(09-26-2017, 08:29 PM)JagNGeorgia Wrote:

(09-26-2017, 07:50 PM)Bullseye Wrote: Let's look at the facts:

1.  Michael Bennett was not arrested or charged with the underlying crime that caused the police investigation in the first place.

2.  Michael Bennett was not arrested or charged with obstructing justice or interfering with an investigation, or aiding and abetting  the perpetrator of the original incident cited in 1.

3.  Michael Bennett was not arrested for or charged with assault (threatening, creating the reasonable apprehension of immediate death or severe bodily injury), or battery (the actual physical attack) on a LEO.

4.  It was alleged there was a shooting at the casino?

Is it wholly unreasonable for a person in the area of what is thought by the crowd to be a shooting to hide behind something for cover?

With this in mind, tell me again why a police officer found it necessary to threaten to blow the head off of an innocent man?

1. Not being guilty of the crime for which the police were there to investigate is irrelevant.

2. Not being charged with obstruction doesn't mean he didn't obstruct the investigation. Often, people are released simply because the hassle isn't worth the charge. For example, in Georgia, if you're in a place (behind the slot machine) not usual for law-abiding citizens AND you take flight upon seeing the police, you've committed a crime. On this note, the police have to afford you an opportunity to explain why you were there, and if they believe it's sufficient then they can release you. Hell, you can be the owner of the business you were behind, if you ran when you saw them then you still committed the crime.

This doesn't mean Michael Bennett didn't commit a crime. 

3. & 4. If Michael Bennett is hiding behind slot machine and waits until the police show up to start running, then he's begging for their attention. No one else on their video did what he did. This isn't like the shooting happened and he started running. The shooting happened, and he hid behind slot machine. He waited for a while, and when the police see him, he takes off running. Not only does he take off running, he jumps a barrier and runs into traffic.

Surely you don't believe this is normal behavior.

Also, if I was that officer, and I thought I was chasing someone with a gun--and his actions supported involvement (which it does)--then I would absolutely threaten to shoot him if I thought it would keep him from actually pulling a gun.

2.  If Bennett were released upon potential obstruction of justice because the police did not think the hassle was worth the charge, then why in the world would the charge of obstruction of justice be worth the "hassle" of putting a gun to the head of an unarmed black man?

3 & 4  For you and I, perhaps it is abnormal.  I would not run for myriad reasons.  I was always taught to be courteous and comply with the police, even if you disagree with the reasoning behind the interaction.  At this stage of my life, I am not sufficiently athletic enough to elicit more than laughter from any officer who had to "chase" me if I lost my senses and ran.  Honestly, I have been fortunate enough to have never been arrested-or shot- and I'd like to keep it that way.  But perhaps if you grew up where Bennett grew up, perhaps if you grew up where police mistrust ran rampant, perhaps if you had interactions or knew of unjust interactions with police that increased distrust or fear, perhaps that is a normal-or at least understandable- response for him and those with similar experiences.  Granted, the interest of maintaining order would mandate some police action in that instance.

Being a surviving relative of a Law Enforcement Officer killed in the line of duty, I'm all about officers ending their shifts going home to their families safely.  But there has to be a limit..a reasonable balance between self preservation and citizens right to life.

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