Tatom and a black officer moved in to question Staten and his employee, who also is black, about "stealing license plates," according to the suit.

So apparently these two cops, one of who is white, one black, don't like black people.

I am certain that his race must be the issue, because no cop has acted in any way rude or disrespectful towards anyone who is white. The very idea of it is unthinkable.

Damn.

Once Staten was on the ground, he said he had a concealed-handgun permit, according to the police report.

In the video, Staten said he had a concealed-gun permit before he was thrown against the car.

and

Staten filed a complaint and an open records request to get the video of the incident. Three weeks later, when Staten went to check on the open records request, he said, he was taken to a room and asked if he really wanted to pursue it. Then he was jailed on suspicion of resisting arrest and failure to display a concealed-handgun license.

The cops are going down hard on this one.

With picture of what a pissed off young black man may look like.

Petit_Merdeux: I have friends who will not even visit me in Carrollton because they fear racial profiling because of their race

I have friends that won't visit me because I repeat myself and my friends won't visit me.

That person must work at the department of redundancy department.

He is "considering a move".

Hell, I'm white, and I'd never live in Texas!

This is not garden variety racism. This is police misconduct and assualt and battery by the cops. The more we let them chalk it up to one or two bad apples or the usual "isolated incident" bullshiat the more the police get to skate on by without addressing the larger problems of abuse and lack of accountability.

suspicion of resisting arrest? jesus freaking christ

Dang it's nice to be white. Not trying to be racist. I mean, there shouldn't be any problems with being black. But hey, there are, hence it feeling damn good to be white.

2chris2: Tatom and a black officer moved in to question Staten and his employee, who also is black, about "stealing license plates," according to the suit.

So apparently these two cops, one of who is white, one black, don't like black people.

I am certain that his race must be the issue, because no cop has acted in any way rude or disrespectful towards anyone who is white. The very idea of it is unthinkable.

Black police showing out for the white cop

Even though stories like this seem to show up pretty frequently, I'm sure this is just an isolated incident. Just like all the others.

I thought grave injustice and getting up by inbred, toothless rednecks was how Texas says hi.

The Crepes of Wrath: Even though stories like this seem to show up pretty frequently, I'm sure this is just an isolated incident. Just like all the others.

Tomorrow's story will be equally as isolated.

/Maybe someone will die?

jbrooks544: Hell, I'm white, and I'd never live in Texas!

Here, here. Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

2chris2: Tatom and a black officer moved in to question Staten and his employee, who also is black, about "stealing license plates," according to the suit.

So apparently these two cops, one of who is white, one black, don't like black people.

I am certain that his race must be the issue, because no cop has acted in any way rude or disrespectful towards anyone who is white. The very idea of it is unthinkable.

So a black officer can't racially profile because he is black?

Racist cops in Texas?

No way.

Came for the NWA reference, leaving satisfied.

Incredulous: Wholly irrespective of the reasons for the cops having directed their attentions to the guy, everything has to be examined in the light of what occurred after Staten told the police officers he had a gun.

They asked him for his concealed-carrying license, as they had a right to do and as the law (at the time) required him to have. Instead of readily agreeing, as the law required, he took an aggressive tack, demanding to know why he needed to show his license (which he did not have on him, contrary to law) and then reached into his jacket --- where the gun was located.

If you were a cop, what would you do?

I would conceal the video that showed what actually happened.

KiwDaWabbit: Racist cops in Texas?

No way.

They're not racist. They'll beat the fark out of anyone.

Incredulous: If you were a cop, what would you do?

Fired my weapon 87 times, hitting the target twice. Then I would demand that the wounded man slap my nut sack while calling me Veronica. After that, I would begin to weep.

He better hope he wins, people have been executed in Texas for less.

Incredulous: Wholly irrespective of the reasons for the cops having directed their attentions to the guy, everything has to be examined in the light of what occurred after Staten told the police officers he had a gun.

They asked him for his concealed-carrying license, as they had a right to do and as the law (at the time) required him to have. Instead of readily agreeing, as the law required, he took an aggressive tack, demanding to know why he needed to show his license (which he did not have on him, contrary to law) and then reached into his jacket --- where the gun was located.

If you were a cop, what would you do?

If everything they did was on the up and up, why won't they release the video?

Hint: it's because they're lying.

I've always heard it was illegal to be black in Texas. I understand the cops paranoia, but clearly this should have been handled differently.

I wonder if Billy-Bob has a history of roughing-up black "suspects".

Inflatable Rhetoric: I would conceal the video that showed what actually happened.

Nothing but net.

Magorn: I worked in a courthouse in the largest and richest majority-black county in America. The county executive was black, most of the county council was, and so was the Police chief. However the force itself was notoriously racist and its attitudes and practices virtually unchanged since the days when the county was part of the Jim crow south.

Why? According to the officers I talked to, it's because fpr decades whenever a black officer joins the force, white officers put pressure on him to "Prove" he's "blue, not black" and threaten not to give him backup (or even outright accidentally shoot him) if they suspect his sympathies are with the "inidgs" (short for indigenous population, a Vietnam war military term that the white officers have charmingl appropriated to describe the people they are sworn to protect and serve)

Good explanation of how a black officer can be conditioned to be racist.

Good choices, some people don't have them.

FTFA:

Carrollton's police also made headlines last August, when Officer Jennifer Cackler was dismissed after egging the home of a Carrollton resident. Three police dispatchers also lost their jobs over the incident. The Carrollton resident whose home was targeted had repeatedly called police on his neighbors.

Apparently, the city hires its female officers right out of Kindergarten.

Pray for Shomarion!

BREAKING NEWS: Cops are assholes.

TheYeti: Everyone Young, black menshould avoid changing license plates in public in Carrolton, Texas. Even if they are a car dealer and are required by law to do so after a sale. Trust me on this one

A more universal message.
/Irving Washington

Paging Drointhewind? Is he still around?

Wait wait wait... what? I wanna root for the guy and hate on the cops, but something stinks here. They spotted him in a shopping center one afternoon after he changed the license plates, as required by law,
Uh...no? Here in Texas, the license plate stays with the car. It is NOT required to change it, and it's certainly not necessary to change it in a mall parking lot.

xanadian: FTFA: Staten had requested the video under the state's open records act, but Carrollton city officials refused.

REALLY? Now, why would they do that?

Stay classy...

They don't need to prove they're innocent, they're that hardcore.

Meanwhile my white brother has been stopped for speeding twice, and given a warning, specifically because he has a CHL. One state trooper even told him to keep the gun in his holster instead of the lockbox because the trooper might need some help out there some day.

Magorn: 2chris2: Tatom and a black officer moved in to question Staten and his employee, who also is black, about "stealing license plates," according to the suit.

So apparently these two cops, one of who is white, one black, don't like black people.

I am certain that his race must be the issue, because no cop has acted in any way rude or disrespectful towards anyone who is white. The very idea of it is unthinkable.

I worked in a courthouse in the largest and richest majority-black county in America. The county executive was black, most of the county council was, and so was the Police chief. However the force itself was notoriously racist and its attitudes and practices virtually unchanged since the days when the county was part of the Jim crow south.

Why? According to the officers I talked to, it's because fpr decades whenever a black officer joins the force, white officers put pressure on him to "Prove" he's "blue, not black" and threaten not to give him backup (or even outright accidentally shoot him) if they suspect his sympathies are with the "inidgs" (short for indigenous population, a Vietnam war military term that the white officers have charmingl appropriated to describe the people they are sworn to protect and serve)

How is "inidgs" short for "indigenous?"
How do you even pronounce that?

"Suspicion of resisting arrest . . .?"

WTF is that?

Am I doing that right now while sitting at my desk in a bathrobe drinking coffee?

Anyway, in before any cop boot lickers get here to say that for every story like this where video contains either exculpatory evidence that clears someone of charges wrongly brought against them and/or offers proof of police misconduct how many untold thousands of people are railroaded and/or how many cops get away with murder (sometimes a figure of speech, sometimes not) when there is no video and/or the video is "lost" or "damaged."

Look: the technology already exists where cops could wear clip on digital cameras that would record each and every interaction they have with the citizenry.

You'd think - given how often cops moan and cry about citizens "falsely" accusing them of brutality or some other impropriety - that every cops in the land would be demanding that their department purchase and issue such cameras to them.

But (big surprise here) they're not.

Why?

Because the brutality, unprofessionalism, rudeness, and sometimes outright criminal behavior that many cops engage in day in and day out every single day of their career is not only something that they believe is their "right" to engage in but, sadly, exactly what attracted many of these folks to law enforcement in the first place.

If these cameras were made mandatory and issued to every cop in the land 50% of all cops would be fired - if not brought up on criminal charges - by the end of the first week - if not their first shift.

FTA: Staten's attorneys said their client was racially profiled by Carrollton police when they spotted him in a shopping center one afternoon after he changed the license plates, as required by law, on a blue 1997 Geo Prizm. Staten was waiting to deliver the car to a client who was getting a cashier's check at a nearby bank.

Who the the heck would buy a Geo?