Police Shooting in Bellaire (to live, to move, license plates)

[Huckleberry3911948]

i respectfully disagree. the man looks 1/2 asian 1/2 black not typical not racial.
the parents yelling did not help. getting up in a cops face when he is doing an arrest is not a good idea. he did not stay down on the ground. he has a clean record that indicates that he is not a gang banger. i hope this young man is ok.
can anyone tell me if this young man survived.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948

i respectfully disagree. the man looks 1/2 asian 1/2 black not typical not racial.
the parents yelling did not help. getting up in a cops face when he is doing an arrest is not a good idea. he did not stay down on the ground. he has a clean record that indicates that he is not a gang banger.

Exactly what I'm saying. I agree 100%

You just don't smart off & disobey a cop like that when they have your life at their mercy.

I'm not so sure all of the story is being told anyways. Hopefully the combination of dash cam video & witnesses will reveal in court the sequence of events that really took place.

[MrSykes]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Oh yeah him. The one that just called America a bunch of cowards simply because people like to choose their own circle of friends. We sure have been getting some outstanding officials elected in Washington lately from tax evaders to closeted racists to who knows what next.

I don't know if you were aware, but attorney general has little to do with a case the county & state will more than likely be the first to investigate & handle accordingly.

This wasn't about race, it was about mistaken identity. Doesn't happen very often, but when it does it usually only makes headlines if the person was of color. Remember what happened a few months back with the guy that shot a couple of kids breaking into his neighbors house?

I wish Robbie a speedy recovery.

Hahaha, you expect a fair investigation from the Lykos clan, herself a former cop?

Puhleease!

It's encouraging to know that the Tolan's are brave and resourceful enough to have all their ducks lined up in a row, even in the midst of "intimidating" letters from city attorneys cautioning them not to go before the media prior to the end of the investigation.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by MrSykes

Hahaha, you expect a fair investigation from the Lykos clan, herself a former cop?

Puhleease!

It's encouraging to know that the Tolan's are brave and resourceful enough to have all their ducks lined up in a row, even in the midst of "intimidating" letters from city attorneys cautioning them not to go before the media prior to the end of the investigation.

That's the case with any investigation of this nature. The media never gets all the facts right a lot of the time anyways as most of us know & eats this kinda story alive. People should be aware by now never to solely rely on the media for the truth. The city was probably just trying to keep a racial riot from breaking out or a retaliation crime from happening. Psychology 101 tells me so.

[MrSykes]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Would this story have gotten the same attention had a Hispanic or Black cop shot a White kid? Absolutely not.

Not at all. Would've gotten more. Probably for the very reason that automatically raises questions in a case like this in the first place - it just doesn't happen to white folks. How many white kids are being "accidentally" or "ill-advisedly" gunned down by police? Yeah, thought so. And I know white kids can act the fool, I've seen it. Especially the spoiled rich ones with "big shot" parents.

I'm not condoning the actions of the law officer by any means, but the last thing you wanna do no matter who you are is provoke a cop with a loaded 9 milli in his holster. They have the power to let you go on your way peacefully & they have the power to take your life away immediately no questions asked.

That's the scary part about the whole thing - the fact that some are just not judicious enough to know how to use that power (like this one), yet they're still running around, on edge, just waiting to take somebody out.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Some thoughts:

1) Robbie Tolan Jr. (the shooting victim) did not play for the Washington Nationals. He played in their minor league system in 2007 and then for the independent Bay Area Toros in Texas City last year. His father, however, did play in the big leagues from 1965-79.

2) I guess you're clear on the fact that Bellaire is a separate city from Houston with its own mayor, police force etc. ftr, I'd like to see the whole lot of them cleaned out from there over this. Those pigs* don't deserve to be a goddamned hall monitor at the local junior high let alone an armed police officer on the streets, and the mayor who oversees that department shouldn't even hold the office of dog catcher.

3) This is not just a Southern thing. It's here, it's in Phoenix - hell, it's in New York City. Do any of these names ring a bell: Sean Bell? Amadou Diallo? Abner Louima? Guess who at NYPD was held responsible for those atrocities? Nobody. And unlike Bell and Diallo, Tolan is alive. So we can throw this "Old South" drivel out the window right there.

*I know there are police officers reading. They know whether they're good cops or lowlife thugs with badges. If you're the former, I wholeheartedly appreciate what you do. If you're the latter, you are scum and your despicable ilk get good cops killed.

1. He is still a part of their organization and a professional baseball player that was brought up for a few games. Regardless, I fail to see how this has any bearing on this incident or why you mentioned this

2. To suggest that Bellaire is a separate city is to suggest that Arlington is a separate city from Dallas. Yes technically it is but it's right next to Houston and is considered part of the of the greater Houston metro.

3. This case is odd because the Bellaire police were aware that Robbie Tolan lived in Bellaire and his family were upper middle class and they still chose to discrimate against him. I'm originally from LA and yes police in Beverly Hills do racially profile drivers but if they learn the person they pull over is of upper socieconomic status or more imporantly live in Beverly Hills, they back off. In this case, these police officers completely dismissed those facts. Tolans' upper income status didn't influence the police in Bellaire whatsoever. This is why I feel this case is party influenced by the culture in the south namely the fact that even an upper middle class African American family couldn't catch a break.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

The guy obviously made a sudden move the officer thought to have been threatening at the time. In a city like Houston where police officers are killed in the line of duty all the time by unsuspecting criminals they are trained to react with deadly force as such. If I were Tolan I would've done what I was told to do until the whole ordeal was over with & was let go on my merry way.

If you watch the show, you learn that the police slammed Robbie's mother against the garage and bruised her arm. Tell me how many sons in that situation would allow their mother to be treated that way without saying "Get your f'in hands off my mother" The police shouldn't have assaulted his mother. If you were Tolan, I very seriously doubt you would have been calm while your mother was treated that way. Tolan had already done everything the police had asked him including getting down on the ground at his own house. At that point, you would probably question if these police officers were going to go awol and harm your family considering they provided so much evidence to suggest they had something against Robbie Tolan considering he was pulled over for no reason to begin with.

[MrSykes]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

That's the case with any investigation of this nature. The media never gets all the facts right a lot of the time anyways as most of us know & eats this kinda story alive. People should be aware by now never to solely rely on the media for the truth. The city was probably just trying to keep a racial riot from breaking out or a retaliation crime from happening. Psychology 101.

I understand that. The Tolans are smart, though. They know the media's probably their biggest asset right now. And they're ridin' it all the way, as well they should.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by dcoolbro

azriverfan, you seem to be intent on making Houston, and the south in general this dark evil place. The incident in Bellaire was sad and unfortunate, but it is certainly not unique to Houston. There is a number of similar incidents that have occured in so called "progressive" cities like New York, L.A., and let's not forget the recent shooting incident in the Bay Area where the boy was shot and killed at the train station by a police officer for no reason. Maybe it's time you get off your anti-southern kick and look to some of these other "progressive" places.

And you seem rather defensive of this incident by deflecting blame by suggesting this type of situation occurs everwhere when this incident was unique enough to be given a full piece on REAL SPORTS. You didn't acknowledge or address any of the statistics I brought forth. This is a unique situation and I think it makes little sense to compare this other incidents because they have little in common with this incident. Perhaps, you should acknowledge that Houston does have a problem with racial tolerance and should seek to improve in that area instead of being an apologist. What also makes this situation unique is how unapologetic the city seems to be about this. They didn't suspend the police without pay. The police are still being paid. And the city also lied by publicly stating they had never been reprimanded when both police officers had a bad record and had been written up multiple times. And to make matters worse, the district attorney who will preside over this case is a former police officer and a conservative Republican. It would not suprise me to see the Bellaire police get a tap on the wrist. Again, when incidents like these occur in other cities, the city usually issues a public apology and reprimans the authorities involved. This hasn't been the case in Bellaire thus far which is unique.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

And you seem rather defensive of this incident by deflecting blame by suggesting this type of situation occurs everwhere when this incident was unique enough to be given a full piece on REAL SPORTS. You didn't acknowledge or address any of the statistics I brought forth. This is a unique situation and I think it makes little sense to compare this other incidents because they have little in common with this incident. Perhaps, you should acknowledge that Houston does have a problem with racial tolerance and should seek to improve in that area instead of being an apologist.

What should he acknowledge? Houston is one of, if not the most racially integrated cities in the nation.