Darren Wilson’s First Job Was on a Troubled Police Force Disbanded by Authorities (accuse, state)

[uggabugga]

Originally Posted by marigolds6

That article is wrong on so many counts.

The Jennings police department was never reinstated. Today, they are patrolled by St Louis County police and have no department of their own. The city council also did not disband it, the state did on the recommendation of the FBI. It was not disbanded because of "tension". It was disbanded because the city was caught embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grants from the police department into the city general fund and lying about fulfilling the obligations of the grant.

How nice to have the contributions of someone who actually knows what is going on

[Gtownoe]

The article never stated the Jennings force was re-instated.


And her account of it being disbanded for embezzling money sure does sound like "tension" to me. It's corruption pure and simple.

[helenejen]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

Thank you for providing the facts, rather than just another slanted, made up story to destroy the reputation of Mr. Wilson and taint the facts.

Originally Posted by uggabugga

How nice to have the contributions of someone who actually knows what is going on

So you take the unsupported claims of an anonymous forum poster as fact, even when the things s/he is taking issue with not being presented in the article are in the article.

This country is doomed.

[ConeyGirl52]

Im guessing the point here is reasonable force...

Was it reasonable for the officer to experience fear, and react the way he did?

The news commenter makes a big deal about Brown being 35 feet from the car. How long does it take someone to cover 35 feet? Or 30 feet if the officer is 5 feet in front of the car?

Did the officer just pull up, fail to get someone into their car and start shooting - or, did the person beat him before leaving the car, and subsequently turning around to once again face that officer?

Even if I was under the influence of marijuana, Im not going to attempt to beat anybody up over much. Im not going to stay in the road if I know any car is coming toward me. At worst, its going to take an extra second to process the reality of my situation and react to it if Im under the influence of marijuana. Even if Im half-drunk, Im going to make an attempt to keep myself safe, and get out of the way of a moving vehicle. I could misjudge if Im drunk - and actually move into oncoming traffic instead, but as far as Im concerned, Im going to be trying to get out of the way at least in my own mind.

Why would I even think to attack an officer and attempt to get his gun, if that indeed happened? How do I go from praising the Lord with a witness to confronting a cop? Thats like a complete and almost instant 180 degree turn in mindset. Blaming any marijuana I may have smoked - an hour or a month earlier - seems lame on that score. You hear about people becoming beligerent and violent under the influence of alcohol all the time, but you rarely hear anyone claim, "He was so high, he went home and beat the living **** out of his wife and kids." I guess Michael could become violent from the paranoia the drug causes, coupled with the actual situation of needing to interact with the police. I dont know and Im hardly an expert - just relating observations Ive made in my life regarding alcohol and pot consumption.

If Im an officer that was attacked and almost lost my gun to a suspect, how would I reasonably react to that same person appearing to head back in my direction?

If Im not a cop at all, and just had a random stranger attack me in my car, walk away, and appear to head back to me - how would I reasonably react?

If a Concentration Camp survivors actions can be judged as reasonable for experiencing such fear at seeing someone paint a swastika on the front door of their house in the USA and shooting them - then I think some reasonable doubt should be afforded to the officer.

I think the only thing Michael could have done was belly flop to the ground stretching his arms out in front of him - showing the officer he was no longer in a position to be a threat to him. Even so, he could of still ended up dead, but that would have been his best shot at the officer regaining his composure enough to realize he was now no longer a threat.

Im not sure about anything involved with this case. I dont know either Michael or the Officer personally. I know if anyone asked me to get out of the road - I would. Its in my best interest to do so.

I wouldnt be happy to be asked to get in the back of a police car, but I would do it. I can vent about it after Im home and away from the officer.

I know if a cop asked me to stop - I would. If it was tense, as this situation suggests - I would not turn around or do anything but make sure my hands were away from body and visable to the officer behind me.

If what we have heard about this case is true - doesnt it seem really sad and tragic that Michael couldnt walk on the side of the road that day? For whatever reason, felt it was a better idea to fight being put into the back of the squad car? Felt it was a better idea to turn back, than to simply stop moving at all?

Maybe it would have been better if both he and the officer woke with a sore throat that day, and desided to simply stay home and rest. *sigh*

[marigolds6]

Originally Posted by Gtownoe

I don't believe that gives the PD a 'better' reputation at all.

Of course not. Their reputation was horrible.
But "Disbanded by the state for stealing grant money" is a different narrative than "Disbanded by their city council for excessive force".

[marigolds6]

Originally Posted by helenejen

Did you bother to read the article. All of that is in there. As to the State of Missouri disbanding the police department that doesn't preclude the city council voting to disband it. Of course, no evidence has been offered that the State government did so so can't really speak to that.

Contemporary articles on the issue are out there, but good luck finding them in the thousands of articles written in the last few weeks. I tried the post-dispatch archives, but you have to pay to access archive articles there.

[marigolds6]

Originally Posted by Gtownoe

I've NEVER heard of a Police department being disbanded. It could be pretty common but I've never heard of it happening.

It's very common in Missouri. Normally 2-3 departments per year are disbanded just in St Louis County. Similar new departments are formed every year though.
Keep in mind, these departments are policing areas sometimes as small as 12 households. We are talking about cities where the city hall phone number is the current mayor's cell phone.

[katygirl68]

Originally Posted by helenejen

Can you all explain to me the point of cheerleading (on either side) in this situation. What's the point right now? It comes off as just a big indulgence of one's own bias.

I know, WTH? As usual on the P&OC forum, it all comes down to left vs. right. Go Team, Go!

[marigolds6]

Originally Posted by helenejen

So you take the unsupported claims of an anonymous forum poster as fact, even when the things s/he is taking issue with not being presented in the article are in the article.

This country is doomed.

Couldn't read the original article because of the NYT paywall. I went based off the paragraph quoted.

[helenejen]

Originally Posted by marigolds6

Couldn't read the original article because of the NYT paywall. I went based off the paragraph quoted.

Um, it's an article from the Washington Post and is freely available.