Bodycam records officer saying a woman run over by Seattle police had ‘limited value’ (nbcnews.com) The article says a cop was driving 74 MPH in a 25 MPH zone when he hit the woman, a grad student, in a crosswalk. It says he was responding to an overdose call but doesn't say if he had his lights or siren on at the time, apparently, they've been asked if the siren was on but the police are refusing to answer that question ... The Cop assigned to investigate the accident thought it was funny ... “But she is dead,” he said. He later laughs and says, “No, it’s a regular person.” Only Auderer’s statements are audible in the video. "Yeah, just write a check," he also said and laughed again. “Eleven thousand dollars. She was 26 anyway,” Auderer said, misstating Kandula’s age. “She had limited value.”
The “just write a check” is interesting, because they know it’ll be taxpayers - not them, or even their union - writing that check. This is the attitude “qualified immunity” buys you.
This is obviously disgusting. It’s hard to imagine people with such attitudes living in the US today. It’s also confusing. What does being 26 have to do with one’s value? Like he thought she was too young to be valuable? Or too old?
From the other thread since it's related.. Link Indiana cop gets $35 ticket for running over and killing a man crossing the street in his 5th on-duty crash An Indiana police officer got a $35 ticket for hitting and killing a local attorney with his police car. Najdeski died three days later from his injuries after what was the fifth on-duty crash of Hartup's career, according to the outlet. Najdeski's niece, Hannah Reid, said in a TikTok video that she has paid "steeper parking tickets" in the area than the penalty that Hartup will have to pay for her uncle's death. It's unclear if Hartup has ever faced disciplinary action for the crash that killed Najdeski. The Fort Wayne Police Department did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.
It's not just these people are merely living in the US today. It's that they are given badges and guns and damn near unlimited impunity to do whatever they want to whoever they want with the full backing of their employers and the criminal justice system.
I get that when you need a cop you want them there but we have a policing problem. They obviously can’t be trusted to police themselves.
To Qualified immunity likely protects the officer who was involved in the fatality. but we’re gonna see the investigating officer with a hot mic and body cam get railed. our priorities as a society about qualified immunity… is broken.
The real change will happen when police testimony is worthless. We aren’t far from that now. Cops lie to help prosecutors get convictions. Once juries realize that cops aren’t more reliable than recordings change will have to happen.
I will respectfully disagree. The problem is not so much police but us. By us, I mean society and our views towards the role of police. So long as we charge police with maintaining the social hierarchy by force and value them accordingly, they will avoid meaningful accountability.
There was a time where this was true, and to an extent some change did happen. But along with Miranda, Gideon and other court determined rights to counteract unprofessional policing that was the norm in the first half of the 20th century, we got professional policing that has sort of got us to this point - the law and order backlash, the war on drugs, mass incarceration, pseudo-scientific expert testimony, increasing militarization, public-private partnerships, increasing politicization of cops, using RICO charges against reformist protestors etc. The only real change is an end to policing as we know it, which would entail push back on the capitalist system policing protects.
I don’t disagree with this. I think we are in a transition period and the police haven’t caught up. With the ubiquitousness of cameras a lot of interactions will need to change. I read that in London virtually every square inch is captured by more than one camera. As storage becomes increasingly cheaper recordings will be kept longer and longer. Tv has long portrayed the ability to track movements in real time using cameras. This will become real in the near future. Lots of interactions will change.
Its true that we almost certainly will literally create a dystopian surveillance society before we will confront capitalism and create a more egalitarian society.
I hope you are correct. As I have said many times in these boards, I am very cynical about such matters. It seems to me that even after the George Floyd protest, we have gone right back to our views of police. And I see what a great issue it is for demagogues. It seems to be the public still very much wants the police too abuse others rights, they just don't want to see it on tape. I worry that even if everything is videoed, there will be legal protections put in to avoid video that embarrasses or causes liability for police. I could easily see legislatures like those of our state passing such legislation.
It seems the only politicians that are willing to confront the police in even the most kid-gloved way are elected prosecutors, and those are pretty small in number, and they become targets for the DeSantis' of the world (with big assists from wealthy libs in some places).
Absolutely disgusting to talk about life and the death of a person in a way like he did. He should resign immediately. They need to get the audio of the person he is talking to as well. The implication is they likely need to resign immediately as well. That was beyond callous and the lady interviewed who works with the police department was spot on. They do not need people like that on the force.
