This is probably the most garbage letter I've seen from a police union yet... The Vegas police union sent this to the NFL:

"On behalf of the rank and file members of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, I request that you conduct an investigation and take appropriate action, into Michael Bennett's obvious false allegations against our officers. While the NFL may condone Bennett's misrepresent for our American flag, and everything it symbolizes..."

Bennett's civil rights attorney is calling for an investigation of the cops.

[bleacherreport.com]

Yes of course Bennett's allegations should be investigated. But to start the retaliation before that investigation even occurs...???

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Lemon Drop
Yes of course Bennett's allegations should be investigated. But to start the retaliation before that investigation even occurs...???

Note that the body cam footage from the incident backs up everything that he said.

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Onamuji

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Lemon Drop
Yes of course Bennett's allegations should be investigated. But to start the retaliation before that investigation even occurs...???

Note that the body cam footage from the incident backs up everything that he said.

there's no footage of his actual arrest, the arresting officer's body camera was not activated. there is a lot of other footage that's confusing and doesn't really show much of anything to support either the police or Bennett's version of events. it does show that a lot of people were running after the police told everybody to freeze, and nobody is getting detained for that.

[lasvegassun.com]

the fact that they're harping on Bennett's civil rights activism is sickening. also sickening, the claim that since the two arresting officers are Latino they can't possibly be profiling a black man.

From personal experience with some of my ex's extended family, some Latinos can be every bit as bad at profiling blacks as any other. Just because two persons are "people of color", does not mean they do not have their own ethnic prejudices against each other.

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Lemon Drop

the fact that they're harping on Bennett's civil rights activism is sickening. also sickening, the claim that since the two arresting officers are Latino they can't possibly be profiling a black man.

It is sickening because it is irrelevant to question of whether or not the police officers actually acted in the unprofessional way Bennett claims they acted, which is all the police union should care about with respect to this incident. Appealing to irrelevant emotions to "win" with the public is not the way police officers should justify their actions. Their justification should come from the evidence showing that their actions met professional standards.

Does the evidence justify this?:

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Lemon Drop
there's no footage of his actual arrest, the arresting officer's body camera was not activated. there is a lot of other footage that's confusing and doesn't really show much of anything to support either the police or Bennett's version of events. it does show that a lot of people were running after the police told everybody to freeze, and nobody is getting detained for that.

There are witnesses saying that the cops told people to evacuate as well as footage of cops telling people to stay put, so yeah, that's confusing.

Also confusing: The cops say that they have 126 videos of the incident, but they've only shown one blurry clip. (TMZ released video of the incident showing Bennett on the ground with an officer above him. Bennet is yelling, “I wasn't doing nothing man! I was here with my friends! They told us to get out, everybody ran!”)

The Las Vegas police have a violent past and have been under investigation over and over again by the DOJ. They have been condemned repeatedly by the ACLU. They have a history of unaccountability for crimes up to and including murder. They entered into a consent-agreement with the DOJ to curb violence and discrimination and their blame-the-victim approach to crime. They apparently learned very little from that. They're trying to smear this man as un-American and have insinuated that he's a thug who was fleeing because he was in a violent altercation minutes before the gunshots.

They are taking this approach because they know that it works.

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Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2017 01:58PM by Onamuji.

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They are taking this approach because they know that it works.

yes it has! maybe this time things can be different. they picked on the wrong guy.

thanks for those extra details -

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JoeH
From personal experience with some of my ex's extended family, some Latinos can be every bit as bad at profiling blacks as any other. Just because two persons are "people of color", does not mean they do not have their own ethnic prejudices against each other.

Like JoeH, I too can point to Latino's being just as capable of being as racist as anyone. The most racist person I know (of any race) is a Cuban man. He was self-employed and wouldn't even accept jobs from Blacks. It made no sense because his wife's grandmother was Black (the only thing I could figure was she was a Black Cuban, while the rest were Black non-Cubans.

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.”
-- François de La Rochefoucauld

"WE CALL BS!" -- Emma Gonzalez

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Ombligo

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JoeH
From personal experience with some of my ex's extended family, some Latinos can be every bit as bad at profiling blacks as any other. Just because two persons are "people of color", does not mean they do not have their own ethnic prejudices against each other.

Like JoeH, I too can point to Latino's being just as capable of being as racist as anyone. The most racist person I know (of any race) is a Cuban man. He was self-employed and wouldn't even accept jobs from Blacks. It made no sense because his wife's grandmother was Black (the only thing I could figure was she was a Black Cuban, while the rest were Black non-Cubans.

Yeah, racism is not just an affliction among white Europeans.

My Puerto Rican, Dominican and Cuban friends can NOT be in the same room with each other. I'm sure there are exceptions, but in my experience the population of every island nation seems to dump on the next.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2017 04:39PM by Onamuji.

He's a thug, big and running. He's lucky they didn't simply shoot him.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.