POLICE STATE: Park Ranger Caught On Camera Pointing Pistol At Couple...

[peach174]

They did the same thing as all of the others have done.
Did not obey the park rules and did not do what the park ranger asked him to do.

 

[MikeK]

Sadly, most do feel frightened and powerless in this Police State. They feel it's just easier to submit to tyranny.

And that is an extremely serious problem. It implies that the American Revolution was a waste of effort and blood because if the situation continues to move in the same direction as it's been going our police will soon be emulating the behavior of the British Regulars toward the Colonials.

Unfortunately the problem with police is the result of excessive assertion of authority and, sometimes, wantonly brutal conduct on the part of a small percentage of thug cops. The command levels know who these troublemakers are but they are powerless to effectively discipline or to terminate them because of the power of police unions. So the only solution to this problem is for Congress to act in limiting the power of police unions -- which in themselves collectively, via the F.O.P. (Fraternal Order of Police), comprise a powerful political lobby.

 

[MikeK]

They did the same thing as all of the others have done.
Did not obey the park rules and did not do what the park ranger asked him to do.

Asked?

That word implies politeness, which I strongly doubt was manifest in this example. I doubt it because this young man (the driver) doesn't seem the type who would behave rudely or contemptuously toward anyone who approached him politely, much less a uniformed officer.

Does it occur to you that this Ranger might initially have engaged that couple in an exaggeratedly authoritarian manner which was entirely inappropriate under the circumstances? After all, what offense did this couple commit? Being a few minutes over the visiting time limit? Does that justify a vehicle pursuit, a potentially destructive vehicular action-stop followed by a demonstrative threat of deadly force?

That couple's "offense" called for issuance of a summons and nothing more. If their vehicle failed to stop for the Ranger's signal its plate number could be used to issue a summons by mail. What this Ranger did was excessive under the circumstances and would be acceptable (and lawful) only under circumstances in which he had valid cause to suspect those people of some felonious offense.

There is a problem in that contemporary police, owing to a progression of increased police authority and aggressive procedures when making car-stops, have acquired the idea that their authority is omnipotent and that civilians may not under any circumstances disregard or disobey their commands. This exaggerated impression of their authority has led to an infuriated response by some cops when a civilian fails to behave submissively toward them.

It is important to understand that the extremely counterproductive War On Drugs is directly responsible for the rising conflict between the public and the police.

 

[peach174]

They did the same thing as all of the others have done.
Did not obey the park rules and did not do what the park ranger asked him to do.

Asked?

That word implies politeness, which I strongly doubt was manifest in this example. I doubt it because this young man (the driver) doesn't seem the type who would behave rudely or contemptuously toward anyone who approached him politely, much less a uniformed officer.

Does it occur to you that this Ranger might initially have engaged that couple in an exaggeratedly authoritarian manner which was entirely inappropriate under the circumstances? After all, what offense did this couple commit? Being a few minutes over the visiting time limit? Does that justify a vehicle pursuit, a potentially destructive vehicular action-stop followed by a demonstrative threat of deadly force?

That couple's "offense" called for issuance of a summons and nothing more. If their vehicle failed to stop for the Ranger's signal its plate number could be used to issue a summons by mail. What this Ranger did was excessive under the circumstances and would be acceptable (and lawful) only under circumstances in which he had valid cause to suspect those people of some felonious offense.

There is a problem in that contemporary police, owing to a progression of increased police authority and aggressive procedures when making car-stops, have acquired the idea that their authority is omnipotent and that civilians may not under any circumstances disregard or disobey their commands. This exaggerated impression of their authority has led to an infuriated response by some cops when a civilian fails to behave submissively toward them.

It is important to understand that the extremely counterproductive War On Drugs is directly responsible for the rising conflict between the public and the police.

They were still in the Park when it closed.
The Park Rangers then have full authority to ask for ID, which he did not do.
If they had gotten out of the Park before it closed they would not have been stopped like that.
Did it ever occur to you that they could have been up to something?
That is the point of view from Park Rangers when someone does not follow park rules.
How do you know for certain how long it was. To them a few minutes could be anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes or even longer.
The direct conflict between the police and the public is directly due to Sharpton, Holder and Obama accusing them of being racists.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Hmm. You'd think yall would be part of the black lives matter movement .

Oh I forget. Jack boots are fine if they are hassling brown people .

This Police State effects us all. It's not only about race.

I agree.

But it's funny how conservatives automatically back the police when they shoot down an unarmed black guy. But when a gun is drawn on white people, it's the worst injustice ever .

And Timmy goes with the standard liberal lie.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Typically driving away from an officer is a bad idea.
And I still want to hear the cops side of it.

 

[westwall]

There is NO REASON for the man to have pulled his firearm. This clown needs to be fired and lose whatever LE credentials he may have had.

 

[MikeK]

Did it ever occur to you that they could have been up to something?

Such as?

The Ranger didn't make any specific charges other than closing-time violation, which is as petty as it gets -- and for that he ends up engaging the couple in a vehicle action-pursuit and aiming his gun at them. And you think this is okay?

There was a time in America when you would have been aware of how wrong this is. But I suspect you are too young to remember that time, and being born into the new America you've grown up believing this kind of behavior by cops is natural and acceptable. But it isn't.

You need to learn the difference between Probable Cause and Reasonable Suspicion, two distinctly different elements of the Common Law which have a critically important influence on the concept of freedom. What it means in the most basic sense is unless a police officer has some supportable cause (evidence) to base a suspicion on he has no right to act only on suspicion. And if this restraint meant that a few offenders would get away it also mean you and I are protected against harassment by excessively authoritarian cops.

But we no longer have that protection -- as this incident clearly reveals.

 

[MikeK]

Typically driving away from an officer is a bad idea.
And I still want to hear the cops side of it.

Read the text of the Channel 3 news report which accompanies the video in Message #1. If the cop had made any further charge against this couple it would be specified in that report.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Typically driving away from an officer is a bad idea.
And I still want to hear the cops side of it.

Read the text of the Channel 3 news report which accompanies the video in Message #1. If the cop had made any further charge against this couple it would be specified in that report.

The video stated the incident is still under investigation.
It could be the ranger is just an asshole,or the kid was an asshole and he failed to record that part.

 

[Freewill]

There is NO REASON for the man to have pulled his firearm. This clown needs to be fired and lose whatever LE credentials he may have had.

Obviously you were an eye witness.

 

[Rustic]

Why are we giving so many thug bullies guns & badges? What's going on?


A Chesapeake park ranger was caught on camera pointing his pistol at a couple. It was a confrontation that started because the couple left a city park after closing time.

“I was hoping he wasn’t going to shoot at us,” says Dylan Newton, who recorded a 7-minute video of the ranger. “With all the things going on in the media with cops using excessive force and all these videos coming out like that’s the only thing running through my head like I’m going to be one of these people.”

Newton says it all happened Sunday night at the city’s Northwest River Park off Indian Creek Road.

Newton says he and his girlfriend had gone on a hike and were driving out a few minutes past the park’s 6:15 p.m. closing time when the ranger stopped them.

Newton says the ranger asked him three times to turn off his car and hand over his license and registration. He says he asked several times why he was being stopped and who the ranger was, but he got no answer.

“I turned off my car, my hands were in my lap, I proceeded to put my hands on the wheel and I saw him reach for his weapon,” he says. “So I turned my car on because I was genuinely terrified for my girlfriend and myself at that point.”...

Chesapeake park ranger caught on camera pointing pistol at couple leaving park past closing time

A nonissue...

 

[Contumacious]

Why are we giving so many thug bullies guns & badges? What's going on?


A Chesapeake park ranger was caught on camera pointing his pistol at a couple. It was a confrontation that started because the couple left a city park after closing time.

“I was hoping he wasn’t going to shoot at us,” says Dylan Newton, who recorded a 7-minute video of the ranger. “With all the things going on in the media with cops using excessive force and all these videos coming out like that’s the only thing running through my head like I’m going to be one of these people.”

Newton says it all happened Sunday night at the city’s Northwest River Park off Indian Creek Road.

Newton says he and his girlfriend had gone on a hike and were driving out a few minutes past the park’s 6:15 p.m. closing time when the ranger stopped them.

Newton says the ranger asked him three times to turn off his car and hand over his license and registration. He says he asked several times why he was being stopped and who the ranger was, but he got no answer.

“I turned off my car, my hands were in my lap, I proceeded to put my hands on the wheel and I saw him reach for his weapon,” he says. “So I turned my car on because I was genuinely terrified for my girlfriend and myself at that point.”...

Chesapeake park ranger caught on camera pointing pistol at couple leaving park past closing time

Police Are More Dangerous To The Public Than Are Criminals
By Paul Craig Roberts

PaulCraigRoberts.org

September 17, 2013


The American police perform no positive function. They pose a much larger threat to citizens than do the criminals who operate without a police badge. Americans would be safer if the police forces were abolished.

The police have been militarized and largely federalized by the Pentagon and the gestapo Homeland Security. The role of the federal government in equipping state and local police with military weapons, including tanks, and training in their use has essentially removed the police from state and local control. No matter how brutal any police officer, it is rare that any suffer more than a few months suspension, usually with full pay, while a report is concocted that clears them of any wrong doing.

In America today, police murder with impunity. All the psychopaths have to say is, “I thought his wallet was a gun,” or “we had to taser the unconscious guy we found lying on the ground, because he wouldn’t obey our commands to get up

 

[Timmy]

Hmm. You'd think yall would be part of the black lives matter movement .

Oh I forget. Jack boots are fine if they are hassling brown people .

This Police State effects us all. It's not only about race.

I agree.

But it's funny how conservatives automatically back the police when they shoot down an unarmed black guy. But when a gun is drawn on white people, it's the worst injustice ever .

You are just looking through your race whore glasses.

Funny how you have an intrinsic need to drag race into a topic that has nothing to do with it at all and yet have the gall to point racial accusations at others. If you want to know where the racist lies, look in a mirror.

Why are we giving so many thug bullies guns & badges? What's going on?


A Chesapeake park ranger was caught on camera pointing his pistol at a couple. It was a confrontation that started because the couple left a city park after closing time.

“I was hoping he wasn’t going to shoot at us,” says Dylan Newton, who recorded a 7-minute video of the ranger. “With all the things going on in the media with cops using excessive force and all these videos coming out like that’s the only thing running through my head like I’m going to be one of these people.”

Newton says it all happened Sunday night at the city’s Northwest River Park off Indian Creek Road.

Newton says he and his girlfriend had gone on a hike and were driving out a few minutes past the park’s 6:15 p.m. closing time when the ranger stopped them.

Newton says the ranger asked him three times to turn off his car and hand over his license and registration. He says he asked several times why he was being stopped and who the ranger was, but he got no answer.

“I turned off my car, my hands were in my lap, I proceeded to put my hands on the wheel and I saw him reach for his weapon,” he says. “So I turned my car on because I was genuinely terrified for my girlfriend and myself at that point.”...

Chesapeake park ranger caught on camera pointing pistol at couple leaving park past closing time

It shouldn't take being told three times when a person of authority in a uniform is confronting you. It's called appearing to be resisting, duh. Same scenario would be a game warden having to ask a hunter three times to see his license. The guy, in my opinion, was asking for it. We cruise on open water a lot and from time to time see the Coast Guard. They have more authority than the military in that they can board your vessel WITHOUT provocation with weapons drawn. You'd better believe it wouldn't take three requests for me to show my papers or anything else they wanted to see. Complying is the prudent thing to do rather than having my boat literally taken apart, which they are well within their rights to do, or ending up dead. People just have no respect anymore. Wise up.

The question you need to ask yourself is whether or not this Ranger's actions were grossly out of proportion with the circumstances. What did he believe this young couple had done to justify his action.

When the Probable Cause requirement was in effect no sensible cop would have behaved this way -- because nothing was done to justify such an out of proportion response. Those people had done absolutely nothing to warrant the threat of deadly force. If anything, their license plate number could have been used to issue a summons by mail. And if they didn't appear an arrest warrant could then be issued for contempt of court.

But in case you haven't noticed, a substantial percentage of Americans who, unlike you, do not worship authority in any form, are fed up with the excessive actions of far too many cops who seem to believe their badge places them above the Common Law.

But in advance of your reply let me say I do not expect you to agree because I am quite familiar with the authoritarian personality syndrome in all its aspects.

Society becoming more evil and disrespectful has caused the shift in how cops treat these sorts of situations. We can only guess what the officer actually encountered and what he determined the threat to actually be. We can speculate endlessly. What we do know, however, is folks no longer respect authority of any kind. Kids don't respect their parents and certainly don't respect their elders. Adults no longer respect anyone over them be it bosses in the workplace, state and local officials, anyone. No wonder we have the mess we have today. No wonder cops have felt forced to become militarized in their approach. It's gotten absolutely nuts.

Most cops have never been held accountable for their crimes. Until the recent advent of the cell phone camera, most Americans were completely clueless about what cops routinely get away with. And even when recorded breaking the law, most cops only lose their jobs. They're rarely arrested & prosecuted.

It's time for Police to be held to the same legal standards average Citizens are. If they break the law, thay have to be arrested and prosecuted. Losing their job isn't good enough.

Even when shit is on camera it's not enough ! God forbid you be against police brutality !!

 

[MikeK]

Why are we giving so many thug bullies guns & badges? What's going on?


A Chesapeake park ranger was caught on camera pointing his pistol at a couple. It was a confrontation that started because the couple left a city park after closing time.

“I was hoping he wasn’t going to shoot at us,” says Dylan Newton, who recorded a 7-minute video of the ranger. “With all the things going on in the media with cops using excessive force and all these videos coming out like that’s the only thing running through my head like I’m going to be one of these people.”

Newton says it all happened Sunday night at the city’s Northwest River Park off Indian Creek Road.

Newton says he and his girlfriend had gone on a hike and were driving out a few minutes past the park’s 6:15 p.m. closing time when the ranger stopped them.

Newton says the ranger asked him three times to turn off his car and hand over his license and registration. He says he asked several times why he was being stopped and who the ranger was, but he got no answer.

“I turned off my car, my hands were in my lap, I proceeded to put my hands on the wheel and I saw him reach for his weapon,” he says. “So I turned my car on because I was genuinely terrified for my girlfriend and myself at that point.”...

Chesapeake park ranger caught on camera pointing pistol at couple leaving park past closing time

Police Are More Dangerous To The Public Than Are Criminals
By Paul Craig Roberts

PaulCraigRoberts.org

September 17, 2013


The American police perform no positive function. They pose a much larger threat to citizens than do the criminals who operate without a police badge. Americans would be safer if the police forces were abolished.

The police have been militarized and largely federalized by the Pentagon and the gestapo Homeland Security. The role of the federal government in equipping state and local police with military weapons, including tanks, and training in their use has essentially removed the police from state and local control. No matter how brutal any police officer, it is rare that any suffer more than a few months suspension, usually with full pay, while a report is concocted that clears them of any wrong doing.

In America today, police murder with impunity. All the psychopaths have to say is, “I thought his wallet was a gun,” or “we had to taser the unconscious guy we found lying on the ground, because he wouldn’t obey our commands to get up

Paul Craig Roberts is an economist. He served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration and he has authored numerous books on government and sociological topics.

For someone of this stature to be critical of the police is extremely meaningful and should serve as a lesson to those authoritarian personalities who instinctually defend the actions of police regardless of circumstances that something is seriously wrong.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

"POLICE STATE: Park Ranger Caught On Camera Pointing Pistol At Couple..."

Nonsense.

The United States is not a 'police state,' the notion is ignorant idiocy.

 

[MikeK]

"POLICE STATE: Park Ranger Caught On Camera Pointing Pistol At Couple..."

Nonsense.

The United States is not a 'police state,' the notion is ignorant idiocy.

The U.S. is not a police state in the academically correct and technical sense. But the term has understandably been adopted because of its appropriate applicability to describe a condition in which American police authority is increasingly exceeding the boundaries of exercise and constraint as intended by Constitutional regulation. This incrementally increasing circumstance commenced as the direct result of the ill-advised and wholly counterproductive War on Drugs and has reached a level which calls for official attention.

 

[OKTexas]

Why are we giving so many thug bullies guns & badges? What's going on?


A Chesapeake park ranger was caught on camera pointing his pistol at a couple. It was a confrontation that started because the couple left a city park after closing time.

“I was hoping he wasn’t going to shoot at us,” says Dylan Newton, who recorded a 7-minute video of the ranger. “With all the things going on in the media with cops using excessive force and all these videos coming out like that’s the only thing running through my head like I’m going to be one of these people.”

Newton says it all happened Sunday night at the city’s Northwest River Park off Indian Creek Road.

Newton says he and his girlfriend had gone on a hike and were driving out a few minutes past the park’s 6:15 p.m. closing time when the ranger stopped them.

Newton says the ranger asked him three times to turn off his car and hand over his license and registration. He says he asked several times why he was being stopped and who the ranger was, but he got no answer.

“I turned off my car, my hands were in my lap, I proceeded to put my hands on the wheel and I saw him reach for his weapon,” he says. “So I turned my car on because I was genuinely terrified for my girlfriend and myself at that point.”...

Chesapeake park ranger caught on camera pointing pistol at couple leaving park past closing time

When the dumb ass kid took off, the next stop was a felony stop whether he was charged for felony eluding or not. The officer was justified in drawing his weapon and waiting on backup.

 

[MikeK]

There is NO REASON for the man to have pulled his firearm. This clown needs to be fired and lose whatever LE credentials he may have had.

Obviously you were an eye witness.

The circumstances seen in the video and described in the accompanying Channel 3 news report are sufficient to draw a conclusion from. If this couple had done anything more serious than violate a reverse curfew you may rest assured the charges would be posted in the report.

 

[MikeK]

When the dumb ass kid took off, the next stop was a felony stop whether he was charged for felony eluding or not. The officer was justified in drawing his weapon and waiting on backup.

Then why was he not charged with anything more serious than being in the Park after closing time, which isn't even a misdemeanor offense?