The Day Ferguson Cops Were Caught in a Bloody Lie

Self defense isn't vigilantism though. And even if you disagree with him on whether a given event is truly self defense, as long as he thinks of it as self defense, he'll treat it accordingly.

Wed Dec 17, 2014 at 05:52 AM PST
Another Police Killing: Disabled Black Man Holding a Spoon. Racists Online Cheer.

In Texarkana on Monday, a woman called 911 (click for the call) at around 2 AM to report a person in her garage. The woman was frightened and said that she heard banging on the windows from the person in the garage. A police office came to investigate, and found an African-American man holding something in his hand. The officer said the individual came at him in an aggressive manner, and so fired at him, killing him.

The man was Dennis Grigsby. From the article, "Family members say Grigsby had mental problems." He was holding a spoon, the officer said with the handle up, and the officer thought it was a knife.

The local NBC affiliate reports:

"Grigsby then allegedly made an aggressive move towards the officer while carrying a metal object. The officer said he ordered Grigsby to stop but he continued to approach, forcing the officer to fire a shot into Grigsby's chest."

His mother said.

"He was real sweet. He would never hurt anybody. He had a mental illness," said Evelyn Grigsby, Dennis Grigsby's Mother.
She was asleep inside their home when the shooting happened and she says she didn't know her son had left home.

I don't have any information on Dennis' disability, but people who read my blog and my articles around the web know how these stories play out, because they happen again and again and again, following much the same pattern. I've spent most of the last two years following and writing about cases in which police harm or kill people with disabilities, often in circumstances much like this.

In this case, Dennis wandered from his house, ended up in the garage, and then started making noise. Perhaps he was trying to get out and was confused. Perhaps he merely was interested in the spoon and the windows. We don't know.

The police officer demanded he comply and shot him when he didn't. It's fairly clear to me that the police officer followed his training (which is a problem), although a man alone in a garage with a metal object is, I believe, someone you could back away from instead of forcing compliance. That's a police strategy point I come back to a lot. There are often other options unless someone is in imminent danger, but we lack the details to judge this one right now.

So, another person with disabilities killed by police, as is true of at least 50% of all people killed by police. This one had a spoon. Whether or not the officer should be held accountable is a question I can't answer, but I can demand that this be considered a tragedy and that our thoughts be with Dennis and his family.

That's not, of course, what's happening, at least not in some places. I want to focus now on the combination of hate, mistrust, ignorance, and ableism in this Facebook thread from the local news, in which some white folks show just how much they either don't get it or don't care.

Go to the thread or click below the fold to see some of the worst examples.

------------------
I am a freelance columnist (CNN, Al Jazeera, Chronicle of Higher Ed, The Atlantic, etc.), blogger, long-time member of this site, and history professor. You can read my blog at How Did We Get Into This Mess? This is a modified version of my most recent post.

To read more, you could 'like' my public Facebook page.

Or you could follow me on Twitter: Follow @Lollardfish

You can click on their profiles, see their beautiful children, their boats, their love of football, their pretty lives, all while reading their lack of empathy for Dennis.

It's a morass of pro-violence speech, reinforcing the #cultofcompliance, saying that if you don't obey a cop, you deserve to die. One says she feels so sorry ... for the cop. Few express sadness for the victim. Many bluster with bravado, saying that if someone broke into their home, they'd kill them before the cops had a chance (and I believe them). Lots of comment trashing liberals and the liberal media. Lots of comments linking this killing to Garner and Brown and so many others.

Over on my original blog post, I have screen caps and pasted comments, which I can't do here. But here's the content:

It's loaded with ableism, people saying that if Grigsby was so "mentally challenged," he should have been in a home. Here's a sampling.

Brandy Thorn If he was that mental then he should have been in a home not someone else home!

Jo Ann Hill Odom Thank you Brian , if he was that mentally challenged , why was he not in a facility that could take care of him ? Does not make sense that he was able to make the decision to even break into someone's house if that mentally ill . Mental illness is a very bad thing for any family to deal with and sometimes they can not control the person with the mental illness because they get out of control , so I do understand the hurt that his parents and family are feeling ! I do understand both sides if this story and I think Channel 12 is doing a great job with this story cause they are covering both sides of it with all the details they have ! We have to have officers on the street to protect us ! If not what would this world be ???? Just saying ......

Dakotah Klein Put you damn hands up!!! It's not that hard. Even go to the ground. You retards wanna play badasses till you get 3 in your chest.

And then there's this.

Ray says - If you hate the cops, next time you need help, call a crackhead.

Stuart responds (in what I think is a libertarian critique) by showing a picture of what is likely Nazi (or other fascist execution), saying "Never forget that this was legal at the time ...what unjust actions has your government codified into action?"

Then: Kenny Crawford ^^^ there are "rows" in prisons right now that they should be using this method to clear out. Instead it's our tax dollars feeding and housing them for the next 40 yrs.

So that's Kenny. A news story in which police killed a man holding A SPOON drives him to opine on how all those people on death row (and yes, he's thinking of black people), should just be put down.

This is the divide in America. That even in a situation when police kill a black man with intellectual disabilities who was only holding a spoon, there's no sympathy, no empathy, and certainly no second thoughts. The Cult of Compliance lives on in these people.

------------------
I am a freelance columnist (CNN, Al Jazeera, Chronicle of Higher Ed, The Atlantic, etc.), blogger, long-time member of this site, and history professor. You can read my blog at How Did We Get Into This Mess? This is a modified version of my most recent post.

To read more, you could 'like' my public Facebook page.

Or you could follow me on Twitter: Follow @Lollardfish
Originally posted to Lollardfish on Wed Dec 17, 2014 at 05:52 AM PST.
Also republished by Police Accountability Group, Black Kos community, and Barriers and Bridges.
Tags

Wed Dec 17, 2014 at 05:52 AM PST
Another Police Killing: Disabled Black Man Holding a Spoon. Racists Online Cheer.

by LollardfishFollow

Tweet
168 Comments / 168 New

In Texarkana on Monday, a woman called 911 (click for the call) at around 2 AM to report a person in her garage. The woman was frightened and said that she heard banging on the windows from the person in the garage. A police office came to investigate, and found an African-American man holding something in his hand. The officer said the individual came at him in an aggressive manner, and so fired at him, killing him.

The man was Dennis Grigsby. From the article, "Family members say Grigsby had mental problems." He was holding a spoon, the officer said with the handle up, and the officer thought it was a knife.

The local NBC affiliate reports:

"Grigsby then allegedly made an aggressive move towards the officer while carrying a metal object. The officer said he ordered Grigsby to stop but he continued to approach, forcing the officer to fire a shot into Grigsby's chest."

His mother said.

"He was real sweet. He would never hurt anybody. He had a mental illness," said Evelyn Grigsby, Dennis Grigsby's Mother.
She was asleep inside their home when the shooting happened and she says she didn't know her son had left home.

I don't have any information on Dennis' disability, but people who read my blog and my articles around the web know how these stories play out, because they happen again and again and again, following much the same pattern. I've spent most of the last two years following and writing about cases in which police harm or kill people with disabilities, often in circumstances much like this.

In this case, Dennis wandered from his house, ended up in the garage, and then started making noise. Perhaps he was trying to get out and was confused. Perhaps he merely was interested in the spoon and the windows. We don't know.

The police officer demanded he comply and shot him when he didn't. It's fairly clear to me that the police officer followed his training (which is a problem), although a man alone in a garage with a metal object is, I believe, someone you could back away from instead of forcing compliance. That's a police strategy point I come back to a lot. There are often other options unless someone is in imminent danger, but we lack the details to judge this one right now.

So, another person with disabilities killed by police, as is true of at least 50% of all people killed by police. This one had a spoon. Whether or not the officer should be held accountable is a question I can't answer, but I can demand that this be considered a tragedy and that our thoughts be with Dennis and his family.

That's not, of course, what's happening, at least not in some places. I want to focus now on the combination of hate, mistrust, ignorance, and ableism in this Facebook thread from the local news, in which some white folks show just how much they either don't get it or don't care.

Go to the thread or click below the fold to see some of the worst examples.

------------------
I am a freelance columnist (CNN, Al Jazeera, Chronicle of Higher Ed, The Atlantic, etc.), blogger, long-time member of this site, and history professor. You can read my blog at How Did We Get Into This Mess? This is a modified version of my most recent post.

To read more, you could 'like' my public Facebook page.

Or you could follow me on Twitter: Follow @Lollardfish

You can click on their profiles, see their beautiful children, their boats, their love of football, their pretty lives, all while reading their lack of empathy for Dennis.

It's a morass of pro-violence speech, reinforcing the #cultofcompliance, saying that if you don't obey a cop, you deserve to die. One says she feels so sorry ... for the cop. Few express sadness for the victim. Many bluster with bravado, saying that if someone broke into their home, they'd kill them before the cops had a chance (and I believe them). Lots of comment trashing liberals and the liberal media. Lots of comments linking this killing to Garner and Brown and so many others.

Over on my original blog post, I have screen caps and pasted comments, which I can't do here. But here's the content:

It's loaded with ableism, people saying that if Grigsby was so "mentally challenged," he should have been in a home. Here's a sampling.

Brandy Thorn If he was that mental then he should have been in a home not someone else home!

Jo Ann Hill Odom Thank you Brian , if he was that mentally challenged , why was he not in a facility that could take care of him ? Does not make sense that he was able to make the decision to even break into someone's house if that mentally ill . Mental illness is a very bad thing for any family to deal with and sometimes they can not control the person with the mental illness because they get out of control , so I do understand the hurt that his parents and family are feeling ! I do understand both sides if this story and I think Channel 12 is doing a great job with this story cause they are covering both sides of it with all the details they have ! We have to have officers on the street to protect us ! If not what would this world be ???? Just saying ......

Dakotah Klein Put you damn hands up!!! It's not that hard. Even go to the ground. You retards wanna play badasses till you get 3 in your chest.

And then there's this.

Ray says - If you hate the cops, next time you need help, call a crackhead.

Stuart responds (in what I think is a libertarian critique) by showing a picture of what is likely Nazi (or other fascist execution), saying "Never forget that this was legal at the time ...what unjust actions has your government codified into action?"

Then: Kenny Crawford ^^^ there are "rows" in prisons right now that they should be using this method to clear out. Instead it's our tax dollars feeding and housing them for the next 40 yrs.

So that's Kenny. A news story in which police killed a man holding A SPOON drives him to opine on how all those people on death row (and yes, he's thinking of black people), should just be put down.

This is the divide in America. That even in a situation when police kill a black man with intellectual disabilities who was only holding a spoon, there's no sympathy, no empathy, and certainly no second thoughts. The Cult of Compliance lives on in these people.

------------------
I am a freelance columnist (CNN, Al Jazeera, Chronicle of Higher Ed, The Atlantic, etc.), blogger, long-time member of this site, and history professor. You can read my blog at How Did We Get Into This Mess? This is a modified version of my most recent post.

To read more, you could 'like' my public Facebook page.

Or you could follow me on Twitter: Follow @Lollardfish
Originally posted to Lollardfish on Wed Dec 17, 2014 at 05:52 AM PST.
Also republished by Police Accountability Group, Black Kos community, and Barriers and Bridges.
Tags

St. Paul police violently arrest a black man for sitting on bench, waiting for his children (VIDEO)

by Jen HaydenFollow





Screenshot of officer approaching Chris Lollie and mugshot of Chris Lollie
attribution: screenshot from video/Chris Lollie mughshot
From the Twin Cities Daily Planet:

The video, shot by the man’s cellphone, shows his interaction with officers as he attempts to pick up his children from New Horizon Academy in downtown St. Paul. As the officers force the man to put his hands behind his back, he drops his phone and the video goes black, but the audio continues and we hear the man crying for help and proclaiming that his kids are watching. Both officers in the video are white.

“Why do I have to let you know who I am?” the man tells the first female officer at the beginning of the video. “I don’t have to let you know who I am if I haven’t broken any laws.”

More transcription from the video and the Twin Cities Daily Planet:

From the following dialogue, it appears the police were called by a store clerk, who was upset over the man sitting in front of his store. The man in the video tells the officer he was sitting in front of the store for 10 minutes as he waited for his kids to get out of school, and that the area is public and he had a right to sit there.

“The problem was —” the female officer begins.

“The problem is I’m black,” the man fires back. “It really is, because I’m not sitting there with a group of people. I’m sitting there by myself. By myself, not causing a problem.”

Eventually a second male officer approaches the man in the video and attempts to restrain him.

“I’ve got to go get my kids,” the man tells the second officer, pulling his arm away. “Please don’t touch me.”

“You’re going to go to jail then,” the second officer says.

“I’m not doing anything wrong,” the man replies.

See the incredibly disturbing video below the fold.

The outrageous incident actually happened in January, but police kept the confiscated phone for six months.

All charges against Chris Lollie, the man in the video, were eventually dropped:

The police report says the man was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process. Here's the St. Paul PD's official version of events:

Squad 524, M. Johnson/ 526, B. Schmidt were called to the First National Bank Building (332 Minnesota) on a report of uncooperative male refusing to leave. Officers later made contact with this male... who refused to cooperate and would not give his name. He was later arrested for Trespassing, Disorderly Conduct, and Obstructing Legal Process (Citation #620900211109).

The man was charged with trespassing, disorderly conduct, and obstructing the legal process, but those charges were later dropped.

More community discussion can be found in Lollardfish's diary.
Originally posted to Scout Finch on Thu Aug 28, 2014 at 10:38 AM PDT.
Also republished by Black Kos community, Barriers and Bridges, and Daily Kos.

The ambush killing of two police officers today is no less heinous than the killings of Brown, Martin and other innocent citizens. It gives apologists for those killings new ammunition to use against protesters. It takes the lives of two men who may never have abused the law.

Neither of those two were innocent.

INNOCENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**** you asshole. Too bad they were murdered by cops. One of them on tape.

If they hadn't been murdered, those two cops wouldn't have been murdered. Maybe its time racist murdering police get to worry about driving while "blue". Now that the forces get some skin in the game they'll find it easier to treat people right.

You are WAY over the top on this one, Bobsal. You ought to retract what you said here, because it is as absurd as the crap those other guys are throwing at you.

Are you saying there's no connection?



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30567740

**** off, deadhead.

**** off **** for brains.

Sorry Frank, no can do. I will NOT give in to those turds and I think police administrations have allowed their forces to be put in harms way by not dealing with the badcop actors in serious crimes and by allowing a distance to develop between themselves and the public. They are no longer public service, they are public controllers. They kill more unarmed and misidentified people every day and VERY VERY rarely answer for their misdeeds. And there's no longer any way to stay sanguine about it. Being patient has gotten us police forces that look more like military units. And now police beats have become military patrols.

Retreat? Nope. Being polite has made it convenient for police all over the country get away with murder and never have to answer for their mistakes. Hell, they refuse replace knocked down doors from wrong addresses. Let alone do anything about the corpses they opps'ed.

December 19, 2014 |

'This Is Not a War! It’s a 12-Year-Old Boy'—Crowd Erupts When Cop Beats Handcuffed Boy (VIDEO)
Shocked onlookers try to intervene, yell at NYPD cops and keep recording.





The cell phone video of Eric Garner may not have resulted in a trial for the police officers who choked him to death, but New Yorkers are still recording incidents of police using over-the-top force against African Americans.

In a recent video recorded by an onlooker on the streets of New York City, several large uniformed cops have a young African-American boy subdued and pinned against a car, when a white plainclothes police officer runs up and throws several punches at the immobilized boy. The video clearly shows that there is no reason or justification for this, and the bystanders erupt in horror, particularly one outspoken woman.

“He's 12!” she shouts. “Why would you do that? After everything that's happened! I'm a lawyer, I'm writing all this down.”

“Stop it, get off of him!” yells another.

“You guys...need a different profession. Go to war, this is not a war, this is a 12-year-old kid!” says a woman standing on the sidewalk facing the officers, who do not respond to her. Another boy is pinned by other officers against another car. He cries out as the officers yank his hands behind his back.

The woman who captured the video is actually actress Sarah Donegy. On the YouTube page where the video was posted, she explained that the incident started when officers accused the two boys being arrested for pushing a classmate down. Donegy said the victim was questioned and that the boys being arrested were not the ones who pushed him.

This and other videos being shot around New York City signal that residents, particularly African Americans, have reached a point where they will not allow brutal arrests to go undocumented and unprotested. This is just one of the ways people are fighting back.

The NYPD has engaged its Internal Affairs unit to investigate the officer caught throwing the punches. While the onlookers claim the boy being beaten was 12 years old, the police say he is 16.

Watch the video of the incident:

The man was quoted on TV as having said, if they kill one of ours, kill one of them. I had hoped we had the spark of a civil rights advancement in the works, but this could be the spark to a civil war. It was the wrongest thing a person could do in the name of a cause. The guilty, the innocent, all are no longer going to be safe.

I did not say there was no connection.

Read what I actually wrote...and if you disagree with something I ACTUALLY DID write...mention it and we can discuss it.

Do what you have to do, Bobsal...but you are painting with a brush as wide as the Grand Canyon on this.

I have relatives and friends who are cops...people I love and respect. Not all cops are as vicious and uncaring as you are painting them to be...and there is no way they should be used as object lessons by being shot to death by extremists.

You are way over-the-top in what you wrote...whether you will disavow it or not.

You're not really saying much other than disagreeing with Bob. Most of what he was saying was that there was a connection.

You accept there is a connection then? The problem you have is disaffected young men. Some of them are seduced by extremism, others now see killing a policeman as a justified act in an ongoing civil rights struggle.

Until you get rid of the root of the problem it's only going to get worse. How many disaffected young men do you think will feel inspired by Brinsley's actions? I reckon a fair few, and in a country where guns are freely available killing a policeman is quite easy.