Criminal gets murder charge for cop shooting bystander?

[Gromgor]

police can't use any force for fear of it being called excessive.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this scenario, at all.

Police should ALWAYS fear that their use of force is going to be called into question, with penalties attached.

Why? Because if -I- use force, I guarantee you it will be called into question and there will be penalties attached, and yet I'm expected to get on with my day. I'd be absolutely willing to believe that 80%+ of all uses of force could have been avoided had the cop thought it might be prudent to find a better way to handle the situation.

I'll put it like this, I worked in a close custody (what Federal prisons refer to as Maximum Security) prison. I had no gun (except during transport). I did have a baton and a radio, pepper spray and hand cuffs. Every single night I walked into the middle of 144 murderers, rapists, thieves, child molesters, wife beaters, etc. In all of my time working inside of that situation, I was directly involved in -1- use of force. Every single night it was me vs. 144. They were better armed and half of them were on the worst kinds of drugs.

Cop show up to the scene. One guy is arguing with his wife. He's been drinking. Cop calls in for backup, 7 other cops show up with guns, tazers, batons, flashlights, cuffs. 8 cops approach a single guy, yelling at him, shining a light directly in his eyes. They're telling him to get down on the ground, in spite of him not actually having broken any laws...yet. They grab him, he jerks away. Hilarity ensues, cue Benny Hill chase music. Now the guy has a fractured cheek bone. Cracked rib. His eye is swollen shut. He's being charged with resisting arrest (in spite of no crime having been committed prior to his being "detained"). The crime occurred during the arrest when the guy, being shoved around, gets slammed into one of the other cops, who is now charging him with assaulting a police officer. The cop that slammed him against the cruiser is charging him with destruction of property because the front quarter panel is dented. As the guy is screaming, because his chest is pressed against the scalding hot hood of the cruiser (because the cops been patrolling for 6 hours) he, in his pain, tells one of the officers he's going to fucking kill him. Now he has a charge of communicating threat.

Think this scenario doesn't happen? Cops are the most ego-driven people I have ever met. People talk about "You don't know what it's like to do their job. They have a dangerous job." Yes, they do. Half of it is self-created. The other half of the danger in their job is legitimate. So what kind of personality would actively seek to hold that kind of job? The kind that gets a thrill from the violence. The kind that wants to exert their will over others, and found a path to doing so.

An individual cop might be a nice guy. He might try to do good things. He might have the best intentions.

Collectively they are the most abusive group in this country and they are continuously given more and more and more authority and leniency and protections. The problem with arguments FOR cops is that to make those arguments you have to demonize criminals. You have to forget they are human beings and that they STILL have rights. It's easy to think of cops as white knights riding off to slay yon evil-doer. But that ain't the reality. The reality is that they are the Sheriff of Nottingham. They are abusive tyrants who stretch every single liberty their station permits to facilitate their desire to crush faces.

So what does this translate into? Cops fire 9 rounds at a guy, killing an innocent bystander....and charge the guy with the crime.