The Famous "Hulk Hogan" Quote

“When I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding Hulk Hogan," Wilson said in the testimony that has been released by the St. Louis County Prosecutor's Office. "The face that he had was looking straight through me like I wasn’t even there … He started to lean forward as he got that close, like he was going to just tackle me, just go right through me.”

So said the 6 foot 2 inch, 210 pound officer armed with a gun, talking about a fat teenager acting aggressively. 

I call bullshit on that one.  Like any defensive shooting, the shooter will say anything afterwards to make his actions seem more justified. 

Street Named After Sean Bell

The Daily News reports on the ceremony in which Mayor Bloomfield named a street after Sean Bell, an unarmed man shot and killed by the police in 2006.

Without mentioning how Sean Bell died, Mayor Bloomberg signed a bill Monday designating the site of one of the city's most shocking police shootings as "Sean Bell Way."

Bell, 23, was killed in a fusillade of 50 police bullets Nov. 25, 2006, just hours before his scheduled wedding. The shooting erupted on Liverpool St., near the Kalua Cabaret in Jamaica, where Bell's bachelor party was held.

Police said Bell was armed, but no weapon was ever found. Three detectives were acquitted of state charges last year, but a federal civil rights investigation is continuing. Also still pending is a civil damage suit against the city.

Can you believe the three "detectives were acquitted of state charges last year?" Can you believe how the friends and relatives of Sean Bell appear in that picture with the mayor? I can't.

Wikipedia links the Sean Bell killing with another famous one, Amadou Bailo Diallo, which took place a few years earlier.

[He was]a 23-year-old Guinean immigrant in New York City who was shot and killed on February 4, 1999 by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon and Kenneth Boss. The four officers fired a total of 41 rounds. The shooting took place at 1157 Wheeler Avenue in the Soundview section of The Bronx. The four were part of the now-defunct Street Crimes Unit. All four officers were acquitted at trial in Albany, New York.

Diallo was unarmed at the time of the shooting, and a firestorm of controversy erupted subsequent to the event as the circumstances of the shooting prompted outrage both within and outside New York City. Issues such as police brutality, racial profiling, and contagious shooting were central to the ensuing controversy.

What's your opinion? Are these incidents infrequent enough that they should be considered the price we have to pay for a safer New York City? Do you think this is part of the deal, that the cops are asked to go out there and clean things up with the promise of immunity when things go wrong? Is this the Giuliani legacy being carried on by Bloomberg?

Do you think the fault for this extends beyond the officers themselves who are doing the shooting? Do you think the Mayor and the city and the judges and juries should share in the blame?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Trigger Happy U.K. Policemen Return to Duty

The Guardian reports on the decision to allow the Police Officers who killed the Brazilian man in the subway to return to duty.

Scotland Yard will allow two firearms officers who shot and killed Jean Charles de Menezes to return to frontline duties, even though an inquest jury fundamentally rejected their account of the shooting and criticised almost every aspect of the police operation, the Guardian has learned.

Thanks to our frequent commenter Tom for the heads up. I had missed this story, interestingly it does not appear on the BBC, but if you remember we had discussed it before. At that time I referred to these cops as "trigger-happy," and questioned if it was right to only punish their superiors. It now seems clear that is exactly what's happening. But, given the public uproar, and the international attention, the police officers involved may not escape unscathed.

Crucially, the jury did not believe the testimony of C12, the specialist firearms officer who fired the first shot. He said he had shouted the warning "armed police" at de Menezes, and that the Brazilian had stood up and moved towards him aggressively, as if to close down the distance between them. They also rejected the testimony of officer C2, who said he shouted "armed police" as he put his gun to de Menezes' head and fired. None of the civilians in the carriage heard the warnings.

It sounds to me like this is just another example of people abusing their power. I understand the heat-of-the-chase factor and the incredible stress associated with pursuing a possible terrorist, but that's exactly why police officers have to be held to a higher standard. These cops are more culpable than many of the killers we enjoy discussing and dissecting.

What's your opinion? Do you think this has something to do with the general tyranny which is taking over the U.K.? That seems to be Tom's point in commenting yesterday.

If you told people in the UK 20 years ago that their entire lives, from emails to phone conversations would be monitored, down to having the highest number of CCTV cameras per capita of any place on earth after having been forcibly disarmed by their government for "their own good" they would have laughed at you. Where are they now?

I've yet to meet a British person who feels that way. What do you think?