A plastic fork, a phone, a car part: why does the LAPD keep shooting people holding harmless objects?

Police killed Jason Maccani as he held a fork, one of many cases of confused Los Angeles officers rushing to use lethal force

The first report from the Los Angeles police department about the killing of Jason Maccani on 3 February immediately drew scrutiny: an officer had fatally shot a man who had been “armed with a stick” and threatening people in a building on Skid Row, the department said.

LAPD’s update a day later raised new concerns: the 36-year-old Maccani hadn’t been holding any weapon, but rather a “white plastic fork”.

Body-camera footage released two weeks later raised even further questions about LAPD’s shifting narrative. The footage showed Maccani alone walking out of a unit into the building hallway, not threatening anyone, when seven officers approached with weapons drawn. The officer who fired the fatal shot opened fire within roughly 15 seconds of seeing him.

wowwoweowza,

My dad was an attorney. Just to say: we are white. And he said this to me: Police have in IQ of 80. If you are pulled over, place both hands at the top of your steering wheel with your fingers spread. Be polite. Move only when they tell you to.

Break any of these rules and they will kill you.

This is what he told his white son. He didn’t trust cops at all. This was in the late seventies.

9488fcea02a9,

LAPD training program: piped.video/watch?v=ZqISLI2UQMY

harderian729,

LAPD literally rolls up and starts shooting at people when they are the wrong suspect.

They’re a gang, just like any other.

DolphinMath, (edited )

If it’s not too traumatic for you, I’d recommend watching the body cam footage from the fork incident. It’s is pretty informative, and gives some context for what happened.

youtube.com/watch?v=r6XXO13UEec

capital_sniff,

I feel like that video just makes the LAPD’s case worse. Guy had a plastic fork… They had a very long huddle discussing tactics all of which resulted in a complete failure. Like this is epic levels of fucking retarded. Re assign all these officers to simple traffic duty and take their firearms.

Or we can just continue letting a bunch of jacked up half wits wander around heavily armed free to just shoot citizens with cutlery.

trashgirlfriend,

Yeah… no doesn’t really provide much context

harderian729,

Yes it does. This person was shot because he was attacking cops.

It’s crazy how some of you think this shouldn’t happen.

funkless_eck,

I used to be a youth worker. If a kid tried to stab me with scissors, which wasn’t completely uncommon, I wasn’t allowed to fucking kill a child in my care instantly on the spot.

Instead, I learned de-escalation techniques and after a while it never even came to attempted stabbing because we worked out systems where it didn’t ever get that far.

Often the question gets asked - “What restraining techniques did you use?”

I didn’t. Didn’t need 'em.

“What if someone is completely insane?”

Fiction. No one is completely insane. It’s a myth made up to justify lethal force and summary execution.

“Would you go up against someone with a gun without a gun?”

They didn’t have a gun they had a fork. But also, I didn’t apply interview, train and get paid to be an LEO. These people did.

trashgirlfriend,

Fast walking towards people with a fork QUICK SEND IN THE SPECIAL FORCES HE’S DANGEROUS

jpreston2005,

he grabbed an officers gun, dude. This isn’t George Floyd.

trashgirlfriend,

Pretty easy to grab a gun when the ratio of guns to people in the room is 2:1

unrelatedkeg,

Kind of unrelated, but couldn’t this be prosecuted (among other things) on 4th amendment grounds, as I doubt “threathening people with a stick” isn’t protected (assuming qualified immunity otherwise) Although I doubt the curent SCOTUS lineup would come to any sensible decision on any matter.

telllos,

Maybe if you start by having less guns in your country.

PoliticallyIncorrect,
@PoliticallyIncorrect@lemmy.world avatar

Because they are fascists?

Varyk,

Because they have almost no training.

RustyEarthfire,

The description of the fork incident is pretty misleading. Maccani stormed up to the officers undeterred by multiple bean-bag rounds, holding the fork reversed so that it looked like a knife. Take 20 seconds and see for yourself:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwXjrS9bPQ4

A better trained / equipped group may have been able to de-escalate / disarm him, but – unlike many other cases – they didn’t just wander up and shoot him for existing.

merc,
  1. They’re terrified
  2. They know they won’t face consequences

They’re terrified because their training is all about surviving an encounter with the most evil bastard ever to walk the earth. Even though the majority of cops go their entire careers without using a gun on the job, they’re all taught to have the mindset that at any second they’re about to be killed. Imagine trying to do a job that’s mostly about taking reports, writing tickets and marriage counseling with the mindset that every person you meet might be planning to kill you. They’re super jumpy, and often in contact with strangers. So, of course they’re going to shoot people.

Just as big an issue is that nobody polices the police. Their unions make sure they’re unaccountable. If ever a cop is investigated it’s by another “brother” cop. They have massive latitude for the use of force based on their own personal judgement. If they ever do something that could be considered a crime, they get to postpone the interview for a few days and consult with a union rep / lawyer before the interview. This means if you want to kill people, you can get away with it. If you don’t want to kill people, but you end up doing it because you were terrified of a black man during a standard traffic stop, you can also get away with it.

Kusimulkku,

Wild guess but they probably thought it was a weapon

PlasmaDistortion,

Studies have been done about this phenomenon where under stress the mind “sees” something that is not there. It is essentially projecting what it fears most. In the case of police, they lack training and conditioning to help them see reality. Many special forces such as Army Rangers train for this so that they don’t shoot a civilian holding a harmless object. It is shameful how under trained cops are.

Cort,

I think the poor training is the point. If they were any better trained they might be held accountable for their actions.

PlasmaDistortion,

Sadly I think you may be correct.

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Without reading- is it because all cops are bastards?

Diplomjodler,

Because they enjoy killing people and they’re pretty certain they’ll get away with it.

Kyrrrr,

It’s not “to protect and serve”

It’s “to intimidate and control”

ZephyrXero,

Read it as “to serve and protect the rich and powerful”, and then it starts to make sense

unrelatedkeg,

Or “protect and serve their egos”. Implies both their own egos and those of the higher class

TropicalDingdong,

Because 🔫 you that’s why.

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