OT: Tyreek Hill Traffic Stop

[4XPIPS]

I am not sure if many of you had the luxury of soaking in this story over Week 1 of football. Not sure of you many care either, but I somehow found it quite interesting the shift of accountability that evolved over the 24 hours with in it occurred. It was labeled as Tyreek Hill's arrest, which quite false considering he never got arrested. Yes he got hand cuffed, and detained, but never arrested. From the start all we got was Hill was handcuffed and thrown to the ground, and from Hill's POV he was being cooperative from the start.

If you haven't seen the events, it's pretty much all over the internet. However, after watching the bodycam footage provided by the police department it became clear to me that Hill wasn't cooperative from the start, and disregarded the commands of the office. Although, I do agree that the officer was quick to blow his fuse and pull Hill out of his car with force, so I feel there is accountability on both sides. I just hate the spin is now turning into racism, because it has been clear the officer was of Latino heritage, and not a white officer. However, it once again becomes a race issue and I just can't stand that both sides cannot agree that there could have been a better solution to this. In my opinion I feel Hill was not cooperating with the officer, but I don't feel he was threatening the safety of the officer. I think a supervisor should have been called to the scene, but the actions have happened and now are in the middle of media frenzy of a cop mistreating a black person.

[River Dog]

I just hate the spin is now turning into racism, because it has been clear the officer was of Latino heritage, and not a white officer.

I haven't seen the footage or heard much about the event and apologies for cutting out most of your comments and I'm a little reluctant to take this thread off topic (it was already correctly noted as OT so I guess we're good), but I wanted to respond to this one sentence of yours.

Why is it only white males that can harbor racial prejudices? Is it not possible for a Hispanic or any other ethnicity to discriminate against another person due to their skin color?

I live in a community where Hispanics and blacks live in the same neighborhoods and have worked closely with both groups for decades, and I can tell you that it goes both ways. There's every bit of a chance that the Latino cop would not have reacted like he did if the suspect was Hispanic, white, Asian, et al as there would have been if the cop were white.

[NorthHawk]

There is some blame on both sides from what I saw.
The Cop didn't try to de-escalate the situation, rather he escalated it when he got frustrated and Hill should have just shut up and complied with the Officers requests.
The other Cops that were there also did nothing to de-escalate the situation, either so I think they should at least have discussions with their supervisor as to how to proceed when they see another Officer getting close to the line.
There has to be a solution to stop these type of things early before they become problematic.

[I-5]

I watched the video a few times...it's all over youtube if you're curious. Bottom line, Hill did roll up his window and was generally uncooperative with the police officers AND the officers didn't try to de-escalate the situation. Both are true.

That's why I'm more impressed with what I've seen with police here in Vancouver BC. I watched a homeless man on the sidewalk who was obviously mentally ill and likely high berating an RCMP officer, and the officer just calmly stood there and let the man scream. He didn't react at all nor call for a backup. I saw another instance of the RCMP cornering a man who had a sharp weapon outside a public building. They kept a safe distance from him, and not one gun was fired. Coming from the US, it surprised me to watch police officers not resorting to force at the first opportnity. They're not perfect here, but they do understand de-escalation tactics.

[River Dog]

That's why I'm more impressed with what I've seen with police here in Vancouver BC. I watched a homeless man on the sidewalk who was obviously mentally ill and likely high berating an RCMP officer, and the officer just calmly stood there and let the man scream. He didn't react at all nor call for a backup. I saw another instance of the RCMP cornering a man who had a sharp weapon outside a public building. They kept a safe distance from him, and not one gun was fired. Coming from the US, it surprised me to watch police officers not resorting to force at the first opportnity. They're not perfect here, but they do understand de-escalation tactics.

There's been lots of instances of cops acting in the manner you've described. The problem is that they don't attract the same publicity as those few bad cops, of which exist in every occupation. Law enforcement has to draw their employees from the same group of sometimes flawed individuals as everyone else does.

Years ago, a friend of mine's 80-something year-old dad drove his car off into the center median of SR 395 north of Pasco. There was no damage to the car and no injuries to anyone. The WSP patrolman that was on the scene had the car towed and impounded, got ahold of my friend, they agreed to meet halfway, and the cop put the old man in the front seat of his cruiser, drove him perhaps 30 miles and met my friend and handed his dad off to him. The cop told my friend "Please, don't let him drive again. He's a danger to himself and others." My friend not only never let his dad drive again, but he also insisted that he live with him.

[4XPIPS]

I haven't seen the footage or heard much about the event and apologies for cutting out most of your comments and I'm a little reluctant to take this thread off topic (it was already correctly noted as OT so I guess we're good), but I wanted to respond to this one sentence of yours.

Why is it only white males that can harbor racial prejudices? Is it not possible for a Hispanic or any other ethnicity to discriminate against another person due to their skin color?

I live in a community where Hispanics and blacks live in the same neighborhoods and have worked closely with both groups for decades, and I can tell you that it goes both ways. There's every bit of a chance that the Latino cop would not have reacted like he did if the suspect was Hispanic, white, Asian, et al as there would have been if the cop were white.

Well let me elaborate on this. I think I should have clarified my point, it's not the fact that he was of Latino heritage had anything to do with it.

As the events unfolded throughout the day the identity and ethnicity of the officer was not known at the time until much later in the day. After the game, Hill had to time to reflect on his interaction with the police, and commented that he didn't wanted to bring racism into it. Now there was an overload of support and assumptions made on his behalf because of the culture of how cops, predominately white cops on how they treat blacks or anyone of color. Many had jump to the conclusions that this was another case of racial profiling and mistreatment, because again at this time the officer had not been identified.

Now my own opinion(hence why I wrote that sentence), was shame on many who jumped to conclusion that this was a case of a white officer power tripping on a black person. Again if you weren't following media as it was unfolding hour after hour, and seeing the massive overreaction from various news outlets and the support Hill had. Many believed it was another case of racism. Even when he did his NBC interview later that evening he stated " What if I wasn't Tyreek Hill ?" meaning if was just another black man held up by the police, he genuinely believes being Tyreek Hill and a superstar athlete is what saved him from being mistreated.

Fast forward to today after the body cam footage has since come out, and he has pivoted massively and changed his tune and has admitted he should have been more cooperative, and I believe him and his agent & lawyers weren't expecting the body cam footage to be released so soon.

I still believe mistakes were made on both sides. Again I am not advocating that this was a case of racism and I side more with the officer trying to do his job(which he could have demonstrated more patience), but there is nothing the police handbook that tells you should treat someone different because they are superstar athletes.

[River Dog]

I haven't seen the footage or heard much about the event and apologies for cutting out most of your comments and I'm a little reluctant to take this thread off topic (it was already correctly noted as OT so I guess we're good), but I wanted to respond to this one sentence of yours.

Why is it only white males that can harbor racial prejudices? Is it not possible for a Hispanic or any other ethnicity to discriminate against another person due to their skin color?

I live in a community where Hispanics and blacks live in the same neighborhoods and have worked closely with both groups for decades, and I can tell you that it goes both ways. There's every bit of a chance that the Latino cop would not have reacted like he did if the suspect was Hispanic, white, Asian, et al as there would have been if the cop were white.

Well let me elaborate on this. I think I should have clarified my point, it's not the fact that he was of Latino heritage had anything to do with it.

As the events unfolded throughout the day the identity and ethnicity of the officer was not known at the time until much later in the day. After the game, Hill had to time to reflect on his interaction with the police, and commented that he didn't wanted to bring racism into it. Now there was an overload of support and assumptions made on his behalf because of the culture of how cops, predominately white cops on how they treat blacks or anyone of color. Many had jump to the conclusions that this was another case of racial profiling and mistreatment, because again at this time the officer had not been identified.

Now my own opinion(hence why I wrote that sentence), was shame on many who jumped to conclusion that this was a case of a white officer power tripping on a black person. Again if you weren't following media as it was unfolding hour after hour, and seeing the massive overreaction from various news outlets and the support Hill had. Many believed it was another case of racism. Even when he did his NBC interview later that evening he stated " What if I wasn't Tyreek Hill ?" meaning if was just another black man held up by the police, he genuinely believes being Tyreek Hill and a superstar athlete is what saved him from being mistreated.

Fast forward to today after the body cam footage has since come out, and he has pivoted massively and changed his tune and has admitted he should have been more cooperative, and I believe him and his agent & lawyers weren't expecting the body cam footage to be released so soon.

I still believe mistakes were made on both sides. Again I am not advocating that this was a case of racism and I side more with the officer trying to do his job(which he could have demonstrated more patience), but there is nothing the police handbook that tells you should treat someone different because they are superstar athletes.

Thanks for the clarification. I was reacting to what I thought that you were suggesting, ie that the mere the fact that the arresting officer was Hispanic meant that racism wasn't involved. I'm glad that I was mistaken.

I have yet to see the footage and don't feel that I should comment further as you obviously have been following this story a lot closer than I have.

[4XPIPS]

Thanks for the clarification. I was reacting to what I thought that you were suggesting, ie that the mere the fact that the arresting officer was Hispanic meant that racism wasn't involved. I'm glad that I was mistaken.

I have yet to see the footage and don't feel that I should comment further as you obviously have been following this story a lot closer than I have.

No no no, absolutely I value your opinions and input always and there is no need to apologize as I wasn't being clear at the time when I posted it. I tend to jump the gun quite often and most times I need to be checked and realize I am at fault for passing judgement so quickly. Again I didn't take your post in a negative way at all. Since I followed the story as it unfolded does not mean I know more or have better optics towards it. So with that in mind I appreciate you keeping me in check at times, because I don't always take the correct approach.

[River Dog]

No no no, absolutely I value your opinions and input always and there is no need to apologize as I wasn't being clear at the time when I posted it. I tend to jump the gun quite often and most times I need to be checked and realize I am at fault for passing judgement so quickly. Again I didn't take your post in a negative way at all. Since I followed the story as it unfolded does not mean I know more or have better optics towards it. So with that in mind I appreciate you keeping me in check at times, because I don't always take the correct approach.

No sweat, bro! It's all good.