probably would have had to put him down too (since a black male teenager running in the direction of a cop is now considered a demon/deadly weapon).

    I understand that cops have a right to return home at the end of each day, and in no way do I advocate violence against the police. However, they're kinda supposed to be putting themselves in danger—it's the job. They even talk about it, how they "go out there and put their lives on the line every day", and we're supposed to love and respect them for it. But if they're just going to shoot at anything that might possibly be a threat (which they define as anything that isn't 100% proven not to be a threat), then they're just pussies. Innocent people (especially children) shouldn't be dying just so cops can make sure that they don't get hurt/killed themselves. Their attitude is basically like George Costanza yelling "fire" at the child's birthday party, pushing Grandma and Eric the Clown out of the way.

    I sincerely hope that, because there's a slim chance of getting an indictment here (since, you know, the PD they belonged to is handling the investigation), the two officers in question are haunted by their horrific actions for the rest of their lives, especially the triggerman. They are not "good cops who made a bad decision in the heat of the moment", they are murderers with badges. They saw the opportunity for some "action" (which is why Loehman joined Cleveland PD in the first place), and they took it.

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      ABD2021SoapBoxcarWillie
      1/08/15 4:17pm

      There is some actual reasoning for keeping the sister away. First, if they thought it was actually a live weapon and saw someone running for it it would make sense to detain them. Second they had just created a crime scene and the sister would likely have altered it without being able to actually provide any help to her brother.

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      SoapBoxcarWillieABD2021
      1/08/15 5:10pm

      Keeping her away, sure. Handcuffing her and putting her in the back of a police car, come on! But how would they have known it wasn't a live weapon since they apparently didn't go over to Tamir to see (or to give him any sort of medical attention). As for the crime scene, I'm not sure what she could have done to alter it that would change the outcome in a meaningful way. But, maybe you're right, attempting to give any medical attention would have altered the crime scene so it was better to just let him die alone on the cold ground.

      I'm guessing you're an only child?

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    William-WilsonAndy Cush
    1/08/15 1:15pm

    Can we just fast forward to the part where the grand jury decides not to charge the killer cop with anything?

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      blackintrovertAndy Cush
      1/08/15 1:34pm

      But no, there's nothing wrong with the police forces in this country and if you dare criticize them, prepare to have their backs turned to you. Assholes.

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        KittensAndUnicorns_v2_The Uprisingblackintrovert
        1/08/15 2:19pm

        you know when they nypd turned their backs on de blasio the second time around? we should have known better.

        we should have glitter bombed the fuck out of the nypd.

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        CapriciousSonKittensAndUnicorns_v2_The Uprising
        1/09/15 12:23pm

        YES

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      HairyPalmer1Andy Cush
      1/08/15 1:28pm

      "New documents, also obtained by Cleveland.com, show that Loehmann failed the written exam given to applicants to the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department in September 2013, before he became a Cleveland cop. Loehmann was found unfit for duty by the Independence, Ohio, police department in 2012 and joined the Cleveland police department in March 2014."

      I find this information to be useful in a way and entirely meaningless in another. In order to evaluate stuff like this, you'd need to have answers to questions like: Is a typical for an officer to fail one of these tests? How many do so? What's the remedy after someone fails? Was he found unfit for duty by one, but others found him fit for duty? There are a whole series of questions that need to be asked.

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        christcoHairyPalmer1
        1/08/15 1:40pm

        Look into it a little bit, and you'll find your answers. He was dismissed from the last department because they felt he was unstable emotionally and mostly incompetent. Cleveland apparently did nothing to check on his background before handing him a gun and unleashing the idiot on the citizenry.

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        HairyPalmer1christco
        1/08/15 2:14pm

        Yeah, maybe not the best comment in this instance and your point is well taken, but as a general principle stuff is provided here constantly with zero context. And context is everything.

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      RegretsalotAndy Cush
      1/08/15 1:14pm

      "I can't believe this video of the Rice girl getting laid out took so long to surface."

      ~Roger Goodell

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        Syphilitic Scalia SaysRegretsalot
        1/08/15 1:41pm

        +1 for the Deadspin tie-in

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      deathvalleyqueenAndy Cush
      1/08/15 1:33pm

      Not only did he fail the written exam, he failed it spectacularly — scoring 46%.

      From the linked article: "Recruits are tested on problem-solving, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and spelling."

      So, naturally, Cuyahoga County thought he'd be the perfect police officer. Who needs to communicate with people when you can wave your gun around to assert your authority?

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        cavanegraAndy Cush
        1/08/15 1:38pm

        On his application (found at Cleveland.com) this douche inserts this under "volunteer work":

        Oktoberfest Server, 2003-2010

        What the actual fuck? Would someone from that area please care to clarify?

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