Yet another highly politicized and racist incident....
What this shooting highlights is both the incredible bias that people have when it comes to interactions with the police. By default it is a loose-loose situation for the officers on the streets these days. Being dispatched to do their work and enforce laws and regulation, while being demonized and seen as an enemy of the people.
It's laughable how people's immediate reaction is to condemn the officer for the shooting of the supposedly 'unarmed' man. But how come noone is paying attention to what the suspect did? In a routine traffic-stop for a broken-tail light, he resisted and attempted to flee. Both of which actions can be interpreted as hazardous. If a person is willing to resist, what else are they capable of? It's easy to say the officer shot an 'unarmed' man, but in the real world you don't know whether someone is unarmed until you've searched them, and even then, an unarmed suspect can still be dangerous.
The actions of the suspect lead up to the shooting, and that fact should not be neglected.
When it comes to the actions of the officer following the shooting of the suspect, it is clear there needs to be a thorough investigation into the malpractice of the officer and appropriate punishment and due measures to prevent future incidents should be taken. After incidents such as this and Ferguson, at this point there is really no argument for officers out on the streets not to permanently wear camera's recording their actions, both for transparency purposes but also to ensure the safety of officers following interactions.
Really, what we are seeing here is the increasing radicalization of interactions by and with the police. Fueled by prejudice and bias, and the prevailent hostile attitudes towards one-an-other. So long as the police are demonized by the public and viewed as an enemy of the people rather than an aid of the people, how can we expect interactions to go any different? Here you have people on the one hand calling the police for aid when they are in trouble, but when they are on the receiving end of an investigation the police is the demon-dog himself.
It is always a loose-loose situation for the police, both its' officers and the institution, as they are constantly being critized for performing their duties whilst consistently having to deal with insubordination whilst under constant pressure of potential threats. Meanwhile suspects get a pass for their role within situations and interactions, because they are being, wrongly, victimized. If the police roll-out on you, that probably means you've done something you shouldn't. Why resist at all? Why not greet the officer in a friendly manor? Why not keep your hands on the steeringwheel, or roll down the window when instructed/requested? Why consistently and intentionally resist?
