Progression of the Police State U.S. Style
More national spotlights are on unwarranted police brutality this week. Let’s start with a statement made by a Cincinnati prosecutor who charged a police officer with murder.
Prosecutor Joseph T. Deters became a national hero by stating ‘When I indict a murderer, I don’t pull punches’
To put it simply, Joseph T. Deters, a law-and-order Republican from Hamilton County, Ohio, is not a prosecutor who’s known for sending cops to jail.
When he announced Wednesday that he had obtained a grand jury indictment for murder against a police officer in the shooting of an unarmed black motorist, Deters, 58, became an instant celebrity.
His expressions of disgust and dismay at the traffic stop that left a motorist with a fatal gunshot wound to the head spread rapidly across social media.
“I’ve reviewed probably 100 police shootings. This was bad from the start, and you know, he’s going to have to answer for it — that’s the bottom line,” he said in an interview Thursday, referring to the officer involved. “I think it was a murder… I think we’ll win this case.”
“This is the most asinine act I’ve ever seen a police officer make,” the blue-eyed, silver-haired prosecutor told reporters, before showing Tensing’s body-camera video of the shooting. “Totally unwarranted. It’s an absolute tragedy in the year 2015 that anyone would behave in this manner.”
Across the country, many activists who have taken on the issue of police violence against African Americans seemed to be caught off guard.
“I have sincerely never seen a white prosecutor in my entire life as outraged as [prosecutor] Deters is right now about this unjustified police murder,” Shaun King, a prominent social-media activist who monitors police shootings, wrote Wednesday on Twitter.
A top police union official said he was also surprised.
“Some of the remarks he made were way out of line,” said Jay McDonald, president of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police, which has 25,000 members and will provide Tensing’s legal defense.
Not Surprised at All
I am not at all surprised by the statements made by Jay McDonald, president of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police.
Teachers’ unions defend child molesters and police unions defend murderers. No one should be surprised by unions defending their clan.
When told that union officials had disagreed with his remarks, Deters didn’t flinch.
“Too bad,” he said Thursday. “When I indict a murderer, I don’t pull punches.”
Deters called it “outrageous” that a traffic stop for a missing front license plate should lead to an “execution.”
“And if they don’t like it, they shouldn’t be police officers, and if they don’t want to endorse me again, I couldn’t give a s—,” Deters said of union officials.
“This was a flat-out murder, you know?” he said. “If you don’t see what this is, you shouldn’t be in law enforcement. I think it’s horrible. That could’ve been your kid, my brother. I just think it’s horrendous.”
Deters On Marijuana
Deters has also questioned whether marijuana should be illegal, and chaired a task force this year to examine the drug’s legalization.
“We were just shocked by that — absolutely shocked by that — especially given his background and what he’s done before,” said Marcie Seidel, executive director of Drug Free Action Alliance, a Columbus-based anti-drug group.
Deters says he is concerned that marijuana charges tend to “skew” more toward the black community. “I would rather a guy smoke a joint than drink a bottle of vodka…. I don’t have any problem legalizing it at all,” he said.
This guy gets my endorsement for both positions.
Police Brutality Exposed Through “Lens of Video”
The New York Times has a video of the Cincinnati murder as well as numerous other police brutality cases. Please have a look.
Here is a link to the story behind the video: Glare of Video Is Shifting Public’s View of Police
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com