Current Events: Ferguson, MO

JackieP1023 · August 2014

Has anyone heard/been watching this situation? MH is slightly obsessed with the news coverage the last couple of days. We live about 2 hours from St. Louis, where this is going on.

breadpudding · August 2014

I've been watching it when I can. It's too much for me to have on when my 3yo is awake, but I can normally catch a few minutes of coverage before he wakes up in the mornings. It's awful. So awful.

I'll weigh in on this more tomorrow. I'm sleepy so my thoughts are extra jumbled.

Flyingtoast · August 2014

I never understood the looting and rioting mentality. I'm furious at the LEOs, let's go loot the TV store? I could understand taking it out on the LEO cars, but why random objects/places that really don't have any connection ?

Maybe the donut shop?? (I kid)

Or in Oakland's case, 'I'm soo happy our team won, let's create thousands of dollars in destruction. '

JackieP1023 · August 2014

I also don't understand the looting etc. It is a scary situation--members of our area's highway patrol were sent up there to 'help' and MH just said they are sending in the National Guard. Some of the media coverage has been so biased, it is ridiculous. There are people wanting the police department to release the name and a picture of the officer that shot the boy (he was 18)... But they haven't 'officially' released that information, which I totally understand-they fear retribution, and a danger to the officer's life. I don't know what exactly happened, but people (people that were interviewed on the news-analysts, etc) are saying that the community doesn't trust the police force at all-and yet they are taking people at their word. My thought on that is this: if the community doesn't trust the police, and they have ill feelings towards them... What is stopping them from bending/stretching the truth to make the police look bad? I'm not saying this happened, I'm just saying it is possible.

I read an article that said the boy was shot 6 times-4 in the arm, 2 in the head (which were the last and fatal shots). I'm no expert, but speaking generally, police know what they are doing. If he wanted to kill that boy outright, it seems like he would have done it quicker, with less shots. My instinct says that the first 4 shots to his arm were 'warning' shots. But again, I am no expert!

Also, I read somewhere that the boy's body was left in the street for hours. That makes me a little irate... Surely it didn't take them hours to get the 'evidence' they needed (although perhaps they did, looking at the mess this case is right now). Regardless of what happened, the guy deserves a little human decency!

They say this boils down to race... Which it may, who knows. It is sad that we still are having race issues so many years after the civil rights movement.

boogerbearoriginal · August 2014

From what I've heard there have been plenty of people arrested for looting/etc who are not residents and seem to be taking advantage of the chaos. Unfortunately I think it's taking far too much focus away from the bigger issues.

Bottom line, what needs to be answered/addressed was did the officer have reason to use deadly force. Because whether this young man was a career criminal or perfect citizen, he deserves to be afforded the most basic rights, including due process. Shooting an unarmed person six times is not something I want to be treated as no big deal. And I can understand why the people in the community are outraged.

boogerbearoriginal · August 2014

@ChiaWombat - ITA that the local police showing up with armored vehicles/etc on the first night was a bad decision that set into motion the continued escalation there.

JackieP1023 · August 2014

As of last night, the officer's name was floating around, but not 'officially' released.

Regardless, I agree that all this looting/rioting/violence is taking away from the bigger issue.

The media is convoluting everything--the boy supposedly had just robbed a convenience store before being stopped by the officer... But the officer apparently had no knowledge of this when he stopped the boy; he stopped the boy and his friend for jaywalking. (They were walking in the middle of the road). So whether he robbed the store prior or not... It's irrelavant.

Soap1 · August 2014

I agree with @ChiaWombat and @boogerbearoriginal

I think when you put police officers in military gear, they will act like they're soldiers. Many will begin to view the citizens they are supposed to protect as the enemy. And then the citizens will act like it.

JackieP1023 · August 2014

Okay, regarding the release of the officer's name... I was wrong. The name was released a few days ago. The thing I was watching was saying it was outrageous the amount of time it took to release the name, and it was ridiculous they were refusing to release a photo. I misunderstood.

I also don't think that putting police in military gear is a good solution.

It seems like it has been community vs. police in this area of St Louis for a long time. Long term, this will need to be changed in order to avoid continuing problems. It's sad that things had to get this bad, though.

As a MO resident, the fact that this is making international news is a little scary. Fox News (as of this morning) is already talking broader than Ferguson, and talking about the implications for the state of MO as a whole.

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