Videos Show Minneapolis Cops Slashing Tires Of Medical Workers, Media And Protesters

[scannon]

https://jalopnik.com/videos-show-minneapolis-cops-slashing-tires-of-medical-1843956907?utm_source=jalopnik_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-06-09

 

WTF!

[coffee break]

+1 wtf!

 

(I have tried to capitalize WTF in the edit mode with no success, odd)

Edited June 11, 2020 by coffee break

[xcarguy]

Vehicles were most likely parked inside a protest zone. If so, It was deliberate and tactical disabling to prevent there being used to run people down.

[Anker]

What a ridiculous explanation. In every case where someone has run into a protest crowd they didn't park the car first and later jump into it and drive it into the crowd! Those attacks are done in blind rage by idiots who are mad because the crowd inconveniences them and promote a viewpoint they don't agree with.

[waltermitty]

Peaceful protests!:leaving:

[xcarguy]

What a ridiculous explanation. In every case where someone has run into a protest crowd they didn't park the car first and later jump into it and drive it into the crowd! Those attacks are done in blind rage by idiots who are mad because the crowd inconveniences them and promote a viewpoint they don't agree with.

 

That 'ridiculous' explanation was provided to me by a LEO (law enforcement officer). But then again, WTH do I know....I'm just a former military LEO.

Edited June 13, 2020 by xcarguy

[Anker]

Of course he will say that they were vandalizing our cars to protect us!

[waltermitty]

This is much worse than folks looting stores and burning police stations.

[Kitcat]

Shane: First, I will observe that if all police officers had your temperament and judgement there would be no police protests.

 

Second, I think giving the police the ability to confiscate, or destroy, any property that

could, conceivably, be used to commit a crime in the future is pretty dangerous. For instance, why couldn't the police use this to order everyone to turn in their guns?

[xcarguy]

Shane: First, I will observe that if all police officers had your temperament and judgement there would be no police protests.

 

Second, I think giving the police the ability to confiscate, or destroy, any property that

could, conceivably, be used to commit a crime in the future is pretty dangerous. For instance, why couldn't the police use this to order everyone to turn in their guns?

 

Mike, thank you for the compliment….well received.

 

As for what the LEOs did during that protest (yes, peaceful protest with slashing of tires), I simply passed on information provided by a LEO on an aviation forum I’m a member of. Regarding this incident, there’s a very heated ongoing discussion taking place on that site among the pilot group with some being aviation LEOs. Truth is, none of us were in the ready room that morning for the day’s briefing regarding the upcoming protest; we don’t know what was/was not briefed. If vehicles were indeed parked inside the boundaries of a protest zone (media vehicles or other….doesn’t matter), such vehicles have the potential to be used as a deadly weapon by anyone who can/has access to the vehicle, thus turning a peaceful protest into a bloodbath. In the midst of everything that’s going on in this country right now, tensions are high; no excuse, just fact. I’m not advocating what happened as being right or wrong, only passing on what information was passed on to me. However, here’s a thought; if someone wanting to cause bodily harm to protesters that day had been able to access just one of those cars (assuming the car was parked inside a protest zone) and had been able to use it to run over protesters, the tone of the conversation would be quite different.

 

Having said that, was there any police department push back involved in their actions? I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not…it’s not for me to say…I don’t have the facts. Something else to consider is the article itself, and its author; not the most professionally written article (my words). Here’s an excerpt taken from another forum member's post on the aviation forum….

 

Videos from a May 31 Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota show police officers wearing heavy tactical gear slashing the tires of multiple parked vehicles, with some officers allegedly targeting members of the media.

 

The police seemed to target vehicles that had been specifically identified as rentals driven by members of the media.

 

The Department of Safety later claimed the vehicles posed a threat to the officers and the crowds, which is bullshit.

 

Hey assholes, slashing private, parked vehicle tires should never be a police tactic. You’re just terrorists.

 

Written by Justin T Westbrook, obviously an accomplished non-biased journalist.

 

Questions linger; were these vehicles rentals by members of the media? If so, was the media briefed on where they could/could not park?....etc., etc.

 

Gun ownership...a whole other issue.

[Kitcat]

Hey Shane. Unlawful taking of guns is a Second Amendment issue, unlawful taking of property (without due process first) is a Fifth Amendment issue. The police dont have the freedom to take either guns or property based on possible future abuse.

 

My concern about taking of property (by slashing tires) that may or may not be used in a dangerous way at some later date is that it is a cousin to locking up people now, because they may become dangerous at some future unknown date. Both abuses were concerns of the authors of the Bill of Rights incorporated in the first ten Amendments.

[xcarguy]

Mike, I’m a huge supporter of the right to bare arms...exercise that one on a fairly regular basis. I would think the fifth amendment would have more to do with imposing restrictions on the government's prosecution of persons accused of crimes. I would think tying the fifth in with what happened at that protest is a stretch....but I’m not a lawyer, so I’ll stand by humbly with hat in hand. If a person parks a vehicle in an unauthorized area and, as a result, the vehicle is towed, has that person’s rights been violated? Like I said, not condoning/condemning their actions. I don’t know the details of that day...wasn’t there.

[Kitcat]

Thx Shane, that's right up there with our constitutional right to arm bears:).

 

The Fifth Amendment is packed with stuff, not just the right to avoid self incrimination. IMHO, the single most powerful protection offered by the Bill of Rights is in the Fifth, as follows: "No person....shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law...."

Due process is generally defined as advance notice of the government's plans, and an opportunity to a hearing in which you can submit evidence to contest their planed action (such as immobilizing property that may or may not at some future time, be used as a weapon).

[SENC]

Thanks for the civil dialogue, Shane and Mike, not common these days and I'm learning from both of you. Thank you.

[xcarguy]

Thanks for the civil dialogue, Shane and Mike, not common these days and I'm learning from both of you. Thank you.

 

Mike is a totally different animal on track.:jester:

Edited June 14, 2020 by xcarguy

[SENC]

Mike is a totally different animal on track.:jester:

Yes, well, we all have to get our demons out somewhere!

[Cranky]

Couldn't they just use parking boots on them? Or just let the air out of the tires instead of vandalizing them? It doesn't seem like a good way to handle a situation in which the cars are very likely to be owned by innocent people.