this kind of stuff pisses me off. Not the officer. The fool who is purposefully being an arrogant, antagonistic jerk. Put your camera down and go home. I get it - you're caught up in the emotion of the situation, so you drive to Anytown, USA and want to live stream it TO THE WORLD because you can. But getting in an officer's face to poke and poke and poke just because you think he can't/won't do anything to you? Give it up. That poor bastard would MUCH RATHER be home and NOT being outnumbered, cornered, surrounded and hated for his job. Should he have his gun raised? I don't know. This is some kid pointing a camera on a street with no context… NO CONTEXT. I dare any of you to be a cop in that town right now and not be a little on edge and nervous. And then we can all judge you, mock you, and call you names for split second decisions you have to make in the dark with with an angry mob around you.
I agree Steve. When I watched this I thought to myself, "what an asshole!" The thing is, I was thinking that about the guy with the camera and not the cop. You ask, should he have his gun raised? I think the answer is clearly no. However, I'm not sure that mine would not be raised in that situation. You never know how you will react and you are most certainly correct that he would probably rather be at home with his family. As for him yelling obscenities, that's completely inappropriate for a police officer, however on a human level I completely understand it. If enough people were screaming at me in hatred and anger I'd want to respond with" go fuck yourself" as well.
I know it's about holding police officers accountable for their actions...but the mob mentality of, "seargent take that gun away from him!! Seargent!! Give me his name!" It's like you just want to yell and be right and not actually change anything. Maybe yelling at the police is a way to send a message to politicians and the system at large, but what message? What outcome are you hoping for? How do we really change our society? It's not about being right. Its about working with people to address our local societies and local government
We're being set against ourselves and our best interests. It must seem like a game to some.
To be fair, these poor guys are probably under a ton of pressure. They have to deal with constant media scrutiny, pressure from superiors, and especially people trying to provoke them into making errors. Does that excuse pointing an assault rifle at someone? No, but I think some context and critical thinking helps a little when viewing a situation like this .