Dear BART Police

Why is it that the justice system tends to work against those it was designed to protect? Or better yet, since when are a taser and a handgun so similar, that one can be mistaken for the other? These are both questions begging to be answered as we reel in the aftermath of the Oscar Grant murder trial. Grant was shot in the back during an altercation with your kind, brutal police, after being accosted for a fight on San Francisco's BART. Now, from the video, it would seem as if this incident didn't occur during the wee hours of the night. In fact, if it wasn't clearly at night, I'd be sure it was around 3 PM when kids were getting out of school. That said, wouldn't it be smarter to not engage in unwarranted police violence elsewhere? As a matter of fact, wouldn't it have been smarter to just accost the young men and make your way to the squad car, rather than play the scene out for much longer? #imjustsaying

You see, in this day and age, where everything except the cameras themselves have cameras, it's not smart to say or do anything that you don't want 500,000 Youtube hits for. Officer Mehserle seemed more like he was putting on a show than attempting an arrest. That's right... a TV show. A new episode of Police vs. N*ggers. Next week Mel Gibson might make an appearance. Jokes aside, Office Mehserle did what he did. He shot a young man in the back for a fact that we will never know. What we do know is that he was charged with involuntary manslaughter. How is that possible? Involuntary manslaughter means that that the killer acted without malicious intent, yet it's inherently impossible to uncover one's intent after the fact. Also, lack of intent isn't synonymous with lack of malice. Office Mehserle could have been intensely malicious in his act, without intending to kill Grant. Therein lies the problem with police today: for those who are supposed to be enforcing the law, too many times they're asked to be interpreters of the law and bastions of morality.

Neither of those titles should be apt when dealing with police. You guys are usually so muddled in the wrong things that when an opportunity to do right arises, you're too busy watching your colleague shoot a kid in the back. Just imagine, all of this could have been avoided had you trained Mehserle not to confuse his taser and handgun. BART Police, I'm not from the Bay Area, nor will I be, but I (along with any sentient being over 18) can tell when an act has gone too far. Officer Mehserle got off easy and you know it. Had the shots gone the other way, Lord knows Oscar Grant would be losing his life in prison rather than at the hands of a dumbfounded policeman...

Dear Officer Carey (re: Sean Bell shooting)

via The Gothamist:

A police officer involved in the 2006 shooting of Sean Bell, the Queens man who was killed in a barrage of police bullets hours before his wedding, is now suing Bell's estate. The Post reports, "Police Officer Michael Carey's lawsuit says Bell was boozed-up when he got behind the wheel of the car after his bachelor party on Nov. 25, 2006, and also claims the doomed groom failed to wear glasses or contact lenses despite having poor eyesight."

According to the suit, "[Officer Carey] suffered serious leg injury when [Bell] crashed into the vehicle he was riding in before Officer Carey ever drew his gun and fired a shot." The lawsuit is part of a federal counter-claim "in response to a wrongful-death lawsuit being pursued by Bell's fiancée, Nicole Paultre Bell, against him and the other four cops involved." (The cops were acquitted in 2008 bench trial.) Earlier this month, Carey's lawyer argued that his client should not be part of the wrongful-death lawsuit because Carey, who fired three bullets at one of Bell's friends, believed he and other police officers were in danger.

When one gets cleared of a crime, ala OJ Simpson in 1995 or Snoop Dogg in 1993, it's natural for them to lay low for a while; to keep their noses clean and not to make too much noise on the scene. The person basks in their newfound freedom and disappears, perhaps trying to piece their life back together after months, maybe years, of damage. Yet, for some people, getting off scot-free just isn't enough. I suppose that's your case, Officer Carey. You and two of your pigs comrades shot and killed a man (not even a black man, in case you want to call BS on the race card), and injured his friends, all of whom were unarmed. You claimed self-defense when he ran into your car with his while you were shooting him. Then, when put on trial, you get off on all cases without so much as a hiccup in the trial. To me, that would be a gift: to knowingly end another person's life and to not have to be accountable for it. I would just walk away and not even question what happened until I'd cleared my head.

You, on the other hand, aren't satisfied with just getting off on the murder wrap. You'd rather pour salt, lemon juice and 100-proof vodka into a gaping wound by essentially opening up the case again. Why are you now counter-suing for an injury you received 4 years ago? The man you were 'accosting' on November 25, 2006 is DEAD. He no longer lives. His family, friends and fiancée all live with the fact that you took his life from him, and took him from them. And now, you want their money too? Your leg is going to heal, if it hasn't already!! What about Sean Bell's life? You can patch up a leg. You can't breathe life back into someone. Officer Carey, I'm not sure if you're remotely remorseful about what you and those other cops did, but it sure doesn't look like it. For that, you ought to be ashamed. And the NYPD that you work for should be just as ashamed for harboring people like you. It's as if you don't want to put the case to rest, or better yet you can't. Whatever the case, let me take off my conspiracy theorist hat. We all know what you did was wrong. Apparently you didn't and think you should be compensated for taking a life. Way to protect and serve...

Bringing a Gun to a Snowball Fight

Everyone knows that you shouldn't bring a knife to a gunfight, but I don't think that many people would think to bring a gun to a snowball fight. My man Josh at Bruce & Carrie's Son put me on to this incident, that even he was 10 days late for. I shudder to think what kind of tragedy would have ensued if cameras weren't present. Even with the threat of police brutality (not the kind you're use to, is it?), there are two positives that we can take from this. First of all, the power of social networking is limitless. Over 200 folks were gathered for this frolic solely from Twitter and Facebook communication. One can only imagine how many more people heard or saw information about the gathering, but didn't attend. Secondly, it's heartwarming to see that people don't let the threat of violence deter them from their fun. In the background you can still see people chucking snowballs and smiling, while a serious situation was arising in front of them. The folly and brash nature of the policemen was a sad story, and indicative of a lack of discernment on their part and every policeman who draws their weapon needlessly. Hopefully we can get past this and just enjoy nature, like our snowball fighters were...