Lotta_Drool wrote:
I don't have audio at work, but will assume the boy is white trash that was running from the cops after doing something stupid like DUI or Jacking cars. I fully support the police. They didn't shoot him and kept it nonlethal and entertaining. The little fuck should be glad I am not in the Jury.
Well, since I was born and raised in a small Missouri town - in the "Ozarks" - I really resent that assumption. Maybe I'll just assume you're a complete douchebag for making it. But I prefer to remain civil. Let me elaborate on why I disagree with your hypothesis:
There was recently a pretty scandalous incident in my hometown where several sheriff's deputies, local police and university police (7 total officers) pulled over someone in a Taco Bell parking lot, and when he apparently "resisted" he was beaten and died in the hospital. The body was immediately sent to St. Louis for autopsy, and apparently IMMEDIATE after the autopsy all internal organs were removed and incinerated...which I'm pretty sure is NOT standard practice. There was an investigation, and some local lawyers who were representing the family pointed out numerous inconsistencies in the stories of the various officers. A friend of a friend (reliable, I know) actually was at work at the Taco Bell when it happened, and the police told them to all stay inside, and then apparently the officers hooked up the outside hose and rinsed off the parking lot before the State Troopers (MO Highway Patrol officers, who are usually actually pretty professional) arrived, effectively rinsing away any evidence.
I personally know people on the police force from when I was in high school, and they are DEFINITELY the type who would abuse any power they had. It's seriously scary to deal with the police in small towns like this, because it's such a "good ol' boy" network, and there is not a great deal of direct oversight. The sheriff's dept. has a complete SWAT layout (vans, full armor, M16's, etc.), a fleet of Dodge Charger police cars and various giant trucks that are ridiculously modded out for off-road capability, but yet they just recently started equipping dash-mounted cameras - partly a result of complaints after the beating incident, where residents complained that if they can afford all of these fancy toys for such a small town enforcement agency, they should have cameras for the sake of protecting both citizens from improper procedure and officers from claims of maleficence.
So while this boy could easily be white trash that was running from the law, I wouldn't jump to assume anything of the sort from what little facts were presented here. Most small towns' enforcement agencies do not have very strict requirements, so you get a lot of people who aren't very educated and who are probably bored a lot of the time, and any chance they get to use their guns/pepper spray/flashy lights and siren, they do it.
