First up, this not-so-routine traffic stop in Vermont:
As you can see, the truck does not go through any red lights. And the driver is surprised (and increasingly angry) as the cop accuses him of doing that. Opposing Views has the story:
The defendants in Rob MacIver’s red-light ticket case are members of the police department and his town’s administration, but neither of them showed up to the hearing on Friday.
MacIver, a 56-year-old Vermont man, is looking to win $2,000 for the damages he incurred while protesting a ticket he received for supposedly running a red light last December, according to WCAX.com.
MacIver says he didn’t go through a red light and the police’s video proved his point. However, police have insisted he violated the law.
“Their default was dishonesty in every encounter,” MacIver said.
If the video above is any indication, I’d say he’s right about that. Oh, and get a load of what transpired the day this case went to court: “The defendants were reportedly found in a coffee shop near the courthouse on Friday during the hearing, so it is unclear why they weren’t able to make the scheduled proceedings.” Couldn’t be because they’re arrogant doughnut-munchers who are used to getting away with this sort of thing, could it?
And then there’s this very shocking weekend incident in Toronto:
This took place in the wee hours on Saturday morning. The victim is 18-year-old Sammy Yatim, who later died of his injuries in hospital. They tasered him…AFTER shooting him. Nine shots were fired. You can hear the Taser hiss clearly in this video; it sounds like a rattlesnake. (They also turn on their sirens at an odd time: why during the Taser part of the confrontation, of all times? Are they covering their asses with noise?)
But here’s the kicker: Sammy Yatim was alone on the streetcar, and armed only with a knife. Since when is that grounds to shoot and electrocute him to death? Do cops no longer learn how to disarm a suspect with a knife, or are they all, as Sammy Yatim yells shortly before he’s killed here, “fucking pussies”? And is that insult the real reason why they killed him?
I heard that this type of streetcar has an outside control switch that can lock the doors. If that’s true the young man could have been locked inside and the authorities could have waited him out.
Good point! If true, then they really screwed it up. As it is, there are plenty of other ways they could have subdued this guy without shooting and tasering him. Now he’s dead, and there’s gonna be a public inquiry. Or should be, at any rate.