Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by n1 on Thursday August 04 2016, @01:29AM   Printer-friendly
from the status:-it's-complicated dept.

Facebook temporarily disabled the social media accounts of a woman who was posting video of her own standoff negotiations with the police:

Baltimore police shot and killed Korryn Gaines, a 23-year-old black woman, after an hourslong standoff on Monday — during which Facebook and Instagram, at police request, temporarily shut down Gaines' accounts. [...] Police Chief Jim Johnson says Gaines was posting video of the standoff to social media as it was unfolding, which prompted police to request the deactivation of her accounts. Gaines' Facebook page is now reactivated; it does not have any videos visible to the public. On Instagram, one video apparently recorded during the standoff remains. [...] A second video, now deleted, showed a police officer with a gun drawn at Gaines' door. Facebook and Instagram have not responded to NPR's requests for comment.

[...] "Gaines was posting video of the operation as it unfolded. Followers were encouraging her not to comply with negotiators' requests that she surrender peacefully," he said. "Clearly, you can see this was an exigent circumstance where life and serious injury were in jeopardy." After a short period of time, Facebook (which owns Instagram) complied and deactivated the accounts. No data was deleted, Johnson said. Police do not have the authority to directly deactivate a social media account, Johnson and the spokeswoman both said. Facebook decides whether to comply with such requests.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:41AM

    by Francis (5544) on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:41AM (#383915)

    That's how people who want to live handle situations like that. Most of the cases that the #BLM folks take on are cases where the deceased was engaged in activities that are highly risky. Running away from the police, waving around weapons, resisting arrest and similar activities. It makes it very hard for me to support their cause when they jump to rash judgments about the situation and even after the facts come in they don't change their minds if they're wrong.

    Some cases like Tamir Rice we have the video and it's pretty obvious why he was shot. I wouldn't be waving around a toy gun like that in public because I'd expect to be shot. Or if I was really lucky, arrested for disorderly conduct.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Snotnose on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:44AM

    by Snotnose (1623) on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:44AM (#383934)

    Tamir Rice was a kid playing with a toy gun when the cops pulled up on him from a few feet away and shot him while he was still thinking "asshole almost hit me, WTF?". Wanna guess how many times this cracker played with a toy gun with friends in a public park without getting shot?

    You've got the Cleveland shooting of a couple years ago, where the cops shot 100+ rounds into a car for no good reason, killing 2 black people who apparently didn't floss.

    Baton Rouge guy apparently didn't floss.

    The guy with the concealed carry permit, evidently pulled over dozens of times before cops realized not flossing was a good enough reason to kill him.

    Walter Scott got pulled over for a broken taillight, when the cop realized he didn't floss Walter ran and the cop shot him in the back.

    If I was black I don't think I'd be as cavalier about those 80 in a 70 MPH zone infractions.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:49AM

      by Francis (5544) on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:49AM (#383935)

      There's a reason why toy guns are legally required to have that nice bright orange tip. I can't recall when exactly those were added, but they were added specifically because people were being shot when the toy was mistaken for the real thing.

      The rest of them tend to agree with, but confounding cases where there's reasonable reason for using deadly force with ones where there isn't, just undermines the whole notion that there's a problem.

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Snotnose on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:58AM

        by Snotnose (1623) on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:58AM (#383938)

        I'm a bad guy from wherever looking to kill as many people as possible. Think I haven't noticed the big orange thing on the end of toy guns and realized taping an empty toilet paper roll to my mac-9, then painting it orange, wouldn't get me a couple extra seconds?

        Those orange tips are worse than useless, they give innocent people a false sense of security.

        The solution is to fix the cops' "shoot first, let god sort it out" mentality.

        --
        Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
        • (Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Thursday August 04 2016, @08:07AM

          by cubancigar11 (330) on Thursday August 04 2016, @08:07AM (#383972) Homepage Journal

          Cops were given those rights for a reason. Want to guess what those reasons are? Ever heard of people saying 'they should just be shot', 'we arent doing enough to curb crime against...', 'these men need to be castrated' etc.? You can't have both. Hell, I am sure someone from #BlackLivesMatter is demanding the same thing done to racist cops.

      • (Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:53AM

        by Anal Pumpernickel (776) on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:53AM (#383951)

        So what? Even if he did have a real gun, why did the cops pull up right next to him and immediately shoot him? There was no time to comply. If they're trained--and they supposedly are--pulling up quite close to someone you believe has a gun and startling them probably isn't a good idea.

        Cops will simply kill people if there's even the slightest risk of danger, and that is simply insane.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by mhajicek on Thursday August 04 2016, @06:30AM

        by mhajicek (51) on Thursday August 04 2016, @06:30AM (#383953)

        So did they shoot at the autistic guy because his toy truck didn't have an orange tip?

        --
        The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @01:43PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @01:43PM (#384054)

          But they shot the black guy lying on his back with his hands in the air.

          • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:09PM

            by mhajicek (51) on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:09PM (#384077)

            The officer said he was aiming at the autistic guy and missed.

            --
            The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
        • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:55PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:55PM (#384108)

          So did they shoot at the autistic guy because his toy truck didn't have an orange tip?

          Not "They", If you use "they" then "they" can hide behind the blue shield. Put a name to it, and make him accountable.

          In this case the trigger happy asshat is Jonathan Aledda. A man whose psych evaluation noted a lack of tolerance: Possible characteristics include judgmental; argumentative; critical; challenging; rigid; stubborn [wsvn.com].

          Also notable is the assistant police chief did not want to hire Aledda, but was overruled.

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @11:41AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @11:41AM (#384019)

        I can't recall when exactly those were added,

        ANOTHER THING that Francis doesn't know! Whew@! Not sure we can all keep up. He must have been doing something suspicious to not recall this.

      • (Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:16PM

        by sjames (2882) on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:16PM (#384116) Journal

        There's a reason why toy guns are legally required to have that nice bright orange tip.

        Funny, they weren't required years ago and nobody got shot over the lack of them. The reason they started requiring them is is that too many trigger happy morons are allowed to be cops now.

        If the cops are going to act like an occupying army, they shouldn't be surprised when the people repel them like an occupying army.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:23PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:23PM (#384122)

      Who knew that cops were dental hygene fascists.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:31AM

    by sjames (2882) on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:31AM (#383947) Journal

    Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you THE BOILED FROG!

    Things have decayed a great deal if death is even a possible outcome of a simple traffic stop. The right and proper penalty for acting like an asshole when a cop pulls you over is you stand no chance of him cutting you some slack. Death is not supposed to be part of this equation at all.

    As for Tamir Rice, yes it is. Panicy police bravely blasted a child to death for doing what children in this country have done for over a century. Many even look back fondly and wonder why kids can't just get their cap guns and play cops and robbers or cowboys and indians like we did in our day instead of (insert moral panic here). Apparently the reason is because the cops will blow you away without even a warning if you do that today.

  • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday August 04 2016, @07:21AM

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Thursday August 04 2016, @07:21AM (#383965) Journal

    Sandra Bland's "crime" was changing lanes without signaling, about as minor a traffic offense as there is, and refusing to put out a cigarette. For that she was hauled off to jail, and found dead the next morning under highly suspicious circumstances. Should any of her actions be considered highly risky activities that might lead to a fatality? Sassing back at the police is punishable with the death penalty?

    Many police enjoy the power trips they can get from the work. That sort of person is strongly attracted to police work but is about the last person we should want serving the public in that capacity. They frequently exceed their authority, and escalate situations for no good reason. It's a big problem screening out power trippers before they end up with a uniform and a badge.

    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday August 05 2016, @12:10AM

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 05 2016, @12:10AM (#384313) Journal

      It's a bigger problem getting them out AFTER they get the cap and badge.

      --
      Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.