What The Hell Is Going On ??? - 'LAPD Shoots, Kills Black Man During 'Investigative Stop'' - HuffPo

[WillyT]

LAPD Shoots, Kills Black Man During 'Investigative Stop'
The Huffington Post | By Cavan Sieczkowski
Posted: 08/13/2014 9:53 am EDT Updated: 6 minutes ago

<snip>

The Los Angeles Police Department shot and killed a black man in South L.A. on Monday.

Police conducted an "investigative stop" in the Newton area around 8:20 p.m., according to a news release from the LAPD. "During the stop a struggle ensued, which resulted in an officer-involved-shooting. It is unknown if the suspect has any gang affiliations," the release continues. "The suspect was transported to a local hospital and after lifesaving efforts he succumbed to his injuries."

A woman claiming to be the deceased man's mother called KTLA and identified the man as Ezell Ford. Tritobia Ford said her son was lying on the ground and complying with the officers when he was shot three times.

An unnamed man who claimed to be Ezell Ford's cousin also spoke with KTLA.

“They laid him out and for whatever reason, they shot him in the back, knowing mentally, he has complications. Every officer in this area, from the Newton Division, knows that — that this child has mental problems,” he said. “The excessive force … there was no purpose for it. The multiple shootings in the back while he’s laying down? No. Then when the mom comes, they don’t try to console her … they pull the billy clubs out.”

Officer Jane Kim, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department, said a vigil had been scheduled for Tuesday night in response to the incident, according to USA Today.

No officers were injured during the incident, according to the LAPD. The Force Investigation Division is set to investigate.

The shooting comes just days after the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri...

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/lapd-shoot-kill-ezell-ford_n_5674679.html

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. ..he was reaching for his waistband, he was reaching for officer'g gun

[PowerToThePeople]

2. Ban all Guns!! n/t

[Orrex]

3. Golly! It sure seems like we have a rash of black men initiating struggles with police.

What could possibly explain this sudden totally not far-fetched plague of unwarranted aggression by black males against armed officers of the law?

[historylovr]

29. +1

Honestly, how dumb do the police think we all are?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

38. It's obvious. Obama made them all uppity.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. The root cause of this? budget cutters in the GOP.

Some years ago, when we successfully beat the USSR in Afghanistan, secretly, (to us, not to the rest of the world) we had a chance to fund schools, economic growth, roads, and the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The GOP in congress (and a few deems) said no.

The void that was created was filled by Wahabi assholes like Osama bin Laden.

Once we realized our mistake, we began to compound our problem, like stationing troops in Saudi Arabia, quite possibly the most insulting thing we could have done to bin Laden. It cemented his attitude against America and eventually let to 9/11.

On 9/11, a handful of like minded religious zealots (we have plenty of examples of our own brand here) managed to put a halt to all traffic in our country, to put our entire country into a panic. This panic was stoked and grown domestically for political reasons by Cheney and Bush, and laid the ground work for three huge mistakes: Our invasion of Iraq, our pathetic efforts in Afghanistan (After the locals offered bin Laden to us), and the creation of our current homeland security structure. Our police became militarized, they were taught to sit on any sign of dissent or protest, and they began this Us vs. Them mentality. Together with the huge influx in military styled weapons for street cops, and a shoot first mentality, we have created a virtual police state, especially with racial issues adding to the stress.

So from GOP assholes, we get an out of control police state.

[noiretextatique]

28. all true...except the killing of black folk is a tradition

That did not start with bush. The police have always enforced racism. These killings have been happening since 1776.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

32. Yeah, we have a long and honorable history of that.

Since slavery.

honorable, my ass.

Although, slaves were worth more alive than dead,

[noiretextatique]

49. not if they bucked the system

They had to instill fear in people. Rebels were dealt with harshly to instill fear in others

[Baitball Blogger]

5. There are so many of these incidents occurring around the country that I wonder if someone

has passed the word around to provoke situations.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. You are so perceptive.

I honestly do think they are trying to provoke something, the result of which I suspect will be an excuse for marital law.
The violence towards minorities has become very very overt.

Sadly, neither congress nor the WH has intervened.This is telling in itself.

btw...here is Anonymous' reaction to Ferguson, they seem to be very aware of what is going on:

The last half is what Anonymous will do:
To the Ferguson Police Department and any other jurisdictions who are deployed to the protests: we are watching you very closely.

If you abuse, harass - or harm in any way the protesters in Ferguson we will take every web based asset of your departments and governments off line.
That is not a threat, it is a promise.

Attacking the protesters will result in
the release of personal information on every single member of the Ferguson Police Department, as well as any other jurisdiction that participates in the abuse of this States own law

. We will seize all your databases and E-Mail spools and dump them on the Internet.
This is your first and last warning.

The time has come for more than simple justice for these atrocities. The time has come to draw a line in the sand. The time has come to bring those to justice, who served to protect us, not kill us.

Until justice prevails, hack and protest will replace it.

[rbrnmw]

16. The Justice Department is investigating in Ferguson

Eric Holder was appointed by President Obama and is part of his cabinet. The Whitehouse is involved.

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. Holder investigated Oakland, too.

Not many of Holder's "investigations" have positive results, tho , if memory serves.

[Baitball Blogger]

21. Dang! Wow!

That is the first time I have heard Anonymous. We are living in the future! It is here.

[dixiegrrrrl]

31. They have a Youtube channel

and a web site
and a Twitter site

[Baitball Blogger]

36. Oh, I've read about them. Plenty.

I just never actually heard one of their messages.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

33. martial law

marital law only seems like that once in a while.

[littlemissmartypants]

46. I think I am in love. eom

[Ilsa]

50. Thank you for posting! nt

[Tumbulu]

24. It sure looks this way to me!

horrible, simply horrible!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

39. I wonder how many of these cops voted for Romney.

[Abouttime]

47. 95%

All the white ones. Republican police state racist assholes.

[uponit7771]

6. "..It is unknown if the suspect has any gang affiliations.." Nor is it unknown if he was a unicorn!

The racism in the US media is one of the reason it's acceptable for cops to kill blacks for little to no reason

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

52. Yeah, that was just a special line.

As opposed to the shooter, part of the 'LAPD gang'.

[uponit7771]

7. Shot in the back while laying on the ground!?!?!! Wow... how is this one going to be ignored

[onecaliberal]

18. The same way the black

Man handcuffed in the patrol car shot himself in the head and died.

[calimary]

8. Aw Fuck.

I don't know what to say.

Aw Fuck is about the best I've got...

[arcane1]

9. "No officers were injured during the incident" so clearly this was a life-or-death struggle.

[littlemissmartypants]

10. A USA state by state graph of this behavior

Would be interesting I venture to say...

Love, Peace and the Righteous Fight. Lmsp

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. No government agency accurately tracks police shootings

altho some states do, which require indiv. look ups.

[BobbyBoring]

30. I wish I could remember where I read that.....

More people have been killed by police since 2003 than we lost in the Iraq war.

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. Perhaps here:?

Americans Killed by Cops Now Outnumber Americans Killed in Iraq War
By Matt Agorist on December 12, 2013

In the last decade alone the number of people murdered by police has reached 5,000. The number of soldiers killed since the inception of the Iraq war, 4489.

What went wrong? In the 19070’s SWAT teams were estimated to be used just a few hundred times per year, now we are looking at over 40,000 military style “knock and announce” police raids a year.

The police presence in this country is being turned into a military with a clearly defined enemy, anyone who questions the establishment.

If we look at the most recent numbers of non-military US citizens killed by terrorism worldwide, that number is 17.
You have a better chance of being killed by a bee sting, or a home repair accident than you do a terrorist.
And you are 29 times more likely to be murdered by a cop than a terrorist!

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/americans-killed-cops-outnumber-americans-killed-iraq-war/

[littlemissmartypants]

43. That's messed up.

And what they do know they watch while it's washed into the gutters and down the drain.
Or it's swept under the rug.
SMH!

[littlemissmartypants]

44. That's messed up.

And what they do know they watch while it's washed into the gutters and down the drain.
Or it's swept under the rug.
SMH!

[littlemissmartypants]

45. Oops. Sorry guys.

But may it bears repeating. We are approaching a police state apparently.

[OnlinePoker]

40. Wikipedia keeps month by month reports of killings by police

I don't know how accurate it is, but is a better list than nothing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States_2014

[PeoViejo]

11. Just practice

When they run out of people of color, we'll be next.

[rickyhall]

12. Police Fascist Plutocracy

[Comrade Grumpy]

13. We need a national commission on law enforcement standards and practices.

[1monster]

26. We need citizen review boards that have power and authority over police forces.

They have worked in the past (which is why I assume they were disbanded) and they can work in the future.

[rbrnmw]

15. and folks on DU wonder why black folks riot.

They are sick of their young people being shot by cops.

[VanGoghRocks]

25. I've stopped using the term 'riot'. I now use the term 'resistance' and will do so

until such time as the cops de-militarize.

[rbrnmw]

27. thanks I will use it from now on too

[jwirr]

17. I wonder if the Final Solution started this way?

[libdem4life]

19. It's been like this for decades in LA. The only group that is worse is the LA County Sheriff.

Way back when there were not cell phone videos, it was always Open Season on minorities. And the eye witnesses..."who are they" but just another of the same. Anyone who talked was guaranteed to get a "visit".

Now this stuff goes viral in minutes or days. Some "idiot" with a cell phone camera can end a career. The old Code of Silence is now being challenged by technology...and Liberals are showing up here and there. Human Rights and all.

Like Rachel said last night, the statistics in Ferguson have been available for 10 years...racial profiling has continued unabashed. They don't need a freaking Study (read Delay until it blows off the MSM front pages)...they already have the details and no one did a thing.

Now it gets on TV, and it's not yet clear how they will contain it. She also detailed why it is that only the Feds get results, due to the enmeshment of local jurisdictional law enforcement, DA, local attorneys, favors, etc.

I think we're in a sea change of culture. Forward or backward is still to be determined.

[dixiegrrrrl]

35. "I think we're in a sea change of culture."

FWIW.....it is feeling a LOT like 1968 out there......a lot.

[Mr Dixon]

37. SMH

AGREED

[libdem4life]

41. Agreed. Still, social media and instant tecnhology and Gen Xers give me some hope.

[Ilsa]

51. Today I was telling a friend that it felt like the 60's. nt

[ReRe]

22. Seriously...

... it's every day now, WillyT. This one didn't make MSNBC, at least since 10AM. Won't, either, unless people get in the street and start shouting "Don't shoot! Don't Shoot!" As soon as the police state takes it's place, the media will move in. And THEN it will hit the M$M.

[redqueen]

42. Are they intentionally provoking civil unrest?

I know... but...

[stopthemandess8]

48. Another soul lost at the hands of Police

Yet black people are to remain calm and wait for investigations as they are gunned down by the police ?

Are Black men ,women, and children that much of a threat to police in America ?