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From Yahoo News:
A man was gravely wounded in a gun battle with police in Ferguson, Missouri on Sunday night after a day of peaceful rallies to mark the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white officer one year ago. Several volleys of gunshots rang out as police in riot gear tried to disperse demonstrators blocking traffic and smashing storefront windows along a street that was a flashpoint of last year's unrest in the St. Louis suburb after Michael Brown, 18, was slain. Police later said the gunfire began with two groups of agitators apparently shooting at each other.
http://news.yahoo.com/ferguson-protests-mostly-peaceful-anniversary-brown-shooting-015555407.html
...
Anniversary commemorations had begun hours earlier with a peaceful march through the St. Louis suburb. The scene changed dramatically after dark. Dozens of protesters converged on West Florissant Avenue, which bore the brunt of last summer's rioting, and chanted: "Shut it down" in the midst of a severe thunderstorm.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2015, @09:37PM
Christian Taylor, 19 - shot LAST WEEK by police while browsing auto dealer.
Dude! 90% of the time you are spot on. But then you go and say something stupid like that.
Yeah, he was browsing the dealership. And then he drove his SUV through the gate and through the showroom window. That's not just a story the cops made up afterwards, the video has been released [youtu.be] - the action starts about five and half minutes in.
I'm not saying that justifies his execution, not at all. I'm pretty confident that a drunk white kid who did the same thing would have received much more leeway. But downplaying the facts only gives people a reason to distrust everything else you say. Few of us have the time to fact-check everything you say, so once you give people a reason to dis-trust you, they will just dismiss everything you say.
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Monday August 10 2015, @11:19PM
See also (er, listen also) the radio chatter [youtube.com]. The video portion and poster's commentary is polarizing, but the radio chatter does not lie.
This case is vastly more complicated than Tamir's above. (Tamir's execution being so blatant I can only hope I got close to expressing how revolted I felt when I watched the footage; it's like a scene from a bad dystopian movie.)
I'm not saying that justifies his execution, not at all.
I'm in agreement with this. Had Taylor succeeded, we'd be looking at a minimum of grand theft auto and property destruction.
The thing that came to mind for me was a question, “Why do we try to save suicides?” I wonder what the difference is between a young black man who royally screws up, for whatever reason, and a suicide. In fact, we violate the intention of a suicide attempt when we attempt to save their life! Yet, we do it anyway. I have a feeling I would not like to know the answer to my wondering, but I also feel I already do.
It seems dishonorable to bring lethal force to bear against an unarmed opponent, no matter what criminal acts s/he's obviously guilty of. (Well, unless your opponent is at Bruce Lee's level, but I doubt this kid had that level of martial arts prowess to be a lethal or even credible threat without a weapon.)
(Score: 2) by albert on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:03AM
The "friend" who loaned the gun to Tamir did evil. That might be a crime. Certainly there should be some civil liability for the death. This could apply to the friend's parents, as the friend was a minor AFAIK.
Tamir is said to have been mentally deficient. That, and the fact that he was a minor, means that his parents (or court-appointed guardians) have a duty to control him. This is both for his safety and for the safety of others. Clearly there was complete failure here. Since this is child abuse resulting in a death, it is most likely (depending on state law) equivalent to murder. Yep, it would be easy to convict the parents/guardians of a pretty severe crime.
Note that the pellet gun was easily capable of blinding somebody. With a great deal of luck it might have killed somebody via the jugular and/or eye socket. While not anywhere near as capable as a police pistol, the gun was certainly not an appropriate toy for a mentally deficient child.
Tamir himself was of course criminal, though we might lay the criminal responsibility on his parent/guardian due to age and mental deficiency. You do not get to repeatedly point a gun at random strangers in the park. It's unfortunate that Tamir was dumb enough to not immediately freeze when confronted by the police.
The police did a somewhat crappy job. There is a lot of room between "good job" and "criminal" though, and it wasn't unreasonable for the police to fear getting shot. They have families to go home too also; they didn't take the job in hopes of dying in the line of duty. It is reasonable to say that the police could have kept a bit more distance initially, but that might not have changed the ultimate outcome. Police training should also emphasize that telling somebody with a gun in their pocket to drop the gun is inviting them to reach for the gun.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:39AM
> “Why do we try to save suicides?”
Because 99% of suicides are impulse decisions made at the height of depression when the person is not of sound mind. As a society it is our duty to protect people who can't protect themselves.
The question of whatever some people use that duty as cover to abuse people is distinct from the existence of that duty in the first place.