Remember? There's no way to rule innocent men, so you declare so many things to be illegal, that it becomes impossible to live without breaking a "law".

I don't think the officer is a bad man but one who over reacted. With the people that are rioting due to what happened to Michael Brown the police officer feared for his life. Not saying his actions wrer correct

I have had this discussion many, many times. Police have increasingly become more of a paramilitary operation, than police. This started happening when California started SWAT teams to deal with the Black Panthers and quickly escalated to other cities due to their success. This created a mindset within the police. It is a WRONG mindset. Instead of protecting the public, now everyone (the public) is a suspect, and viewed as a criminal. The police have become an elite class. In their mind, any offense is an offense, no mater the magnitude. Anything that gives them an opportunity to confront anyone on any issue, at any time, gives them jurisdiction into your personal matters (and freedom). I believe our Constitution prevents a military against it's citizenry. Am I wrong?

That last shot was very telling. Bad crazy cop.
The black dude innocently goofed up though. I think he was surprised and moved too quickly to retrieve a wallet from a car seat.
Should you ever get pulled over by a cop, do not trust him to act rationally.
Do not do anything suddenly, especially with your hands. Let them be seen.
I've been trained in shoot and don't shoot situations and I recall some really tricky scenarios. I got tricked into make-believe shooting a goofy-looking dude who shook his head every time he was told to stop. Then he whipped out a sign from behind his back that said "I'm deaf." ! said "Bang" at the same time. That was embarrassing. Taught me a lesson, though.
Want a chance of getting a warning instead of a ticket? To at least avoid being" tazed"? Do not mouth off. Do not lose your temper. Say "sir" or 'ma'am a lot. Me old dino used to have a lead foot and got out of several tickets just for being respectful.

Tough one, while the guy did turn very aggressively around, the officer wasn't in a compromised position and could have remained behind his car. He should have yelled at the guy to stop or get on the ground before opening fire. I agree with others, he more or less unloaded his gun on him. It was a seatbelt stop, not apprehending a parole violator or fugitive.

This is my reservation about our Sheriff's idea to arm teachers to stop terror attacks in schools. This officer was trained, and yet screwed up. Can you imagine a teacher trained to use a gun, but not how to react to a panic situation?
We have a cop in our neighborhood, fired from his bigger city job after attacking a woman stopped for a seat belt violation. He did not shoot her, but did rough her up. The dashcam on that one showed a cop in need of anger management skills. He moved to our neighbor hood, but would not tell us his last name - we found out anyway. He has reacted violently to his neighbors as well. Meanwhile, the union got the dashcam video scrubbed from the Internet, and the news article about his dismissal, as well.

This cop is no better than a common thug. The additional tragedy is the negative way it reflects on the good street cops who put their lives on the line every day.

Excellent points.
We need watchdogs.
Watchdogs that lie are no one's friend.

Evidence on the later claim?
Simply not true.
Psychological tests are part of the training.
The first claim is true - but meaningless - we have many more police officers that we need than we have terrorists. More likely to die in a car wreck than a plane wreck due to number of rides in cars vs. planes. Doesn't automatically make planes safer (they are, I believe, however).

Are there crazy officers? Sure. Compared to the general public the number is tiny as they are actively assessed after every violent incident.

Fought this when the motorcycle helmet laws came out.
Fought it when the cigarette laws came out (rather than leaving it to the businesses that allowed it).

I don't smoke (did for six months when a teen), don't and never have ridden a motorcycle.

Decades later it's clear - more and more encroachment on our personal freedoms.

We were silent when it wasn't us.
Now it's us.

If he doesn't get sentenced for shooting an innocent victim, he should be for firing more than one shot and missing! Where did the other shots go? Was there anyone else injured? Any gun owner knows they are responsible for where each bullet fired lands.

Sometimes the police will pull over a suspected drug dealer for a minor violation so that they can be questioned. It is standard procedure for thugs to protest police abuse. The video only shows the beginning and the protests of pain could have been dubbed in. There are two sides to every story and the video has too little information to render a judgment against the officer in the video much less all police. This is known as the Fallacy of Exclusion. Evidence which would change the outcome of an inductive argument is excluded from consideration. If I am in trouble I will call the police not the thug. I will believe the police over the thug. There are always bad apples in every population but as a civilized society, we need proper legal system to deal with crime.

Statistics show you are far more likely to be murdered by a police person than a terrorist.
To add insult to that, in more than 80% of the cases they get off with no real punishment.

Perhaps we should stop being so worried about terrorists & be more worried about power mad killer cops.

This is what happens when you stop thinking & doing for yourself & have hirelings manage your cities & protection.

In some states they can do that... seriously... their police traffic enforcement authority extende onto private property. If (as here in the People's Demokratik Republik of Kalifornia, for example,) they make a SB infraction a "primary offense" (eg they see someone not wearing one and can pull them over, search the vehicle, and write the ticket based on it) they can (and have) written people up on their own property for sitting in their car, motor off, in their own driveay and not wearing one.

once again it is not the law makers that you have to worry about but those charged with administering the law. the cop should be fired.

So the million dollar question is? Why was Officer trying to cite the person for a SB violation on private property? Was he on a publicly owned street or property owned by and individual? Just askin'...

I watched this video and it's obscene. I saw another in which the cop shot a 70 year old veteran thinking his cane was a gun.

If cops are truly that afraid of citizens, they need to find another line of work. Preferably one that doesn't include weapons. I would rather that 100 cops get shot (After all they wear armor) than 100 unarmed citizens get shot.

Based on this video, the cop should go away for a long time. Cops committing crimes foretells the end of freedom and a civil society.

"They pose no public danger and the only risk is to themselves."
Yes. This is so unfortunate. Having all these laws affects the way we interact with each other. It's really corrosive. IMHO there should be very few laws and they should be strictly enforced.

The good news is it says the officer will be prosecuted. It looks really bad b/c even if he thought the suspected seatbelt-violator had a gun, it appears he keeps firing after it's obvious he poses no threat.

Good NESS!

Ouch! I know a few "peace officers", but they do seem to be the exception, at least in the news these days. There are some good ones.
Here is a positive story: http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2014/...

Statistics show that innocent americans are much more likely to be killed by their local police than a terrorist. Police recruitment tests and exams are so good that only a true psychopath can become police officer.

Hello eilinel,
The true reason for the law...
Regards,
O.A.

Ah, but cops can give tickets for no seat belts, thereby generating revenue for their departments...