Via Balko, q.v.
...But you might also not want to throw snowballs and fightin' words at the fellow with his gun out, especially when the workin' LEOs who show up look to be leanin' towards your side.
Is there no innocently-mean fun left?
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
17 comments:
This is a perfect example of why I stay the hell out of DC proper when I go out there. The worst part about DC are the privileged young whites.
Wait until the lawyers get involved. Then it won't only be snow flying, it will be hyperbole.
"It's just a joke, mate!"
To which my usual response is'that's not really funny. Now, THIS is funny!'
There were, what? Maybe twenty or thirty people there, throwing hard lumps of ice/snow at one inoffensive stranger. See the man stagger. See him wince in pain. Hilarious.
And when he objects, and makes it clear he dislikes being assaulted? 'It's only a snowball fight, can't you take a joke?'
So nearly a Darwin Award contender, I would have thought. 'Oh, look, here is a man with a gun in his hand, distressed about being assaulted with snowballs. I'll throw ANOTHER one at him.'
I think the officer showed commendable restraint.
If'n you're gonna take on The Man for breaking up your snowball fight, you'd damn well bring more than snowballs.
The same argument that the crowd made could just as easily have been made in reverse. Don't bring a snowball to a gun fight.
I ain't sayin it'd be right, I'm just sayin.
tweaker
Yeah. Arrested for a snowball.
Comply, citizen. Comply. Authority knows best. You will comply with Authority, or you will be held. And incerated.
Comply. It is what's best. You WILL Comply, or a firearm will be pointed at you.
COMPLY CITIZEN. YOU WILL COMPLY.
'It's just a snowball.'
And a lot of beautiful music is just horsehair being scraped across taut feline intestines. The view always depends on where you are standing.
1.) It's a winter wonderland. Let's all play at being five years old again, and toss spun-sugar sparkles with a light heart.
2.) The snow has turned to dirty slush on the city street. Let's pick up a random handful, and attack some innocent stranger with it. I know that this random handful may contain a stone or two, that might knock out a tooth if it hits at the wrong angle. If I squeeze a little hard, I might form a jagged ice-spike that could blind someone, but what do I care? The chances of that are really low, and it wouldn't be me damaged for life, would it? What's that? You object to a little random mob violence? Where is your sense of childlike wonder? It's just a snowball fight!
Pick one of the above. But be prepared for the consequences. We are all responsible for our actions.
Here in Indiana, that is "brandishing" which will get you a at best a long talking to, and at worst, loss of your CCL.
But cops are different.
He never should have unholstered the weapon.
The rest is history.
Had he arrested all of 'em, I'd be behind things.
But to brandish a firearm? No need.
Where is the deadly threat?
This looks to have been some kind of a protest, since one of the kids was carrying a shield. The only reason the crowd acted the way they did was because they knew they could get away with it.
I'd like to see the whole tape. When this clip starts, it looks to be something that went on for awhile.
'Where is the deadly threat?'
Hard to be sure, without seeing the whole thing. How about the fact that these 'fun-lovers' seem to have been throwing snowballs at passing cars at a busy junction? Just what a nervous old lady wants, when driving in icy conditions. 'Deadly threat' might be overdoing it, but I can certainly see their actions contributing to a possibly fatal car crash. Hard to believe a cop might want to break up the fun for something so petty, isn't it?
Am I the only person who looks at that video and sees an unruly collection of 'free spirits' disrupting the lives of others, without regard for the discomfort and possible danger that they are causing?
What the hell, time to register all snow balls.
Was fun once upon a time to throw one.
See Ya
I'm not seeing any noble sides in this one. Certainly not by the time the video starts.
It must be a cultural thing, in which case there is no point debating it.
All I can say is that U.S. citizens must be a very forgiving group. PLEASE do not try this when overseas. Assaulting strangers in this way is likely to get you a punch in the mouth, at the very least. Seriously.
A Merry Christmas to all.
"Here in Indiana, that is "brandishing" which will get you a at best a long talking to, and at worst, loss of your CCL."
FWIW, there is no such charge as "brandishing" in IN. Stupid NRA is in VA where they use that term, and so they stick it in all of their literature, and the internet spreads it far and wide.
Did not snowballs start the Boston Massacre?
Young people were throwing snowballs at government agents and the the government responded with gunfire, hitting some bystanders.
Shootin' Buddy
"Here in Indiana, that is 'brandishing' which will get you a at best a long talking to, and at worst, loss of your CCL."
Brandishing is a crime on the Errornet, however Indiana has no such statute.
Indiana does have "Pointing a Firearm" and "Intmidation" which could be at play here.
Indiana has no such thing as the Internety "CCL". Indiana has a License to Carry Handgun which is required to carry a pistol (or pistol-grip only shotgun) openly or concealed.
Shootin' Buddy
Brandishing.
This dude should lose his job. Hot head. Not only did he lose control of the situation, he escalated tensions. And he has created a royal pain in the rear for his superiors!
The other cops kept their cool. They did their job correctly. Notice the people complied with their orders. Why? Because the officers are professionals and they were acting cooly and under the law. The crowd sensed this. Simple as that. Good on the officers, and good on he crowd for putting that moron in his place, and for exposing him for the baboon he is. Just think what might happen with this guy down the road--a month, six months, a year.... The guy is a walking time bomb, obviously. Jerks like that snap, and they hurt people. They are the last people that belong on an American police force. Freaks like that are right out of the East German Stasi..... Etc.
What you don't see in this video is the snowball fight being in the street and chunks of ice being thrown at other moving vehicles. Having a snowball fight is one thing, hurling chunks of solid ice at the windshields of moving vehicles while you violate traffic laws is quite another.
I bet these a-holes would have laughed their asses off if they had caused a minor fender bender.
Was the cop out of line? Sure. Then again the snowball fight was never an "innocent" diversion to begin with.
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