Outrageous Nonsense

[UPDATE :: Boy killed over a BB gun] 

Then there is this inconsistent, contradictory and convoluted nonsense coming from the Eureka Police Department and the Times-Standard today: Autopsy finds man was killed by gunfire; police chief to release more info on Wednesday. This is the same kind of reporting used at all past similar killings.

Here's just one example, "McClain was fatally shot by a Eureka police officer at around 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 17 as officers were searching the area for two suspects wanted on felony arrest warrants." This statement is factually incorrect based upon subsequent reports, detailing where Mills says at least two were directly involved and possibly four officers - ALL of them firing their weapons. The above quote is also misleading in that the boy had nothing to do with why (felony arrest warrants) the officer called for backup as detailed in the press release.

The press release states he was shot because he made a grab for the gun. ("As officers gave commands to the man with the gun which was now visible, the subject grabbed for the gun. ") Now they say he was ordered to "drop the gun." You can't grab and drop a gun at the same time. These are just two examples.

When I first read the article I thought Thadeus Greenson had written the article. It seems the newspaper replaced him with another incompetent nincompoop named Will Houston. Lets see what kind of a convoluted story they can come up with today to bias the public and defend the police officers.

--Joe

You Call THIS Outrage?

This new Blog covers some of the pertinent issues regarding the E.P.D. police killing of 22 year old Thomas McClain in their posting today that is worth sharing here: "GUN OR NO GUN, THAT’S NOT "REALLY" THE ISSUE." [Emphasis mine.]

REALLY? What IS the "issue" then?

Occasionally, these people produce something worthwhile and pertinent, unfortunately they use these occasions to demonstrate the true gutless nature of their deceptive hypocrisy. Sadly these credulous wannabe standard bearers for law and justice, and moral civic good puke out with this closing statement of their position - their issue:

In summary this family was minding their own business, committing no crimes, and on their private property. Tommy McClain then is gunned down by the EPD. 

The bottom line here is there is no justification for the use of deadly force in this incident. This is a textbook wrongful death case. We hope the Federal Government takes a hard look at this civil rights violation. [Emphasis mine.]

 "Wrongful death?" No justification? Then this is murder plain and simple. The E.P.D. knows who shot and killed that boy and the officers should be fired and indicted, if not in jail. These cops broke or violated the law and are criminals. If the police chief refuses to act, then he should be summarily fired too. You want these trigger-happy cops back on the streets of Eureka? If the Tuluwaa Crybabies cannot state these simple truths, then they participate in the pending coverup and whitewash the outrage. "We hope the Federal Government takes a hard look at this civil rights violation" is pure sick bullshit from people that are just as paranoid as the E.P.D. and their bosses.

Here is the rest of their post:

Eureka Police Chief Andy Mills did confirm that “there was a gun recovered. I don’t want to get into where exactly the gun was until I can prove that forensically to my satisfaction…..” 

For the purposes of discussion and debate for this blog post we are going to assume that the Police recovered a gun. 

The point of fact number 1 is that Tommy McClain was on his property and he was 100% within his rights to be in possession of a gun. 

Number 2 the police were not responding to reports of a crime. They were in the area for completely unrelated reasons. So no crime was committed by Tommy or anyone else at that residence. 

Number 3 so far as reported, NO request or command to “drop the weapon” was made. 

Number 4 the family reports that had been celebrating a birthday and consumed alcohol. Again you can be as drunk as you want at your own home, that’s perfectly legal.

What's described here is plain and simple murder. No one needs to be "patient" and "wait for the facts" to know that. The people of Eureka should understand, refuse uphold and enforce accountability to the law and ultimately it is the people of Eureka that will pay the price. These cops will just keep on killing innocent people. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? See what I mean, read the comments with care, they'll make you sick.

---

[UPDATE on Comments]
The reason why cops have carte blanche immunity in this country and in Humboldt County - Simpleminded people that think and act like Fred. Here is his comment on this TE posting. The simple fact that someone legally has a gun in his or her hand does NOT, nor should it constitute a reasonable threat to a police officer or anyone else. Cops do not legally have the right to kill people because they "feel" threatened or that "their lives are in danger." If so, then they are killing people based upon what they are feeling and thinking and not on what the person is actually doing - their lawless criminal behavior, in this case, literally threatening their lives. The simple possession of a weapon, gun in this case, in your hand, in your belt or holster or standing against the door jam or lying on a table does NOT constitute a de facto threat to anyone, only in the unstable minds of paranoid scared crapless, trigger-happy police officers. Which is exactly what society gets when you do not enforce the law. It's been my experience that they feel threatened and can get really hostile when you simply ask them a question they do not want to answer. Such a reality neutralizes or negates the legal rights of law abiding citizens to posses weapons for any reason, let alone for their legal right to self-defense without putting their lives and family's lives in mortal danger. It was the police officers acting upon their worthless, misguided "beliefs" that has judged them - as it has Fred.

Fred

September 28, 2014
12:45 pm

OPJ wrote, “Obviously the dropped gun isn’t registered to the victim so the victim becomes a felon for carrying an unregistered gun and the shooting becomes justified.”

I believe that’s irrelevant in this instance. The only thing that matters is whether the officers had justification to fire at the guy. They had no idea who owned the gun. A handgun laying on the ground or on a table some feet away wouldn’t qualify as justification, imo, no matter who owned the gun.

Even if the gun turned out to be stolen, it wouldn’t justify a shooting in and of itself.

The point of contention should be, and is, whether he had a gun in his had(sp), or whether the officers had reason to believe he had a gun in his hand, thus feeling their lives were in danger. [Emphasis mine]

--Joe

Where Is the OUTRAGE?

[UPDATE :: EIGHT DAYS NOW & STILL NOTHING!] 
What's the matter with the people in Eureka? Do you not see what you are doing to this community by cowing to this idea that the police have the right, no questions asked? What about the new District Attorney?

I was always proud to be born and raised in Eureka and Humboldt County - Now I'm just ashamed.

---

[UPDATE II : Thursday, September 25]
Another blasé statement from the Tuluwa Examiner surfaced this morning. Mostly a political whitewash of the boy's murder. Of interest, among other things, is their suggesting the "need" for a citizen's review board. No suggestion as to how to get one, though. No mention of any concerns for a criminal indictment or anything relevant from the District Attorney's office or why not. Still, worth a read. And don't forget to read the comments. They'll give you a hint why the people of Eureka are not outraged at the threat we are all subjected to if these killers are treated with impunity. It isn't just the wanton killing of the boy that is the crime. As bad as that is, it is the in-your-face threat we are all facing. When some scared shitless paranoid cop sticks a gun in your face the time for talking is over.

By the way, after posting the above Update, I read the North Coast Journal article: "Officer Involved - Inside EPD's Protocol" by Thadeus Greenson. Greenson's articles in the past, as observed here multiple times, were often contradictory and conflicting and always biased for the police. The Tuluwa posting is, either way, pretty much a knockoff of what the Journal said. This idea that these so-called community blogs keep pumping out that we need to be patient for justice is a betrayal of their trust. Justice demands transparency and urgent and timely truth-telling by everyone involved. In a Democracy, the people have legal right to know the truth. Anything else is a coverup and a whitewash. Enforce the law.

---

Here it is, four days after the Eureka Police shot and killed 22 year old Thomas McClain, and absolutely NOTHING!

Did Thomas McClain need to be black before anyone gets angry? Are black people the only ones in this country that have a decent heart? Are black people the only ones with any kind of moral clarity? Are black people the only ones with any kind of integrity, and love for the law?

I checked the Times-Standard newspaper and its Letter to the Editors, nothing but nominal bullshit. I checked the local blogs, starting with the wannabe community leader in all things moral and ethical in Eureka, the Tuluwaa Waa Crybaby. Their first blog was a total capitulation. Then today they posted this, MILLS: “THERE WAS A GUN RECOVERED. I DON’T WANT TO GET INTO WHERE……”(TILL WE GET OUR STORY STRAIGHT)

This is how they start the post:

On Wednesday, we urged readers to be cautious before jumping to conclusions regarding the young man who was shot to death by a Eureka Police Officer.  In trying to be fair and objective, we asked readers to wait for more facts before making judgements about the tragedy.  At that time, all we had was a press release which was very short on details.  The release basically stated that the police had been looking for warrant suspects in the area, saw two people arguing, one of which “appeared” to have a gun.  Officers supposedly gave commands, and the victim reached for the apparent gun and was shot to death by an officer.

"All they had was the police press release" which is to say all they had is the POLICE VERSION. This is how they end their article posted today, Saturday, September 20, 2012, four days since the incident:

The fact that a young man was gunned down by police while standing in his own front yard, and that there was no call for the police to be there is nothing less than completely heartbreaking.

While this article: MILLS: “THERE WAS A GUN RECOVERED. I DON’T WANT TO GET INTO WHERE……”(TILL WE GET OUR STORY STRAIGHT) raises some valid points and is well worth reading and our graciously linking it to our blog, there is not a hint of outrage. "Completely heartbreaking" they say? Do they know that considering the points they make that the people of Eureka CANNOT tolerate such a police department! These people are a cancer that physically threatens every living citizen in this town and every other person that comes here to visit.

One more point regarding the Tuluwat Examiner commentary:

The fact that Mills hasn’t disputed the claims about whether the victim was holding a cell phone or a gun is very telling about his leadership, which harkens back to the bad old days of EPD.

Very telling about his "leadership"? What it is telling about" is his capacity to tell the TRUTH. The "bad old days of EPD" has to do with mealy-mouthed, lying and thug bullying by Merl Harpham. That's what Andrew Mills is exposing.

Then there is the Lost Coast Outpost: The Death of Tommy McClain: What Happened in Wednesday's Officer-Involved Shooting by Kym Kemp - NOTHING! No outrage from her. Absolutely PATHETIC. From an informational point of view, well worth reading, though except for this:

A neighbor who wishes to remain anonymous disagreed. In an interview today the individual said, “I did see an object in his hand.” The individual did not want to describe the situation further except to say, “I feel that the level of force used was justified. It was a clear threat to the officer’s life. I feel it was unfortunate. But it was fortunate that no others were injured.”

This person is sick. First, the "anonymous" person's opinion is totally worthless and should NEVER be included as if it has some validity. Second "an object in a person's hand does NOT constitute a "clear threat to the officers (apparently four (4) officers) lives. That person's statement is totally ludicrous and demonstrates Kym Kemp's propensity as an avid apologist; a bigoted and biased supporter of all things police.

All other blogs, not even a mention. Check out the comments section of the different blogs and you won't find any outrage there either.

The lives of the people of Eureka, Kym Kemp lives on Salmon Creek Road in Southern Humboldt, hang on the good wishes of scared shitless paranoid police officer feelings of personal threat. As far as I am concerned every last one of them deserves what they get.

YOUR LIVES ARE IN MORTAL DANGER EVERY DAY AND YOU ARE WAY TO STUPID TO KNOW IT!

---

[UPDATE Wednesday, 24, 2014]

Here's a Facebook link I found: Justice For Tommy McClain - A good place for expressing yourself. Unfortunately, their About Page says:

On 9/17/14 at 12:30am a precious life was taken due to a Eureka Police Officer making the wrong call. EPD needs to know they did wrong. RIP Tommy ♥

The emphasis is mine to point out the subtly of buying into the brainwashed propaganda that is a lie. Those officers did NOT make a "wrong call." They did not just do a "wrong," they committed a crime - they shot that boy down like a dog. He was dead no matter what he did. In their minds he was armed with a gun, a gun they say was only verified when they confronted him at the point of a gun and that's all they need to justify their violent confrontation. They made NO "wrong call." Such a confrontation could happen to anyone of us in this town. Time to accept the reality of our situation in this town. Then you can start talking about justice.

--Joe

Killers On The Road

Reprinted from CounterPunch

---

Killers on the Road

The Whack ‘Em and Stack ‘Em Mentality of American Cops

by JEFFREY ST. CLAIR and ALEXANDER COCKBURN

Police work continues to be a relatively safe occupation. In the 1970s, an average of 220 officers died each year. In the 1980s, 185 officers were killed on average, with the average number dropping to 155 in the 1990s. The number of police deaths continues to decline, year by year. According to the publication Officer Down, there were only 95 “duty related” officer deaths in 2013. Forty-two of these fatalities were vehicle related. Another 14 deaths resulted from heart attacks while on the clock. Only 27 cops died from gunfire last year and several of those were shot by other cops.

Craig Floyd, chairman of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, contends that “law enforcement remains the most dangerous occupation in America today, and those who serve and make the ultimate sacrifice are true portraits in courage.”

This is nonsense. Compared to the daily perils of being a retail clerk in a 7-Eleven or toiling on a construction site, let alone working on a trawler in the Gulf of Alaska, logging in the Pacific Northwest or working in a deep mine, policing is a fairly invulnerable trade.

But as vividly recounted by James Bovard in a piece for CounterPunch this week, it has probably never been riskier to be pulled over by a cop on one of America’s roads. Bovard writes:

“Killings by police are not a negligible proportion of the nation’s firearms death toll. Shootings by police accounted for almost 10 percent of the homicides in Los Angeles County in 2010, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“Jim Fisher, a former FBI agent and criminal law professor, compiled a database of police shootings and estimated that in the United States in 2011 police shot more than 1,100 people, killing 607.”

The public apprehension that cops are often borderline psychotic, hair-trigger-ready to open fire on the slightest pretext, virtually immune from serious sanction, is growing apace, fueled by such incidents as the dog slaughter on an interstate in Tennessee. CNN featured grainy film of the episode taken from one of the police cruisers.

James Smoak plus wife Pamela and son Brandon were traveling from Nashville along Interstate 40 to their Saluda, NC, home on New Year’s Day when they noticed a trooper following them. In Cookeville, about 90 miles east of Nashville, the Smoaks were pulled over by the trooper and three local police cars. The cops ordered them out of the car, made them kneel and then handcuffed them.

At this point the Smoaks family implored the police to shut the doors of their car so the two family dogs couldn’t jump out. The cops did nothing. Out hopped Patton the bulldog. A cop promptly raised his shotgun and blew its head off, amid the horrified screams of the Smoaks family.

Of course, the cops later said Patton was acting in a threatening manner and that the uniformed shot-gunner “took the only action he could to protect himself and gain control of the situation,” but the film seems to show Patton wagging his tail the moment before he was blown away.

Why were the Smoaks stopped by the four-car posse? Mr. Smoaks had left his wallet on the roof of his car at the filling station, and someone phoned in a report that he’d seen the wallet fly off of a car and fall onto the highway with money spilling out. Well, Mr. Smoaks won’t make that silly mistake again.

Scroll through some Middle America websites and you’ll find much fury about what happened to Patton, as an episode ripely indicative of how cops carry on these days. Here’s “Police State in Progress,” by Dorothy Anne Seese writing in the sparky Sierra Times. The Times bills itself as “An Internet Publication for Real Americans.”

After relating the death of Patton, Seese brought up other recent police rampages:

“A couple of months ago, a woman was shot to death in her car at a drive-through Walgreens pharmacy for trying to get Soma by a forged prescription. The officer who shot the woman—who had a 14-month old baby with her in the car—claimed self-defense because the woman was trying to run over him. However, the medical examiner found she had been shot from an angle to the left and rear of her position in the driver’s seat. Self defense? The officer is under investigation for second-degree murder and has been fired from the Chandler police department. However, a child is motherless, a man has been deprived of his wife and companion, the mother of his child, because his wife tried to get a drug with a phony prescription. Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s daughter did the same thing and got a slap on the wrist. It seems the law now considers everyone guilty until proven innocent, with people in high places excepted. The number of horror stories increases daily in Amerika.”

There was a time when “Amerika” was a word solely in left currency. Not anymore, if the conservative, populist Sierra Times is any guide. Check out its Whack’em & Stack’em feature about killings by cops and you’ll sense the temperature of outrage.

This is a revised version of a story that originally ran in the January 2003 print edition of CounterPunch.

Jeffrey St. Clair is the author of Been Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me: the Politics of Nature, Grand Theft Pentagon and Born Under a Bad Sky. His latest book is Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion. He can be reached at: sitka@comcast.net. 

---

--Joe

Worth The Cost?

You tell me.

Every decent, law-abiding citizen in Eureka, if not Humboldt County, should be offended and OUTRAGED - Murl Harpham's ingratiating nonsense not withstanding. Are we in Iraq or Afghanistan where everyone is suspected of being a terrorist or a terrorist supporter? What's next? An Abrams tank? I wouldn't be surprised if they were already using drones.

The priority here is obvious and it has nothing to do with policing a peaceful civilian population. This is a flagrant, in-your-face accusation of violent criminal intent against everyone. The police already operate like a Special Forces Commando Unit now. Just look at how the Federal Government has co-oped the police with their variation called SWAT. Almost everything they do requires escalating violence into the mix. When was the last time anyone can recall the police confronting a gang of marijuana growers protecting their gardens armed with heavy weapons and RPGs (Rocked-Propelled Grenades). What does the Times-Standard newspaper say about the monstrosity? It is a "mine resistant, ambush protected vehicle-known as an MRAP." Violence pours out of that vehicle's every pore.

The priority here is police protection at whatever cost, when it should be protecting the general population at every cost. Have you had to call of the EPD for assistance in some matter or report a crime lately? You take your life in your own hands when you do. It seems like everyone that does not wear a badge and carry a gun is either treated like a suspect or a violent criminal. Bringing this military monstrosity into Eureka couldn't make that statement anymore vivid and real if they wanted. Murl Harpham's "Tough Cop" philosophy is carried to an extreme. Is this the symbol of the new Eureka Police Department?

-Joe