Supreme Court Asked to Strike Down Immunity for Police Who Brutally Beat Student

Re:Supreme Court Asked to Strike Down Immunity for Police Wh... by barbazoo on Monday March 20, 2023 @12:30PM (#35234094)

> The case started in 2014. James, then a college student, was walking between two summer jobs in Grand Rapids, Michigan, when two men stopped him, demanded his name, and took his wallet. Thinking he was being mugged, James ran. But the men caught him, beat him to the point that his face was unrecognizable, and choked him unconscious. James only later discovered that the men were members of a police task force—one an FBI agent and the other a local detective. The officers never identified themselves as law enforcement to James, and bystanders who witnessed the beating were equally in the dark, calling 911 to report what they believed to be an attempted murder in broad daylight. Uniformed officers arrived, and, even though it was clear James was not the wanted suspect, arrested James, transported him to the hospital, and handcuffed him to his bed.

> They are doing their job, this is their job.

Maybe elaborate on that a little I'm not sure I understand. How exactly is what they did their job?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Supreme Court Asked to Strike Down Immunity for Police Wh... by AnimalMuppet on Monday March 20, 2023 @12:45PM (#35234400)

I think you misunderstand giraffe_lady's point. She's saying that beating up on random people is actually the job of the police - not the job we think they have, not the job they have morally or legally, but given the system and society we have, that's their actual job. And the question is, why do we as a society want our police to do that?

I'm not sure that I agree with her point. But that's what I think she's saying.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Supreme Court Asked to Strike Down Immunity for Police Wh... by barbazoo on Monday March 20, 2023 @03:00PM (#35236824)

> She's saying that beating up on random people is actually the job of the police

I mean it's obviously not literally that. Is it the outcome of something that is the police's job? Maybe but then what would that be?

Maybe they were just trying to score some internet points by being a troll, I don't get it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Supreme Court Asked to Strike Down Immunity for Police Wh... by giraffe_lady on Monday March 20, 2023 @03:40PM (#35237445)

The point I was making is similar to "the purpose of a system is what it does."

Regardless of or alongside what we say the police do, or what they claim to do, they also beat the shit out of people a lot. We don't prevent them from doing this, or usually impose consequences for them doing it, we don't even seem to generally mind that they do it. We continue to pay them.

So, the job of the police is what they do, and a significant portion of what they do is beating the shit out of people. That makes it their job in a limited but still useful and very real way.

[ Parent | on HN ]