The FBI has announced they will investigate the case for any civil rights violations.One assumes they mean to add "...other than the bullet holes", because even Clouseau could spot all fifty-eleven of those; no need to call in the Feds for that.
Using undercover guys to make the initial approach, in a bad neighborhood, at zero dark thirty? In a Shall-Issue state? You couldn't plan out a better scenario for a cock-up if you tried. At least, not without a SWAT team and a bad address.
One can't help but wonder how this would be playing out in the press if the vacationer that got shot up had been an off-duty Texas cop instead of a CCW permit holder.
Senseless waste of human life.
ReplyDeleteJim
Reading between the lines, it sounds like the victim was black. But black, white or whatever, it's still a tragedy. But maybe the non-stereotypical aspects of this tragedy will provide an object lesson. Namely, a law-abiding black man legally armed and in fear for his life. Undercover cops gun down guys in NYC fairly frequently, but they are never armed.
ReplyDeleteThis calls to mind two incidents up around New York way where the shootees turned out to be innocents. I can almost see it in my mind. Cops see someone they deem suspicious and approach. It's night and they're nervous. Maybe the victim saw them and pulled his weapon. Maybe a cop saw something he mistook for a weapon. Maybe a chaalege was shouted and the victim didn't comply quick enough. A cop fires. The others join in because he wouldn't shoot without a reason. 48 casings collected = at least 48 rounds fired. 14 hits with 12 in the back. No cops injured or killed. Afterward the 'oh shit' period begins and they begin to try justify their actions. This will be key. If you have ten witnesses to an incident you get ten different versions of what happened. They may not be that different but there will be differences. If the cops all have the same story start looking for fish. They've been coached on what to say. And the fact that the story is already morphing to make the victim the bad guy smells. I'm not rushing to judgment this is just a possibility based on the little I read. I hope I'm wrong.
ReplyDeleteHow do you tell the cops from the thugs in New Orleans?
ReplyDeleteThe cops all wear the same uniform and sport the same weapons.
I've never been to that city. And for the last few years, I've been coming to the conclusion that I never want to go to New Orleans. . . EVER.
ReplyDeleteCertainly not disarmed. And now, not armed.
Screw everything about that city. I'm a fan of history and such, so I say: condemn the city, turn it into a National Historical Site. Move the port thirty miles inland. Pay off the residents to move Elsewhere. Loyola and Tulane haven't been much, lately. Albita has moved its beer-making facilities to east Texas since Katrina. The chefs have long since exported their fare.
They keep electing Ray Nagin. They keep presenting new editions of a textbook on how to run a corrupt police department. About the only thing most Americans know about N'Awlins is a drunkfest party, which, frankly, could be had elsewhere on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.
To HELL with that city. I'll never go.
New Orleans, Chicago... Two places at least as dangerous as Iraq and badly in need of a regime change.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see the deck of cards issued to the troops to identify the 'most-wanted'.
I loved New Orleans when I visited in the late '80s. Yeah, it was a hellhole then, too.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go back there now if you paid me. That saddens me.
I used to travel to NO on business, back in the '80s. Never stayed overnight--in and out in one day. Good ol' Southwest Cattle Cars.
ReplyDeleteNow that I am retired, wouldn't go there now on a bet.
Old Squid.
Hey, Tulane is my alma mater. They're one of the last universities left that isn't a leftist groupthink fest and still has a certain number of courses in Western Civ as a graduation requirement.
ReplyDeleteThat said, it would not break my heart to see them relocate to Baton Rouge.
I was going to mention that shooting innocent men was not particularly unusual for NOPD, but others have beat me to it.
ReplyDeleteIt's not fair to compare this case to the Amadou Diallo shooting in NYC, because in that case the officers identified themselves, the suspect rabbited, then made a furtive movement and was shot. Sad, but understandable.
Anyone hiring network admin/NOC types in, say, the Memphis area? And, no, I'm not going to go take pictures for context like I did in the "stupid hippie chick in the very much wrong part of town" incident as it wouldn't add any context to the discussion.
ReplyDeleteMemphis? You mean South Detroit?
ReplyDeleteIt says everything you need to know about Nawrlens that Memphis is considered a step up. Yikes.
How're you kidding? The 9th circle of Hell is a step up. To put it in perspective, Cape Town, South Africa and Ciudad Juarez had a lower per capita murder rates in '07 than we did.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm focusing on Memphis for, um, personal reasons. Otherwise, I'd probably be hanging my hat over in the Dallas/Ft. Worth region of Baja Oklahoma by now.
I'm still waiting for one of these "scare people for a laugh" TV shows to end up with a dead or wounded scarer.
ReplyDeleteI think that people that never carry also never think about the possibility of someone else carrying.
Of course, in this case, it was cops doing the shooting. The fact that they realize anyone could be packing may have contributed to the incident.
At this point, you could not pay me enough to submit to the 'protection' of NOPD. And their brass who speak of 'high velocity magazine clips'.
ReplyDeleteGeek, had a talk about that at the range a while back: "Can you imagine them filming that here? "EEEE, there's a bigfoot at the window!" chunk-chunk "Calm down honey, new fur rug!"