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Comment by sarciszewski | Hacker News Reader

Very few people know the cause of death right now, but the speculation is pretty convincing to me that it was suicide after allegedly being a victim of police brutality and rape by police officer.

Of course, this isn't confirmed. But if it is, oh the anger.

Even if it isn't, this is a damned shame.

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Here's a pastebin of his last tweets: http://pastebin.com/yk8bgru5

Thanks. That was difficult to read and frankly distressing (it has certainly affected my own mental state at the moment), but I am glad I got to read it so that I can have this inform my perspective regarding the abuse of power by police in the ongoing future (Admittedly I had been on the blase side on the matter, and like Ian himself wrote, "i'm hoping coming from a successful white guy it will help everyone").

Is this really true? This is almost stranger than fiction. I mean, anyone can post something on pastebin. Can anyone else vouch for the truth of this (Having seen it on twitter).

Yes, it was on twitter yesterday.

* http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:le7oSCj...

* http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:umvcoAj...

Here is the reddit discussion from yesterday:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/3yktcg/ian_murdock_d...

Seems to be true, per google's webcache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:le7oSCj...

It's true, I saw it with my own eyes before the account got deleted.

I don't think he was actually raped. Sounds more like he resisted a body-search upon intake processing for jail.

I am saddened by this loss. Everyone should know that even if you think you are being wronged that you must listen to and obey every instruction a police officer gives you. If they did something wrong you can bring it up to your lawyer afterward. Resisting will pretty much always make the situation worse.

Police use force. This can be surprising. Sometimes they use it when you may not think it's warranted. You might have thought you presented no threat. When police start to raise their voice and use force the last thing you should do is get upset. You just need to do whatever you can to listen to their instructions and do what they tell you. They may continue to use physical force like pushing, punching, twisting and causing you pain even if you are listening to everything they are saying and trying your best.

The hard truth is you just have to deal with it. Resisting will only make it worse, and even puts your life at risk.

If you can, it's best to avoid police whenever possible. If police show up just leave. If they stop you on the road stay calm, don't argue, do what they say and try to share as little information as possible.

I'd certainly like to know how of those down voting me think I am wrong. Are you going to resist arrest and think that will turn out well? Maybe you don't like reality, but it is what it is. The police frequently have to deal with dangerous people, thus they are trained to use force to subdue and arrest. You cannot question an arrest as it is happening. Your right to due process happens in court after the arrest, not on the street.

Again the best thing to do is to just avoid encounters with police in the first place.

I'd like for someone to comment as to why they down voted.

up voted, those are words to live by. it's not victim blaming, it's the reality of that situation and having the presence of mind to just shut up and take it. Your turn to punch back comes once you are free or in court.

s/police/violent criminals/gi

Unfortunately there's no possibility of legal justice if you're jumped by the largest gang.

That's what the allegation was, on his Twitter feed, so that's what I wrote.

For the record, I agree that you're probably correct.

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