by Jack
A CBS news story I just read starts out like this, “The police killing of an unarmed African American man in Sacramento has ignited protests around the state capital and energized members of the Black Lives Matter movement who are demanding accountability from law enforcement.
Protesters planned to continue their demonstrations after police this week released body-camera footage of the shooting of Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old father of two, who was carrying a cell phone in his grandmother’s back yard when he was killed.”
Now what have we learned from the first two opening paragraphs of this volatile news story? Well, not much, but what’s there looks pretty bad for police. If you had read more you still wouldn’t have learned much, except some personal background parts about the suspect. This story paints a pretty ugly picture of deliberate murder by cops.
An innocent, unarmed black man, standing alone in his Grandmothers backyard, possibly about to make a cell phone call to his wife and he was suddenly gunned down in a hail of bullets by police for no reason? Based on this terrible story, if I was a black man in Sacramento I would be afraid to go outside to dump the garbage! Heck, I might get gunned down in another hail of bullets because the police mistook my garbage can for a bazooka or something. Yeah, I could think that…IF I was a black guy being told cops shoot black men every day for no reason and the media backed up that false narrative.
Right now Black Lives Matters is organizing protest marches in Sacramento. The organizers remind us via the mainstream media that this exact thing happens all the time all over America. An innocent black male gets gunned down by police for no reason! The victims might be out washing the family car or helping an old lady across the street when pow, pow, pow, pow, they’re gunned down in a hail of bullets. Black Lives Matters say this is happening all the time in black neighborhoods. Wow, pretty bad, right?
But, this is only one side to the story and the people behind it are not interested in hearing any other side but their own. However, there is another side and it should be heard and I am sure it will be heard… eventually. But, right now you have to dig pretty deep to before you discover that the victim had a long police rap sheet. That he was strongly suspected as being chased by the police through the neighborhood after he allegedly attempted to break into several parked cars and smashed a neighbors sliding glass door. He was, allegedly, caught on a helicopter’s night vision video cam jumping over a fence to evade police who were in hot pursuit. A few seconds later police had him cornered and according to the officers on the scene, they were yelling at him to surrender, but he didn’t do as directed. Instead he advanced on the officers, then one officer yelled, “Gun-gun-gun.” That’s when the shots rang out. Keep in mind this was at night, the lighting was 
poor. In fact the light was casting shadows and bouncing around from multiple police flashlights. We have strong reason to believe that the suspect did hold something in his hand, but it was not a gun. It was either a cell phone or an instrument that he allegedly used to for the break-ins. At this point we are just not sure, but this investigation is far from over and it will all come soon enough.
The Sacramento Bee reports, “Police said Clark had an “object” that he “extended in front of him” while advancing towards two officers, which led them to believe he was armed with a gun, reports the Bee. No firearm was found at the scene.” In the latest developments no object like a tool or crowbar was found near the deceased, only his cell phone. Did he have a crowbar moments earlier? Did he ditch it during the pursuit? We don’t know, but the investigation continues.
If there is one thing to be learned at this early point its this: If you are caught-up in a police investigation and a police officer points a gun at you and tells you to put your hands up – you put your hands up. You probably should not walk towards him. And you for sure should not make any other physical gestures, especially if you are holding something in one of your hands at night. That would be very unwise and it could result in a serious mistake and you may not survive to see a court trial. It might also help to avoid suspicion if you did not wear dark clothing, including a black hoody, at night and hang out in odd places where a thief would normally be found.
It’s an election year so much will be made of this incident by left agitators whether or not the shooting was justified, as it probably was.
The left has shamelessly fueled the erroneous notion that police officers are hunting blacks down like the (Democrat) KKK of old and “lynching” them by gunshot rather than at the end of a rope. It’s the most disgusting of all the deceitful leftist political tactics and it is not easy to confront. The issue is understandably emotional for people in the black community who believe this crap.
To add fuel to the fire the radical left antique media will milk this story to push the agenda forward. Studies will claim more blacks are killed by cops each year. But not all studies support the claim. In 2015 a study conducted by “Peter Moskos, an assistant professor at New York City University’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice” found that during the period ranging from May 2013 to April of 2015 roughly 49% of those killed” by police officers “were white, while only 30% were black.”
In other research (same link) Politifact discovered:
Perhaps if volatile headlines and citizen horror followed each time a white person was killed by police some of the air would be let out of this political game. But probably not…the left has no interest in seeing a resolution for the black community. Instead they are vested in the ongoing farce.
Meanwhile police officers jobs are made more difficult, sometimes impossible…and manufactured racial division, culminating as a hate filled crisis, is adequately fed leading up to the election.
October, 2017, Foreign Policy, “The FBI’s New U.S. Terrorist Threat: ‘Black Identity Extremists’ – Law enforcement calls it a violent movement. Critics call it racist.”
Two points:
1. It wasn’t the shooting of Michael Brown, per say, that the was “the catalyst for widespread anger and violence.” It WAS the lies and leftist antagonist hype that became a catalyst for widespread vilence and anger…including the assassination of police officers as they sat in their cars and the unprovoked attacks on ordinary citizens by entitled black youths that believed the “hands up don’t shoot” myth.
The radical left is scum! This man might not have been killed had this abomination not been foisted on our nation by that scum. Were his actions motivated by a political lie? Did he continue to run for fear of a “lynching” by cops? One thing we know for sure is that the left has done little to nothing to inform blacks about the best way to respond when the police are confronting them….and they do a lot that betrays the black community and sets them apart in society.
Scum!
Tina, it is in our own interests to address the situation with something other than denial, per se.
There is no denial, Libby, the man is dead. He would be alive today were it not for his own unfortunate actions. I am done with excusing the games your party has played that purposely implant the idea in minorities, especially blacks, that cops are gunning for them and invokes in them unnecessary fear and panic. Barrack Obama, Eric Holder and various organizations made up this crap and forced it front and center starting with the “white” Hispanic in Florida and then on to Ferguson where the erroneous and odious “Hands up Don’t Shoot” lie was born. This ugly political game is deeply irresponsible and borders on the criminal.
If you think your personal panhandler story and suggestion that police officers aren’t adequately trained actually “addresses” the situation you’re wrong.
Black Lives Matter racists will be on this like flies on poop.
Watters’ Words: The dumbest things said in 2018
Jack … 20 rounds … what does that say to you? Says “panic” to me. “Abject terror”. And once again I pronounce that our methods of vetting and training police officers in this country are … inadequate.
Last week I had a little encounter with an aggressive panhandler, as they are called. He come right at me with the building wall on my right blocking my escape, but, wily urban girl that I am, I pull way out to the left and get round him. The beggar takes a swipe at me! … fortunately, with only his right fist and not the stick that was in his left hand, and I’m way out of range by now anyway. And I was certainly miffed, but it never once occurred to me to shoot the man dead, hoodie notwithstanding.
I’m telling ya, all our police academies should start hiring mock assailants of color to frighten whiteboy trainees, so’s they are less likely to piss themselves on the job.
Gosh, Libby escaping a panhandler in broad daylight is compared to police officers facing a fleeing criminal suspect in the dark who eventually turned to charge at them with an unidentifiable object in his hand which he pointed toward the officers. yeah I’m pretty sure the two are just alike….not!
According to Libby the officers should just shrug off criminal activity cause it’s easy enough to do. Better to let the man go about his business. So what if theft, rape, assault and murder happen. That’s the price we all must pay to prevent incidents like this. Much better to shrug it off than to EDUCATE and INFORM citizens of their responsibility to a) be contributing member of society rather criminals, b) if “criminal” is your choice, for God’s sake when caught do exactly as the officers direct…never act aggressively when twenty cops have you cornered.
As for the guilty white smug left elites, quit lying to minorities. Your divisive games are getting people hurt. Lying to them has resulted in spilled blood for both minority criminal citizens AND police officers of every stripe!
Scum! Your tactics make you scum.