I figured I'd grab this one while it's hot. Here's the link. There are probably less biased articles out there (just Google 'black cosplayer shot' or 'killed in Saratoga').

On Sept. 10th, Darrien Hunt was headed to a local Chinese restaurant while dressed in a casual Mugen cosplay to make an impact on his upcoming job interview. This cosplay included a blunt sword (it's safe to carry and can't cut anything). Someone called the cops about a suspicious man walking around with a weapon. Witnesses say the police arrived and immediately went up to the man.

According to police reports, they simply shot him when he "lunged at them" with his sword. However, all the eye witness accounts say he was cooperating, and the coroner's report shows every bullet that made contact was shot into his back (some made at close contact and some farther away, showing they continued to shoot as he ran). The police involved were given a temporary paid leave, and they were never interrogated about the shooting despite it being a week later.

Opinions?

I really don't want to play the race card with this one, but I can't see this just being a cosplaying thing.

Not again. Spread this around Tumblr if you guys can, Dollars. Why does shit like this have to happen so soon after Ferguson?
If we did spread this around, we might be able to get some facts. We need proof of these witnesses. Proof of the coroner saying he was shot in the back.
Unfortunately, you can't go to the big name medias. I can't believe CNNs coverage of Ferguson.

Shit, man. It's unfortunate, but unless we can really make some damn waves and get these cops' identities, we're not really going to stop anything.

>>4 That's why you spread the news. So that it can reach people who have connections.

>>3 I like how every time some one gets shot now and they also happen to be black it will be "just like Ferguson."
This guy was hardly black, let's be real here.
The one pulling the race card is the boy's white mother.
My sides are in orbit around our earth now.

The American public are swine, this is why we are so easy to control.

Maybe he shouldn't have ran, or at least been better at running.

Here is a real article from a real news outlet
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/16/darrien-hunt-surveillance-footage-utah-police-shooting

Shoot first, ask questions later. What a fucking couple of morons. Also, average citizens are too paranoid. It's not a new problem. It's been there for decades. Regardless, this news is very sad. Very, very sad indeed.
Shared it on my page.

>>6 Whether you believe race held a factor or not, they shot an unarmed man dead. LIKE FERGUSON. And seriously, why are you joking about this? Police brutality is a serious problem. If you don't care for American problems, instead of being negative, why not bring another country's problems to light?
(FYI, my brother is half black too, and he's had plenty of trouble with the police because he drives a fancy car in Georgia. He's never been arrested nor ticketed, but got pulled over seven times in a year.)

>>7 Thank you. :)

>>8
>Joking
I'm not.
>Police brutality is a serious problem.
Yea, I know that. I probably know that better than you do.
>If you don't care for American problems
And when did I say this? I care about my country

FYI, I've been pulled over a bunch too.

Look, this is nothing like Ferguson because that kid was fucking asking for it.
This case just sounds like a nerd got spooked and was being a dingus running around with a sword.
This one is actually sad compared to Ferguson.

Sigh... Again?

>"Maybe he shouldn't have ran, or at least been better at running."
>I thought that you were American, but that quip about the "American public are swine" left me uncertain.
>"I probably know that better than you do." And now I'm being reminded of why I let in the first place... This isn't a contest. I don't know your story and you don't know mine.

Yeah, there's probably something fishy here. If he truly was going to a job interview, then that man may have had "issues", but when an unarmed man is shot in the back, how is that "fucking asking for it"??

>>10 left*

He shouldn't have ran.
As soon as he saw police he should have thrown down the toy sword and complied with the officers.
I don't like it, I don't like pigs, but I would do it so I don't get shot. Easy.
Of course, this assumes that he did run and the officers didn't just shoot him point blank.
I guess we will know when the video is released.

>but that quip about the American public
I said it's a reason we are so easy to control.

>And now I'm being reminded of why I let in the first place
I'm sorry, sometimes people say things I don't like either, but again we're both back. What does that say about us?


>This isn't a contest
I'm not saying it is.
And I'm not saying you haven't had your share of trouble.
I'm just saying that I do know it very well and for you to imply and/or assume I don't with a comment like "Police brutality is a serious problem" is 100% asking for it.

I don't think the cop in Ferguson was right, but I think if the two young men would have gotten out of the fucking road when asked none of it would have ever happend.
He was asking for it by not just putting his thug pride down and following the cop's orders.

Again, I hate fucking cops so don't think I'm defending either police force in the situations.

But doesn't it just seem strange to you? Everyone always said "they shouldn't have ran". I always wonder what were their thoughts during that time? What did the cops say to them? Did you read the other story that was linked in this one? About the black man who was gunned down in Walmart for holding a toy gun in Walmart's section of toy guns? He didn't run, he didn't raise his weapon, they didn't give him any orders, nothing like that.

Touché. You did say "we". I missed that.

It means I was bored. And though I'm glad to see "some familiar faces", I'm starting to wish I hadn't come back.

>>1 oh yeah, n Babs, you've got quite a lot to read when u get bk, don't you?

>>14
>I'm starting to wish I hadn't come back.

Oh, come the fuck off of it.
I'll leave so you don't feel harassed.
K?
K.
Peace bbs.

This is just bs. Maybe my feelings as a cosplayer are blinding me right now, but that's all I can say with this. Running or not, it's bs.

>>14>>16 you know what i find fishy? The articles say he charged at the police officers. If he would have, the guys would`ve shot him on sight. But he got shot in the knee and then in the back. That means he ran, they shot him in several places, he got slowed down and then got murdered. The problem in the first place is that the pistol is not there to stop a practically unarmed running man. They didn`t look like fatfucks either so you`d expect them to at least catch him before getting down to police brutality... And you know there are numerous articles on how people get shot over the most stupid shit like wallets and chocolate bars, the kid easily could`ve just gotten scared he`ll get shot, especially is the hold a gun at him.

The cops also shot a white kid holding a toy gun, so pretty sure race isn't the only factor here. Maybe they got extra spooked because he wasn't white, but I really don't think that's the only reason they shot him.

Also, it's not really logical to draw conclusions when no one really knows what happened except maybe whoever watched the security footage, so I'm not going to quite yet.

>>20
>"Also, it's not really logical to draw conclusions when no one really knows what happened except maybe whoever watched the security footage, so I'm not going to quite yet."

Yea, I guess you're right. Gotta see the footage first. But it's still hard to think of a reason why two police officers would shoot a practically unarmed guy.

Ohmy. Discussion! I'm personally not comparing this to Ferguson, but I think there are a lot of cases lately of police enacting "shoot first, blame later" for no good reason. This has always happened, yes, but it's nice to see the media covering it more for once. Also thank you for the link, Chrome. I'm kind of annoyed to see they're still pushing off the "interviews" (really, you can't even call them interrogations?) with the police involved. Putting a day between them is also a blatantly asshole move. Just let them match up their bullshit accounts, why don't you? geh.

>>20 Mistaking a toy gun for a real gun is one thing. A gun is a serious issue. You can only fight guns with guns unless you're already up close to the person. But a sword? Even if it was real (which they should have known it wasn't after first talking to him), it's not so dangerous of a weapon they needed to shoot him six times from as far away as claimed.

I can understand using a gun against a sword in a case like this, but a sword's range isn't hundreds of yards. You can get damn close enough to aim non-lethally in such a case.

Being military police the problem I see with civilian PDs is this. The civilian law enforcement is able to pull their weapon for any reason with no real repercussions. If they need to threaten? Pull the weapon. If the need an easily accessible flashlight? Pull the weapon. There are really no restrictions on WHEN to pull the weapon, only when to use it.

My stance on this is, if you are allowed to pull your weapon for small things; what's to stop you from pulling it as a threat, getting trigger happy and then shooting someone? Personally, I find that this is more than likely the case with all the recent shootigs. Police pull it, get too overeager then shoot.

In the military; we are only allowed to pull our weapon if we intend to kill someone. We can't pull it as a threat, as a light source or for any other reason than to literally kill someone. As such, this gives most Security Forces members I work with incredible communicaton skills as well as reasoning skills. Most often we are able to talk down someone without even having to pull our tazer let alone our weapon. More civilian offiers need to bw trained in this manner, that communication is key.

>>22 Yeah, but I'm just saying race probably isn't the only factor. They have shot kids with toys before, so I think that's a common link.

The other trouble with the sword is if he's a danger to others, they have to stop him too. He technically could have ran away and started hurting other people too, if the weapon was real, which is wasn't.

Clearly, they screwed up. That's not really that special or surprising. However, they should be held accountable for their mistake....










...still waiting.

>>23
>The civilian law enforcement is able to pull their weapon for any reason with no real repercussions

Unfortunately, they do a lot more than just pull their gun out with no consequences, although that is a very good point. If they tried talking more often, less people would be dead. The problem probably is they don't know how, though. The bigger problem is probably they aren't trained in that key aspect of their job all that well at all, and also that when they make mistakes they are covered blindly regardless of what they did.

>>24 That's my biggest issue with all the current police brutality issues. Regardless of whether or not these officers were doing the right thing, they need to be investigated more thoroughly and dealt with for, you know, fucking killing someone when they weren't under serious, immediate threat. It would be a completely different situation if the shooters weren't police.

It would be nice to see good cop news for once. Like 'Officer Saves Old Woman and Ten Kittens From Burning Building' or something. That would be great.

The police are overabusing their power and I do wish there was something we could do to stop them...

>>24 I never said race was the only factor, and again there's a difference between a toy gun and a blunted sword.

And I'm pretty sure he didn't run away and try to hurt people considering none of the supposed witnesses considered him a threat; just running away isn't threatening everyone in the vicinity. The chance of a police bullet going stray is more threatening than a guy running.

Hopefully we'll see exactly what happened when the surveillance footage is released :\

>>26 This.

And I did hear a news story about a good cop, but only once, and it was "in his memory". He paid for a ten year old black kids meal because the boy was short on change, and not 5 minutes later, a black guy came out of no where and shot him dead in the parking lot. And the policeman was white.

I just hated how the asshole made us (African Americans) look by gunning down a man in uniform because he was a man in uniform. We needed more men in uniform like Jeremy Henwood.

Bad cops.

>>30 The insight is real.

>>31 Well it's not like they were wrong...

Not so surprising. Cops like that don't make the others look good.

I keep reading carp like this and getting sick and TIRED of hearing cops doing this.

IF this happens,the station should have everything frozen and be put under investigation.The officers responsible should be barred from jobs allowing weapon use and fired.And the State or Military should send in a TRAINED group to run law enforcement while the station is frozen until the case is settled and officers responsible fired.

FUCK U MAGNOLIA. that's wrong its CLEARLY FAKE dumbass police men why can't u all die

Ok u guys better look at the damn facts. Im sry fellow dollar members but the guy in cosplay lunged at the cops with a freaking sword. I mean if i were a cop i wouldnt have known if it was blunt or not. I would probably if i did not know that he was cosplaying.

>>35 ...What??

>>36 "Facts," right. There's no proof that he lunged at the cops, nor was that claim backed by any of the supposed witnesses who've publicly stepped forward.

And you should be trained to tell whether a sword is blunted or not if you're in law enforcement. You don't have to be a blade enthusiast to see whether or not it has a point. My close friend has a wide collection of swords, and it's painfully obvious to tell the difference between the ones that are and aren't made to cut.

It's still dangerous since it's basically a metal pipe with a thinner edge, but there's no excuse for a cop to not be able to tell on sight if it's real or not. And there's also no reason to shoot fatally when dealing with someone with a sword. Its range is not so wide that you can't get in close enough to disarm them without death.

News like this makes me so angry... I really hope these so called cops are getting their balls chewed right about now... I really feel for the poor kid and his family this never should have happened. I say to all those who cosplay and see this... Go as him to raise awareness and let others know that you shouldn't have to be afraid to cosplay... Racial profiling and fear like this makes me want to puke.

wasn't he cosplaying samurai champloo or something?

Damn... The man just wanted to cosplay.... humanity is going crazy these days i swear...

i know this doesn´t belong to the subject but i promised myself to tell you all about this. there is a facebook group for dollars called Unity law.
if you wanna join, then you have to ask for the friendship of the man who owns the group. Adam Ace Eriksson.
i hope that i´ll get to see you all at facebook^^

Are you serious? What kind of world do we live in where we can't even cosplay? I'm starting to wonder if the police really serve to protect the people or just to be stupid assholes. Cosplaying should be something that helps and makes you feel free, but yet again some douchebag has to ruin. so calming, relazing and fun, and crush and destroy it.

You have to be kidding me. Whoever did that shouldn't have been put on temporary paid leave they should have been fired or something more serious. I mean really you're just going to shoot a defenseless man as they are running away and for what reason...because he "lunged" at you. Or is it the simple fact that he's black and your being a racist jerk? I don't know why they didn't but I feel that their punishment should have been more severe. But that's just my opinion.

I live fairly close to that area, and this is the first time I'm hearing anything about this! I'm extremely surprised and disappointed in these cops!!

is this really all that surprising though?

sad sure. but it's not the first time cops have done something like this. shooting a <b<black guy in the back? he had a fake weapon, so yeah maybe racism was a factor in this. or maybe the guy was honestly concerned. either way - he acted wrongly in the situation.

it's happened before. it'll happen again. it wasn't right and that's the end of it.

The current state of police needs to be changed. That is my opinion. Here are a few things I believe should be changed
-Police should have go pros attached to their gear that cannot be turned off by the officer. This way it is 'Someones word V Video evidence' If the go pro is removed or turned off during the day, then some form of punishment should be given to the officer.
-Police should have a physical fitness standard. I see fat cops everywhere and it is disgusting. I a not saying being fat is disgusting, but (and I am sorry for anyone I offend) being large does not allow you to protect and serve. Some instances cops will resort to higher forms of violence because they are not strong enough or not physically fit enough to take the criminal down.
-Strict punishment and investigation for police officers who break the law. Police Officers sign up to uphold the law. If they do not then they should be punished more than the average citizen. Right? They just did the opposite of what their job entitles. If you steal something and get a slap on the wrist, whatever, did you really learn anything? If you steal something and get punched in the face, I think you won't steal again. Of course this is metaphorical. I don't believe in corporal punishment, but it is just an easy way of putting it.
-Take away all their military toys. Seriously guys. If shit hits the fan the state has a National Guard. They are there to defend the nation from the home side. Or the SWAT team.

This is just my opinion anyways. I am not an officer, but hope to be one day. These are just a few things I believe should be changed. unfortunately it is difficult to change racism or stereotyping. Especially if they have been growing up with the idea.

Oh and if that story does not grind your gears about some police then here are some you may not of heard about. No one died in these so they are not as tragic, but the fact that these people were wrongly accused of something because of their skin is infuriating. Sorry OP about the race card being pulled.:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/black-teen-in-white-foster-home-pepper-sprayed-by-police-who-mistook-him-for-burglar/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2787400/Just-s-black-doesn-t-mean-robbed-house-The-moment-attorney-stopped-police-arresting-elderly-disabled-black-man-suspicion-robbing-house-mile-away.html

Here is one I found about another cosplayer. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/deadpool-sydney-police-attempt-arrest-cosplayer-train-armed-fake-weapons-1458358

I know right! O.o

>>49 Just looked through all of those stories... That Attorney was amazing and I love how she protected him- The first two stories made me so angry to think that people haven't learned yet but at least we are coming along slowly rather than at a dead stop...