Maybe Chris Hayes and Jake Tapper will want to put in some time in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank bristles at comparisons to Ferguson but guess what? Just as in Ferguson the name of the police officer is being withheld and body cam footage of the shooting cannot be released to the public lest they get the wrong idea. Just as in Ferguson the shooting victim is a marginal member of the community but in this instance the ne'er do well is white. This is the second police shooting of an unarmed white man since the Ferguson debacle.
Andrew Scott Gaynier was shot to death in Dallas on August 11, after moving in a manner the police deemed to be threatening.
Dillon Taylor was shot after he continued to walk away from police officers. He had been ordered to stop but witnesses say he was wearing headphones and did not hear the command. Taylor and his brother and cousin had just exited a convenience store as police arrived responding to a call that someone in the area was waving a gun. After killing Taylor police searched and detained his companions but failed to find a weapon. After the shooting police found that Taylor had an outstanding warrant for a probation violation.
Do not expect to ever hear of this shooting on the national news. It would ruin the racial narrative. It would debunk the war on black people, a theme that has played so well, that has boosted media careers and Nielson ratings. I have documented countless flagrant abuses of police power long before the world discovered Ferguson, Missouri. The militarization of police forces is but part of the problem and the easiest to solve. Just quit giving police departments military equipment. There is legislation before the House to do just that but that does not address the problem of highly unionized police officers who like sex starved, predatory, school teachers cannot be fired even with cause and the arrogance of power mentality that permeates law enforcement.
"If you don't want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground," warns Officer Sunil Dutta of the Los Angeles Police Department, "just do what I tell you."
If Dutta were merely a half-witted disciple Chief Daryl Gates it would be one thing but he is a half-witted adjunct professor of Homeland Security and Criminal Justice at Colorado Technical University. This is a phd! This is also a member of a department whose members earn on average $157,151. He is overpaid, overbearing and over the training of future half-wits who will shoot you if you don't "just do what I tell you."
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