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    liu.lingling.88Hudson Hongo
    4/20/16 10:02pm

    Can someone explain to me why the police shot them in the first place? I know the claim was self-defense but what was their reason for the need for self-defense? I feel like I should just be unsurprised by this kind of bullshit at this point but I’m just confused as to what sort of danger was perceived from a group of people fleeing across a bridge. They were said to be unarmed but the officers responded to gunshots. Or so they say...

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      dragonhorseliu.lingling.88
      4/20/16 10:11pm

      ‘Self-defense’, apparently, is a new catch-all phrase which has replaced the more accurate, but less pleasant ‘because I felt like shooting someone’.

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      TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)liu.lingling.88
      4/20/16 10:15pm

      There was a report, later found to be unsubstantiated, that a police convoy had taken fire from the bridge. They claimed they believed they were taking fire themselves as they arrived in response to that report. I expect they were sleep-deprived, stressed to the edge of reason, and were in fear for their lives. So I won’t discount that explanation, though it may well be pure ass-covering. In any case, wouldn’t you know, it's no excuse to start shooting unarmed civilians.

      There is decent coverage here.

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    BfunkadeliaHudson Hongo
    4/20/16 10:06pm

    So we know what they said was the reason why they shot the people fleeing, but do we know why they actually did it?

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      ARP2Bfunkadelia
      4/20/16 10:22pm

      There were a number of rumors that they were preventing the “wrong elements” (read: black people) from crossing the bridge out of fear of looting.

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      MavrickkalBfunkadelia
      4/20/16 10:26pm

      During Katrina there were literally multiple accounts of White people that saw it as open season on any black person they saw approaching their neighborhood/house/store. It really is sad to put it in those basic of terms but yeah. Apparently in the chaos they knew they probably get away with it. I read one account about 3 guys that were attempting to find some kind of refuge and were shot at from the roof. Another account I read was from one of the guys in a group shooting at people who thought the whole thing was fucked up. I remember him saying how they a placed a sign up on the street as warning. How the guys in group kept going on about getting the opportunity to “clean up” the neighborhood. If I can find the articles I’ll link em.

      Can’t say all the accounts are true but there were definitely multiple.

      So yeah, just fucked up people being fucked up.

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    TRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)Hudson Hongo
    4/20/16 9:53pm

    Turns out, a natural disaster does not make you Judge Dredd. It’s shameful that the heroics of the thousands of first responders, search and rescue experts, and other emergency professionals who worked 22 hour days to help save the people of New Orleans are today overshadowed by these cold-blooded murderers, who gunned down sons and fathers and called it law enforcement.

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      JimTom's DoulaTRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)
      4/20/16 10:02pm

      Counterpoint. A natural disaster very much makes me Judge Dredd. I’m eagerly awaiting the next earthquake so I can don my super cool helmet.

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      EugeneTRUMP DELENDUS EST (fka Chatham Harrison)
      4/20/16 10:17pm

      No they didnt. Bush alone with those people let the people of lousaine to die.

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    Floating Adam WestHudson Hongo
    4/20/16 9:53pm

    Welcome back to Night Gawker, Hongo. Does this mean we’re going to get cute animal gifs interspersed with nightmarish horror stories again??

    GIF
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      KrugerrantFloating Adam West
      4/20/16 9:56pm

      The return of Night Gawker’s “American Grotesque beat” is what we both need and deserve.

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      DontBeSuchaBoobPunchTinaFloating Adam West
      4/20/16 10:28pm

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    Lion-oRichieHudson Hongo
    4/20/16 10:20pm
    “Those of us who continue to serve as prosecutors must embrace the lessons learned from this Danziger case.”

    Nope. Seriously getting tired of hearing the same old “hopefully we will learn from the same fucking grotesque action that continuously happens to black and brown people in the united states at the hands of armed public servants” PR bullshit line.

    But hey, it only took 10 years for some justice, right?!

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      gramercypoliceLion-oRichie
      4/20/16 11:02pm

      He’s talking about learning from the previous prosecutorial misconduct that allowed the defendants to negotiate lighter sentences. In case you didn’t bother to read the post.

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      Lion-oRichiegramercypolice
      4/20/16 11:40pm

      “at the hands of armed public servants”... so much better.

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    badnervesHudson Hongo
    4/21/16 4:20am

    So- when there is a forest fire and people ignore the evacuate order to go back for a person, beloved pet, to help others in California- do the cops shoot them in the back there too? Just a question that popped up in my mind....

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      CaliGirlbadnerves
      4/21/16 12:37pm

      No, they didn’t/don’t. During the Wragg fire last summer we snuck in on old roads to free the horses in my dads stables, he was on vacation.

      We got caught and a Sherriff called fire crews to tell us the safe road to take the horses and get out...he never drew his gun, he helped us load the last mare in and followed us to the road to make sure we were safely gone. There was fire raging on all sides of us by the time we were speeding out of there. Nothing but black smoke. Honestly I thought we were all going to die and win a damn Darwin Award!

      Better question: Did the police or citizens fire on people during the chaos of the loma prieda earthquake? No they didn’t! When the cypress structure collapsed, we were headed home from alameda, my mom was a first responder and you know what she parked our car asked 2 gang bangers to keep us safe (locked our doors and handed my brother the gun my grandpa gave her to get home) I remember her asking if any of them would come help her and let me tell you, about 5 of them ran off with her and we sat in the car watching as one after another they brought people down those ladders. Dudes watching us, went and got us water and snacks (I kid you not) and kept saying how brave our mom was. There were people looting the dead bodies at the same time, no shooting, never even heard a gun fired.

      Fucking dispicable that police would fire on people trying flee!

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      nosleepdreamsbadnerves
      4/21/16 7:09pm

      what's your point? this violence was RACIST violence that occurred within a highly racially segregated city with a dispoportionatley white and racist police force. to not understand the social and historical dynamics of this case renders your absurd analogy useless.

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    Flow BeeHudson Hongo
    4/20/16 9:58pm

    Cops being cops. Savages.

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      War MachineFlow Bee
      4/20/16 11:18pm

      The part that really gets me with all these stories is there’s never even one in the bunch that’s willing to turn their gun on another officer to defend a citizen. I realize that someone like that wouldn’t be common but come on! Is it really unreasonable to hope for just one cop with the balls to do the moral thing?

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    OneHeadLightHudson Hongo
    4/21/16 8:09am

    So, 3 years = 18 months, and 12 years = 4 years. And just wait and see how many of the sentences are reduced on appeal. Once again, justice is served.

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      nosleepdreamsHudson Hongo
      4/21/16 7:15pm

      I’m really not here for everyone commenting that they “just can’t believe this.” if you can’t believe this you are part of the problem. we live in a time where racist violence is the norm and to ignore that out of some misinformed need to “believe in the good of people or police” is bullshit. wake up. the corpses keep stacking up and you have your mouth open wondering how we got in this mess.... well one way is the ignorance and willful disinterest you demonstrate when you write you just can't believe it. your privilege allows you that disbelief. and it's killing the rest of us.

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        RandyMagnumHudson Hongo
        4/21/16 12:06am

        I won't forget Danzig either. He was rockin' so hard at one point he fell backwards over the monitor and you could see this giant bald spot. He kicked the speaker he was so angry.

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