The Chris Moeller Archives

Which shooters get the benefit of the doubt?

The contrast on CNN tonight is striking.

In one "developing" story, a manhunt is on for three suspects in the shooting death of a police officer in Illinois. Police have not publicly released the names of the suspects, one of which is reportedly African-American and two others white. The officer killed had radioed that he was in foot pursuit of three "suspicious subjects" just before communication was lost. CNN has multiple police experts being interviewed, one a member of the federal marshal service. We have no names and really no information, including the reason the slain officer was pursuing three individuals, but the police side of the story is being told with a proverbial bullhorn.

In the other developing story, a day after CNN's cable news competitor, FOX News, called "Black Lives Matter" a "murder" operation and a "hate group," a video has surfaced of a brown-skinned man in Texas being shot by police with at least one hand in the air and standing stationary. The man's other arm is obscured in the video by a telephone pole. None of the CNN talking heads, including Don Lemon, are willing tonight to indict the officers as yet for the shooting despite what we see in the video. Two deputies, Greg Vasquez and Robert Sanchez, are getting the benefit of the doubt despite very little evidence to the contrary that they murdered this man. They are on paid administrative leave. The police statement said that the "armed" suspect resisted arrest, then the deputies attempted to detain the man using "non-lethal" force before resorting to shooting. None of those claims are supported by the video, including the claim that the suspect was armed.

This police department, in Bexar County (TX), is also criticizing a San Antonio TV station for releasing the video, encouraging local residents to contact the station with their complaints and accusing the station (KSAT) of "sensational behavior" that has put officers' lives at stake, but it seems to me that it's the officers in the video that have been engaged in sensational behavior. How dare the station show unedited video shot on a public street that tells us what it tells us.

By law, police are only allowed to shoot at civilians when they feel their life is in danger, not when they are trying to take someone into custody. According to the new database managed by the Washington Post, at least 662 Americans have been shot and killed by on-duty police in 2015, 62 in the month of August alone. The Post also reports that only 54 officers have been convicted of fatal shootings in the United States since 2005. 

---

I believe that this incarnation of Donald Trump exists because we have no Stewart, no Colbert, and no Letterman. The 'no Letterman' is the key part of that dynamic. Dave went off the air in May and that's exactly when Trump's campaign took on this new face. The icon of New York broadcasting always called Trump on his shit-- even to his face. Watch this clip from the Late Show, which dates only to January. We clearly see a man that has already begun his campaign for president. The narcissism is there. At one point, he takes credit for the idea of wearing red ties. But Letterman is there to cut him, and Trump is largely chastened. This Trump is talking about improving "highways, roads, and bridges" (infrastructure). He says that Dave's idea for more mass transit just "needs to be sold." Medical costs, he says, need to be brought under control and "we have to take care of the people." He arguably endorses single-payer health insurance about half-way through the clip, although he doesn't say that directly (he has previously), and he says Dave is "100% right" when Dave says that our nation is stronger than the symbol of the American flag when it gets burned. January Trump sounds almost sensible.

posted by CM @ 7:27 PM