If Darren Wilson isn't charged with murder, we will have normalized legal police murder.

[TorchTheWitch]

118. probable cause

There has to be probable cause, and there isn't any. We also don't know what the police know about this case, so we can't pretend there is probable cause. There are two very different stories of what occurred here, and for all we know whatever was found at the scene already points to one of those stories being more correct than the other. For one thing, the officer had injuries consistent with his version of events. We also don't know what witnesses may have told the police that are also consistent with that version of events and those people are staying quiet because of the atmosphere in the community. There may be other evidence a the scene that is more consistent with the officer's version of events, like where the cruiser was in relation to the body, and who knows what.

That's the point. NOBODY KNOWS what really happened in this case, and those that know more than the public aren't talking. Police investigations aren't done publicly and for good reason... doing so may compromise the investigation.

My passion has to do with REAL justice. There's no getting away from the fact that in the community and here on DU this officer was immediately labeled a murderer with only only one version of events - that of the other person involved, Dorian Johnson - was believed, hook, line and sinker. Hell, even BEFORE he said a word the officer was labeled a murder. And your OP called for the same kind of "justice"... no investigation necessary, lock him up because he's white and a cop or you're just upset that someone died. You even insinuated that the officer is trying to escape justice by leaving town and that anyone that allowed it should be arrested. Where the hell is there justice in that? He hasn't escaped anything. At this point there is no probable cause to arrest him, and because he's free to go where ever the hell he wants to no one is an "accomplice" in allowing him to leave town. Even you knows why he left town and that he did so for very legitimate reasons and totally legally, yet here you are demanding unlawful arrests.

If you really want justice than you wouldn't have said anything that you did. REAL justice requires an investigation with arrest only at such point as there is probable cause that the prosecutor believes is sufficient even though most prosecutors won't call for arrest without an abundance of evidence. Justice is not believing one story of events over another because of bias which there is no secret is utterly rampant here as it is in the community.

I have no idea what occurred in this case, and neither do you or anyone else that wasn't there or part of the investigation. And because of that choosing one side or the other is because of bias in some form whether it's because of the belief that the police unfairly get away with killing people or an unfathomable hatred of all police or a racial thing or some other bias. It's a disgrace that I seem to be the only one here that sees this rampant bias and calls for "justice" that ironically have nothing to do with actual justice that requires probable cause and a thorough investigation before arresting anyone.

There is no special treatment going on. Even civilians aren't arrested without probable cause. For a very long time I've had a keen interest in criminal cases delving into crimes in the news and watching episodes of Dateline, 48 Hours and 20/20 about criminal cases because they interest me. Not a one of those cases were suspects arrested before an investigation was completed even when there WAS probable cause. Many of those cases didn't get to a point of arrest until DECADES later because prosecutors don't like trying cases where they aren't virtually guaranteed of a win even when there IS sufficient evidence - they don't tend to think it's enough.

I don't doubt that there are such cases where the police have gotten away with a crime and such cases where cover ups have occurred whether by the department, the prosecutor's office or the local government. However, far MORE cases come down to the average citizen not being arrested because the prosecutor doesn't like the odds and doesn't think there's sufficient evidence or a bungled investigation or laziness or SOMETHING, and a trove of cold case files exist in every police department to prove it. The average person gets away with all kinds of crimes every day of the week all over the country far far more than police officers have.

And I'm also aware of the bias that BELIEVES an officer has gotten away with a crime because people just decide they don't like the legal steps that cleared them even when it's a grand jury of average citizens that did. Police officers are in a different position than the average citizen because of the nature of their jobs that require them to apprehend suspects and put themselves in harms way that the average citizen doesn't and doesn't have to do. Yet every single case of a police officer having possibly done something wrong goes forward where so many of the average citizen don't even get past the investigation stage and land in the cold case files.

How is anyone to believe that you really want real justice when you say that this officer has "escaped" and that everyone that "allowed it" should be arrested? Why is it that you don't want an investigation first to determine if the officer is guilty of anything in the first place? And when you don't know what occurred in the incident anymore than anyone else does yet because there hasn't been an investigation yet? That's totally contrary to how our justice system works even if it worked perfectly. Anyone that really wants actual justice would at least first wait until the facts of the matter are discovered. Anything less is NOT justice by any stretch of the imagination, and there's no way to argue that.

What a disgrace that you and so many other people here are so passionate for all the wrong reasons demanding "justice" by tossing the justice system out the window. That's mob rule, not actual justice based on a justice system that requires the finding of fact in order to make an arrest not arresting someone whether a police officer or average citizen just because you're upset that someone died or just hate the police or because the officer is white or whatever. Believing in justice means believing that EVERYONE is entitled to at LEAST finding out whether or not anything criminal has even been done.

I don't want to live in a world where anyone can be arrested because of emotion based mob rule, and believe it or not neither does anyone else here including you. You should be embarrassed for writing this OP demanding arrests of people even beyond that of the officer in question when you threw out the window anything even remotely in the same universe as actual justice.