{"id":6314,"date":"2020-06-17T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/?p=6314"},"modified":"2020-06-18T09:04:06","modified_gmt":"2020-06-18T13:04:06","slug":"controversial-incidents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/controversial-incidents\/","title":{"rendered":"CONTROVERSIAL INCIDENTS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The controversy has been heavy. Riots.&nbsp; Communities burning.&nbsp; There was the Ahmaud Arbery shooting in Brunswick, Georgia, the death of a young black man in the street at the hands of one of two white men who were pursuing him.&nbsp; There was the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, an African-American man whose heart stopped while prone with police kneeling on top of him, which triggered the spate of protests that often turned into violent riots.&nbsp; And, most recently, the shooting death of African-American Rayshard Brooks at the hands of a white Atlanta police officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re a\nregular here, you know my personal rule on this sort of thing is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <strong><em>Don\u2019t\ndecide,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; \u2018til you\u2019ve heard each side.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was interviewed three weeks ago on the Arbery shooting, here:  &nbsp; I said there that we the public shouldn\u2019t pre-judge because there\u2019s so much we don\u2019t know yet. Since that interview, we\u2019ve been told that the shooter stood over Arberry\u2019s body and said, \u201cF&#8212;in\u2019 (N-word).\u201d&nbsp; Expect still more to come out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/hwcdn.libsyn.com\/p\/c\/8\/2\/c829a27e06144242\/Lock_N_Load_with_Bill_Frady_Ep_1895_Hr_3.mp3?c_id=74286008&amp;cs_id=74286008&amp;destination_id=102028&amp;expiration=1592449549&amp;hwt=82d9241fda418f1d730569a8566e4144\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t know of anyone in the law enforcement sector who defends kneeling on a handcuffed man and holding him prone when he states he is in respiratory distress and is not actively resisting arrest.\u00a0 At the same time, there are some of us who feel the cop who knelt on George Floyd\u2019s neck area, and particularly some of the officers present, may have been over-charged to placate public demand. See <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"this assessment by another writer (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@gavrilodavid\/why-derek-chauvin-may-get-off-his-murder-charge-2e2ad8d0911\" target=\"_blank\">this assessment by another write<\/a>r. For one thing, I want to see the bodycam recordings from the officers\u2019 cameras, which have not been released at this writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Atlanta, we\u2019ve seen a rush to judgment. We have to remember as we watch the video of Brooks running from the officer, <em>we were all told that he had a TASER in his hand before we saw it. <\/em>The cop who pulled the trigger reportedly said in his initial statements that he saw a flash and heard a report as Brooks pointed something gun-like at him, causing him to draw and fire.&nbsp; We\u2019ve seen some video, but I\u2019ve not yet seen <em>his <\/em>bodycam video.&nbsp; The officer now faces a murder charge carrying the death penalty, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation \u2013 in charge of investigating the case \u2013 has not yet completed that investigation.&nbsp; That smacks of not only a rush to judgment, but a grotesque overcharge.&nbsp; There is still more we need to know. An African-American sheriff <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"has this to say (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.officer.com\/command-hq\/news\/21142458\/georgia-sheriff-believes-use-of-force-in-atlanta-shooting-justified\" target=\"_blank\">has this to say<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.officer.com\/command-hq\/news\/21142458\/georgia-sheriff-believes-use-of-force-in-atlanta-shooting-justified?utm_source=Officer.com+Newsday+E-Newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=CPS200617030&amp;o_eid=0552I2060534J1O&amp;rdx.ident%5Bpull%5D=omeda%7C0552I2060534J1O&amp;oly_enc_id=0552I20\">.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we\nspeak of overcharges, and charging without complete investigation, we speak of\nnot only injustice in and of itself but also of a case most unlikely to result\nin a guilty-as-charged verdict. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let us not forget\nthat the Rodney King riots that tore Los Angeles apart happened when the\naccused officers were acquitted.&nbsp; It\u2019s an\nunintended consequence, but one that should be considered before announcing\ncharges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The controversy has been heavy. Riots.&nbsp; Communities burning.&nbsp; There was the Ahmaud Arbery shooting in Brunswick, Georgia, the death of a young black man in the street at the hands of one of two white men who were pursuing him.&nbsp; There was the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, an African-American man whose heart stopped [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6314"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6317,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6314\/revisions\/6317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/MassadAyoob\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}