1st, I could say what Bill Cosby said over 10 years ago, when he said committing a crime (and shoplifting is a crime) and then complaining about being arrested for it invalidates such protest.
Or I could say, that no matter what the crime, the goal of police is to arrest somebody, not be the arresting officer, prosecuting attorney, jury, judge and executioner all in the span of 10 seconds. After all, even murderers get their day in court, so shouldn't a shoplifter or illegal cigarette seller.
So what I will say, is that perhaps police should ride 2 to a car so they always have backup and don't feel compelled to give in to fear and blast someone they feel is threatening to them. Although, I suspect the St Louis shoplifter shot yesterday by 10 bullets had more then one policeman looking at him with guns drawn. So, perhaps shooting to wound might be a better policy then shooting to kill which is what the local constabulary in St. Louis seem to do.
I don't know what else to say except I understand that I do not understand how angry African American teen age males might be after Treyvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Kajieme Powell were all murdered without a gun or a formal arrest by policemen. I understand how they can believe that Stand Your Ground laws are aimed at allowing white people to shoot black teenagers without any provocation except for the fact that the individual that they are afraid of is a black male teenager. And I can understand their desire to protest such killings wanting them to end. I don't believe white people have a right to shoot anyone based upon fear alone, especially when the white person does something to create fear in the African American.
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