Distracted Driving

 

More riots next year ?

Could we be in for more rioting next year ?

The apparent murder of George Floyd by Officer Chauvin of the Minneapolis police department may still be causing problems in several communities in America next year.

The video that was released at first depicted a blatant suffocation of a cuffed suspect in custody by an officer who appeared to have no regard for the suspects life. I like most everyone who viewed the video was outraged at the officers who did this and the ones who allowed it to happen.   BUT!!!

Recent release of body cam videos and testimony of an officer on the scene paints a different picture.

 Let me paint a picture based on what I saw and heard, that answers some questions I had from the beginning. Some of this is conjecture as I was not privy to radio traffic nor discussions between the officers on the scene except what the videos picked up.

As stated at the beginning, officer Chauvin and his partner took a call [ probably a BOLO} about Mr. Floyd trying to pass a bogus bill on a shop owner and since officer Chauvin knew Mr. Floyd from working security with him at a local club, he had an idea where he might be hanging out and headed in the general area. They did in fact encounter Mr. Floyd and pulled him over for an interview about the call.

At this time according to officer Chauvin's partner they determined that Mr. Floyd acted as though he may have been high on something and the video shows he was reluctant to get out of the car when asked. At that time he was arrested, cuffed and removed to stand beside the building while the officers searched his car. This is where the original video picks up. Mr. Floyd was squatting next to the building when an officer helps him up and starts to escort him to the unit. The next scene Mr. Floyd is on the pavement beside the unit with officer Chauvin's knee on the back of his neck for 8 minutes.

To the best of my knowledge this hold, if you will, has never caused death when used and only restricts air and blood so that the person will be calmer and can be controlled easier. Looking at the new video it's plan to see that Mr. Floyd is larger and heavier than any of the officers present plus he has a record [ of which they would have known when they called dispatch for wants and warrants check ] and Mr. Floyd resisted being placed into the unit which caused him to be wrestled to the ground in the first place.

Ad to that the autopsy states that he did not die from lack of oxygen but from complications from ingestion of drugs and you can see that as bad as it looked to begin with, after more evidence has been presented and that information will all come out at the trial in March of next year, that it will be very difficult to bring back a guilty verdict against officer Chauvin. Mr. Floyd died because he resisted arrest and even though the medical cause was drug overdose he may still be alive had he not resisted.

Unfortunately, this scenario plays out in most cases of officer /suspect altercations and the sad thing is that less than 1 % of resistance ends up  with the suspect getting away and most of those get arrested again. does not seem like it's worth it to me, Just say'in      

Based on what we have seen this year that tells me next year is going to be a mess in the more liberal states and cities in the country.  I pray that calmer heads will prevail.    Dutch

UPDATE !!!

              WOW !   I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post, shame on me.

         Our world is falling apart !   The "Socialists" are at the gates !   I fear for our country !

Radical professors in our collages have brain washed our young to the point they don't have the ability to see that what the radicle left is promoting has been tried in other venues and failed and just enslaved the people with a finale collapse of the economy.

And now they actually want to defund the police, INSANE ! The police are the only shield the average person has from those that would do harm just because they could.

For those that think that a few cops that have stepped over the line are the norm, stop and think. Look around at the situations they deal with almost daily and in fact some do live with it daily.

It takes a special person to be able to deal with the dregs of society day in and day out, the same characters every time they answer a domestic call, the same ones dealing drugs on the corner, the same ones breaking in to the liquor store, the same ones throwing things at them while they are trying to protect someone else.

Statistics show that white suspects are injured or killed more often than blacks yet all you hear about are how bad police are with black persons. The truth is that in almost every incident the suspect resisted arrest causing his own demise. If they would not have resisted they would still be here and the worst part is that most times they were stopped for a miner charge that escalated to a felony when they resisted.

The officer is charged with the responsibility to effect an arrest when he witnesses a felony crime and is given the authority to use as much force as necessary to accomplish that task, up to and including deadly force. That is their job and with very few exceptions, can they ignore it.

Take in the effect of an officer of smaller stature confronting a person that stands maybe 6 inches taller and outweighs him by 100 lbs and is obviously in good physical shape, and you can see that the officer could be concerned with his ability to safely arrest this individual. Remember also that he is carrying a gun, taser, night stick and mace that could all be used against him or other individuals in the area.

This situation is faced by good men and women every day in this country and are extremely lucky if they have a family to go home to that understands the stress that they're under and are able to help them deal with it so they can go back out there the next day.

Now we have the very people that need the protection of law enforcement being denied this basic service that is supposed to be supplied by the city, state, and government by some grossly misguided elected individuals in power in some states that are taking money away from, or closing these departments that are a necessity for a safe environment to raise a family.

Most people don't know what it's like to do this job and have no desire to find out but anyone that is truthful with themselves will admit they are glad that someone else is out there and they can call on them to come to the rescue when they are having problems. 

They Didn't drop the ball, THEY DIDN"T HAVE IT TO BEGIN WITH!

17 people dead because no one saw the signs that the kid was trying to get there attention !

All of the law enforcement agencies were involved, the schools were involved, some of his peers were involved and yet no one took the time to try to find out what was bothering this young adult.

His foster parents say they didn't see anything out of the ordinary about his behavior, I find that hard to believe but perhaps he wasn't in their home long enough to see his destructive behavior.

Parenting is hard even when it's your own flesh and blood but when it's a stranger you don't have a benchmark to measure with. We sometimes get caught up with our own lives and forget that the teen years are especially hard for kids, and their peers can ad to the problems exponentially, and if there is no one close enough to them that they can go to for GOOD answers they will either internalize the feelings or try to get answers from others who may have the same problems and bad answers.

It's obvious this person had been given a lot to deal with and he wasn't doing a good job at handling it. The people around him that saw his reactions did not see the danger of ignoring his cries for help and the results are devastating to 17 family's.

Now there is more talk of gun control, I agree to the extent that the background checks need to be more thorough with the ability to access records from childhood years, to help get a better handle on the persons mental attitude.  We don't need more laws but we do need to better enforce the one's we have. We also need to address the culture that our children are growing up in.

Reality video games are desensitizing our youth,  we need to change this but I don't know how.

We need to stop trying to remove GOD from their lives because that is the only internal incentive we have to not commit serious crimes like this. It's called conscience, without it we are just a bunch of animals and will continue to head in the wrong direction. This is especially true with the less fortunate among us who have to deal with adversity on a daily basis and don't have a learned friend or pasture to help steer them in the right direction.

Rush Limbaugh was correct, new gun laws won't stop this we need to replace GOD in our lives and the lives of the through away youth. Unfortunately the Bible tells us that won't happen so I'm not sure how we fix this but someone needs to help those who can't help themselves.

May GOD still bless us,  Darrell     

Attacking Our History

                             What is wrong with people ?

 I remember studying our nations history in school [actually had to take it twice] and in that we studied what happened in the south in early america.

I don't believe anyone was proud of the slavery issue but to destroy inanimate objects because they remind some of a failing in other people is just as bad as the original sin.

The statues were and are just a way of reflecting on that persons contribution to the growth of the nation, good or bad, and as mature adults we can build on that to become better.

Destroying something just because you see it as degrading to you or your culture is childish at best.

Americans are a group of mixed cultures and we need to seek ways of communicating with each other in a non violent manner to resolve petty issues and focus on getting along with everyone.

Remember, you can't build positive results on negative actions

Your comments are always welcome.

So, A couple more "officer involved shootings" have happened, one a few blocks from my house and from what I see on the news they appear to be good shoots. 

There is a time when that is the only coarse of action left to the officer and I applaud the officers bravery and ability, even though they will have to go through an investigation and keep their head straight from now on, that is what they are paid for, keeping us safe.

On a lighter note, I now sell "TASER" products and also offer "MACE" line of pepper spray along with other effective personal protective products at my booth inside "Admiral Flee Market" on the north side of Admiral at Mingo. Come by or email me for sales information.  I also offer DIY security systems that are easy to install and can offer all the intrusion and surveillance protection of any of the main stream outlets at HUGE savings.

It appears that the need for personal protection is becoming more pronounced as the criminal element is alive and well despite the efforts of law enforcement, so we as regular citizens need to take hold of this and be responsible for our own safety as much as we can. There are to few officers to respond effectively to all of the events we may be faced with if we are not somewhat vigilant about our surroundings and have some way to at least get away from an assailant before they can do us harm.

I now have access to all types of security items and will be offering free reports on safety and security here and by email from my website. If you would like these reports sent via email just sign up at www.VRofTulsa.com and you will get them free. I promise not to bombard you with sales pitches and I won't sell your info, I'll just try to help you be safe in this troubled world.

Thanks for your time,  Darrell

WOW,  Here We Go Again !

Another black youth has been shot and killed by police doing their job and supposedly protecting society from a dangerously armed individual.

This time the young man supposedly had some mental problems and was running around with a couple of knives in his possession and the officers felt threatened and concerned for the safety of others in the area.

Again, they were within their legal boundary but I have to ask what ever happened to just using enough force to control the situation. Did they have to take his life? I'm a little premature in asking this as we don't even know what took place but I see an area that needs to be addressed with the deaths of all these subjects when it appears to me that some of them could have been stopped by 

other less fatal means.

Lets hope that this was justified and that maybe the powers that be in law enforcement can change their approach to these types of confrontations to give us a better outcome without endangering themselves or anyone else.

Prayers to all involved, Darrell

MY View, The Trial, 

Well it's 10;20 pm and we are still waiting. The verdict is "NOT GUILTY" !  I sure hope that the

 family of the deceased can understand what Terrence did to bring this about. It wasn't because he was a bad guy it was because of his action when confronted by a law enforcement officer doing her duty. If people would just learn from this and see how senseless this was because of someone being under the influence of a substance that probably caused him to not even realize the police were there.

Now we will see whether sane heads will prevail and let the protests be non violent rather than like the last big outcry, and let use all reflect on this and strive to understand and work to make it better for everyone .

Lets all Pray ! 

My view, what is the cause of the problem?

So, what do I think is the cause is of all this disrespect for the law?

We all need to be taught to be responsible for our actions and we need that taught at a very early age.

This is as hard to teach as it is hard to learn and an awful lot of parents give up way short of the goal and this gets translated into generation after generation of children growing into adulthood and never having to pay for their mistakes.

By not having to pay for your mistakes you loose the ability to rationally asses the end result and make an intelligent decision to not do something that may cause others harm or endanger themselves.

There are other factors that drive people to do wrong, but by far, if most would have been taught early to weigh the worst case ending against the pleasure of doing whatever, they would realize most times it isn't worth it.

Unfortunately it has progressed for several generations and involves so many people that we will never be able to correct it so we will just have to live with the criminal element in our lives and hope our law enforcement can keep up without over reaching their authority.   

As an aside I do feel that there are some officers who could stand training in people skills and there are some people who could stand some training in proper interaction with police. If we can  get that done we could go a long way to solving the understanding gap between the factions.

As always, stay aware and safe.

My View on Concealed Carry,

I like the fact that there are lots of people in my state walking around armed.  It causes some would be terrorists to think a long time about trying to create havoc here as they may get shot before they do much harm.

However, from my experience being armed in any society is a huge responsibility that a lot of people don't really understand. Just take Betty Shelby's problems now. She may face years in prison for doing her duty as a law enforcement officer with some immunity from prosecution because she is police, but an average citizen does not have that on their side.

As all who have taken the coarse know, you can only use enough force to defuse the threat and you will have to prove beyond a doubt that was your only choice. Plus for anyone to be able to use the weapon after they pull it is a mental place we all have to get before we are confronted by a would be criminal bent on inflicting great bodily harm or death upon us.  Any hesitation could mean you loose your weapon and it may be used against you or others.  This being paramount in a police officers mind and should also be in anyone's mind if they want to carry.

 For those who can't get their head around this fact in order to be effective in an encounter with a criminal but still would like to have some protection if this should occur, I would recommend taking a self defense coarse, arming yourself with pepper spray and/or stun gun and learn to be very vigilant of your surroundings, travel in groups if out at night or going to a strange place and use common sense about your person and belongings.

Please stay safe,   Darrell