Lazy8 wrote: 
indeed.

oldviolin wrote:
No, I'm optimistic that ubiquitous technology to document police abuse will expose it and lead to less of it.

As Richard points out below there are communities that have faced this brutality for decades, but when it happens to white people suddenly it's a crisis. I'm not encouraged that police agencies are armoring up, but I see this as a change in scale rather than a change in kind.

And maybe outrage will finally drive the changes we need. Police departments sell this overwhelming display of force to those who pay for it by appealing to safety, both for the communities they police and for the officers themselves. There really are bad people out there, and they kill cops—fewer every year, but it does actually happen. The same technology that makes reporting and spreading the word about police abuse also spreads those stories far and wide, and makes them appear more common than they really are. Our first job as citizens is to demand more than anecdotes and make informed political decisions about what kind of law enforcement serves our needs, but we also need to ask hard questions about what things justify police intervention in the first place.

It all starts with the law. When we have enough laws that everyone is a criminal every encounter with the police is a threat to both sides.

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
self incarceration is the new black, or no?

 oldviolin wrote: 

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
Let's face it. The innocent white girl was arrested because she is not innocent but clueless, and an endangerment to the public. The black guy is arrested not because he's clueless, but because he's black and an endangerment to the innocent public. Perception strikes again. It's like a game. I wonder what would happen if people were all on the same side, instead of always being pitted against each other. You know; a little education goes a long way. Give it a couple of days of warning citations before the hard rails go up? What could be the harm in giving the benefit of the doubt? All the cops can't be bad guys? I know some really good ones. It's societal pressure forcing everyone's hand to live up to some constant notion of disenfranchisement. Just give people a chance to be ignorant or even stupid and still be people before they get treated like criminals.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
I couldn't find any articles describing how citizens are up in arms about this particular issue in Austin (which doesn't mean it's not happening). For the rest I see mostly an argument about how we should be obedient (vs. not jaywalking) and respect the authority of cops with some exaggeration tossed in for good measure (aside from this girl obviously being an entitled brat). Sounds like a classical authoritarian spouting off in a comments section.
As for where it actually happened, you can take look around for yourself (it looks like on that particular street view that there are two more very bad people about to cross to the exact same spot where she was on the floor ):


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PS: From what I could see from Austin pedestrian accident statistics for situations like described there are no "crazy amounts", but I guess that is open to interpretation as well.

 cc_rider wrote: 
So because they can't get her attention, the cute white girl gets a pass, oh well there'll be more. Look, there's a black guy crossing against the light.... yeah that's going to play well. 

 cc_rider wrote: 
I'd say brutal but...

 Proclivities wrote: 
Backscroll finger broken...

 Steve wrote: 
See several posts earlier.  

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
'To Protect And Serve' is so old-fashioned.

APD's new motto: 'At Least We're Not Raping You'.

 cc_rider wrote: 
Because that's what they do.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
The officers might have considered the situation in total. The area borders the UT campus, and has a lot of foot traffic at all times. Virtually everyone has a cell phone with a camera.

The officers might have assessed the situation and realized what was really happening: a dumba$$ jogger was oblivious to everything around her, was startled by the cops, and didn't react exactly the way they demanded. Instead of assessing what was going on and defusing the situation, they escalated it into national news. Forcing their boss to go on TV and spout BS. 

Daylight hours, lots of people around, wisp of a girl wearing jogging gear, no suspicious behavior besides jaywalking, and they escalate the incident into national news? Nice work there, Barney.

 RichardPrins wrote: 
I can't muster up much sympathy for her. Chief is a dick, but she did everything wrong. What were the cops supposed to do?
 
edit: From the comments on the page:

• I am a student at UT and I drive on that street every day. Austin is up in arms about the crazy amount of pedestrians getting run over in out city, the cops are finally doing something about it. This girl was within about 100 feet away from about a Dozen crosswalks but instead, because she is oblivious (i.e. didn't see cops while breaking law) she decided to put everyone on the streets lives in danger. These entitled brats, the kind that would make a scene about being arrested for "doing nothing wrong" after doing something wrong and acting like a brat when caught. This DA kid is lucky she went to jail and not the hospital. Maybe her parents should teach her to use a crosswalk and be respectful of others and the people we pay to police our society could spend their time doing other things than stopping her from killing me and my family on that road everyday along with the other 1000 or so maroons that do this every hour in this HIGH TRAFFIC AREA.I am a student at UT and I drive on that street every day. Austin is up in arms about the crazy amount of pedestrians getting run over in out city, the cops are finally doing something about it. This girl was within about 100 feet away from about a Dozen crosswalks but instead, because she is oblivious (i.e. didn't see cops while breaking law) she decided to put everyone on the streets lives in danger. These entitled brats, the kind that would make a scene about being arrested for "doing nothing wrong" after doing something wrong and acting like a brat when caught. This DA kid is lucky she went to jail and not the hospital. Maybe her parents should teach her to use a crosswalk and be respectful of others and the people we pay to police our society could spend their time doing other things than stopping her from killing me and my family on that road everyday along with the other 1000 or so maroons that do this every hour in this HIGH TRAFFIC AREA.

Exactly right. 

 Lazy8 wrote: 
You're optimistic that these situations are rare? I agree that whatever the number of incidents like this that there are, they are sensationalized in the media, especially social media, and therefore are given a sense of increasing ubiquity. However, it seems more and more like something such as a simple traffic stop culminates with additional law enforcement vehicles responding and a foreboding potential for strong arm tactics if a citizen protests their treatment at the hands of often inflexible and surly attitudes of aggressive police officers. Additionally, if a bystander decides to offer additional protest for the rough and unnecessary treatment of friend or stranger , you know what will happen to them. I've seen it. I've been a witness to it. I've been involved in it.

There seems to be a great anxiety building over an increasingly militant style of over equipped and deadly forceful police departments, especially in urban areas. It doesn't take very much to light the fuse because society continues to regress into a crush of seeming helplessness. It is more than not a perception rather than a reality, but in the wash there isn't much difference in the two.
Have you ever seen a large blacked out SUV with 30 flashing lights on it at a simple traffic stop? I have. More and more it's common. I guess that's my point. The soft violence of perceived helplessness at the hands of aggressive law enforcement is feeding on itself.

 Lazy8 wrote: 
If we believe the black commentariat, then such events are fairly common (and have been for a while). The demographics of the prison population would tend to support it as well.

cc_rider wrote:
I doubt these incidents are really more common, we just all carry the technology to document them around in our pockets now.

Not sure if that should reassure you or not, but it gives me cause for optimism.

 Red_Dragon wrote: 
What's even more terrifying is this incident is not unusual anymore.

And what if the second video had been successfully suppressed?

 

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