Edit: why the downvotes? I can provide an innumerable amount of sources.[0][1][2]
[0] http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2015/12/police-shot-and-ki...
[1] https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/A%20Department%20...
[2] http://www.zdnet.com/article/debian-linux-founder-ian-murdoc...
I get that it's easy to bury your head in the sand when it comes to these things, but there is a major league problem with the police here in SF. They are accountable to nobody and continue to harass and intimidate everyone, not just minorities.
A lot of people don't understand this.
It starts off with minorities because, being minorities, they don't have the political clout to do anything about it.
The downtown decision makers don't care if some black or brown kid gets his head split open for not moving fast enough when the police ordered him to leave.
They don't care until it's someone that is important to them. When it's John Q MiddleClassSuburbanWhiteTeen who gets arrested for a made up offense, it's too late to fix the problem. At that point, the machinations are already in place to abuse everyone.
What they do to the minorities, they'll eventually do to you.
Then they came for the tech bros.
I'm not saying that the police couldn't have handled this better, but characterizing this incident as "shoot first and ask questions later" is mendacious.
Edit: And Ian Murdock? What evidence is there that police killed him?
Police discretion be damned.
That's the problem, as a mandatory law, there is no discretion, which makes the legal system too inflexible to be just. The problem with civil forfeiture is the opposite, as there is too much discretion, which allows it to be abused and used unjustly.
To all laws are criminal, and not all crimes have a singular, discrete victim. Laws are also used as disincentives.
> CF is a crime.
CF is used in a lot more instances than the simplistic example you are putting forth. For example, CF is what is used to justify seizure of contraband at the border (imagine a shipping container full of guns with no known owner). Grouping all usages under a simplistic, unrealistic reading of the law doesn't lead anywhere useful.
Assume CIA? :D
I'll remember to keep the cops on speed-dial if I ever move there.
Also, thanks for sharing this. Horror stories like yours are awakening young men everywhere about the risks of co-habitation and having LTRs.
The officers claim that the Taser projected a red light, which they assumed was the laser sight of a handgun, and feared for their lives. At 7.18:43pm, Schiff and Sawyer began barraging Nieto with .40-calibre bullets.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/21/death-by-gent...
In fact, it would be hard to distinguish between someone holding a phone with a light on or someone holding a gun with a light attached.
I'm not defending police brutality, but these are often difficult situations.
Besides, what phone camera has a light on it that's visible?
None that I can think of in day/noon/afternoon time. Some have a focus assist light and/or flash at night time -- but taking out of one's pockets and pointing a small object at a US policeman at nighttime, and especially in an aggressive scenario as the one we're discussing, that I would advise even less.
So, having a fight that triggers a call to the police (even a verbal one, or slamming a door) will result in the XY going to jail for the night, paying for it, losing their house and most of their belongings, losing their job, being arrested (which is never expunged, even if innocent), and being homeless while you get a new job, house, clothes, etc.
Even if you're acquitted (I was completely acquitted of the lowest charge possible, which is a 3rd degree misdemeanor), it's not like your things magically show up, you still went to jail and lost your job, and the state doesn't care at all. The records should be expunged, the money that I paid to stay in jail ($35) should be refunded, and I should be given a police escort to force her to relinquish my things (thousands of dollars of things, photos, etc).
The system in CO is just a race to call the cops. Whoever goes first, wins. Slamming a door will immediately tag you as a "Domestic Abuser" and any guns (and ammo) must be kept at a friend's for the duration of the trial (which takes 6 months).
I won, and it certainly doesn't feel like "winning". :(