Black Man gets in a serious car accident---seeks help--- get's shot and killed by a Police officer.

[trumad]

Un-fucking-believable. Cop has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

A North Carolina police officer has been charged with voluntary manslaughter after he shot and killed an unarmed man who may have been looking for help early Saturday morning, officials said.

Local media identified the victim as a former football player for Florida A&M University.

Jonathan Ferrell, 24, appeared to have survived a "serious" car accident sometime after midnight when he knocked on a Charlotte woman's door about a half-mile away, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe told reporters at a televised news conference Saturday.

“To her surprise, it was an individual she did not know or recognize," Monroe said. "She immediately closed the door, hit her panic alarm, called 911."

He added, "It was quite possible he was seeking assistance based on his accident."

Three officers responded to the call and spotted Ferrell. In the initial account police gave local reporters, Ferrell acted aggressively, and one officer tried to use a Taser on him.

“He immediately charged toward the three officers, one in particular," Monroe said at the afternoon news conference. "That officer in particular fired his weapon several times, striking the individual multiple times.
"http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/la-na-nn-charlotte-shooting-20130914,0,4692259.story

[gopiscrap]

1. Fucked up cops are so god damn out of control

[b.durruti]

3. that's why I call them KKKops ~nt~

[TheDeputy]

33. That's mature.

You want to call me a KKKop? Grow up.

[Trillo]

45. "Grow up" is a personal attack on another DUer.

Can't you coppers follow very basic social rules?

BTW, "That's mature" & "Grow up" would seem to be doublespeak.

[gopiscrap]

123. I agree

[gopiscrap]

126. The behaviour of the cops and their supporters in this country has become increasingly

violent and so much more a "us vs them" attitude in these past 10-15 years. When you have this sort of violence predicated upon folks not in power then you will have visceral reactions against the cops.

[valerief]

129. Diversion. nt

[TheDeputy]

133. See reply 35.

You are wrong.

[quakerboy]

130. I dunno. Are you one?

How many times have you crossed the blue line to stand up for a fellow citizen when a fellow officer(I assume you claim to be a law enforcement officer of some type) overstepped his or her authority and did something wrong?

[TheDeputy]

134. See reply 35.

This isn't some fantasy land where nobody crosses your "thin blue line". It doesn't exist where I come from. In fact, I am one of the people assigned to investigate use of force incidents.

[quakerboy]

135. Your assertion is underwhelming

Given how many unarmed folks get shot by police all over the country, VS how many officers get in serious trouble for doing so.

How many officers have been fired over their misdeeds in regards to Occupy?

Simple questions. And I trust you to "investigate" about as much as i trust any other stranger who doesn't believe there is any systematic CYA within the police department. Like asking a doting mother to investigate whether her kid is a bully at school. It just doesn't work out for anyone, in the end.

[TheDeputy]

138. See, I don't jump to conclusions.

I investigate. You seem to think that there is some sort of epidemic. There are nearly 800,000 peace officers in the country. The only reason you would have to believe that there is some sort of widespread abuse is news reports. The truth is that nothing has changed. You just have access to stories from all over the nation now via DU, and other sites on the web.

Don't be one of those people who doesn't let facts get in the way of his opinion. My job is to look at things dispassionately. It is hard sometimes. I don't take allegations as fact. I don't make assumptions about groups of people.

Eight Hundred Thousand cops in America. Each with multiple contacts per day with the populace. It would seem that there are easily three to five million police/citizen contacts daily. It would seem we are doing a fairly good job, overall.

[quakerboy]

140. Except for the conclusion

that the only problem is that there is widespread reporting of abuse. And that law enforcement are doing a fairly good job, overall.

Read this and tell me there is no problem
http://www.policeone.com/officer-shootings/articles/117909-Study-reveals-important-truths-hidden-in-the-details-of-officer-involved-shootings/

As to "doing a fairly good job, overall"... that's not in accordance with anything i've seen or heard in society at large. My now middle aged crazy liberal college compatriot who only uses the internet for news certainly wouldn't agree. My aging libertarian father who loves him some PBS wouldn't agree with you. My knee jerk conservative uncle who never turns the TV off fox wouldn't agree with you. And my Completely apolitical mother in law who only watches netflix wouldn't agree with you. All of them have talked about the fact there there is a serious issue.

In short.. I think you are living in a bubble of untruth, if you really believe what you are saying. There is a big issue with the ability of the average citizen to trust the police, and the assertions of someone like yourself, claiming to be a fair investigator, but not being willing to even consider that there may be a problem, are a big part of why. If the police fight accountability and the people supposedly in place to keep them accountable refuse to consider actually holding them responsible, why would anyone in their right mind trust them to be accountable?

[rustydog]

122. Quite a broad brush you have there butch!

[life long demo]

2. OMG That poor man was seeking help

I think the situation is getting extremely serious with the shooting first before police even know what or if there is a problem. Like in NY when police shot two bystanders, one using a walker. An there is a shoot first on family dogs. What has happened to them (police)?

[marew]

6. Book TV had a program about this this weekend,

"Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces"
Radley Balko

About the Program
Radley Balko talks about the militarization of the police in the United States, including the expanded use of SWAT teams to deal with low-level crimes. Mr. Balko argues that today police officers have become conditioned to seeing American citizens as the enemy. Mark Lomax, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association, provides commentary. This event, held on Capitol Hill, was hosted by the Cato Institute.

About the Author
Radley Balko is a senior writer for Huffington Post and a former senior editor at Reason magazine. He was named Journalist of the Year by the Los Angeles Press Club in 2011. He tweets at: @RadleyBalko.

You can watch this at their website. I've not seen this yet myself.
http://www.booktv.org/Program/14839/Rise+of+the+Warrior+Cop+The+Militarization+of+Americas+Police+Forces.aspx

I asked a cop about this shooting family dog issue. One dog was trying to hide under a bed in a back bedroom and the cops were in the wrong house! Completely inexcusable! The cop just blew me off. Do not trust them like I did so many years ago.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. Police seeing American citizens as the enemy.

The feeling is mutual. And that is a sad thing.

[kelliekat44]

25. Police seeing BLACK American citizens as the enemy. That is all. nt

[Curmudgeoness]

28. As a white American citizen, I am terrified of the police.

I realize that it is worse for minorities of all stripes, but the power that the police have, and the mentality that many have, are enough to scare the shit out of me too.

They can destroy any one of us.

[LuvNewcastle]

49. They do generally treat black people worse, but plenty of white people

also get treated horrible by cops. If you're not the buttoned-down middle class (or above) stereotype, you get treated to pat-downs, drug search of your vehicle, and questioning.

If you've ever been with a conservatively dressed white person and seen how they're treated by police, it's like a different world. They're respectful, yes ma'am or yes sir, warnings instead of tickets, have a nice day. That's why middle class white people don't understand why others have such problems with the police.

[Nye Bevan]

99. I'm white and have gotten tickets when conservatively dressed.

Either I'm very unlucky or I'm screwing up somehow.

[reflection]

120. My experience certainly doesn't rise to the level of what happened here

but yeah, white people have to have their heads on swivels when dealing with cops too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022330594

There was a point during that encounter where I could tell the cop was just wishing I would give him an excuse to shoot me. He was tripping so hard. In retrospect, I think he was tweaked or something.

[matt819]

131. No guarantee even if you're a buttoned down white guy

I live in small town. The chief knows me by sight if not by name. We bump into each other at the coffee shop. He's been on the job here maybe 10 years, plus/minus. I've been here about the same.

Last year he stopped me for speeding, which I was, in a speed trap (yes, I'm an idiot). I took a bit of time stopping because there wasn't much of a shoulder, and I wanted to stop safely, for both our sakes. He asks me to step out of the car, which I did. He then asked me why I took so long to stop. I gestured to the spot where he lit up and where I stopped, saying that I wanted to do so safely. Notice my reference to "gestured." I gesture. It's how I talk. He asked me where I was going. I told him. He asked where home was. I told him.

First off, he tells me to stop waving my hands in his face. Plus he knows where I live because he had to have called it in, and because, well, he knows where I live. Small town. He treated me as if he didn't know who I was, and then essentially accused me of damn near assaulting him with my gesturing. By the way, middle aged white guy here.

So much for community policing. I realize that traffic stops are risky, but when you essentially know who you're stopping, there's no reason to set up the encounter as an us vs. them encounter. I'm not looking for an Andy Griffith-type cop, but surely there's somewhere on the spectrum between Mayberry and Oakland that works for our small town.

[gopiscrap]

124. I agree...and it started with fucking Fox showing shows like COPS

in which it became cool to have blatant disrespect for SUSPECTS and it has grown as our police culture has become more and more prevalent.

[Curmudgeoness]

132. That never occurred to me about COPS.

But shows like that (which I have only seen a few times) are part of the reason that I fear police. Years ago, if I were "picked up for questioning" and had nothing to hide or was not at all involved in something illegal, I would have been totally cooperative. These days, my first comment would be "I want a lawyer".....which I always used to consider something that people who were guilty would do.

I do believe that these shows are part of the problem. But since I have a brother-in-law who was a cop, and I have heard his stories and met some of his fellow policemen, I can also say that they do not make me feel confident....I get the feeling that the people who choose to become cops are flawed, and the people who do the hiring seem to want this sort of cop.

[b.durruti]

4. FDP ~nt~

[malaise]

5. Living while black is increasingly fatal

This hurts.

[HipChick]

16. He was a star football player at college too..just got engaged and just moved to the area..

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/09/15/4315751/police-shooting-victim-jonathan.html#.UjZNAiTwHyc

[malaise]

17. The home owner was also heartless

Imagine being in an accident seeking help and being killed - what a mess.

[HipChick]

20. She has blood on her hands too..

[malaise]

21. For sure

Too sad

[JanMichael]

27. no, she does not

have you read the articles? The guy was banging on her door furiously in the middle of the night.

What the hell do people on DU expect?

We would have called 911 too...that is scary as hell.


I don't care if it was a man, woman, or what color they were. No one in their right mind is opening the door in the middle of the night to a bloody stranger- period.

[Ghost in the Machine]

39. "The guy was banging on her door furiously in the middle of the night." No shit??!! Could that maybe

have something to do with the fact that it *WAS* "the middle of the night", and he was trying to wake someone up to try and get medical attention??

I don't care if it was a man, woman, or what color they were. No one in their right mind is opening the door in the middle of the night to a bloody stranger- period.

I'm glad it wasn't YOUR house I finally stumbled upon in the middle of the night, after I had been carjacked, beaten & pistol-whipped, thrown out of a moving vehicle, shot at and left for dead in the middle of the Everglades. Those people saved my life after I stumbled and limped for miles, and what seemed like hours, until I finally saw a light and knew it was a porch light. They called 9-1-1 and got police and an ambulance on the way, then gave me blanket and something to drink.. and this was South Florida in the mid 80s, when carjackings and home invasions were so commonplace they didn't even make the front page anymore.

If this guy was just in a serious car wreck, he could have been seriously injured, scared for his life... and in SHOCK, just like I was that night.

Ghost

[LisaL]

40. She didn't know he was in a car wreck.

And she did call 911.

[JanMichael]

47. EMS would have gotten there in the same amount

of time if you had banged on our door. The only thing you would have lacked was a blanket. Giving a trauma victim something to drink was stupid. Sorry that happened to you, but likely you would have survived sitting on my porch also.

No way am I opening the door to strangers anymore. It's incredibly sad that the US has come down to this, but there it is.

[malaise]

82. Apparently caring for one another is no longer

a sign of humanity.

I'm glad you ran into decent human beings

[ctaylors6]

125. Just curious - Who helped you? was it a single woman?

You say "those people" in your post, so I assume it was more than one person.

I would never, ever open my door to a strange man knocking on my door at 2:30am if I were home alone or home with my children only. I would do exactly what this woman did - I would call 911. I'm sorry if you think that makes me a cold, uncaring person.

If I had another adult at my house, especially my husband, the likelihood of helping a strange man at my door at 2:30am would greatly increase.

[wercal]

29. Sadly this exact situation has been used

as a technique for home invasion robberies. I don't blame her for calling 911 at all.

[LisaL]

41. I don't blame her either.

She was home alone.
Somebody she doesn't know pounds on her door. She did a reasonable thing under circumstances by calling 911.

[gollygee]

84. It was reasonable to call 911 - They were needed no matter the reason for him pounding

But I do question her assumption that he was trying to break in. People pound on a door for other reasons too. I've told my kids if they're in trouble to run to the nearest house and pound on the door and ASK them to call 911. But by telling the police he was trying to break it, she set up the situation in a way it wouldn't have been set up if she'd just told them someone she didn't know was pounding on the door. Saying someone is breaking in makes the police respond in a certain way. Saying someone is pounding on the door makes the police try to find out why someone is pounding on the door.

[LisaL]

100. From what has been reported, she did tell 911 he was knocking on her door.

[gollygee]

103. That conflicts with other stuff I've seen here

I read that she reported a break-in in progress, but it is possible to both report something as a break-in and say someone is repeatedly knocking on the door.

[TheDebbieDee]

42. +1

[riverwalker]

97. absolutely

she does have blood on her hands. She didn't say "ok I'll call 911 and get you help, stay outside".
She called 911 and said "someone is breaking in". Big difference.
I have had to knock on a strangers door in the middle of the night, on the way to work, had ice in my gas line and car stalled in the middle of no where. I expected help, not a bullet. This kid thought the same.
I myself have answered the door at night to find a stranger frantically pounding on my door. It was a neighbor fleeing an abusive boyfriend. It's what people do.
She denied him assistance. Sickening.

[Link Speed]

23. If someone I don't know knocks on my door after midnight

I'll call 911 and tell the knocker to wait on the front porch.

My family was victimized by home invaders who claimed to have been in an accident.

This thing is an unfortunate accident. I wonder why he ran (if he really did) at the cops.

[TheDeputy]

38. People are oftentimes terribly disoriented after a wreck.

I remember one I was at where the driver fell asleep on the interstate. He crashed the car, got out and started running in traffic.

[riverwalker]

98. and it was a severe accident

he had to crawl out a side window to get out.

[Dash87]

81. Not sure. It depends.

Remember that she was home alone, it was the middle of the night, and a stranger was knocking in her door. Most people, including me, probably wouldn't have even opened the door. Letting him into her house would have been pretty stupid.

[iandhr]

7. Horrific

But the link doesn't work.

[Initech]

8. WTF. Just... WTF.

[Sand Wind]

13. Exactly my reaction : WTF !!! Nt

[etherealtruth]

9. OMG

You can't even make sense of this

[Snake Plissken]

14. this guy can't make sense of it either

but not for the same reason, he can't understand why someone would have a problem with killing an unarmed innocent Black Man

http://www.eurthisnthat.com/2012/08/01/florida-man-shoots-neighbor-i-only-shot-a-nigger-video/#more-24407

There are a lot of fucked up people in this country, unfortunately some of them end up being police officers.

[etherealtruth]

15. Disgusting

sadly, there are a lot of knuckle dragging inbreds that can't fathom what is wrong.

How does one lose their humanity?

[HipChick]

10. I posted about this earlier..lynching never went away,it got morphed into murder by police

I am outraged...this reminds me of the NJ mother that perished because no one would open their door to help her..
except this is murder by cops..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023672102

[Orrex]

12. That's a terrible summation

Terrible because it's true and accueate, of course.

What a horrible, sad story, and how awful for his family.

[malaise]

22. +1,000

Shaking head still

[uponit7771]

102. +1

[marmar]

18. BIWB -- Being Injured While Black.

[Iggo]

19. Cops.

[Tx4obama]

24. If you remove the quotation mark right before the URL then the link in the OP will work

[ForgoTheConsequence]

26. It's a tough job.

We don't know we weren't there.

Cops put their lives on the line for us.

I know I'm forgetting a few.....

[trumad]

34. cop was arrested

That tells you something right there.

[TheDeputy]

36. Sure does.

The police generally police themselves.

[2ndAmForComputers]

116. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[JanMichael]

30. The city/ county/ police department are handling this one

fairly well. The cop has been charged with manslaughter.

It was investigated per protocol, and now the cop is going to trial.

The whole story is sickening.

[emsimon33]

31. This breaks my heart! What is the country coming too?????

I grew up in the South and the few of times that I had problems on the highway (once a deer ran into my car in what was then a very deserted section of I64, once in a heavy rain storm my car skidded and went off the road and down into the steep divide between the east and west lanes, and two other times I had a flat tire--one late at night--, it was not the many White drivers who drove right past me but Black gentlemen who stopped and helped me.

That the cops now seem to shoot first and ask questions later is dangerous for everyone.

I hope that the cop who killed the young man is put in jail--no matter what his excuse is. I am tired of the "I was just defending myself" lies when it comes to killing young men of color.

I also don't care if the young man killed was a star football player, a surgeon, or a young man recently on parole. He did not deserve to die. The killing has to stop!!!!!!!

[99th_Monkey]

32. This is f*cked up. The Mercenary Class is out for themselves, and out of control. ~nt

[TheDeputy]

35. Charges seem appropriate.

Seems to be a bad use of force. Bad for the victim, officer, everybody. A truly sad incident.

[Auggie]

37. I'm hear nothing but heinous stuff coming out of North Carolina

[Rex]

43. "She immediately closed the door, hit her panic alarm, called 911."

And caused his death by cops. His crime? Existing and seeking help.

[Llewlladdwr]

44. Oh for Pete's sake...

The woman in the story did *not* cause anyone's death. She called 911 when awakened in the middle of the night by a stranger pounding on her door. That's hardly an evil, unusual or foolhardy response to such an event.

[Rex]

108. Whatever you want to believe.

We help strangers around here where I live, guess you live in a different world. So sorry.

[joeglow3]

114. Maybe she had been attacked and raped by someone pretending to need help

It has happened many times before. But it is much easier to just project our experiences and judge others, huh?

[reflection]

121. I'm with you.

And if you ask any cop, they'll tell you not to open the door for anyone in those circumstances either.

Depending on what the person at the door was telling me, I would reply "I'm calling some help for you, please sit on the porch or go to my backyard and have a seat if you are not comfortable out here." If it were cold, I'd throw some blankets out the window onto the porch. That's the best I can offer with two children in the house and no decent weapons.

If we've gotten to the point where we assume that all cops will kill someone arbitrarily, then we've got bigger problems than we think.

[cali]

46. I can't believe ANYONE is blaming this woman who answered the door

she didn't pull a gun on him and blow him away. She called 9/11. This isn't a "SYG" case.

the person who killed Jonathan Ferrell was a cop. He's been charged as he should have been. That sure as hell doesn't solve the enormous problem of institutional racism, but blaming this homeowner is disgusting.

[JanMichael]

48. People always like to pretend

they are braver than they are...right up til a bloody stranger bangs on their door at 2:30AM while they are home alone. I'll bet not one of the keyboard cowboys would open that door-

[trumad]

51. Question is--- what if he were white?

eh?

[JanMichael]

53. Same

See my post upthread. Same for a female.

We would call 911. We would NOT open the door.

This kind of happened to us a few years ago...bloody kid (looked like maybe an older teen/ early twenties boy) bloody, sitting in the middle of the street....young woman holding on to him screaming "Somebody help me!" I mean shrieking.

Wife dialed 911 immediately....the operator asked her to go outside to see if it was a crime scene...wife said "Are you freaking nuts? That's your job- "

We were close to the police station-- officer arrived within about 2 minutes-- ambulance was already on the way-

If you care, it was a white couple. It doesn't matter...we live within a few miles of major universities, so are used to a constant stream of diversity in our neighborhood....ALL races, all genders, all ages-

[gollygee]

59. I called 911 on a white guy who was pounding on my door in the middle of the night

I was home alone and he was pounding on it, not just knocking, and it was scary.

This was in the early 1990s and it took the police a quadrillion years to get there. Police don't need to freak out and overreact. They also need to react a bit.

Anyway, in my experience, a woman will call the police on a white guy pounding on her door in the middle of the night, but the police won't be worried and will take their sweet time getting there, and then will casually chat with him and ask him to go home. Apparently if it's a black guy pounding on your door, he gets shot. I prefer the "chatting and asking him to go home" tactic for both, really, because I don't want anyone getting shot just because I was scared.

[treestar]

88. I'd call 911

Never open the door to a stranger. The lady didn't know. If he were white it would be the same. Women are going to be afraid of unknown men, can't stop that.

Calling 911 was OK IMO.

It was the cops who should have done less assuming and more finding things out. That they might have done for a white guy.

[JanMichael]

94. Exactly. And kudos to the CPD for the fast arrest

and immediate handling of the situation.

What most folks are missing while they are whining over the lady who called 911....is that this MIGHT very well be a hate crime. Hard to say. The law prof. quoted in the Observer seems to think the officer implicated himself in a statement to be charged so quickly.

The details are going to come out; the local gov/ police dept. is handling this well so far.

[justiceischeap]

136. A couple years back someone was banging on my door

around 3 in the morning. I went to the door, looked through the peephole and saw a large black man standing there. I opened the door and asked how I could help him. He told me he'd come to repossess my car and would I like to take anything out of it before he towed it away.

So, yeah, some people do open their doors when a "bloody stranger bangs" on it early in the morning.

I find it less than likely a thief is going to knock on the door so early in the morning.

[JanMichael]

137. so, the repo man

was bloody? And you opened the door. Good for you. I would not have.

[trumad]

50. Awww---but if it was a cherry sweet white person...

Would she have called?

No fucking way.

[Nye Bevan]

52. If a bloody stranger of *any* race woke me up at 2:30 AM pounding on my door,

I would not let them in and I would call the cops. I'm not going to risk my family, and the cops will be there in a couple of minutes and are trained to deal with this kind of situation.

[JanMichael]

54. Disagreed

we LIVE here; my wife's family has been in NC for 7 generations. She grew up in the area...it's where we want to retire.

NC is quite diverse, and does not have the same really nasty fanatically loony knee jerk racists...oh yeah...we have our asswipes, there is no doubt about that-- but, they aren't the same freaks that you see in other states for some reason. Might be the university system that pervades the larger towns-- not sure-

Of course, smaller populations in counties with small towns...very different. But, in Charlotte? No...racist fucks tend to get shut down...even by racist fucks. It's very odd.

Read the Observer today; it's very unusual for an officer to have been charged that quickly. 19 hours.

[trumad]

55. Chances increase big time if he was white.

BTW: How are you Jan?

[JanMichael]

57. I felt weird writing that, but it's true around where we are

the white criminals are crueler and weirder for some reason. I do not know why-- I am sure if I put more thought into this one, I could come up with some type of answer. Think "in cold blood" type killings. There was one up in the mountains years ago....the whole family murdered by two (white) or three guys just out to murder someone. The saddest part was the 15 year old daughter that was trying to hide from them in a closet....they found her. I can't even imagine her terror at seeing her folks, and grandparents gunned down..and then she was hunted.

I can only recall off the top of my head one black serial killer-- seems he was in Louisiana, and was a church custodian, so the women (all church members, middle aged) just opened their doors and invited him right in-

The family I mentioned above, opened the door, btw.

We are doing fine...bought an almost hundred year old cottage...so, finally experiencing our "money pit" dream of being completely broke in a nice neighborhood. How are you guys?

[Nye Bevan]

63. Most horrific CT home invasion and murder of recent years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshire,_Connecticut,_home_invasion_murders

[JanMichael]

71. Thank you

that was terrifying. I cannot even imagine the terror of that family.

[cali]

69. I'm sorry, but how the fuck would YOU know?

big guy of any color banging on my door in the middle of the night? Nope, wouldn't open it. bet there aren't too many women who would.

[trumad]

72. I'm sorry..

Had no idea that you would know as well. Black man versus White man seeking help---who get's help quicker?

[kcr]

60. I agree with those who suspect her response might have been different

had he been white. Sorry.

[JanMichael]

62. Why?

You know, it might have. And it might have been different if he had yelled "I was in a wreck, call 911" too. There are always things that might have "made it different."

It would not have in our house; read my replies.

[Nye Bevan]

64. Pretending to have been in an accident is not an uncommon ruse.

In that case, you call an ambulance, and the cops, but you do NOT open your door to the stranger pounding on it. Whatever their race.

[kcr]

66. She does't have to open the door.

But she also doens't have to report an attempted break in either. Because that is likely not what was happening. To be clear, I'm not saying she had to let it a complete stranger.

[LisaL]

73. How would she know that is not what was happening?

Hindsight is 20-20.
She didn't know that the guy wrecked his car.

[kcr]

76. Um. Because that wasn't what was happening? n/t

[Dash87]

83. It's not uncommon to pretend to be in an accident in order to invade someone's home.

How did she know that wasn't what was happening? I think she made the right decision, but the it was the police that screwed up.

[kcr]

86. That may be

It still doesn't excuse reporting that as a break in. I don't know about you, but I don't go around calling the police and reporting a break in every single time someone knocks on my door late at night. That's ridiculous.

[LisaL]

87. How many times did you have someone knocking on your door in the middle of the night?

[kcr]

90. I actually had someone stumble drunk right through the door

I'd forgotten to lock it apparently. I'll admit it startled the crap out of me and I jumped right up and screamed, and so did they. I just sent them on their merry way.

[bettyellen]

104. because people usually do not knock when they are breaking in?

[LisaL]

105. Yes, sometimes they do.

I am amazed people are unaware of it. You never heard of burglars knocking before breaking in?

[Glassunion]

110. Actually it is not an uncommon practice.

[kcr]

65. I can't believe I'm being asked why.

But okay. It's the same reason people cross the street or hold their purses closer around black men, or black people are watched more in stores.

It wouldn't have been in your house? Well, okay. That doesn't change the facts given in my post here. People can huff and puff all they want to about how this could have have happened to someone who was white. But it didn't, did it?

[JanMichael]

67. Hey, enjoy your outrage

The entire CITY is outraged. Trust me, one thing Charlotteans love...are FB players...and the fact that this guy was a known athlete makes it doubly worse.

Why don't you just follow the case...the officer has been arrested, and charged fairly quickly. Why don't you do some homework on race relations in Charlotte, NC? There's a history there. Just "google."

[kcr]

68. Why thank you, I will.

lol I'm actually pleasantly surprised the officer has been arrested, in an area that recently resegregated their schools. I'm pee my pants giddy with outrage about that, too, btw.

[JanMichael]

74. Yep. And please note that

Everyone and their uncle knows that the whackjobs are currently taking over NC. Yes, there is a battle here. IF you watch the recent documentary on the subject, you'll note that the people arguing FOR re-segregation are not from NC.

Get over yourself, seriously.

This MIGHT have been a hate crime...but, it was one by the person CHARGED with manslaughter....not by the poor woman who called the cops.

Jesus, some of you self righteous dopes would probably cry if a bloody person banged on your door in the middle of the night.

[kcr]

75. Oh, the poor woman who called the cops

You know, I'll happily get over myself, but I also think the people who are portraying this poor woman, cowering behind the door being POUNDED ON , POUNDED!!!!! byt the BIG BLACK man oooooh so fearful can't you IMAGINE it, she's shaking! SCARY, why I called the cops once on a white guy knocking on my door! So, see??! It's the same! So it's totally okay that she thought he was breaking in and told the cops so, so they'd automatically think he was a burglary suspect. See? They can get over themselves a little bit too, IMO.

It isnt' the fact he didn't help him that gets to me. It's her jumping to conclusions that he's a criminal. If he'd been white and dressed in kahakis and a polo? It would have been different, and everyone explaining it away otherwise is full of it. She might not have opened the door. But he wouldn't have been breaking it.

Not to get too off topic, but the segregation thing? I know a bit about it because I was dealing with that subject quite a bit where I lived. I read a lot about Charlotte. There were a lot of outside forces dealing with our issue to in the town I lived. But I'm not buying it that no one in Charlotte wanted it. Sorry. I know better.

[gollygee]

77. Did she tell the police he was breaking in?

Because that would be an assumption. When I called the cops on the guy pounding on my door, I just said what I knew - that he was pounding on the door and I didn't know him.

[kcr]

78. The articles I read stated she reported an attempted break in

Which explains the reactions by the police.

[gollygee]

79. I see

I agree that the assumption that he was breaking in might very well have been racist.

[LisaL]

85. The article I read stated she told 911 this man was knocking on her door.

"The homeowner told dispatchers that a man had been knocking on her door repeatedly."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/15/justice/north-carolina-police-shooting/index.html

[kcr]

89. How does any of that contradict what I've been saying?

A breaking and entering was reported. She also hit her panic button. I still maintain it's highly likely a white man would have elicited a different response and I'm shaking my head at the How Do You Know That responses of denial. It's a shame.

[LisaL]

91. You can maintain whatever it is you want.

But considering you have no way of knowing that, I don't find it credible.

[JanMichael]

92. That's what I read too. However, the poster

you are replying to is convinced that North Carolinians are just a bunch of racists that would have held the hand and made tea for this guy if he was white.

Can't blame the rogue cop anymore, since he was arrested and charged accordingly....so, must look for another guilty party-- hence, the woman whose door was being banged on.

No one can just say "Jesus, this is sad, and "lethal force" used by police departments needs to come under scrutiny NOW (which it is)," oh hell no. Blame another one of the victims. That woman might be haunted for the rest of her life wondering "what if."

I know I have been questioning "what would I do," since this happened (we live in NC), and my answer is STILL dial 911.

[kcr]

93. No.

For one thing, I'm not questioning her use of 911, but you're too busy fluffing yourself up defending accusations that aren't even there. I lived in the south for almost 20 years, Tennesse in fact. My family is from the south. But again, you just assume that because I refuse to bury my head in the sand and think that all racism is gone forever and I dared mention that it still exists and influences the decisions actions that people make, you just immediate got your dander up and went into defense mode. It's ridiculous.

It's one think to call 911 because you don't know who's at your door in the middle of the night. It's another to assume they're breaking into your house when they aren't. Because he wasn't. How dare anyone even question why she would make those assumptions? The whole incident was one big awful fuck up. But don't even dare question her involvement in it? What crap.

[JanMichael]

95. Oh. TN

well, that explains it. You lived in a neighboring state, so therefore you are an expert on Charlotte Mecklenburg history and current mentality.

Thank you.

What the FUCK difference does it make what that woman "assumed?" Hell, she could have "assumed" a giant, Japanese creature from a nuclear experiment gone wrong was at the door.

That does NOT put "blood on her hands," nor implicate her in the crime that the officer has been charged with.

[kcr]

96. Keep on puffing up

Talk about what the FUCK difference does it make. I just love how some just huff puff huff puff about how some things don't matter. But then OOOOHH YOU'RE FROM TN!? Too funny.

I didn't say anything about blood on her hands. The cop obviously bares full responsibility for shooting that poor guy. But keep putting our heads in the sand and the problems that lead to this don't go away. Keep ignoring the fact and situations like this keep on happening. The fact that people are scared of black people lead to this. They lead to the Trayvon Martin shooting. But every time people want to point it out? Everyone wants to explain it away. You Don't Have Any Way Of KnowingItis rears its ugly head. And people get downright nasty.

[cali]

111. I think his odds would have been better but

most women are just not going to open the door to a strange male of any race who is banging on her door at 2:30 in the morning.

[kcr]

113. No, but they don't have to hit a panic button either

I don't find fault for her keeping the door closed, or for even calling 911 necessarily. It's the panic button pushing reporting of a burglar that gets me. She didn't have to do that, and I can think of at least one reason why she did.

[Rex]

109. Right, because racial profiling should be rewarded when citizens do it.

Whatthefuckever.

[aolwien]

56. Cops are out of control

We need a national moratorium on police procedure.

[JanMichael]

58. and the CPD

acted quickly and is investigating.

[JanMichael]

61. Note the articles in the Charlotte Observer today

The officer was arrested within 19 hours. Lawyers are using words like "unprecedented," and most interesting, one suggested that he might have said something to implicate himself. If he said something racist, it's going to come out.

The whole country is watching this one.....and I think it's good to note that Charlotte is the city STILL on top of dealing with racist crap.

[Nye Bevan]

70. The homeowner bears no guilt at all.

If someone dials 911 and a rogue cop happens to show up, it's the rogue cop's fault. The person who dialed 911 is not to blame.

And calling 911 is the correct thing to do when a bloody stranger is pounding on your front door at 2:30 AM. Whatever their race.

[Rex]

112. So is helping them, well at least to people that have souls.

Not sheeple, they seem to be easily manipulated by the M$M.

[Hoyt]

80. Zimmerman supporters like to say why didn't Trayvon run to neighbors or call police.

[Blue_Tires]

117. I remember that, too

the obliviousness and condescension of some of those 20-20 hindsight comments way beyond nauseating....

[Hoyt]

119. It was bad enough on DU, but on sites where anyone could post, the Z supporters posted awful things.

Spent some time debating on a Facebook page where right wing gun lovers said Tray"gone" got what he deserved, should have gone to neighbors for help, was a thug and thief, was on something called "Purple Drank," circled back and attached Zman in a racist hit, and worse. Aholes.

[hedgehog]

101. .

[Comrade Grumpy]

106. This thread is depressing. We are apparently a nation too scared to have any humanity.

At least we're well armed.

[Shankapotomus]

107. I guess "aggressively" in this case

means reached out begging for help. Aggressively, yeah sure.

[Jefferson23]

115. How sad and so senseless, they're suppose to be trained for crying out loud.

K&R for the defenseless against idiots.

[Blue_Tires]

118. I'll admit I'm surprised to see the officer get charged

usually the department just "suspends" him with pay pending an internal inquiry (which 90% of the time clears him of wrongdoing)

[Boudica the Lyoness]

127. I find this hard to believe

No black man I know would 'charge' at the police. When pulled over, some would immediately put both hands out the window or when asked for their ID, explain what they were doing as they slowly reached for it. Either the cop is not telling the truth or the poor man had a head injury.

[cash__whatiwant]

128. police are out of con-fucking- trol!

They believe they can get away with anything and get away

[La Lioness Priyanka]

139. our postracial utopia feels a lot like our racial past. nt