Police killed a black man dressed up like an anime character

[Socialist Tera]

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/news/darrien-hu ... osplaying/
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/world/nt ... gear-.html

For the second time in two months, a black man has been shot and killed by police officers while holding a toy weapon.

The Utah police fatally shot 22-year-old Darrien Hunt on Wednesday. He was holding a fake samurai sword, which led some to believe he was cosplaying, or costume playing, as Mugen from the popular anime Samurai Champloo.


Hunt was killed outside the Panda Express in Sarasota Springs, Utah, after police responded to a complaint of a "suspicious individual" with a sword.

The initial police statement claimed that Hunt had "brandished the sword and lunged toward the officers with the sword" before they shot him.

Hunt's family, however, is claiming that a private autopsy shows Hunt was shot in the back numerous times, and that multiple witnesses saw him running away from the police.

Hunt's case is eerily similar to another recent police shooting that took place in the toy department of Walmart. On Aug. 5, John Crawford III from Dayton, Oh., was also shot and killed by police who mistook his toy weapon for a real one.

In both cases, police responded to a call of suspicious behavior. In Crawford's case, witnesses stated that he was talking on his cellphone and leaning on a toy rifle that he had picked up while shopping in the store. Witnesses speculated that Crawford did not hear police directions for him to turn around, since he was shot while still holding his phone.

Both Utah and Ohio have open-carry laws, but the "weapon" in both of these cases was a toy—in Crawford's case an unpackaged BB gun, in Hunt's case a blunt-edged fake replica of a katana, or Japanese sword. Even if Hunt's sword had been real, it is legal to publicly carry a sword under Utah's open-carry law.

What the fuck? Something needs to be done about police targeting black youth on the street. This is completely ridiculous, it wouldn't happen to a white man. Americans, why do your police act like this for?

[Lankar Islands]

Basically, American police... Get a hold of yourself and stop being ever so impulsive and trigger hapy.

[Laerod]

What the fuck? Something needs to be done about police targeting black youth on the street. This is completely ridiculous, it wouldn't happen to a white man. Americans, why do your police act like this for?

Because there's a culture of "If you don't want to get hurt, don't 'challenge' me" among American cops.

[Empire of Narnia]

Is their really any evidence that the police are all Neo-Nazis with a secret plan to shoot everyone who is black, or are these maybe just cases of people doing stupid things with toy guns/swords? Back in the days their were some tragic cases of police shooting kids that had realistic toy guns, but I don't think the cops back then were all plotting to kill children. Bad things happen when people brandish weapons (fake or not) in public.

[Divitaen]

LOL'ed at the poll question. Of course it's not justified! That man was no threat to the police or anyone around him.

[Laerod]

Is their really any evidence that the police are all Neo-Nazis with a secret plan to shoot everyone who is black, or are these maybe just cases of people doing stupid things with toy guns/swords?

Something in between.

[The Joseon Dynasty]

Is their really any evidence that the police are all Neo-Nazis with a secret plan to shoot everyone who is black, or are these maybe just cases of people doing stupid things with toy guns/swords? Back in the days their were some tragic cases of police shooting kids that had realistic toy guns, but I don't think the cops back then were all plotting to kill children. Bad things happen when people brandish weapons (fake or not) in public.

I wouldn't pin it on a concerted effort to shoot black people, but there certainly seems to be a tendency among American police to be much more volatile in situations involving black suspects.

[Risottia]

...
The initial police statement claimed that Hunt had "brandished the sword and lunged toward the officers with the sword" before they shot him.

Hunt's family, however, is claiming that a private autopsy shows Hunt was shot in the back numerous times, and that multiple witnesses saw him running away from the police. ...

Murder, third degree - upgraded to first degree because happened during a felony (malfeasance in office), I'd say.

[The Huskar Social Union]

They should be fired and put on Trial for Murder.

This is a fucking disgrace.

[Herskerstad]

Now these trials 'and it is likely to turn into a trial', unlike the ongoing one and the Martins case, could actually yield results if the private autopsy and witness testimonies is credible.

Then again, it is a headline just now, and once a trial opens we generally get more information before we jump on the ragetrain.

[L Ron Cupboard]

From the reports the shooting doesn't sound remotely justified. However you do have to question the wisdom of roleplaying publicly with a sword; given the recent beheadings of US and UK citizens by ISIS, plots in Australia to behead people, the killing of Lee Rigby in London.

[Risottia]

They should be fired and put on Trial for Murder.

Wrong order. First try, then if sentenced guilty (as should be) fire.

[Herskerstad]

They should be fired and put on Trial for Murder.

Wrong order. First try, then if sentenced guilty (as should be) fire.

It is more than a bit pre-emptive to say they should be sentenced guilty based on an article with very sparse information. So how about paid leave for now, unpaid if it looks as bad as it sounds, trial, and then fire/imprison or even give an injection if it is true 'gun for fun' moments under the color of authority.

If it however would turn out to be an idiot with a sword rushing towards the police, then yeah, I'd hate to say it, but that's be justified. Though with the witness statements it is kind of hard to say, he could have been running away, cornered, and then done a dumb charge. But if he was shot while fleeing then that is not merely manslaughter, but murder.

Too many possibilities to get riled up over yet, and generally, seeing how it is an extraordinarily cruel/bad/dumb thing to kill someone in an open place with witnesses and think just the uniform will protect you, I am going to go ahead and suspect that it won't be quite like that come the end of the trial.

[Lemanrussland]

Is their really any evidence that the police are all Neo-Nazis with a secret plan to shoot everyone who is black, or are these maybe just cases of people doing stupid things with toy guns/swords? Back in the days their were some tragic cases of police shooting kids that had realistic toy guns, but I don't think the cops back then were all plotting to kill children. Bad things happen when people brandish weapons (fake or not) in public.

More often than not, police actually show restraint when they would be legally justified in using lethal force. The problem is that most people who get any kind of force used on them (up to 74 percent of them in 2008, at least according to the FBI) feel it is excessive force, and the media likes reporting on excessive uses of force because it makes for a controversial story. This is probably why there is this perception that the police are trigger happy power freaks who are itching to get into gunfights and hit people with batons.

http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publi ... adly-force

But anyway, as with any case where lethal force is used, there should be an impartial investigation. If the police were found to have used lethal force incorrectly, they should be punished.

[Quintium]

Perhaps they mistook him for Ebola-chan.

[Lindhartia]

I don't know how to feel about this.

[Braberbourg]

God Bless 'Murica, I suppose?

FFS America get civilized.

[Gun Manufacturers]

Source: http://www.dailydot.com/news/darrien-hu ... osplaying/
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/world/nt ... gear-.html

For the second time in two months, a black man has been shot and killed by police officers while holding a toy weapon.

The Utah police fatally shot 22-year-old Darrien Hunt on Wednesday. He was holding a fake samurai sword, which led some to believe he was cosplaying, or costume playing, as Mugen from the popular anime Samurai Champloo.


Hunt was killed outside the Panda Express in Sarasota Springs, Utah, after police responded to a complaint of a "suspicious individual" with a sword.

The initial police statement claimed that Hunt had "brandished the sword and lunged toward the officers with the sword" before they shot him.

Hunt's family, however, is claiming that a private autopsy shows Hunt was shot in the back numerous times, and that multiple witnesses saw him running away from the police.

Hunt's case is eerily similar to another recent police shooting that took place in the toy department of Walmart. On Aug. 5, John Crawford III from Dayton, Oh., was also shot and killed by police who mistook his toy weapon for a real one.

In both cases, police responded to a call of suspicious behavior. In Crawford's case, witnesses stated that he was talking on his cellphone and leaning on a toy rifle that he had picked up while shopping in the store. Witnesses speculated that Crawford did not hear police directions for him to turn around, since he was shot while still holding his phone.

Both Utah and Ohio have open-carry laws, but the "weapon" in both of these cases was a toy—in Crawford's case an unpackaged BB gun, in Hunt's case a blunt-edged fake replica of a katana, or Japanese sword. Even if Hunt's sword had been real, it is legal to publicly carry a sword under Utah's open-carry law.

What the fuck? Something needs to be done about police targeting black youth on the street. This is completely ridiculous, it wouldn't happen to a white man. Americans, why do your police act like this for?

I'll wait until the official autopsy and investigation are finished, before I come close to attempting to pass judgement.

[Laerod]

Is their really any evidence that the police are all Neo-Nazis with a secret plan to shoot everyone who is black, or are these maybe just cases of people doing stupid things with toy guns/swords? Back in the days their were some tragic cases of police shooting kids that had realistic toy guns, but I don't think the cops back then were all plotting to kill children. Bad things happen when people brandish weapons (fake or not) in public.

More often than not, police actually show restraint when they would be legally justified in using lethal force. The problem is that most people who get any kind of force used on them (up to 84 percent, at least according to the FBI) feel it was excessive, and the media likes reporting on excessive uses of force because it makes for a controversial story. This is probably why there is this perception that the police are trigger happy power freaks who are itching to get into a gunfight.

http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publi ... adly-force

But anyway, as with any case where lethal force is used, there should be an impartial investigation. If the police were found to have used lethal force incorrectly, they should be punished.

Okay, having friends that used to work for the CCRB I call bullshit. Excessive force and utterly inappropriate behavior from cops happens a lot. When attorneys dish out advice like this:

But the best way to avoid getting your ass kicked and then you get charged or arrested if you weren't killed, is to treat cops like they're very dangerous animals. Not because cops are animals, not because all cops are very dangerous ones, but because you just have no way of knowing who you're dealing with, and any probability greater than zero is bad odds when the end scenario involves you being shot up to hell and then accused of charging the officer because you may or may not have been involved in some kind of robbery or larceny at a local convenience store that the officer may or may not have known about when he began pulling the trigger over and over again.

Then there's something very, very wrong with how cops in the US behave. If the soundest advice we can give is "Treat any cop as though they were a rattlesnake or a mugger," then something needs to change.

[Lemanrussland]

More often than not, police actually show restraint when they would be legally justified in using lethal force. The problem is that most people who get any kind of force used on them (up to 84 percent, at least according to the FBI) feel it was excessive, and the media likes reporting on excessive uses of force because it makes for a controversial story. This is probably why there is this perception that the police are trigger happy power freaks who are itching to get into a gunfight.

http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publi ... adly-force

But anyway, as with any case where lethal force is used, there should be an impartial investigation. If the police were found to have used lethal force incorrectly, they should be punished.

Okay, having friends that used to work for the CCRB I call bullshit. Excessive force and utterly inappropriate behavior from cops happens a lot. When attorneys dish out advice like this:

But the best way to avoid getting your ass kicked and then you get charged or arrested if you weren't killed, is to treat cops like they're very dangerous animals. Not because cops are animals, not because all cops are very dangerous ones, but because you just have no way of knowing who you're dealing with, and any probability greater than zero is bad odds when the end scenario involves you being shot up to hell and then accused of charging the officer because you may or may not have been involved in some kind of robbery or larceny at a local convenience store that the officer may or may not have known about when he began pulling the trigger over and over again.

Then there's something very, very wrong with how cops in the US behave. If the soundest advice we can give is "Treat any cop as though they were a rattlesnake or a mugger," then something needs to change.

Define "a lot".

A blog entry from a random lawyer is not really convincing to me, at least when compared to statistics and hard numbers.

[-The Unified Earth Governments-]

Its times like this that make me realize that the police just need to get a hold of themselves.

[-The Unified Earth Governments-]

God Bless 'Murica, I suppose?

FFS America get civilized.

FFS, stop grouping an entire country by the actions of an idiot.

[Laerod]

Okay, having friends that used to work for the CCRB I call bullshit. Excessive force and utterly inappropriate behavior from cops happens a lot. When attorneys dish out advice like this:

Then there's something very, very wrong with how cops in the US behave. If the soundest advice we can give is "Treat any cop as though they were a rattlesnake or a mugger," then something needs to change.

Define "a lot".

A blog entry from a random lawyer is not really convincing to me, at least when compared to statistics and hard numbers.

This isn't a problem that can be washed away with statistics. Anecdotal evidence is generally not a good idea, I agree there, but the issue here isn't that there are few cases overall. When my friend tells me how two cops start yelling slurs at two black girls on the street for no apparent reason and don't back off until she mentions she works for the CCRB. It's really no longer an issue of how often this happens in relation to it not happening, the issue is that there's a culture where this happens often enough. There are way too many fucking anecdotes to go around. The issue is that there are too many and the cops that do engage in this behavior have the power to generally avoid accountability. And this isn't limited to getting shot. I linked an editorial by Sunil Dutta above where he outlines the major attitude problem him and other cops have: Among other things, there's this false equivalence of how cops owe a community respect and a community needs to return the favor. They're fucking cops. Society trusts them with guns, handcuffs, and the authority to use them, so they damn well need to adhere to a much higher standard than a fucking community.

[Saint Jeanne]

If I'm a police officer, and I see a man with a sword running away from me, I'm going to assume that he's running because he's done something wrong. And when he is resisting arrest, with a weapon, I don't care what he's doing. If that man would've dropped his sword and walked up to the police and said, "It's fake. I'm just roleplaying," this whole thing would be avoided.

Also, by the way. Cops do not target blacks. That's the biggest shit I've ever heard, being from Cleveland. I know more black police officers than white.

You foreigners hear about three stories of cops wrongfully killing blacks (accidents or not) and you assume the entire police force of the United States targets blacks. Zimmerman wasn't a cop, by the way, just an ass.

[Ifreann]

From the reports the shooting doesn't sound remotely justified. However you do have to question the wisdom of roleplaying publicly with a sword; given the recent beheadings of US and UK citizens by ISIS, plots in Australia to behead people, the killing of Lee Rigby in London.

I think a "samurai sword" is likely not to evoke terrorists beheading people.

---

If I'm a police officer, and I see a man with a sword running away from me, I'm going to assume that he's running because he's done something wrong. And when he is resisting arrest, with a weapon, I don't care what he's doing.

Running while black is serious business.