Militarized, trigger-happy police killed an innocent guy. It must be a day ending in “y”.
In Los Angeles yesterday, a guy went nuts on his roommates and some friends that were hanging out in their apartment. Alexander McDonald climbed over a balcony into his own place and started attacking and stabbing the group with a ten-inch butcher knife.
Someone called the cops, describing the attacker as a thin guy wearing a black shirt.
When the L.A. County sheriffs arrived and pounded on the door, one of the bleeding victims burst out to escape, immediately followed by another victim, a 30 year-old film crew worker named John Winkler.
John Winkler was thin. And wearing a black shirt.
Three deputies fired. One bullet killed John Winkler.
The paramilitary force then entered the apartment where they subdued the real attacker in a surprisingly non-fatal way.
The death of John Winkler is another on the long list of victims of what used to be a noble profession commanding our utmost respect and gratitude, but now commands mainly fear: the police. We see story after story of fatal “no knock” raids, police beatings, and the exposure of the systemic, evil lies used to cover up the abuses and errors.
On April 10, the Justice Department issued the scathing results of an investigation into the Albuquerque, New Mexico Police Department finding “systemic deficiencies”, and “reckless” officers with a pattern “of using excessive force”. For some reason the feds took notice after the APD killed 23 people since the beginning of 2010:
“Based on our investigation, we have reasonable cause to believe that APD engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force, including deadly force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment and Section 14141. Our investigation included a comprehensive review of APD’s operations and the City’s oversight systems. We have determined that structural and systemic deficiencies—including insufficient oversight, inadequate training, and ineffective policies— contribute to the use of unreasonable force.” – USDOJ letter to Mayor Berry regarding Albuquerque Police Department
Based on the almost-daily headlines, I think you could easily substitute any city police department’s name into the Justice Department report.
Hopefully this will be just the beginning of widespread investigation and de-militarization of our police. I though we’re not supposed to have a standing army on our soils or some commie pinko liberal freedom crap like that, right? We also need to stop local police from getting military vehicles.
Contact your local government and demand oversight of the police and accountability for their institutional, criminal behavior.
