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posted by janrinok on Saturday August 01 2015, @04:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the stepping-on-toes? dept.

Who would have felt comfortable in these circumstances?

A Massachusetts man was driving in the town of Medford last Saturday night. He admits he took a wrong turn and ended up going the wrong way down a traffic circle. The angry man steps out of a truck and approaches him. Michael, seemingly -- and perhaps understandably -- frightened, reverses. The angry man follows him and Michael stops.

The angry man appears to show his badge and identifies himself as a police officer. Some, though, might be troubled by the officer's greeting: "I'll put a hole in your head." Michael is apologetic and explains to the officer -- now identified as Det. Stephen LeBert -- that he is being recorded. LeBert suggests that he will seize the camera.

"I'm a f***ing Medford detective and you went through that f***ing rotary," says LeBert. As Michael insists he didn't see a sign, LeBert demands his license. "You're lucky I'm a cop, otherwise I'd be beating the f***ing piss out of you right now," LeBert adds, shortly after calling the driver an a**hole. LeBert ultimately calls for on-duty cops who at least do a little to calm the situation. However, the fact that Michael posted his video to YouTube has led to an investigation.

Medford Police Chief Leo Sacco told MyFoxBoston: "It's not the proper behavior, but we only know about it when people tell us. And unfortunately, we had to get up this morning and see it on a YouTube video."

In the days before cameras proliferated, you had to rely on witnesses and hearsay. The police were more likely to be believed by those in authority. Cameras have begun to change that -- on both sides.

Sacco told the Medford Transcript: "The video is troubling enough, and it requires investigation just based on what we see here. The driver does not have to file his own complaint. He may, but he does not have to."

[...] Sacco told the Medford Transcript that LeBert was a good policeman. He added, perhaps unfortunately: "If you work hard you do step on people's toes, which generates complaints."


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  • (Score: 2) by zugedneb on Saturday August 01 2015, @08:52PM

    by zugedneb (4556) on Saturday August 01 2015, @08:52PM (#216841)

    Nationally I have no idea what the solution is. Locally the solution has been made apparent to me via observational experimentation. People that don't pay attention to politics, government, or news tend to be happy and well adjusted.

    This is a disaster. There is no way a democracy can survive this.
    The only solutions would be to try to get people stop consuming, but don't know how.

    Most people I know consume content and merchandise to patch up a broken family.
    Wife sad? Buy some shit or go to theatre.
    Kids cry? Buys some shit or download disney or similar...

    Seems, only genetics and longevity will save us from this.
    Until then, just dig into the shit.

    --
    old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2015, @12:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2015, @12:03PM (#216985)

    This is a disaster. There is no way a democracy can survive this.

    This is true, but I think the ruling powers no longer want a democracy. They have moved things to the edge of a police state where law enforcement openly refers to citizens as "civilians" and "the enemy". It is not a democracy they seek.

    More and more of these unwarranted killings by the police are coming to light. We are seeing a few a month now. Before you know it there will be too many to keep track of, the pubic will become desensitized to it, and the media will stop reporting on them because they don't get enough viewers or clicks. When faced with reality that is overwhelming the public tends to carry on so they will not become part of the next trending topic of oppression or violence by the State.