"It's just a prank bro" + a bit of sadism
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British man charged after US gamer is shot by Swat police following hoax call
- Thread starter Gowans
- Start date
"It's just a prank bro" + a bit of sadism
Aarglefarg
Member
Internet people aren't real.
ScientificPizza
Banned
This is horrifying. The fact that swatting is even a thing shows how much of a disconnect with reality these people have
Sorry but gotta agree the charge here really should be attempted murder.
The intent behind telling police the victim had bombs and hostages could not be more clear; it was designed to put police into a shoot first ask questions later overdrive mode that any reasonable person would anticipate ended in death.
The intent behind telling police the victim had bombs and hostages could not be more clear; it was designed to put police into a shoot first ask questions later overdrive mode that any reasonable person would anticipate ended in death.
Aarglefarg
Member
He assumedly meant the amount he has to pay for medical care.
marcbret87
Member
Obviously the guy who made the call should pay for it. Whether it was intended as a prank or not I suppose it should be treated as attempted murder.
Now, regarding the police, I am surprised they couldn't:
1. Trace the call given it came from a foreign country. The guy calling masked it somehow? They found him later though
2. Assess the situation and understand it was a non-issue before breaking in and shooting someone
Now, regarding the police, I am surprised they couldn't:
1. Trace the call given it came from a foreign country. The guy calling masked it somehow? They found him later though
2. Assess the situation and understand it was a non-issue before breaking in and shooting someone
autoduelist
Member
That was my point. They were on the ground, they were putting their lives at risk. Yes, they clearly f'd up badly. But we have no idea what they knew, or what they saw.
There are two different things here, even though people like to ball it up together.
1) An innocent man was severely hurt.
Nothing 'justifies' that.
2) Police took aggressive action.
Sometimes, there are justifiable reasons for this. -Even if- it results in innocents being harmed. We were not there. You were not there. We have no idea what caused the cops to open fire.
I know -damn- well that police often act without just reason. You only need to follow police killings of dogs for a short while to know awful shit goes down far too often.
But that said, in any specific incident, with such limited knowledge, we do -not- know exactly what happened here, other than some cops were sent in to stop a 'hostage/terrorist' situation. Those cops on the grounds are not the ones investigating the caller, or deciding what to do, those cops on the ground are the ones breaking down doors trying to save lives. They were given bad information, both by the scam caller and their superiors. There's simply not enough information to bring down judgement on them, yet you have people here claiming we should throw the book at them and statements that imply they practically did it on purpose.
It's easy to look at a situation like this after the fact and pass judgement. But in the reality of the moment, it probably fell like dominoes. Be glad they used rubber bullets. The two guys responsible for this are monumental assholes/idiots. But I'm not so quick to judge the actions of someone who put their own life on the line trying to save others, even if I know some LE are also monumental assholes/idiots.
Drillary Clinton
Banned
Fuck these guys.
A lot of people out in the world have a sick and twisted sense of humor, and then you have these guys. Call it bad parenting, social influence, or just all around fucked in the head, but people like this really need a dose of their own medicine. 10 times out of 10, they end up not liking what they dole out, but still continue to do it anyway. So yea, fucked in the head.
It's also stories like this that has, well influenced my decision, to never make a twitch/youtube channel. May have missed out on some kind of era, but I value my family's, and my own, safety over stuff like that.
Lastly, what's with all of the shoot first and ask questions late mentality with the police force. Protecting themselves cannot be the fall back excuse, can it? These people are trained for preventative measure, I would think, before taking force. That should be a last resort, not the first thing on the mind when you see a person. My god. Hope the kid has a full recovery.
It's also stories like this that has, well influenced my decision, to never make a twitch/youtube channel. May have missed out on some kind of era, but I value my family's, and my own, safety over stuff like that.
Lastly, what's with all of the shoot first and ask questions late mentality with the police force. Protecting themselves cannot be the fall back excuse, can it? These people are trained for preventative measure, I would think, before taking force. That should be a last resort, not the first thing on the mind when you see a person. My god. Hope the kid has a full recovery.
NegativeCero
Banned
I really hope these assholes get every minute they can possibly get for this. It's ridiculous that this is a trend that people really think is funny.
PdotMichael
Banned
A random call about bombs and hostages is just an excuse for going full Rambo for them. Even if the threat is real one would expect they would check the situation first for everyone's safety.
Yep. And since they are "just" rubber bullets, they probably think they can freely shoot and turn someone into swiss cheese without killing them. What's a couple broken bones, the person is still alive and potential crisis averted. /s
Insane.
If you Swatted me or a family member, I'd be fine with them executing you for it.
Do you prefer that or prison?
Icedburden
Member
Lol when did I say they could do no wrong? Also, that argument is fact. Sorry to tell you.
CadetMahoney
Member
PlayALLtheGames
Banned
Yeah that might happen. That's why you normally have a negotiator to figure that shit out. My point is I've never heard of cops busting into a place where they think a guy is hold up with explosives and hostages.
Handy Fake
Member
It's attempted murder. There's no other reason for doing it. You're sending a heavily armed, trigger-happy unit around to an unaware person's house, with them firmly in the mindset that you are a danger to them.
That's not excusing the Police in any way - they were ridiculously over the top. Be we ALL know that by now.
Lister
Banned
People have been shot during raids because they happened to be holding something, ANYTHING in their hands when police burst in, trigger happy AND scared.
Just from the top of my head, I've read news articles where a guy holding a golf club was shot, a guy holding a game controller was shot, and even, as in this story, when they weren't holding anything. People have been shot in their bed, while sleeping, some were even disabled, unable to get up. Not too long ago a 7 year old girl was killed during a raid while she slept on the couch (no charges for police there either).
Of course part of the problem is poorly trained, over militarized police who are never held responsible for their errors in judgment or incompetence, and management that pull out the nuclear option at the slightest provocation or even misuse it (I recall the story of a Texas mayor/politician who sent a Swat team after a kid who had a parody twitter account of him... Think about that. He risked people's lives over a parody twitter account and NO ONE said anything. Not the police leadership, certainly not the cops who wanted to play soldier. No one stopped for a moment and asked why they were raiding someone's home over a parody twitter account - the fuck is wrong with these people?).
However, the issues with police doesn't excuse the people swatting. They know the possible consequences, so I'm all for charging them with attempted murder.
Just from the top of my head, I've read news articles where a guy holding a golf club was shot, a guy holding a game controller was shot, and even, as in this story, when they weren't holding anything. People have been shot in their bed, while sleeping, some were even disabled, unable to get up. Not too long ago a 7 year old girl was killed during a raid while she slept on the couch (no charges for police there either).
Of course part of the problem is poorly trained, over militarized police who are never held responsible for their errors in judgment or incompetence, and management that pull out the nuclear option at the slightest provocation or even misuse it (I recall the story of a Texas mayor/politician who sent a Swat team after a kid who had a parody twitter account of him... Think about that. He risked people's lives over a parody twitter account and NO ONE said anything. Not the police leadership, certainly not the cops who wanted to play soldier. No one stopped for a moment and asked why they were raiding someone's home over a parody twitter account - the fuck is wrong with these people?).
However, the issues with police doesn't excuse the people swatting. They know the possible consequences, so I'm all for charging them with attempted murder.
Exactly, even if it were a real hostage situation kicking in the door and shooting right away would not be the best approach.
It's like the United situation - we can be mad at both those that requested the police/security to intervene as well as those that intervened for handling it poorly.
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