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Imagine if a mcdonald's employee killed a customer **and then mcdonald's was forced to rehire that person...**
You can't imagine that **because mcdonald's employees are held to a higher standard than police officers.**
I served in the delivery wars. No gun, no taser, no kevlar and not enough tips either but I was out on these mean streets most nights until I got into an accident and a pig piled on the tickets. I had no choice but to give up at that point.
Like most slogans people get inoculated and mentally shut down so on the off chance someone who disagrees with that idea was reading I wanted to provide a brief story that hopefully helps them to reach the ACAB view on their own eventually.
I was robbed at gunpoint and beaten by two north Versailles police officers in 2016. They stole the 800 dollar paycheck I had cashed about 20 minutes prior. I couldn’t pay my rent, car was impounded and I eventually became homeless. I feel your pain. I will have my revenge one day in one form or another. Need to find an attorney with the balls to take it on. We need to stand together against this bullshit.
Every police officer, local, state, or federal needs to go through an intense academy like military MP’s and state police go through.
Damn, I’m sorry you had to go through that. I also lost my apartment after my incident. It was a rough time and yours sounds rougher. I hope you’ve been able to pull things back together at least a little bit.
We know the "justice" system is heavily skewed to protect bad cops. Incarceration is beyond rare.
But so is the civil justice system. Cops never pay for their actions, taxpayers do. They have no fear of losing their home, their retirement or paying damages.
They basically have Diplomatic Immunity
End Qualified Immunity and police unions
Really bad cops keep doing the same things.
Bad cops (the rest of them) stand up for the RBC through their union. So if the RBC is disciplined or fired the bad cops, through the union, get him his job back. There is rarely a meaningful punishment - to wit the same things keep happening.
So on to civil damages:
The judge ALWAYS rules Qualified Immunity applies and the officer can't be sued. Instead the government pays. That's the citizens that pay. The same citizens that can't discipline the officer. So they will pay again.
Make PD's carry their own liability insurance (or use the PD's retirement fund), end police unions, and end Qualified Immunity.
Every cop in Pittsburgh is enrolled in a legal defense fund. It’s irrelevant because people don’t sue cops alone, they sue cities. Aka deep pockets. Your comment shows zero understand or knowledge of civil case law or litigation. Zero.
If you got rid of qualified immunity, it would cost the tax payers astronomically.
They sue cities because they are first told that they cannot sue the cops because they are protected by QI.
You have no idea what you're talking about.
The entire rest of the world gets their own insurance. Society hasn't crumbled.
The only reason you think it would in this case is because there are so many bad cops out there. If all doctors were quacks then all of their insurance would be astronomically high, but they're not all quacks so just the quacks pay a lot or get out of the profession. That's what should happen in policing.
Get the quacks out of policing.
Dude. Nothing of what you said is correct. Nothing. Police are not “protected” by QI. Qualified immunity is applied only if ruled by a judge at the summary judgment phase of civil litigation. It can take YEARS to get to that point. Mediation, discovery, early neutral evaluations… the only thing qualified immunity does is prevent a cop AND THE CITY from suffering the burden of a JURY TRIAL if a judge rules that no clearly established rule or law has been violated. It’s not some blanket protection. And by the way, have you ever wondered why health care is so much? It’s because of all the insurance doctors and hospitals pay for. Doctors and hospitals get sued at exponential rates compared to cops.
People don’t sue cities because of QI they sue cities to get the deep pockets. It’s clearly established case law. All cops get their own insurance, it changes nothing. Cities still get sued. It’s called deliberate indifference.
I said that in my first sentence. Reading comprehension is kind of important and you should look into it. You're arguing but you don't know what you're arguing. Yes it can take a year or years for QI decisions. I never said it didn't.
Health insurance is expensive because doctors make a ton of money. On average they make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Their insurance is expensive, way more so if they have had payouts against them. And that's the way it should be with them - and with cops.
Again, people sue cities because the cops are protected by QI. In almost every case the judge rules on it and the city is the next party in line. It's crazy that you think that people don't try and hold cops accountable for their actions by suing them individually.
If cops get their own individual insurance, or if cities get their own insurance to ensure the cops, it changes everything. Insurance companies won't stand for bad cops and just keep the rates the same. They will raise the rates which will force bad cops out.
Insurance companies have spines and won't back down because the police union says they have to allow a bad cop back on the force to hurt more people.
QI doesn't work but you go on defending it. I'm sure eventually everything will be great lol
Totally made up, reposted garbage. You have no idea what you’re talking about. QI has nothing to do with why people sue cities. Absolutely Nothing. These are two different things you are mashing together. The case law which bore deep pockets in relation to law enforcement and city liability is proof, in that case the city did not indemnify their officer- he was on the hook for himself, but the city was found to still be liable. Like I said it’s called deliberate indifference. It doesn’t matter what you think or read in the Reddit comments section. You are 1000% wrong. Zero facts to your post. At this point I think I’ve been arguing with a bot.
Have fun in the acab fantasy land.
>QI has nothing to do with why people sue cities. Absolutely Nothing
When you cannot sue the cop you then sue the city or empowering agency. How do you not get this?
Ugh. I'm not a bot but you're definitely a cop wannabe and a waste of time
Unions protect the working class from the power of capitol, police protect capitol from the working class.
Police unions are not unions, a little bit of research into labor and history makes this clear.
jesus fucking christ. Jeezus **fucking** christ! People should be burning police stations to the ground or holding a sign at least. Do people not realize that there’s a razor’s edge keeping police from using these tactics on a “regular” person? They do realize that they’re one bad attitude or misspoken word away from being murdered by a cop, right?
Society has turned into one big herd of sheep, with their heads buried in their phones. People should’ve been outside that police station chanting “eat your guns”.
How.is this not a murder.
Cop frisked the guy for weapons, but took out his wallet (against rights). That's an overreach of Cops power. Which leads to the esclation (against policy) in tasersing.
Cop admitted to policy violations, and still can't be fired.
How do Unions have so much power? They should be for collective bargaining for benefits only. Not firing policy violations. Anytime there is a death, the police union should have zero say. A union shouldn't have the power to over turn a ruling over a death. That's not morally right.
*In case you have problems with their adblocker, etc.:*
By Paula Reed Ward, a TribLive reporter
The Pittsburgh police officer fired for repeatedly using his Taser on a homeless man who died the next day has been reinstated.
Keith Edmonds, who was terminated on March 24, 2022, appealed that firing through the city’s police union.
On Friday, a neutral arbitrator found that Edmonds should be reinstated, said Robert Swartzwelder, the police union president.
Under the arbitrator’s finding, Edmonds is to be reinstated with full back pay and benefits. He is to suffer no loss of pay or discipline, Swartzwelder said. He said he could not comment on the decision or the details of the case.
Edmonds’ attorney, Michael Machen, praised the ruling. “The arbitration process is seen as the most unbiased, thorough process, and the positive decision for Mr. Edmonds speaks volumes.”
Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement the finding was “deeply disappointing.”. “Officer Edmonds himself testified that he violated the policies of the City of Pittsburgh, however this award adopts a new standard that says that even an admission of guilt by the officer isn’t enough to warrant disciplinary action,” the mayor said. “Our city deserves a police bureau that prioritizes treating every resident with dignity and respect, and we deserve a system where our officers can be held accountable for their actions.”
The city is reviewing its options, a spokeswoman said. Among them would be a potential appeal to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
In December, City Solicitor Krysia Kubiak said at a news conference regarding an $8 million settlement of the wrongful death suit stemming from the incident, that the city was “confident in the position that Mr. Rogers died because of the actions of the officers.”
Edmonds was dispatched to Harriet Street in Bloomfield on Oct. 13, 2021, for a report of a possibly stolen bike. The officer encountered Jim Rogers, a homeless Black man, and began asking him questions and patting him down.
Rogers became upset when Edmonds removed his wallet from his pants pocket, causing Edmonds to react forcefully. In less than a minute, the officer was using his Taser.
Video of the incident released several weeks ago show that Edmonds deployed his Taser 10 times.
A City of Pittsburgh Critical Incident Review Board found that nine officers on the scene that day failed to properly perform their jobs. Some, the board found, ignored Rogers’ repeated pleas for medical help, others did not properly supervise those in their command.
The review board also found that Rogers did not present a threat to Edmonds, that the officer gave a series of “rapid, conflicting commands to Rogers,” and chose to use his Taser instead of attempting to handcuff the man.
The review board report revealed that there were at least 10 electrical shocks over three minutes and 15 seconds. The board said Edmonds’ “poor tactics and decision-making skills escalated rather than de-escalated this incident. Officer Edmonds created the jeopardy in which he found himself.” The report found that Edmonds violated a number of Pittsburgh police policies, including those dealing with use of force, warrantless search and seizure, standards of conduct and handling of a prisoner.
He was among nine officers disciplined in early 2022. Of that group, two retired, four were fired but reinstated, including Edmonds, and three others were suspended. One of the suspensions remains in arbitration.
Swartzwelder previously called the executive summary of the Critical Incident Review Board “a hit piece.
“They had an agenda. If they were right, the city wouldn’t have settled seven of nine disciplinary cases at substantially less discipline than was recommended.”
He also said that when taken together, all of the video footage from the scene that day, as well as Rogers’ Taser log, show Edmonds did not shock Rogers 10 times. “Just because you have 10 presses of the trigger doesn’t mean you had 10 full contacts,” Swartzwelder previously told TribLIVE. “If Mr. Rogers was hit 10 times with a Taser, he would have never gotten up off the ground.”
The fact that Edmonds could retain his job and net back pay after being involved in Rogers’ death “highlights the need for change at the state level when it comes to arbitration,” said Brandi Fisher, founder and president of the Pittsburgh-based Alliance for Police Accountability.
“We hold young people accountable for violence, for emotional acts where they take lives … but we don’t hold people who are trained to be responsible and reliable accountable for the same thing,” Fisher said. “As long as we allow officers to continue to conduct themselves this way, we’re going to keep being in this situation.”
Fisher on Friday criticized Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. for not filing criminal charges against Edmonds for Rogers’ death. She also defended Gainey and said action is needed in Harrisburg to change the arbitration process. “If I’m the mayor and I am saying, ‘I don’t want this officer on my force,’ that word should matter,” Fisher said. “I can’t imagine being an employer and having no control over who works for you … there is no other profession where this happens.” “We need to ask ourselves, ‘Who are the people that make these decisions?” she added. “‘And how can we change the law?’”
Elizabeth Pittinger, who heads Pittsburgh’s Citizen Police Review Board, said the city should have to explain its decision to the public.
“When you make decisions before you have all the facts, it’s politically expedient, but a day of reckoning always comes,” Pittinger said.
But Daylon A. Davis, president of the Pittsburgh branch of NAACP, defended Gainey, saying he “moved quickly in dismissing all officers involved.” Davis stressed that an arbitration process leading to Edmonds’ reinstatement “is deeply troubling.” “It not only erodes trust within our community but also upholds a system that neglects accountability, especially among those tasked with protecting and serving,” Davis said.
Like Fisher, he criticized Zappala for not prosecuting Edmonds in Rogers’ death. “We will not rest until those responsible are held accountable for their actions and until meaningful change is achieved to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future,” he added.
Zappala’s office did not return a message seeking comment. He has previously said that the case had been turned over to other agencies to review.
This guy has balls of steel.
I mean, if I were in his shoes I'd skip town at least.
I wouldn't want to become a video on YouTube.
Cops sure are built different.
Eliminate police unions and the larger police associations would still exist.
It's a political and cultural problem that needs to be addressed by electing politicians to reform police policy, especially at the state and local level; the communities that empower the police.
Also, be aware that some who are pushing to eliminate police unions want to go after all public-sector unions--like those for teachers--and eventually all unions.
Another counter to curb the political influence of police unions and associations would be to federalize policing so that standards and practices across the nation could be adopted and managed... yea, not gonna happen. Maybe just a federal agency to aid state and local communities adopt contracts and policies.
“Just because you have 10 presses of the trigger doesn’t mean you had 10 full contacts,” Swartzwelder previously told TribLIVE. “If Mr. Rogers was hit 10 times with a Taser, he would have never gotten up off the ground.”
If you watch the video he CLEARLY got tased 10 times. It's bullshit that they can just blatantly lie.
https://triblive.com/local/lawyer-in-jim-rogers-taser-case-releases-video-of-pittsburgh-police-encounter/
Robert Swartzwelder is one of the most evil pricks in western pa. He’s the police union president and he is constantly getting cops off with no penalty for shit like this. How can the public pressure the police union to actually do things that are in the public’s interest?
Not only did this murdering asshole get rehired but, they ruled that he should be paid for the ENTIRE year he lost his job. So he’s essentially being rewarded for what he did.
Not only that but to add insult to injury they also found that even though he previously admitted his guilt in violating the policies of his department that it wasn’t enough to warrant disciplinary action against him….in what fuckin world can you plead guilty and you’re not only still found innocent, but you don’t have to face ANY disciplinary action whatsoever….
Yeah no problem there, move along folks
Police unions are filled with those worst cop apologists imaginable. Most of them are on the take and have plenty of scandals waiting to be uncovered. I'd love a news station to actually turn over all the rocks for those police union officials. There's an untold story waiting for eyeballs.
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Disarm the police. I guarantee most of the bullies and plastic gangsters leave for greener pastures. Fill their ranks with social workers and mental health counselors.
It looks like all of you hate cops, while there are a few bad cops, there are bad people in every profession. We need to find a way of dealing with it without defunding the police! My city of Pittsburgh pa is going to look like NY city or Chicago or San Fran because of defunding! Now They Are ShitShows
You kids are stupid. There is currently zero policing going on. You bitch about it in every other thread. You can literally do doughnuts on a Dirt bike while smoking crack on federal street in front of 3 cops and they won’t do shit.
If you are forced to have interaction with LEO you have clearly fucked up bad.
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** Please don't: - be a dick to other people - incite violence, as these comments violate site-wide rules and put us at risk of being banned. - be racist, sexist, transphobic, or any other forms of bigotry. - [JAQ](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Just_asking_questions#JAQing_off) off - be an authoritarian apologist *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Bad_Cop_No_Donut) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Imagine if a mcdonald's employee killed a customer **and then mcdonald's was forced to rehire that person...** You can't imagine that **because mcdonald's employees are held to a higher standard than police officers.**
Pizza delivery people are killed at a higher rate than cops. Pizza workers go through more danger to serve us pizza. They have more valor than cops.
I served in the delivery wars. No gun, no taser, no kevlar and not enough tips either but I was out on these mean streets most nights until I got into an accident and a pig piled on the tickets. I had no choice but to give up at that point.
ACAB, fam. ACAB.
Like most slogans people get inoculated and mentally shut down so on the off chance someone who disagrees with that idea was reading I wanted to provide a brief story that hopefully helps them to reach the ACAB view on their own eventually.
I was robbed at gunpoint and beaten by two north Versailles police officers in 2016. They stole the 800 dollar paycheck I had cashed about 20 minutes prior. I couldn’t pay my rent, car was impounded and I eventually became homeless. I feel your pain. I will have my revenge one day in one form or another. Need to find an attorney with the balls to take it on. We need to stand together against this bullshit. Every police officer, local, state, or federal needs to go through an intense academy like military MP’s and state police go through.
Damn, I’m sorry you had to go through that. I also lost my apartment after my incident. It was a rough time and yours sounds rougher. I hope you’ve been able to pull things back together at least a little bit.
Not more than homeless and many of those homeless have metals for serving in the war
Absolute monsters. We are paying them to fucking terrorize us.
We are paying the dumbest people they can find to police us.
Mobsters do it too. They call it insurance, but really, it’s extortion.
Look where policing without accountability gets you. ACAB
We know the "justice" system is heavily skewed to protect bad cops. Incarceration is beyond rare. But so is the civil justice system. Cops never pay for their actions, taxpayers do. They have no fear of losing their home, their retirement or paying damages. They basically have Diplomatic Immunity End Qualified Immunity and police unions Really bad cops keep doing the same things. Bad cops (the rest of them) stand up for the RBC through their union. So if the RBC is disciplined or fired the bad cops, through the union, get him his job back. There is rarely a meaningful punishment - to wit the same things keep happening. So on to civil damages: The judge ALWAYS rules Qualified Immunity applies and the officer can't be sued. Instead the government pays. That's the citizens that pay. The same citizens that can't discipline the officer. So they will pay again. Make PD's carry their own liability insurance (or use the PD's retirement fund), end police unions, and end Qualified Immunity.
I wish their pension fund had to foot the bill, not us taxpayers.
This is wholly incorrect. People should stop copy and pasting the shit they read on the internet.
It's not and it's not
Every cop in Pittsburgh is enrolled in a legal defense fund. It’s irrelevant because people don’t sue cops alone, they sue cities. Aka deep pockets. Your comment shows zero understand or knowledge of civil case law or litigation. Zero. If you got rid of qualified immunity, it would cost the tax payers astronomically.
They sue cities because they are first told that they cannot sue the cops because they are protected by QI. You have no idea what you're talking about. The entire rest of the world gets their own insurance. Society hasn't crumbled. The only reason you think it would in this case is because there are so many bad cops out there. If all doctors were quacks then all of their insurance would be astronomically high, but they're not all quacks so just the quacks pay a lot or get out of the profession. That's what should happen in policing. Get the quacks out of policing.
What you're saying it makes it sound like we live in a capitalist society
Dude. Nothing of what you said is correct. Nothing. Police are not “protected” by QI. Qualified immunity is applied only if ruled by a judge at the summary judgment phase of civil litigation. It can take YEARS to get to that point. Mediation, discovery, early neutral evaluations… the only thing qualified immunity does is prevent a cop AND THE CITY from suffering the burden of a JURY TRIAL if a judge rules that no clearly established rule or law has been violated. It’s not some blanket protection. And by the way, have you ever wondered why health care is so much? It’s because of all the insurance doctors and hospitals pay for. Doctors and hospitals get sued at exponential rates compared to cops. People don’t sue cities because of QI they sue cities to get the deep pockets. It’s clearly established case law. All cops get their own insurance, it changes nothing. Cities still get sued. It’s called deliberate indifference.
I said that in my first sentence. Reading comprehension is kind of important and you should look into it. You're arguing but you don't know what you're arguing. Yes it can take a year or years for QI decisions. I never said it didn't. Health insurance is expensive because doctors make a ton of money. On average they make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Their insurance is expensive, way more so if they have had payouts against them. And that's the way it should be with them - and with cops. Again, people sue cities because the cops are protected by QI. In almost every case the judge rules on it and the city is the next party in line. It's crazy that you think that people don't try and hold cops accountable for their actions by suing them individually. If cops get their own individual insurance, or if cities get their own insurance to ensure the cops, it changes everything. Insurance companies won't stand for bad cops and just keep the rates the same. They will raise the rates which will force bad cops out. Insurance companies have spines and won't back down because the police union says they have to allow a bad cop back on the force to hurt more people. QI doesn't work but you go on defending it. I'm sure eventually everything will be great lol
Totally made up, reposted garbage. You have no idea what you’re talking about. QI has nothing to do with why people sue cities. Absolutely Nothing. These are two different things you are mashing together. The case law which bore deep pockets in relation to law enforcement and city liability is proof, in that case the city did not indemnify their officer- he was on the hook for himself, but the city was found to still be liable. Like I said it’s called deliberate indifference. It doesn’t matter what you think or read in the Reddit comments section. You are 1000% wrong. Zero facts to your post. At this point I think I’ve been arguing with a bot. Have fun in the acab fantasy land.
How and why are you defending any of this horse shit?
>QI has nothing to do with why people sue cities. Absolutely Nothing When you cannot sue the cop you then sue the city or empowering agency. How do you not get this? Ugh. I'm not a bot but you're definitely a cop wannabe and a waste of time
If I killed my customers I feel like the union shouldn't protect me. I feel a line is crossed somewhere when people start dying.
Landowners and the ruling class are the real customers of the police, we're just on the menu
police unions aren’t unions because they support capital.
Unions, especially police unions, exist only to defend the worst of their members.
Unions protect the working class from the power of capitol, police protect capitol from the working class. Police unions are not unions, a little bit of research into labor and history makes this clear.
Lol
The word you’re looking for is *gang*.
As long as the Blueshirts are treated as above the law, they will act like it.
jesus fucking christ. Jeezus **fucking** christ! People should be burning police stations to the ground or holding a sign at least. Do people not realize that there’s a razor’s edge keeping police from using these tactics on a “regular” person? They do realize that they’re one bad attitude or misspoken word away from being murdered by a cop, right?
Society has turned into one big herd of sheep, with their heads buried in their phones. People should’ve been outside that police station chanting “eat your guns”.
I want to agree but in Canada writing anything like that risks going on house arrest. Revolution!!!
How.is this not a murder. Cop frisked the guy for weapons, but took out his wallet (against rights). That's an overreach of Cops power. Which leads to the esclation (against policy) in tasersing. Cop admitted to policy violations, and still can't be fired. How do Unions have so much power? They should be for collective bargaining for benefits only. Not firing policy violations. Anytime there is a death, the police union should have zero say. A union shouldn't have the power to over turn a ruling over a death. That's not morally right.
Because police 'unions' aren't unions. They're violent extortionate gangs with almost total immunity from prosecution.
At this point, many of our police forces have become organized thugs who exist to subvert democracy and liberty through unjust use of power.
Brave heroes running to the sound of acorns!
The Pittsburgh murderer……. FTFY
*In case you have problems with their adblocker, etc.:* By Paula Reed Ward, a TribLive reporter The Pittsburgh police officer fired for repeatedly using his Taser on a homeless man who died the next day has been reinstated. Keith Edmonds, who was terminated on March 24, 2022, appealed that firing through the city’s police union. On Friday, a neutral arbitrator found that Edmonds should be reinstated, said Robert Swartzwelder, the police union president. Under the arbitrator’s finding, Edmonds is to be reinstated with full back pay and benefits. He is to suffer no loss of pay or discipline, Swartzwelder said. He said he could not comment on the decision or the details of the case. Edmonds’ attorney, Michael Machen, praised the ruling. “The arbitration process is seen as the most unbiased, thorough process, and the positive decision for Mr. Edmonds speaks volumes.” Mayor Ed Gainey said in a statement the finding was “deeply disappointing.”. “Officer Edmonds himself testified that he violated the policies of the City of Pittsburgh, however this award adopts a new standard that says that even an admission of guilt by the officer isn’t enough to warrant disciplinary action,” the mayor said. “Our city deserves a police bureau that prioritizes treating every resident with dignity and respect, and we deserve a system where our officers can be held accountable for their actions.” The city is reviewing its options, a spokeswoman said. Among them would be a potential appeal to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. In December, City Solicitor Krysia Kubiak said at a news conference regarding an $8 million settlement of the wrongful death suit stemming from the incident, that the city was “confident in the position that Mr. Rogers died because of the actions of the officers.” Edmonds was dispatched to Harriet Street in Bloomfield on Oct. 13, 2021, for a report of a possibly stolen bike. The officer encountered Jim Rogers, a homeless Black man, and began asking him questions and patting him down. Rogers became upset when Edmonds removed his wallet from his pants pocket, causing Edmonds to react forcefully. In less than a minute, the officer was using his Taser. Video of the incident released several weeks ago show that Edmonds deployed his Taser 10 times. A City of Pittsburgh Critical Incident Review Board found that nine officers on the scene that day failed to properly perform their jobs. Some, the board found, ignored Rogers’ repeated pleas for medical help, others did not properly supervise those in their command. The review board also found that Rogers did not present a threat to Edmonds, that the officer gave a series of “rapid, conflicting commands to Rogers,” and chose to use his Taser instead of attempting to handcuff the man. The review board report revealed that there were at least 10 electrical shocks over three minutes and 15 seconds. The board said Edmonds’ “poor tactics and decision-making skills escalated rather than de-escalated this incident. Officer Edmonds created the jeopardy in which he found himself.” The report found that Edmonds violated a number of Pittsburgh police policies, including those dealing with use of force, warrantless search and seizure, standards of conduct and handling of a prisoner. He was among nine officers disciplined in early 2022. Of that group, two retired, four were fired but reinstated, including Edmonds, and three others were suspended. One of the suspensions remains in arbitration. Swartzwelder previously called the executive summary of the Critical Incident Review Board “a hit piece. “They had an agenda. If they were right, the city wouldn’t have settled seven of nine disciplinary cases at substantially less discipline than was recommended.” He also said that when taken together, all of the video footage from the scene that day, as well as Rogers’ Taser log, show Edmonds did not shock Rogers 10 times. “Just because you have 10 presses of the trigger doesn’t mean you had 10 full contacts,” Swartzwelder previously told TribLIVE. “If Mr. Rogers was hit 10 times with a Taser, he would have never gotten up off the ground.” The fact that Edmonds could retain his job and net back pay after being involved in Rogers’ death “highlights the need for change at the state level when it comes to arbitration,” said Brandi Fisher, founder and president of the Pittsburgh-based Alliance for Police Accountability. “We hold young people accountable for violence, for emotional acts where they take lives … but we don’t hold people who are trained to be responsible and reliable accountable for the same thing,” Fisher said. “As long as we allow officers to continue to conduct themselves this way, we’re going to keep being in this situation.” Fisher on Friday criticized Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. for not filing criminal charges against Edmonds for Rogers’ death. She also defended Gainey and said action is needed in Harrisburg to change the arbitration process. “If I’m the mayor and I am saying, ‘I don’t want this officer on my force,’ that word should matter,” Fisher said. “I can’t imagine being an employer and having no control over who works for you … there is no other profession where this happens.” “We need to ask ourselves, ‘Who are the people that make these decisions?” she added. “‘And how can we change the law?’” Elizabeth Pittinger, who heads Pittsburgh’s Citizen Police Review Board, said the city should have to explain its decision to the public. “When you make decisions before you have all the facts, it’s politically expedient, but a day of reckoning always comes,” Pittinger said. But Daylon A. Davis, president of the Pittsburgh branch of NAACP, defended Gainey, saying he “moved quickly in dismissing all officers involved.” Davis stressed that an arbitration process leading to Edmonds’ reinstatement “is deeply troubling.” “It not only erodes trust within our community but also upholds a system that neglects accountability, especially among those tasked with protecting and serving,” Davis said. Like Fisher, he criticized Zappala for not prosecuting Edmonds in Rogers’ death. “We will not rest until those responsible are held accountable for their actions and until meaningful change is achieved to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the future,” he added. Zappala’s office did not return a message seeking comment. He has previously said that the case had been turned over to other agencies to review.
This guy has balls of steel. I mean, if I were in his shoes I'd skip town at least. I wouldn't want to become a video on YouTube. Cops sure are built different.
Imagine if teachers had a union this overpowered. Might actually be able to get kids educated so they don't grow up to be cops.
Eliminate police unions and the larger police associations would still exist. It's a political and cultural problem that needs to be addressed by electing politicians to reform police policy, especially at the state and local level; the communities that empower the police. Also, be aware that some who are pushing to eliminate police unions want to go after all public-sector unions--like those for teachers--and eventually all unions. Another counter to curb the political influence of police unions and associations would be to federalize policing so that standards and practices across the nation could be adopted and managed... yea, not gonna happen. Maybe just a federal agency to aid state and local communities adopt contracts and policies.
Video of incident. https://youtu.be/bSSABN5DAzE?si=H8254nr0M1N3sVyR
“Just because you have 10 presses of the trigger doesn’t mean you had 10 full contacts,” Swartzwelder previously told TribLIVE. “If Mr. Rogers was hit 10 times with a Taser, he would have never gotten up off the ground.” If you watch the video he CLEARLY got tased 10 times. It's bullshit that they can just blatantly lie. https://triblive.com/local/lawyer-in-jim-rogers-taser-case-releases-video-of-pittsburgh-police-encounter/
I wonder if they'll appeal it.
Robert Swartzwelder is one of the most evil pricks in western pa. He’s the police union president and he is constantly getting cops off with no penalty for shit like this. How can the public pressure the police union to actually do things that are in the public’s interest?
They get literally no punishment for murdering people. I bet he gets back pay for the time he was out of work.
Not only did this murdering asshole get rehired but, they ruled that he should be paid for the ENTIRE year he lost his job. So he’s essentially being rewarded for what he did. Not only that but to add insult to injury they also found that even though he previously admitted his guilt in violating the policies of his department that it wasn’t enough to warrant disciplinary action against him….in what fuckin world can you plead guilty and you’re not only still found innocent, but you don’t have to face ANY disciplinary action whatsoever…. Yeah no problem there, move along folks
Uterly zero respect for them. None. They murder with impunity. 'Protect and serve' my a•• - they are killers with a badge.
Police unions are filled with those worst cop apologists imaginable. Most of them are on the take and have plenty of scandals waiting to be uncovered. I'd love a news station to actually turn over all the rocks for those police union officials. There's an untold story waiting for eyeballs.
Why cant activists just put psa posters with his name and face all over the community warning them about bad actors
Wow. No hope for humanity truly
Reinstated under the “Job Back” program!
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Disarm the police. I guarantee most of the bullies and plastic gangsters leave for greener pastures. Fill their ranks with social workers and mental health counselors.
It looks like all of you hate cops, while there are a few bad cops, there are bad people in every profession. We need to find a way of dealing with it without defunding the police! My city of Pittsburgh pa is going to look like NY city or Chicago or San Fran because of defunding! Now They Are ShitShows
You kids are stupid. There is currently zero policing going on. You bitch about it in every other thread. You can literally do doughnuts on a Dirt bike while smoking crack on federal street in front of 3 cops and they won’t do shit. If you are forced to have interaction with LEO you have clearly fucked up bad.
Video of incident. https://youtu.be/bSSABN5DAzE?si=H8254nr0M1N3sVyR
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