He’s finally arrested.
Minneapolis police are now facing heavy criticism for not arresting Sawchak before the shooting even though he had multiple complaints.
Members of the Minneapolis City Council, including Mayor Jacob Frey, pointed blame at the Minneapolis police department for not acting on any of the prior complaints against Sawchak and failing to arrest him immediately after the shooting. https://newsone.com/5658819/white-man-shoots-black-neighbor-minneapolis/
From the article:
Minnesota Senator Omar Fateh also called out MPD, demanding an independent investigation.
What are the chances of that “independent investigation” going nowhere due to “external factors”?
This is how you get people to engage in “self help.” i.e. “I’m going to burn this motherfucker’s house down with him inside.”
Just disappear him. You don’t know shit. No evidence of anything
Yeah, my initial reaction was “well if he’s willing to shoot me I might as well shoot back”. But thinking about it, I’m a white cis man, I can’t imagine being in a situation like that and knowing that if I did retaliate I would more than likely be the one persecuted by the police.
WHAT THE FUCK
Call me crazy, but if you point a gun at a neighbor for any reason other than being attacked, you probably shouldn’t be allowed to have guns.
Brandishing is a crime. The issue here is it isn’t being enforced.
State laws differ and whether brandishing is considered a misdemeanor, a felony, or even a crime at all is going to depend on your state’s laws.
It’s not a crime at all in my state.
Wait for real? I could just point my gun at anyone i want and there is no law that’s being broken?! What state is that? That’s fucking crazy.
Pennsylvania. It’s an open-carry state. There is no law that says anything about brandishing.
That said, if you point a gun at someone, you are responsible for whatever happens next, including bullets flying in your direction.
(I’m not a lawyer so there might actually be a law about brandishing. I’ve just never pointed a gun at anyone so just don’t come here waving your gat around all willy nilly.)
Pointing guns at people is an exceptionally great way to get fuckin’ shot. I can think of no better way to all but guarantee you get shot than to point a gun at someone else.
Yeah that made me have a thought. John Oliver did an episode on “stand your ground” ages ago, and reading that guy’s message, asking “what he can do”, I’m forced to conclude that for him, in the US, in that situation, it would probably be best to get a gun himself and the next time the guy does something like this, just two to the chest.
Seeing he has a restraining order and whatnot previous things, probably should be somewhat of an easy case to defend as self-defense, right? Unless it’s just even fucking sadder, and it is just because he’s black and he’d just end up imprisoned for murder.
God the world is shit nowadays where shall we congregate a force to have a teensy weensy global revolution?
… for him, in the US, in that situation, it would probably be best to get a gun himself and the next time the guy does something like this, just two to the chest. … Seeing he has a restraining order and whatnot previous things, probably should be somewhat of an easy case to defend as self-defense, right? Unless it’s just even fucking sadder, and it is just because he’s black and he’d just end up imprisoned for murder.
“Imprisoned for murder” might still be on the optimistic side of potential outcomes… He could well be murdered himself, by the police, in reponse to what you and I see as self-defense. (I am guessing from the “in the US” part of your comment and other context that you aren’t from here, and may not be aware of the history of institutionalized racism that would make any interaction with the police potentially dangerous for him. Forgive me if I have erred there.)
Forgive me if I have erred there
You’re so loud ghe whole (Western) world knows most about your business.
You are right of course, and any interaction with police could be dangerous. But if he just shoots the guy, then calls the authorities while clearly laying his weapon far away from him and being on his knees with his hands on his head, there shouldn’t be an excuse for the cops to murder him.
But an alarming amount of things I’ve thought would never happen with the police have happened. Both in the US and here in Finland. Now I don’t need to be afraid of getting murdered, but the abuse still didn’t feel good.
Imprisoned for murder
Imprisoned for self defense while black.
It’s a similar problem as driving while black, walking while black, etc…
John Oliver did an episode on “stand your ground” ages ago
Doesn’t require stand your ground, unless you could reasonably flee the attacker. If they’ve got a gun it’s not too hard to argue that you couldn’t reasonably flee or they’d shoot you in the back.
Stand your ground just removes the duty to try to get away from an attacker if possible, and is only the law in some states.
The episode covered all that in detail, yes.
They give pretty good background and wider context, so…
Though not required for this situation, stand your ground laws have a big effect. When no such law exists, you’re definitely going to be the subject of a homicide investigation and may get charged and have to get a jury to acquit. When those laws do exist, the police won’t bother investigating and the DA won’t bring charges in many cases. In states like Texas or Florida, pretty much all you have to do is be on your property or say you felt threatened and shot first and you’re free to go.
Unfortunately, that would probably just result in him drowning in legal fees. Killing someone, even if it is completely justifiable in self-defense, is extremely expensive. Like, 6 figures expensive. That said, this man is going to fucking kill him so…also I guess even if he doesn’t, now he has medical fees anyway.
Jesus Christ what an all around fucked situation :(
Agree. It’s even on camera (assuming this goes down in the front yard)
Vengeance is what happens when the system doesn’t provide justice.
Minneapolis City Council needs to take charge of this and clean house. Police aren’t going to do it themselves, so the holder of the pursestrings is the one ultimately responsible.
Nah. Too little, too late. Send the DOJ. The City Council should separately be investigated.
The feds are already investigating the police there. They have been on a long time operation, and it is expected that it will conclude in a manner in which a lot of the department will change hands when it is over
Frey has vetoed any attempt to hold their feet to the fire.
you can wait on reform or you can make them afraid of the people
“He should not have been shot, but I will say this: We had no reason to suspect that he would shoot the neighbor from inside the house.”
The man who was being very aggressively territorial wouldn’t shoot someone from inside his house?
No, they assumed he would go outside first.
They were really caught off guard by that and are frankly a little disappointed with the assailant.
Astounded by the mental gymnastics to say that after this person brandished a knife from inside his home saying he’ll kill someone, the police couldn’t imagine he’d shoot someone from the vantage point of his home. Incredible.
Once again, armed white criminals have more rights than unarmed innocent POC in this country. The police likely support what this man did.
It’s a racist institution. It stopped being good for the people decades ago. It needs to go.
For anyone who thinks this comment is hyperbolic, never forget Nathan Pelham the Jan 6 insurrectionist.
When police came to take him in he drunkenly shot his gun at them from his home. Shooting to kill.
The police drive away and let him “sleep it off”
Imagine if that was a black man. He and his whole family would be shredded by assault rifles.
White domestic terrorists are being coddled by law enforcement.
Arm the left.
Just tell them he was smoking marijuana. They don’t want to deal with actual violent criminals. Those guys are scary.
Smoking marijuana, has a Harris sign in their yard, and supports the “defund the police” movement. They would be there in under five minutes with guns blazing.
agree.
although this intersection of the population isn’t causing violence :p
According to CBS News, Sawchak was taken into custody early Monday morning. Police said Sawchak had been holed up in his house for several days, but just before 1:30 a.m., he surrendered peacefully
Several days? Was this a siege? In any other case they’d torn down the house.
They said he had collected a large arsenal with like 250k rounds of ammo and had reason to believe he may have placed booby traps. so, take that as you will
With Christopher Dorner they burned the house down with him in it. Apparently the Minnesota police could use some training from California police.
Edit: /s
And in Colorado, police blew up somebody’s house because a shoplifter broke in and refused to leave.
With Christopher Dorner they burned the house down with him in it.
TBF that’s less egregious than randomly shooting up cars that didn’t even match the description of Dorner’s car.
He was white.
There must not have been any dogs or innocent bystanders to kill.
Besides, he was white, which is code for “negotiations only.”
Even that shitbag realized what he had done was wrong before the cops did.
I’m glad that, where I live, the racists find it difficult to get guns.
