Wauwatosa - Mensah Protests (Luck, Portland: city hall, crime, homes)

[Ariadne22]

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/...sa/5914351002/

https://www.jsonline.com/story/commu...ed/5899357002/

Go to "new details" in this link for actual sequence of events:

https://www.jsonline.com/story/commu...ng/3446512001/

Can someone explain to me why people are protesting this decision? Since when is it OK to point a gun at police?

In short, Cole (17 y/o black kid) had threatened others at Mayfair Mall with a gun, was pursued by three officers, was told to drop his gun, fell to the ground, and then proceeded to point the gun it at Mensah - who then shot and killed Cole. In what world is this a problem?

So, now we have people "protesting" the DA's decision not to charge because it wouldn't be sustainable. Of course, windows have been broken at businesses and homes tonight as a result of this. City is on a curfew, schools and City Hall closed today through the end of the week, National Guard put in place yesterday, barricades erected around police station.

This is Mensah's (he's a black cop, btw) third deadly shooting in five years - two at Mayfair, I believe. The Mayfair cops have the worst beat in the city, imo. Teenage hooligans come to that mall daily, carjack, rob people, shoplift like crazy - and somehow they're the good guys??

I have yet to hear anyone ask the family what that kid was doing with a gun - and why, when he pointed the gun at police, they shouldn't shoot?

[WINH]

They don't care about the facts anymore and this certainly doesn't qualify as peaceful protesting. I haven't owned a gun in 40 years but purchased one this summer with great difficulty since none are to be found but I will protect my property if so confronted. If no one is ever charged with the crime of wanton destruction of property and isn't ever charged what deterrent is there to not do this again and again. Cities like Portland, New York ,Seattle, Chicago etc arrest but don't charge anyone unless they kill someone so it becomes like a game where they go back and destroy again as there is no personal responsibility that comes into play. Our moral sense of integrity is constantly being destroyed so just do it. If I were to go to my downtown and throw rocks through windows and at officers I would be heavily fined and probably be in jail. The kid just got out of detention and should not have had a gun but he is just another saint.

[Master Jay]

I saw Capitol Court, and then Northridge, and now it looks like Mayfair is next.

Common denominator?

In any event, you know why people continued to harass stores and homes (throwing bottles or rocks in windows of homes)? NO ONE seems to be fighting back, so these rioters have no reason to stop doing it. I don't really see the police stopping them, so someone has to, or it will just continue.

GOOD LUCK. Don't be prisoners in your own homes. Don't let this sickness spread and destroy more neighborhoods: YOUR neighborhoods.

[parentologist]

Sickening. 17 yr old takes a gun to the mall, gets in an argument with someone there, shows the gun, runs from the police with the gun, FIRES the gun (and how are the cops to know whether he fired it accidentally or not), has the gun in his hand and refuses to drop it, points it at the police, and gets shot to death by the police.

But because the young man was Black, (the cop is Black, too) there is rioting and looting going on in response to the decision not to charge the cop who shot him (possibly saving his own life, and the lives of his fellow policemen).

Here's the decision not to charge:

https://www.wuwm.com/sites/wuwm/file...ah_-_cole_.pdf

[Drewjdeg]

I guess my frustration is that these “threatening people with gun” calls always end up with someone getting shot. Let’s be honest, police in this country are barely trained compared to other developed nations and have zero idea how to de escalate a situation with a mentally ill person. That’s my general problem with the people that want to defund the police.

Seems like the protestors have the wrong focus here.

[parentologist]

He went looking for a fight, carrying a stolen gun. He already was a juvenile in trouble with the law. He picked a fight with a stranger, showed the gun, ran from the cops, took out the gun, FIRED the gun, and refused to throw the gun away, and pointed the gun at the police. Short of having shot a policeman (which the cops had EVERY reason to expect that he would do), what more would he have had to do, to justify the police opening fire at him?

[Drewjdeg]

Originally Posted by parentologist

He went looking for a fight, carrying a stolen gun. He already was a juvenile in trouble with the law. He picked a fight with a stranger, showed the gun, ran from the cops, took out the gun, FIRED the gun, and refused to throw the gun away, and pointed the gun at the police. Short of having shot a policeman (which the cops had EVERY reason to expect that he would do), what more would he have had to do, to justify the police opening fire at him?

The police need to make an attempt at de escalation but that they almost never do because they are not trained. Rolling up on a mentally ill person guns drawn and shouting a bunch of nonsense usually results in someone getting shot. As it did in this situation.

[Bondurant]

Originally Posted by Drewjdeg

Let’s be honest, police in this country are barely trained compared to other developed nations and have zero idea how to de escalate a situation with a mentally ill person.

Do you have any data to support this claim?

[Drewjdeg]

Originally Posted by Bondurant

Do you have any data to support this claim?

European cops are trained for 3 years, American cops complete less than a year. According to Paul Hirschfield of Rutgers University, American cops are trained as little as one day on conflict de-escalation.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...-around-world/

Look at the way Swedish cops can de-escalate and calm a situation.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izdfnHBMwSs

[parentologist]

Originally Posted by Drewjdeg

The police need to make an attempt at de escalation but that they almost never do because they are not trained. Rolling up on a mentally ill person guns drawn and shouting a bunch of nonsense usually results in someone getting shot. As it did in this situation.

He was 17 year old criminal with a stolen gun who fired it while being chased by the cops, then refused to drop the gun, pointed it at the cops. Nowhere was mental illness mentioned - but if he HAD been mentally ill, it still would have been justified shooting by the cops.