Are police and military above the law?

Question

A young man was killed on his wedding day in New York City by a rogue police officer. The liklihood of justice are slim. Thus, should police officers and military personnel be allowed to kill in cold blood?

Situation:
Man with friends on night out
They are threatened by another group
Police claim they heard someone say something about a gun
Police tail/follow the men (but DON'T IDENTIFY THEMSELVES AS COPS)
The victims notice that the men tailing them has a gun so one shouts this.
The victims try to pull off and hit the undercover cop with their car
The cops open fire hiting the victims with 50 gun shots.
Groom is KILLED
Now, if any of us saw a man walking behind us with a gun, we would probably react in a "life saving" manner also. We'd either run, scream, fight back, or if we had a gun, pull it out.

The problem is that when an African-American man is killed by cops, bigots find every excuse in the book to cover for the corrupt cops. Remember Amadou Diallo, after he was killed, the rogue cops claimed they thought his WALLET was a gun, and folks believed it.

Let's face it, in America, we allow the murder of Poor and/or Black men by police force. Some life in worthless I gues

NO GUN WAS EVER FOUND although there is a witch hunt happening in NYC and Black youth that knew the victim are being taken into precincts and interrogated. Maybe someone should make a large letter B and just put it on the chest of Black young men. Anyone knows where real cheap bullet proof vests are sold, I need a few for the young black I mentor.

Answer 1

No, they are not above the law but it seems that many believe they are the law.

Answer 2

I was shocked when I read the article. I live not far from where this happened. It made no sense to me why. I do not think they are above the law in any way and I believe that most people feel the same way (unless you are in police/military and have that ego). There are cases where the cops think they are so beyony the law that they should be allowed to do whatever they want and get away with it. Most of them stick together, which makes it harder to prove when they do something wrong. I know that the cops are given psych tests to make sure they are ok. I think that they should be given one every 2 years, just to keep a check. There may have been a major incident that happened to make a cop go over the edge or it can just be their ego. In any case, what happened was not fair in no way and should be investigated by an outside source.

Answer 3

No WE are not above the law. And (at least here in Canada) the vast majority of us don't belive we are. However, in many places people form opinions about whether an officer was wrong after hearing only one side of the story, or only part of the story, or with no understanding of officer safety.

Let me offer an possible version of that story from an officer's viewpoint. I'm not suggesting this is what happened or not. I'm not saying whether the cop was right or wrong. I don't have enough info to say that. I'm just trying to illustrate how an event (even a tragic one such as this) can be misunderstood.


So the officers are out partolling. They are observing the group when they believe they may have heard reference to one of the males carrying a gun. Now since from the way you described it there were 2 cops and "a group" of guys. Sounds like the cops were out numbered. So naturally the cops aren't going to yell "Hey we're police, stop there." Because if this group is full of "bad guys" these coppers are going to be in for the fight of their life and if shots are fired in a dynamic situation, who knows where a stray bullit could end up.

Anyways back to the story. So these cops follow this group calling for additional offers to attend. While being followed one of the members of the group notices the cops and notices they have a gun (you didn't say how they came by this knowledge so I won't speculate). For some reason instead of driving away this group decides that the safest thing to do is attempt to run down these people with the guns. (Not a decision I would make, but if they were afraid and panicing who knows).

So now here we have the cops. It no longer matter whether the group had any guns, because now these cops are being attacked, and someone is trying to run them down with a car.

Now all these officers know is that someone is trying to kill them (you don't drive a car into someone to hurt them). And I'm sure we can all agree that a cop has a right to shoot in self defense. So the cop does just that. Since you said there were 50+ shots fired that means there must have been more officers on scene at this time. I tell you if I see a driver trying to run down a fellow cop I will (and I have every right to) try to stop that driver and that will likely involve shooting at him. I'm not going to wait and see if that officer or someone else can shoot the driver first ... there isn't time. So now we have several officers shooting at what they reasonably believe is a vehicle attempting to kill one of the officers. We know how this story ends.

It's a tragedy. An innocent man is dead. Others I'm sure are injured. What caused it? A misunderstanding. The cops reasonably believed they we're being attacked (because they were, someone was trying driving a car at them). The group of guys thought they were being attacked (which they weren't, but the PERCEIVED threat they had was just as reasonable as the officers). We have two groups, both under mistaken impressions, acting in self defence. In THIS story the cops are not guilty of murder. AND the group is not guilty of attempt murder of the officers.

Think of it this way...you hear someone in your house as your sleeping. You open your eyes to see what looks to be a burgler standing over you with a knife. To fight with the prowler and ultimately beat them to death. You turn on the light ... it's your brother who was putting back a CD onto the shelf over your bed. Are you a cold blooded killer? No. You acted in a reasonable manner to defend yourself from a perceived attack. No court would convict you.


Like I said. I'm not saying that's what happened. But it's just as possible as "the cops just wanted to kill somebody". I'd say it's more likely but then I do have a fairly high degree of optimism in human nature.

Answer 4

pretty much, yes. But don't get me wrong no one respects cops more than i do, they have a terribly hard job, and it takes a big toll on their everyday lives. I"m glad i don't have to do it. same goes for the military.I don't know the whole situation in NYC, but i doubt the cops were just driving around looking to kill innocent people on purpose, the fact that it was his wedding day really doesn't matter, that's just something the media will love to play up.OHHH, okay, i see now, of course, the dead guy is and "african american", oh now i understand, yes the cops are racist killers... uh huh, sure, they just go out and try to kill as many black folks as possible.....seriously though, you know that's not true and whatever the media says happened, you should know by now not to believe the media.

Answer 5

These groups are like all others. The actions of one reflects on all. The officers involved in this particular case are suspended until an investigation can be done so this type of hyperbal is just fuel for the fire. Wait to see what the results are before passing judgement on and ENTIRE group of people.

I would bet you there are many many officers right now shaking their heads and are very worried for their safety because of this situation. People who had absolutely nothing to do with it will suffer because of generalization and speculation. Believe me when I say, I don't blame them for being worried. I would be too.

Answer 6

i think i heard about this one first off no officer is going to kill in cold blood. there had to be some reason or the officer would be in jail. they are just like the milatary if you confront someone and tell them to show hands or move up to a wall to be serched. you ask sevral times and they dont and then they seem to make the wrong move yes by all means shoot them. 99 percen of the time the person that dont listen to the officer is carrying a gun or knife. or doing something stupid to have the officer stop them in the first place. im 40 years old and have never been put in that kind of sitiation. if i was i would do what the officer asked me to do and say yes sir and no sir.if youre innocent you have nothing to hide right!! if youre guilty youre gonna give the officer a hard time.as far as milatary goes i was in iraq we only shot at people who shot at us first. we allways shot to kill

Answer 7

The answer is obviously no. You see, in every organization, there are some corrupt people who misuse their power. But that does not make the whole of the organization corrupt. Similarly, this was just ONE psychopath who did that terrible act. The whole police and military organizations still remain under the control of law.

And don't be afraid of injustice, coz' there is nothing like injustice. Everyone pays for what they do at one time or another. God always supports justice.

Answer 8

Military does have its own laws and law enforcers.
Cops are "supposed" to be under the same law as everyone else, but as we all know, too often they get off on some BS, like killing a person with a gun, which later turned out to be a cell phone that looks nothing like a gun.

Answer 9

For Native New yorker. If the police shot is self-defence, isn't 50 rounds more than enough? I asked a simialr question about the same event. Yes we don't have full facts about what happened, so i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Answer 10

SHOULD they be allowed? i hadnt noticed that they werent to begin with. the only time i have ever heard of police officers getting into trouble for police brutality or killing was the officers in the rodney king trial. hell, even they had to be tried twice(first time they were found innocent, second time AFTER the riots they were found guilty, and even then it was only 2 of them). youre right, they will not see the inside of a jailcell for murder, even though they filled that man with 30(?) bullets. didnt the one cop even reload and empty a second clip at them?

Answer 11

It actually depends on the rank of the Police offier or Military because they are not suppose to be ,but hey Not everything is fair in this country