What difference does it make that he stole some cigars?
A TON of teenagers steal those cigars. I'm willing to be that either one of your teenage kids or one of your daughter's teenage boyfriends will do the exact same thing. Oh, and they will also walk down the middle of the street like they own the world. Because they are teenagers. They thumb their nose at authority and think they're invincible.
his parent(s) didn't care enough about him to raise him to be a citizen instead of a (dead) thug, piece-of-shit...so why do you care?
petty theft and robbery are two different things...if the indian/pakistani shopkeeper had capped him when the asshole assaulted him in his store, would we even be talking about this??
and, it's not the "thumbing your nose at authority" thing...it's the chain of events...
1) steal cigars
b) assault shopkeeper
iii) walk down the middle of the street causing a disruption and attracting attention to yourself WHEN YOU KNOW FULL WELL THAT THE SHOPKEEPER CALLED THE POLICE AND NOW THEY ARE LOOKING FOR YOU.
that's not bullshit, childhood behavior and shouldn't be written off as such.
I cannot put myself into the shoes of the cop because I can barely manage a gun. The only person I can empathize with is the kid. Or possibly his mom. I believe what they say about their experience as African Americans and not being treated the same by the police as white people. Almost all of them say they have this experience. Why don't want to believe them?
Probably has something to do with the fact I've lived my entire life in the Philly suburbs. The city of brotherly love doesn't exactly live up to it's name.
My sympathies lie with the law enforcement officers, sorry. I'm a mother, too, and I raised my son to treat the police the same way I do: Respect the uniform. They're fellow humans trying to do a hard but necessary job who generally only see the crappy side of people. Don't make an already tough job any harder by giving them the slightest hint of an attitude.
his parent(s) didn't care enough about him to raise him to be a citizen instead of a (dead) thug, piece-of-shit...so why do you care?
petty theft and robbery are two different things...if the indian/pakistani shopkeeper had capped him when the asshole assaulted him in his store, would we even be talking about this??
and, it's not the "thumbing your nose at authority" thing...it's the chain of events...
1) steal cigars
b) assault shopkeeper
iii) walk down the middle of the street causing a disruption and attracting attention to yourself WHEN YOU KNOW FULL WELL THAT THE SHOPKEEPER CALLED THE POLICE AND NOW THEY ARE LOOKING FOR YOU.
that's not bullshit, childhood behavior and shouldn't be written off as such.
yes, stealing cigars, grabbing pushing and shoving others and walking down the middle of the street is male teenage behavior. And the police don't give a fuck about the cigars or someone being shoved and pushed around that wasn't injured. They weren't looking for anyone. This cop didn't even know about the convenience store issue.