“They reacted based upon the training that they’ve been given from the academy. We were thankful that no officer was injured from protecting themselves from risk of great bodily harm.” I have a new piece on CNN today about police killings of people with psychatric disabilities. I argue that we need to view these cases…
As most of you know, last week Al Jazeera America published my essay on the “cult of compliance,” something I’ve been working on for a long time. Thanks to everyone who read it and shared it. The response has been thoughtful and wide-ranging, just as I would have hoped. Today I am sharing two pieces…
Today St. Louis police shot a man with a knife. He had been acting erratically, police showed up, he raised the knife and said shoot me now, so they did. Read more about it here. The officers ordered the man to get down, according to Dotson. The man, 23, became more agitated and walked toward…
I published my first piece with Al Jazeera America this Friday on the Cult of Compliance and #Ferguson. I also published a blog post about the phrase, “cult of compliance,” why I use it, what effect I hope it has, and most of all some stories I couldn’t fit into the AJAM piece. I did a…
My first piece for Al Jazeera America is a big one: The Cult of Compliance. As regular readers know, I have been talking this for a long time and thinking about police violence in various ways for even longer. I used the phrase for the first time on this post from August 17, 2013. The…
Heather Digby Parton, aka Digby, is one of the most important voice out there talking about police violence, with a particular focus on the TASER issue. In Salon, she has a piece in response to the chokehold death of Eric Garner and subsequent video of other use of the illegal restraint. Digby writes: The New…
The ACLU has a new petition on up-to-date guidance and training for police in dealing with people who are Deaf. I’ve signed it. It’s a good idea. Here’s some text. For Pearl Pearson, a 64-year-old deaf man, a routine traffic stop led to a brutal assault by police. When an officer shouted instructions, he attempted to…
I am halfway done with my copy-edits on my scholarly book. One more week, I hope. Two major themes from this week’s writing: I’ve been working more on Eden Foods. In one piece, I argued that if we can’t win this fight, on our turf, we might as well pack it in. I think I…
“When Garner refused orders to put his hands behind his back, one of the plainclothes cops, wearing a green T-shirt with a yellow No. 99 on the back, got behind him and put him in a chokehold, the footage shows. A struggle ensued as three uniformed officers joined in on the arrest, knocking the man…
From Digby, we have another example of what I call the cult of compliance. In Springfield, MO, a panhandler in a Walmart parking lot, Eric David Butts, was confronted by a police officer, Jason Schuck. Butts turned to run away and Schuck drew his weapon and shot him in the back. Later, he claimed that he…