Us and Them in Pictures

Once again, Carlos Miller proves that a picture is worth a thousand words, and that our need for images of the reality on the streets of police encounters cannot be understated.  Two cops are on trial for their beating to death a homeless man, Kelly Thomas, the subject of an earlier post.

Carlos now provides the video of Thomas' killing.  While I could embed it here, I prefer that you watch it at Carlos' blog, as he provides a substantial amount of additional information about the case and, frankly, deserves your interest more than I do.  He's done all the heavy lifting, and I just ride his coattails.

But Carlos includes a few pictures in addition to the video, which provide as stark a juxtaposition as I've ever seen.  Here's the picture of us.



Here's the picture of them.



I have nothing more to add.

H/T Radley Balko

 
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Comments

  • 5/10/2012 10:39 AM REvers wrote:
    You just don't understand what it's like to be a cop. It's clearly a serious injury to the arm he uses to dunk his donuts.
    Reply to this
  • 5/10/2012 2:37 PM Ziran Zhang wrote:
    This video is sickening, and yet if the dispatcher had never recorded it, the truth would've probably never come out.
    Reply to this
  • 5/11/2012 8:41 AM Jim Majkowski wrote:
    What kind of training and supervision did this Ramos have that he would pose for that picture?
    Reply to this
    1. 5/11/2012 9:50 AM SHG wrote:
      Hubris doesn't require training. It comes with the shield.
      Reply to this
      1. 5/11/2012 3:29 PM Jim Majkowski wrote:
        I've had a little experience with police officers, if not comparable to yours, and I think to get to this point it was necessary to have that hubris reinforced and rewarded.
        Reply to this
  • 5/24/2012 3:48 AM John wrote:
    Folks your all missing the wider point here...

    The cops these days simply do not know any better.

    Depts hire uneducated people, then provide them with little to no training, arm them, empower them with state permission to arrest and use force with little to no supervision.

    Then you're all somehow shocked when things like this occur over and over and over again?
    Reply to this
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