57 Buffalo Police Resign from Riot Unit in Protest of Officers' Suspension | Hacker News Reader

57 Buffalo Police Resign from Riot Unit in Protest of Officers' Suspension

forbes.com

17 pointsmehrdadn19 comments

>the top message on the Buffalo's police union webpage read: "These guys did nothing but do what they were ordered to do. This is disgusting !!!”

The "just following orders" defense isn't one that's held up well historically. The crux of the argument is whether he was pushed or tripped, not whether or not they were following orders. Check the video below and formulate your own opinion:

CW: violence, gore

https://youtu.be/QFeewU0HhNE?t=20

Also take note of his ears after he falls

These recent events have really highlighted to me the fact that police lack accountability. It all folds into a bigger picture of policing (civil forfeiture, no knock warrent-less raids, etc) and a contentious history of policing minorities.

Just in the past few weeks I've seen so many instances of inappropriate escalation in force, all from police officers loaded up in armor, against unarmed people [1][2].

I know policing is hard, but I expect much more from people we give the power of state-sanctioned violence to.

[1] Man prone on the ground being pepper sprayed for the fun of it https://www.reddit.com/r/2020PoliceBrutality/comments/gvtnhz...

[2] Officer grabs a pink umbrella, tear gas and flashbangs ensue https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/gv0ru3/this_is_the...

To me, the appalling part was not the shove, it was likely unnecessary but I do not think the officer intended to put him in the hospital. The appalling part is the deliberate lack of any help once he was down and obviously seriously injured. An officer who started to help was dragged away by his colleague. These officers did not live up to their oath and duty, not because he was shoved but because he was abandoned instead of receiving first aid. The fact that "EMTs are coming" does not relieve one of a responsibility to help an injured person. That is pathetic.

And certainly badRNG is correct that "I vas chust followink orders" is a very bad look. In addition, I doubt the orders were to leave seriously injured fellow-citizens bleeding on the ground.

The officer should be arrested. If a normal citizen was caught on video doing the same thing they would be in jail that night.

It is sickening police can get away with whatever they want.

I think it is time to bring in the coast guard!

Contrary to the popular narrative, apparently it is very easy to remove corrupt cops. Give out a few slaps on the wrist, and 57 more simply get rid of themselves!

They are still on the force. The union said they aren’t going to pay their legal fees for the protests so 57 officers quit the emergency response team. They are still being paid to terrorize people.

Seems like the loss of balance and fall was out of their control, and it's almost like raising your hands toward their weapons was a bad idea. Given the nature of the injury, it was the right thing to wait for a medical professional to attend to the man rather than providing aid.

I don't get the outrage over this incident, personally. Reporting has been getting extremely sensational and I think cops should just do themselves a favor and stop turning up to work for 2 weeks to let the narrative reverse itself.

Please stop parroting stupid stuff you've heard on the radio or on Fox News. Anyone can watch the incident, someone shared the link on youtube in another comment.

> Seems like the loss of balance and fall was out of their control

They pushed him and caused him to fall over backwards.

> raising your hands toward their weapons

He's got stuff in both his hands and he's very clearly not trying to take their weapons away. His hands are roughly at the same height as their "weapons," yes.

Yours is a rhetorically sneaky way of suggesting it was reasonable for them to believe he was reaching for their batons. It's similar to the way LA cops used to murder unarmed people and suggest that they were "reaching for their waistband." Literally anyone whose arms are of normal length is at any given time "reaching for their waistband" if their hands aren't on their heads. Don't be this dishonest, it's pathetic.

> He's got stuff in both his hands and he's very clearly not trying to take their weapons away. His hands are roughly at the same height as their "weapons," yes.

They've got a fraction of a second to decide whether someone is a threat or not. That's why there is procedure when someone runs up on them, regardless if there is “stuff” in his hands or not.

> They've got a fraction of a second to decide whether someone is a threat or not.

A fraction of a second? They weren't piloting an F-14 in Top Gun or something, there was a visibly unarmed elderly guy shuffling towards them alone on the sidewalk. It was literally the opposite of a situation that demanded split-second decision making.

As with the grandparent comment, I question whether you even watched the video of the incident or if you are just repeating some stupid stuff you heard about the incident.

> They weren't piloting an F-14 in Top Gun or something, there was a visibly unarmed elderly guy shuffling towards them alone on the sidewalk. It was literally the opposite of a situation that demanded split-second decision making.

Yea, life isn't a movie, don't you know? Regardless of how old he was, or how harmless he was trying to look, he could still be a threat.

> As with the grandparent comment, I question whether you even watched the video of the incident or if you are just repeating some stupid stuff you heard about the incident.

Yea, I did, several times. It looked weird to me. The push wasn't enough to knock him over.

I also just found out there is some evidence this was a staged event, complete with fake blood.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/06/did_an_aged_act...

The loss of balance happens when someone uses excessive force and pushes a person.

He never reached for any weapon. Take a better look.

This is not excessive force.

Yes, it is.

What should have they done, run away? Just stand there? Put yourself in their shoes, and remember you have a fraction of a second to decide.

Giving a huge benefit of doubt, that barely explains their initial behavior. The guy had two hands full when he was shoved. We can see that in the video. The officers continued to get closer and closer to the man. They were approaching him. They could have kept their distance and instructed him. They chose to approach him and get that close to him. That was not a fraction of second decision.

But let's assume their only option was to shove him for some reason that repeated examination of the video for sure does not reveal. Now explain why they just continued walking past him, watching him bleed on the ground. Once they were safe, what is their excuse for not immediately helping the person they just injured? In fact you can clearly see that one of the police started to bend down to do something - we could assume to help the guy - and the other officer stopped him.

What's the excuse for lying about the man tripping? If their actions are defensible, why did they lie at first?

> Giving a huge benefit of doubt, that barely explains their initial behavior. The guy had two hands full when he was shoved. We can see that in the video.

What does it matter whether he was carrying something in his hands?

> The officers continued to get closer and closer to the man. They were approaching him. They could have kept their distance and instructed him.

He was walking towards them, as well. Even if they stopped dead in their tracks, he would have walked into them.

> But let's assume their only option was to shove him for some reason that repeated examination of the video for sure does not reveal. Now explain why they just continued walking past him, watching him bleed on the ground. Once they were safe, what is their excuse for not immediately helping the person they just injured? In fact you can clearly see that one of the police started to bend down to do something - we could assume to help the guy - and the other officer stopped him.

Because the USA is extremely litigious, and if they touched him, they could get sued. You can also see them immediately radioing for a medic. If they are so heartless and cruel, why would they have done that?

> What's the excuse for lying about the man tripping? If their actions are defensible, why did they lie at first?

There is no excuse for that, but it is understandable. Cops, heck, anybody who does anything physical to someone else, often has to face enormous consequences. Because a split second decision, the police officer was possibly facing losing his job, being sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and even jail time.

> He was walking towards them, as well. Even if they stopped dead in their tracks, he would have walked into them.

Both he and the police were standing still and talking about the helmet when the Lieutenant gave an order to move, followed shortly by the push.

Yea, looking at it again, you're right. The cop was definitely wrong here. Sorry about that.

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