Cleveland Police kill three people in three days.

[rhino47]

http://www.workers.org/2005/us/cops-0524/

ops kill three people in three days
By Martha Grevatt
Cleveland
Published May 17, 2007 9:21 PM

“He was doing real good,” Hugh Steele said of his son Aaron. Aaron had just completed training at an auto mechanic school and had begun working for the Regional Transit Authority.

“It’s a shame that something like this can happen when a kid just went somewhere to drop his girlfriend off and came back home to get prepared for work.”

“Something like this” refers to Aaron’s death May 8 at the hands of Cleveland police, who initially stopped the young man for playing his radio too loud. Police, who allege Aaron pointed a gun at them, fired a barrage of bullets. According to the coroner, Aaron was shot 16 times, 13 times in the back. Seeking further justification, police are claiming Aaron Steele had crack cocaine in his pocket—as if that were a capital offense.

[Truthiness Inspector]

1. What a biased article

"Seeking further justification"?

Care to post some actual news sources on this? None of us were there, but this article stinks to high heavens.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

3. Agreed. Seemed Written From The Viewpoint Of Sheer Ignorance And Bitterness.

Not exactly an article upon which one could draw any accurate conclusions.

[Bluerthanblue]

12. OMC- read

this article and you might see another perspective-

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2007/05/mayor_city_ready_for_crackdown.html

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

14. Nope. Perspective Unchanged. All 3 Were Still Responsible.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

2. So Did He Have A Gun Or Not? If He Did, Oh Well. And The Other Two Weren't The Fault Of The Cops.

In the first story, the reader is left without any proof one way or the other as to whether or not the perp did in fact point a gun at the cops. Since I don't know, I can't really hold an opinion on whether or not it was justified. Let's just say that if he did point a gun, then end of story.

As far as the other two, they were killed in accidents due to their high speed chases while trying to elude the police. Can't fault the police there. Any time you bring the cops on a high speed pursuit, you are putting your life on the line. That was their choice, not the cops.

I'm gonna go browse and see if I can find more details on the first story, as to whether or not a gun was in fact found.

[EFerrari]

4. Motherf#ckers.

:cry:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

6. They're Not Motherfuckers. They're Cops Doing They're Jobs. They Did Nothing Wrong Here.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/117878614545100.xml&coll=2

Don't be so quick to crucify people based on one author's warped and magnificently biased and skewed point of view.

[Bluerthanblue]

8. would the cops have been as quick to pull him over

if his skin was white????

how does a guy being pulled out of a car by a policeman, with two others standing there with guns aimed at him get the opportunity to 'pull a gun' on the arresting officer, and manage to be shot 13 times IN THE BACK- ?? not mentioning the three other ones????-

something smells really bad here.

He was guilty of DWB-

:nuke:

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

9. Even The Female Witness Said He Refused To Listen To Commands. The Cops Did Fine.

If you want to be blinded by perceived racism I can't stop ya. But when reading the factual article and hearing the words of the witness, I have no reason whatsoever to believe the officers did anything more than is required of them from their jobs. If you have a gun and go to reach for it while being apprehended, then expect to get your ass shot. When ya do, don't blame anyone else but yourself. That's how I see it.

Some people just want to demonize the cops for everything. It is amazingly ignorant and narrow minded to do so when presented with facts showing otherwise.

[Bluerthanblue]

10. I don't want to demonize the cops-

but i'm not going to minimize the racial profiling that is RAMPANT in this country.

My question still stands- do you sincerly think this guy would have been pulled over for playing his music too loud if he'd been white????

Being a black male in this society is deadly-

It is a sad FACT.

It isn't 'percieved racism' the racism is as real as you are.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

11. Don't Know And Don't Care. It Isn't The Loud Music That Got Him Shot. It Was The Reaching For The

9mm while being apprehended that kinda did him in. Try and keep things in perspective huh?

[Bluerthanblue]

15. was it his

'reaching for it' or having it 'trained on a police officer'-

That claim was made- The gun was under the gas pedal?? and a cop getting into position saw the gun from the passenger side and called out gun???

Please give this account a read-

it sort of puts a different spin on what is going on-

I'm not defending pulling a gun on the cops- i am questioning the stop- and the excessive force that was used-

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2007/05/mayor_city_ready_for_crackdown.html
forgot link-

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

16. He's A Multiple Offender Who Had A Weapon He Intended To Use On Officers. His Fault. Period.

End of discussion.

Goodnight now.

[Selatius]

17. No, the gun was near the gas pedal, not behind it.

I would venture a guess that while sitting in the vehicle, the gun would be on the right side of one's right leg, easy reaching distance. However, we don't know if there is a center console in this vehicle, that would obscure the foot pedal if one is looking through the passenger window. There are still cars made with no center divider, such as cars were you change gears by adjusting the stick on the steering column, as opposed cars where the stick is between the passenger and driver seats.

[Bluerthanblue]

18. the guy was out of the car though-

at least from the account OMC posted-

If he's out of the car when the other cop yells gun- and the gun is on the floor of the car it doesn't make sense-

Maybe there was a dash camera in the cruiser- that would be helpful.

[Selatius]

19. Eyewitnesses say he reached back into the car to get at the gun.

And that he was warned several times to stop reaching in. As quoted in the story:

Eyewitnesses said police gave Steele several warnings to stop reaching into the car and to get down on the ground before shooting. "Had he complied, he'd still be alive," said a 19-year-old woman who said she saw the shooting from her porch on Denison Avenue.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

21. Geez. Talk About Same Thought At The Same Time. :o)

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

20. He Grabbed The Gun And Pointed It At Them. He Is To Blame, Period. Deal With That Please.

Let me guess, all of the witness are in on the conspiracy right?

Snip

Police said that while walking around the car toward the passenger side, one detective saw a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun near the vehicle's gas pedal and yelled "gun." According to police, shots were fired at Steele after he grabbed the gun and pointed it at the detective on the car's passenger side.

Eyewitnesses said police gave Steele several warnings to stop reaching into the car and to get down on the ground before shooting. "Had he complied, he'd still be alive," said a 19-year-old woman who said she saw the shooting from her porch on Denison Avenue.

[cwydro]

24. You mean "THEIR" jobs

"THEY'RE" means THEY ARE. YOu got it right in the first instance, but wrong in the second. Sorry to be a grammar nazi, but for god's sake use the language correctly.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

5. This Article Linked In The OP Is Disgraceful, As Thought. Here's A Better Link To The Story.

This was no innocent goddamn character. I can't stand when people attempt to demonize cops every chance they get just to do so. The author of that article should be ashamed of themselves.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/117878614545100.xml&coll=2

[provis99]

7. this Workers World site is pure crap

looking at it for five minutes convinced me its the worst kind of Communist-oriented anti-government world conspiracy crap (The FBI plans to attack Fort Dix? Give me a break).
Try reading something normal before posting this garbage.

[Selatius]

13. This story is obviously biased.

The Plain Dealer has a better account of the situation, as linked elsewhere in this thread.

[Bluerthanblue]

22. A much fuller account, and very good

peek into the man behind the name is here-


http://schneeberger.rediffiland.com/scripts/xanadu_diary_view.php?postId=1178716279

It is clear from this account by a person who knew and cared for him that Aaron Steele had some real issues with violence and anger.

I must admit I was most likely wrong when I questioned whether he was really attempting to get the gun and use it against the cops- in reading the accounts from other sources, the replies to me, I can't deny the killing was probably inevitable given the circumstances.

The reality that black males in America face racial profiling and are targeted at an unfair ratio- (making the profiling a kind of self-fulfilling prophesy) is something I still believe to be true, and wrong.

Please if you will, read the article by his friend and classmate- it is well written and sheds much more light on the whole story.

'nite.
blu

[Sanctified]

23. Guns don't kill people, the people who are supposed to protect you do. n/t