Some fun facts about BART train doors:

The train operator controls when the doors close, but if you obstruct the doors, the train cannot move. However, the doors in front of the camera didn’t try to close, so the operator was probably watching just like everyone else. Their windows open and they lean their heads out to (sometimes) make sure that everyone is on the train and no one gets left behind. I can only imagine that as soon as the operator realized what had happened, it was in the best interest of everyone that the train move along.

As far as the video..
I believe that this man will get what he deserves, whether or not it’s a jury that gives it to him. The universe has a peculiar way of bitch slapping you with the karma you create.

Regardless of the outcome that man should never again be allowed to wear a badge due to either his violent tendencies or his inability to perform his job correctly, but cries to string him up in the town square only make police accountability groups seem like raving lunatics rather than reasonable, concerned citizens.

I do agree that your point(s) are valid. But like most situations it goes both ways. Each side bears some responsibility for what goes on. I totally agree that officers need to chill out sometimes. People are slow to change their minds of first impressions, and to do so in a matter of seconds is often very difficult. But officers still should do that. We have a responsibility to be professional as well as being safe. I think often times professionalism takes a back seat and that is not right at all.

And on the same token, the public needs to be more respectful of officers. We’re just doing our job. We aren’t harassing you to harass you. We normally don’t talk to you unless we’re called by someone else, so we’re just investigating a report. Just let us do our job and we’ll be out of your hair in a few minutes unless you did something illegal in which case you need to man up and take responsibility for it. There is no need for attitude when we show up to your house. You, your spouse, or your neighbor called. It’s not like we chose to come to your house that day.

Just like you claim officers treat black people like shit, black people treat officers like shit. Again, these are generalizations. I’ve had plenty of great encounters, just like I hope many people would say they’ve had great encounters with me. But those who show immense disrespect are certainly getting it from me. And I’d like to think that I’m always respectful and give people the benefit of the doubt until they change that.

None the less, officers should be aware of the style trends and exercise an adjustment as the situation develops.

Thugs do not speak clearly and do not have manors 1st of all. So it would seem that some training on being less aggressive could come into use if an officer can recognize that the subject making a huge attempt at being cooperative.

I know that they have to be skeptical to be safe but skeptical and aggressive often stop an officer from hearing anything other than what is playing out in his head.
Perception anomalies can turn a sentence like “Sir, can you tell me what i am being detained for?” into , ” You ain’t got no reason to hold me.” . The second would be considered by most cops, the beginning of resisting arrest.

No matter how many times i watch this video i see no mannerism that suggest resisting arrest. Though there were a lot of people yelling and taunting, the actual subjects seemed to be the calmest ones.

Maybe he thought that he had his safety on or maybe not. If i accidently shoot someone in my front yard at 3am while they are skirmishing off with my flat screen, I will still go to jail.

And this officer needs to go to jail. You see as long as 3 out of 5 cops get no sentence for these type of actions there will be not restructured training to deal woth this and some will be more apt to do the same.

I do somewhat concede to your point but my point is valid also.

I’m glad you brought up Imus too. In a world of supposed “free speech” it is amazing that someone’s description gets such ridicule when others make much more blatant racist comments. It may have been distasteful, but certainly no less than anything Howard Stern says.

To Imus’ defense, they were by definition nappy-headed and since they’re in college, most likely hoes. If he had said that USC’s women’s basketball team were spoiled little sluts, he would be equally offensive but no less accurate and no one would have made a peep about it.

I am so glad that you are an intelligent person to have a discussion with. Most people argue nonsense but you make very good arguments and have logic to back up your statements.

I don’t doubt your statistics. But I think that most of them are a result of image and not so much of race. What I mean by that is image gives off a certain vibe and people associate certain images with certain ideas; basically stereotypes. As an example, if a 300 lb white guy with sunglasses, leather vest, and a goatee is walking behind someone, they’re scared to death too. Bikers have that image. Hells Angels are bad mother f**** and your chance of death is greatly increased from an encounter with them vs an encounter with an little old lady. Likewise, most people wouldn’t think for two seconds about safety if a black man was walking behind them in a suit. Now the white “biker” guy could be a big teddy bear who just likes to look tough and the black guy could be a serial killer (though we know we reserve “serial killer” for white guys only… hehe). But image plays a huge role in what we assume about someone. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. If you dress like a thug, talk like a thug, act like a thug, and hang out with thugs, you are most likely a thug. Now for whatever reason (I’m going with media and culture here) black youth want to look like thugs, act like thugs, talk like thugs. In a big way, they bring on their heightened scrutiny by acting like and dressing like the people who rightfully deserve that heightened scrutiny. I’m certainly not taking a chance with my life on “maybe he’s just a straight “A” kid who wants to look like a hard core gang banger”.

For the same reason, I can never recall pulling a gun on a black man in a suit, or even in casual wear. Most gun carrying people aren’t wearing suits or polos (too hard to get to their piece). By in large the baggy wearing people are the ones with guns (it hides them well). If you want to dress like the people with the guns, then you’ll be treated as such until it can be determined that you do not have one. Same exact thing goes for white guys. White guys in baggy shit are getting searched. I don’t care what race you are. If you look like a criminal, you’ll be treated as such until I know it’s safe.

I honestly can say that I do not see color when determining an assumed threat level. It is dress, tattoos, mannerisms, and “gut feelings”. Just like a lawyer wouldn’t be taken seriously in court wearing a sweatsuit, you can’t expect a high level of respect wearing a jersey and pants that are 10 sizes bigger than your actual waist.

Do you not concede at least to some degree that many black people and some white people bring on their added attention by looking like the people who deserve that attention?