<story><title>“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”</title><url>http://www.salon.com/2013/07/07/%E2%80%9Cwhy_did_you_shoot_me_i_was_reading_a_book_the_new_warrior_cop_is_out_of_control/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ryanSrich</author><text>Cops have no legal obligation to protect you.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Warren_v._District_of_Columbia&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>sneak</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s shit like this that flies in the face of all those &amp;quot;but most cops are not bad guys&amp;quot; arguments.&lt;p&gt;If an organization fights to protect bad guys, I don&amp;#x27;t care how much good they do: they are complicit in furthering criminal behavior.  And they&amp;#x27;re in a position of trust, at that!&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s an open secret that cops lie to protect other cops.&lt;p&gt;Why do we allow this?  Any other person in a special position of trust and responsibility that contravenes their duty gets _extra_ punishment.&lt;p&gt;Lon Horiuchi was an FBI sniper that shot Vicki Weaver in the back while holding her infant daughter in her arms: case dismissed.  That cop that pepper sprayed those protesting kids at UC Davis, John Pike, was never even charged for &amp;quot;lack of evidence&amp;quot; (nevermind that video of him doing so was on every news show in the country that week).  The FBI and BATFE set the Branch Davidians&amp;#x27; home on fire, burning up the children inside.&lt;p&gt;Instead of meaningful outrage, we simply let cops get away with murder, literally.&lt;p&gt;Fuck the police.</text></item><item><author>Nrsolis</author><text>I knew Sal Culosi.&lt;p&gt;He was a nice enough guy that used to hang out at Fast Eddies Sports Bar in Fairfax, VA.  I saw him there often just tending a beer and minding his own business.&lt;p&gt;If you can believe it, he was an optometrist at a Wal-Mart that just measured eyeballs and wrote prescriptions.  If he was a bookie (as alleged) then I never saw anything that gave him away.&lt;p&gt;I followed his story in the paper and was surprised to hear that a 17-year veteran of the Fairfax County Police was the one that shot him.  Apparently, he said he was bumped and accidentally discharged his gun DIRECTLY INTO SAL&amp;#x27;S CHEST.&lt;p&gt;The police department eventually settled with the family for negligent homicide.  That was only after they fought tooth and nail to protect a cop that didn&amp;#x27;t know how to control a deadly weapon.&lt;p&gt;In the end, I think the cop got a 3 week suspension.  AFAIK, he&amp;#x27;s still on the FCPD.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>wdewind</author><text>You make it sound much worse than it actually is.  The court ruled &amp;quot;a government and its agencies are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any particular individual citizen.&amp;quot;  If the opposite were held true any person who was ever the victim of a crime could sue the government agency with jurisdiction for damages.  Warren does not hold that the police have no duty to protect you if they are witnessing a crime being perpetrated upon you.</text></comment>
<story><title>“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”</title><url>http://www.salon.com/2013/07/07/%E2%80%9Cwhy_did_you_shoot_me_i_was_reading_a_book_the_new_warrior_cop_is_out_of_control/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ryanSrich</author><text>Cops have no legal obligation to protect you.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Warren_v._District_of_Columbia&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>sneak</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s shit like this that flies in the face of all those &amp;quot;but most cops are not bad guys&amp;quot; arguments.&lt;p&gt;If an organization fights to protect bad guys, I don&amp;#x27;t care how much good they do: they are complicit in furthering criminal behavior.  And they&amp;#x27;re in a position of trust, at that!&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s an open secret that cops lie to protect other cops.&lt;p&gt;Why do we allow this?  Any other person in a special position of trust and responsibility that contravenes their duty gets _extra_ punishment.&lt;p&gt;Lon Horiuchi was an FBI sniper that shot Vicki Weaver in the back while holding her infant daughter in her arms: case dismissed.  That cop that pepper sprayed those protesting kids at UC Davis, John Pike, was never even charged for &amp;quot;lack of evidence&amp;quot; (nevermind that video of him doing so was on every news show in the country that week).  The FBI and BATFE set the Branch Davidians&amp;#x27; home on fire, burning up the children inside.&lt;p&gt;Instead of meaningful outrage, we simply let cops get away with murder, literally.&lt;p&gt;Fuck the police.</text></item><item><author>Nrsolis</author><text>I knew Sal Culosi.&lt;p&gt;He was a nice enough guy that used to hang out at Fast Eddies Sports Bar in Fairfax, VA.  I saw him there often just tending a beer and minding his own business.&lt;p&gt;If you can believe it, he was an optometrist at a Wal-Mart that just measured eyeballs and wrote prescriptions.  If he was a bookie (as alleged) then I never saw anything that gave him away.&lt;p&gt;I followed his story in the paper and was surprised to hear that a 17-year veteran of the Fairfax County Police was the one that shot him.  Apparently, he said he was bumped and accidentally discharged his gun DIRECTLY INTO SAL&amp;#x27;S CHEST.&lt;p&gt;The police department eventually settled with the family for negligent homicide.  That was only after they fought tooth and nail to protect a cop that didn&amp;#x27;t know how to control a deadly weapon.&lt;p&gt;In the end, I think the cop got a 3 week suspension.  AFAIK, he&amp;#x27;s still on the FCPD.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sneak</author><text>No, but they do have a legal obligation to not shoot me for no reason, or to not lie on the stand under oath, et c.</text></comment>