Yet another reason to hate Walmart
https://www.vice.com/en/article/qj8487/cops-tackled-a-grandma-with-demen...
The demented lady's family are suing the police dept., and the cops involved have been duly publicly named and shamed.
So who has not been named? The Walmart "associates" who--read or skip to the bottom of the article--refused to accept payment for about 15 bucks worth of what I will out of courtesy call merchandise, rather than junk, and called the police. There is doubtless some sort of petty backstory here. Someone's grandma or neighbor or honored elder was disrespected so those particular employees jumped at the chance to stick it to someone else. I don't care about that. What I do care about is that Walmart has evidently decided it is big enough that it can allow its' staff to be assholes.
Me, I happen to be in my 70s, not (yet) diagnosed with any sort of mental condition although known to be a weirdo, and I do tend to become disoriented in huge stores. Something about the lighting, chemical smells, crowds and endless rows that all look alike I find confusing, not to mention the fact that live human cashiers are kept hidden behind a maze of counters. I did have to go to a Walmart, for a garden product which, for the first time I can remember, is available no where else, so I asked my daughter to take me. I made a point of waving my receipt at the employees who were pretending to take their break outside. I can asshole pretty good myself when I want to.
Comments
Gosh, I have to go to
walmart today. I'll watch my p's and q's!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Hands visible at all times.
Junk, excuuse me, merchandise, placed in cart. And forget about the eagle eyed staff actually helping you find something.
Mary Bennett
I think the same thing would have happened at
Nordstrom's. The security guards are tasked with detaining people who are suspected of shop lifting, until the police arrive. They are not permitted to make deals. They are on camera. They are not tasked with determining mental competency, and neither are the cops. Mental competency hearings come later, when defense attorneys seek a ruling to have the defendant examined.
That said, the cops had no business being so brutal to a tiny woman of an age. I hear this meme from cops constantly, even see it in arrest reports: "The suspect disrespected me.", as though that justifies their brutality.
The Walton's are horrid, the way they treat their employees is horrid, and much of what they sell is horrid, while putting local businesses of quality out of business for good.I have a disabled elderly client, a man, who was brutalized for resisting arrest when he had no idea he was being detained.Some advice: do not walk away or close the door of your home until the cops specifically say you are free to go, and there is nothing else to discuss.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
We shouldn't have to live in fears of pigs
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
I've not been in a Nordstrom for years,
but I do take your point. That gives me one more reason to shop in locally owned stores whenever possible.
Do you advise clients to allow cops to come into their homes without a search warrant?
Mary Bennett
Scenario:
Someone in a home calls 911, says they are in danger.
Cops come. you answer the door. They ask if everything is ok. You say, wife was goofed on her meds, she is fine now. (or son, etc...) The cops step a couple of steps away, and talk to each other. 5 minutes go by. You are in the door, figure they are done with their call, and you close the door. You decide to maybe go out to the back porch to smoke.
They will then break down the doors, break your windows, pull guns on you, beat the dog shit out of you, and you go to the hospital. You are charged with resisting, maybe evading arrest, which is a felony. You better have health insurance.
I have 2 cases that fit that scenario.
I advise not to open the door in the first place. If they threaten, open it, give your name and address, and if you feel you can talk down the situation, do so briefly, then ASK if you are free to go.
This is happening EVERY DAMN DAY EVERYWHERE.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Respect is a right
You don't GIVE it, you don't GET it.
I learned long ago now that the right to respect is the implicit "0th Amendment" without which the rest of the Bill of Rights is indeed, "just a goddamn piece of paper".
I am neither a chimpanzee nor a dog; if you cannot interact without establishing dominance hierarchy, then for that reason alone, you are inherently inferior to me.
I fear that what I see is the impending speciation of humanity: Anarchic "cats" versus fascistic "dogs"; those two mentalities ultimately cannot co-exist in a single civilization.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Preaching to the choir.
I get them on the stand and cross examine them on the class they took at police academy, the name of their prof who taught them that they were automatically due respect, and the grade they made in the course.
Most here on this site can bitch about it. I have opportunity once in a while to bring it to the attention of citizens.
Cops are for protecting and serving, which has to do with respect for authority, not the specific cop exerting it.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Never sneer at a man with a gun
It's just good sense. You may be right AND dead!
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
My point is that kissing
ass and bowing down to their fabulous authority is just not something that is supposed to be a given. They have no right to shoot, pepper spray, or arrest someone for sneering. In fact, it is not illegal to call a cop a no good m.f'er. I can say that to anybody and break no law. I was strictly addressing cops, not armed people in general.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Well I've had armed cops point guns at me.
All i asked was why i was stopped. Spun around and slammed onto my car. I was 7, four blocks from home. I shut up. That was the smart thing to do.
EDIT:
17, not 7
Very sorry for the typo as it greatly changes the narrative
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
I have ben lucky.
warning: violence...I pointed a gun at an FBI agent that I took away from him before he shot a friend. The friend was a black guy, imagine that. I also told him as I stood behind a locked bathroom door, that when he burst through the door, I was going to shoot somewhere about 8 inches below his navel. I was not arrested. The local sheriff arrived, asked me to give him the gun. I did. The FBI agent got the gun back a few days later, turned it on himself.
You were perfectly within your rights to ask why you were being detained. You did nothing wrong. The main problem is that you have no legal recourse against them unless there is an enormous medical bill.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Helpful to know about the N link
Seattle's mayor enjoys the family's strong support, along with that of what I term the A-monopoly. Those four police who attended the January 6 event came right back to their jobs.
Creosote, could you please
explain what are you talking about. Maybe "Seattle's mayor" deserves it's own post and discussion.
Mary Bennett
Pardon, I'm just now finding this.
Not sure what I can add. The city I came to in 1973 has now become a capitalist paradise for the comfortably off, and it's difficult, at least for me, to find anyone who notices the loss. Or to know, beyond what Kshama Sawant has to say, what is actually taking place. I'm also not incisive enough to give my comments the depth of context they need. Hope to change this if I can.
Absolutely, we shouldn't have to
grovel to police. They are supposed to be working for Us. That said, I still, just me, am curtailing shopping at Walmart and I am done being nice to Wallyworld staff. If staff would rather kiss up to management than behave like decent humans, they get no further consideration from me. And if any Walmart person anywhere ever pulls a similar stunt against someone I care about, I WILL see them named and shamed.
Mary Bennett