Memphis police officer shot, killed during traffic stop

[alp227]

Source: Memphis Commercial Appeal

For the third time in barely more than four years, a Memphis police officer has been shot and killed in the line of duty.

Sean Bolton died from multiple gunshot wounds after he was shot just after 9:15 p.m. while conducting a traffic stop at Cottonwood and Perkins in Parkway Village Saturday night.

Bolton was rushed to the Regional Medical Center, but was pronounced dead there. The suspect, apparently an occupant of the car that was pulled over, was still at large late Saturday.

Read more: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/local-news/crime/memphis-police-officer-shot-during-traffic-stop

[kacekwl]

1. WTF

Is wrong with people ? Stop this Damn killing already.

[7962]

2. Posted for several hours and only ONE response.

Says a lot about our membership

[FarPoint]

3. Law Enforcement as a group need to return to serving the public once again.

The acts of Law Enforcement of late have become militant as if the community was a combat zone...Only they can change the outlook . So, there ya go.

[DustyJoe]

44. okay

So some cops are bad cops so it's OK to just kill any cop .. there ya go

[FarPoint]

48. My point is this....

As a group, LEO needs to return to serving the public and leave combat to a War Zone....I never said anything about the death of an Officer.....If you wish to ask me that question...please feel free to do so. Your snide comment was ignorant and assuming.

So, there ya go.

[brewens]

52. I have no clue about the race of anyone involved but have a few things to say.

I didn't read the story at the link so don't know if the occupants of the car were black or the officer was white.

As a white guy in my area, even with some priors and possibly in posession of something illegal that could be big trouble. At an actual routine traffic stop, I could be fairly confidant that the cop would just take a look at me and that would be all. The traffic stop wouldn't be an opportunity to investigate anything. As long as the driver wasn't wanted or smelled like alcohol, it would just be a ticket and we'd know we were just driving on in a couple of minutes.

I could be in a three strikes position, armed with a pound of weed on me, vowed to die before I went back to prison again, and I'd still know it was best to be cool. In a lot of places, a guy in that position would know, especially if he was black and the officer was white, he was going to be checked out carefully and probably searched. I think it's fair to say that the way the cops opperate in some places pre-escalates such encounters.

[DustyJoe]

54. pre escalation

The only answer to that last sentence is the Baltimore option to not stop anybody or investigate anyone and let the criminals sort themselves out.
I guess the no police on the street and go back to the old wild west style of law enforcement is inevitable, things seem to be heading that way.

[LiberalElite]

4. Posted at 4:01 a.m. on a Sunday and

says what about our membership? I think it's that they sleep late on Sunday.

[7962]

5. Well, OK. Let it "age" a little and we'll see.

I doubt the number of posts will increase by too much. Its 1100am now. What it says about our membership? I think its "selected outrage". Had an OP the other day about an unarmed teenager shot in the back & killed by a cop. 2 days ago. Got THREE responses. Does that sound normal to you? Oh, the kid was white.

[irisblue]

16. pal, I just saw this...judge others much?

[7962]

20. Only when I think its needed!!

[secondwind]

47. maybe we are all on "overload" and we cannot absorb another horror.. pls don't judge. n/t

[7962]

55. I did jump the gun a little. nt

[Fla Dem]

7. Police work is inherently dangerous and I'm sad when an officer is killed in the line of duty.

Fire fighting is also dangerous, as is construction and many other occupations. Where is the thread for the firefighter who was killed while fighting the fire in northern California this week?

Firefighter dies in wind-fueled Northern California wildfire

http://news.yahoo.com/firefighter-died-being-trapped-wind-fueled-blaze-182729992.html

If your concern is that there is not as much outrage when a police officer is killed, as when a police officer without cause kills an unarmed citizen, then your concern is misplaced. The shooter will be found, and either killed in a shootout or brought to justice with the full weight of the law coming down on him. This cannot always be said for police killings of innocent citizens.

All sudden deaths are tragic. I feel sympathy for the officer's family. friends and co-workers.

[7962]

8. Yes, it is.

And yes, it IS a lot harder to get a bad cop punished. Although it seems as though that may slowly be changing, hopefully.
But I dont think my concern is totally out of place. I see it often here; the selective outrage depends on who gets killed or how they got killed. See my post above; an unarmed white kid gets shot in the back by a cop and gets THREE posts. If that kid were black it would've gotten 200. ALL "crimes by cop" need to get massive exposure otherwise they'll keep getting away with it.
The firefighter wasnt MURDERED either. By the way, that story did get a thread here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141164164

[graegoyle]

14. "Posted for several hours and only ONE response."

A search and some reading that you can do for yourself:

http://www.google.com/search?q=record+of+cops+killed+by+civilians&oq=record+of+cops+killed+by+civilians&gs_l=mobile-heirloom-serp.3...0.0.1.81497.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c..34.mobile-heirloom-serp..17.22.2626.ndXzXXtq1Wo


You could read some of that. You might find it enlightening.

Or not.

You could also step back and reflect on the black civil rights struggle and how blacks AND WHITES and others were systematically targeted by WHITE police and other agents; attacked to enforce laws intended to segregate whites from the other races through MURDER.

And now people want to point out that whites are being targeted, too. Whites are not being targeted; it's the spillover of a police system that has gotten way out of control.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

18. It says nothing about our membership

except that not everyone has checked into DU in the last several hours.

[7962]

36. You're right; I should've waited. It did pick up after some time passed.

Although a lot of it is still bashing the cops. I havent heard of THIS cop having any personnel issues in the past. Not that it would warrant his murder, but a lot of folks are lumping ALL of them into one abusive pile.

I have to admit that I wouldnt lose any sleep if the cop who strangled Eric Garner ended up on the bad side of a beating though.....

[Uponthegears]

32. At the risk of validating your post

let me say that as tragic as the unnatural death of any person may be, there needs to be a discussion about whether police oppression, coupled with justice system acquiesce/facilitation has turned many areas in our nation into war zones where one side is wearing blue and where that side's moral superiority is not at all a settled question. We need to ask whether the lack of justice in case after case of blue on black crime has created a situation where police are in greater danger.

[sulphurdunn]

38. What does it say a lot about?

[passiveporcupine]

40. Maybe it says that we didn't all see the thread till now?

[7962]

41. Yes, see my post 36

[LoisB]

42. Sometimes one has nothing to add to the conversation. I don't think it says a lot

about anything.

[LanternWaste]

53. What specifically do you think it says?

What specifically do you think it says? Or are we simply going to cower behind implication?

[7962]

56. Well, read half the posts.

More cop bashing, one even surmising that the occupants of the car were defending themselves. But it WAS a Sunday and I shouldve given it more time because more folks DID post, but like I said, look at what a lot of them had to say.
And then we have the story a few days back of another unarmed kid shot in the back by a cop and killed. Its got THREE posts. Usually those stories get 200. the difference? The kid who was killed was a white kid. The "selective outrage" of many of our members is obvious.

[romanic]

6. I'm sure some will think this is "karma"

but it's not, another life lost out to some bastard with gun. R.I.P to Officer Bolton.

[secondvariety]

9. Sympathies to his family.

Poor guy was just doing his job...

[LiberalElite]

10. Kicking for visibility nt

[dogknob]

11. When all police misconduct settlements are paid out by police union funds instead of taxpayers...

I will maybe start giving a fuck about what happens to them. Until then, they're just another gang.

[philosslayer]

12. Still some details to be fleshed out before any conclusions can be drawn.

Did the officer fire first? Was he threatening the occupants of the car? Did they feel their lives were in imminent danger? Lets wait for some facts to come in. Hopefully the interaction was recorded.

[Syzygy321]

13. This is why I can't entirely

get behind allot of the cop abuse that goes on on this site. Racism is wrong, abuse by cope is terrible, and endemic departmental corruption (places where every cop is racist or every cop breaks the law) must be rooted out somehow.

BUT cops have the job of protecting society from bad guys. That means they face danger. And even something minor like a traffic stop can get the cop killed. Also, a weird-acting or confrontational driver may have a body in his trunk or an outstanding warrant against him/her.

That's why a cop has the right to say, "Put out your cigarette, ma'am, and step out of the car.". And while a citizen has a right to say "why?" he/she shouldn't make any sudden moves that will make the cop fear for his safety. Cops are people too.

[7962]

15. See post #11

Hell, #12 too.

[KingCharlemagne]

17. Wrong: cops have the job of maintaining the status quo. If you've benefitted from that status quo,

you're likely to view the police benevolently. If your life has been shit and you see no future prospect for it to improve, you tend to view those who maintain your status quo with far more disdain. Q.E.D.

[Syzygy321]

19. Lots of people have made the

connection between poverty and crime. Also between being nonwhite and being poor. Therefore it follows that nonwhite people stand an above-average chance of living in a high crime neighborhood.

Those are exactly the people who need good cops.

Do you really think neighborhoods would be safer if cops withdrew and stopped, quote, maintaining the status quo?

I imagine cops would be a lot safer if they stopped trying to police neighborhoods where there is a lot of gun crime and drug crime, and just let the local folks accept the status quo. Win-win, right?

[KingCharlemagne]

21. Oh puh-leeze. People who live in lower-class neighborhoods are usually very reluctant to

'call the cops' because they know full well that the cops will often make a bad situation much, much worse.

This is what happens when you call the cops; You get your rights violated or you might get shot:

https://www.facebook.com/TheAntiMedia/videos/vb.156720204453023/364518957006479/?type=2&theater

I'll believe there are 'good cops' when I see them perp walking the bad cops. Until then, meh, just another gang with guns, this one operating under color of the law.

[Syzygy321]

23. So you think poor neighborhoods

would be better off if police stopped entering them.

I am curious how many people on DU share that feeling.

And I am curious how many actual people in actual poor neighborhoods feel as you do.

[heaven05]

26. Well they don't enter that much. But when they do, do they enter!!!!

I wonder what you know about the segregated community's known as "inner cities", "urban neighborhoods" or any of the code word descriptions of the american "black townships" created by a racist system of government, from local to national. No sympathy really for .......

[Syzygy321]

27. So I take it you are voting "cops should stay out!"

then?

I have never lived in the "inner city", just mixed urban areas (college/working class/immigrant mix) and low-crime suburbs. So all I know is what I see on the news.

If you live in a poor urban area, I am very interested in your views and those of your neighbors. Is that the general opinion among poor urban non-criminals - that they wish the police department would just leave them alone?

If that's what residents want, I would think the police departments would be willing to oblige.

[heaven05]

31. you really are serious

Last edited Sun Aug 2, 2015, 06:21 PM - Edit history (1)

Decent hardworking individuals deserve police protection, no matter their status or race. It's just that when inner city people call the police, IF they show up at all, there is the real danger they will kill an unarmed innocent person for "eyeballing" a white cop. Black cops will show up and take care of business, usually.

I see how you're twisting and turning in your privileged discomfiture at your inability to understand the systemic and institutional racism perpetrated by a political system that created a culture that truly only benefits the 1% and their privileged tools who the 1% use as the buffer between they, the1% and the victimized of this society. I have observed these tools consistently working on here and in society at large to maintain a status quo that will continue to benefit the tool(s) and no one else. If the police departments don't show up, I'm sure that would make YOUR day. It is pretty obvious in your response. And I seriously doubt my views or my neighbors views would count with you or any of the other privileged citizens that visit this board enough to really want to change things.

I have come to the FIRM conclusion that the reason(s) "inner cities" and "black townships" are in existence means nothing to the privileged. Never have, never will unless white privilege is threatened and then those very same 'privileged' will be whining and clamoring to send in the occupation army to quell the "disturbance".

Just like systemic and institutionalized racism, which could have been ended a long time ago and has not, is because not enough 'concerned citizens' have stood up and said let's change this. And if it's just peaceful POC demanding change, they get derided as being too vocal or angry and the privileged try to marginalize them like #BlackLivesMatter. I know the game(s) of the privileged, they haven't changed much since I was immersed in the battle to get my voting and civil rights. Since that small victory, many rights are actively being rescinded. I just observe and the game(s) of the privileged have not changed at all in their struggle to minimize, diminish, distract from the cause of and consequence(s) of racism in order to maintain their privilege.

Here's your corner, I'm be dropping you off, conversation is getting old and boring...have a good one

[Syzygy321]

33. So you think policing is neceassary and cops do a useful job

At least, if they are black cops.

Okay. That's something.

[7962]

24. "Do you really think neighborhoods would be safer if cops withdrew...."

Look at whats happening in Baltimore.

[heaven05]

25. well you tried to sneak that one in

you're not worth any more comment..except...... do you mean???????????? To POC, cops, white usually, act the farthest from human they can...more like rabid animals.

[Syzygy321]

29. Did you mean to reply to me?

I don't see how your comment follows from mine.

[niyad]

34. what flavour pizza would you like?

[Syzygy321]

35. Hi niyad

I like your kickass feminism. It's nice to hear from you.

But please explain your comment. Pizza?

[Ms. Yertle]

57. "Pizza"="Tombstone

Niyad's way of saying you are going to be banned before long.

[Syzygy321]

58. Really??!

Well niyad, that's surprisong. And uncivil.

And rereading my post, I don't see anything controversial in it.

We do agree that cops are people, right? All people are people, and may Lord Frith help any Dem who has gotten so lost that she insists otherwise.

[Amishman]

49. the police do not have a duty to protect anyone, there have been numerous court cases on this

see DeShaney v. Winnebago County, Castle Rock v. Gonzales, and others

Their job is to catch and detain those who break laws, nothing more.

[Syzygy321]

50. Interesting

But isn't that the same thing?

Every time I see a drunk guy leaving a bar in a cab and not his car, every night my ex-boyfriend doesn't show up outside my home anymore shouting threats and pounding on my door, every time my kids get to school and back without anyone trying to sell them drugs, that's due to the existence of police.

But in my city they also appear at the scene of road accidents and public gatherings etc.

[msanthrope]

22. Rest well, Devil Dog. nt

[BadGimp]

28. Sad day

prsyers for the family

[Lil Missy]

30. Terrible tragedy. Cops have dangerous jobs.

We just lost an officer in Omaha a few months ago. She was serving a warrant to a known gang member. He shot and killed her on the spot. She had a premie baby that was due to come home the next day. #KerrieOn

[7962]

37. I remember that story. ONE day before leave was to start. nt

[secondwind]

39. this is horrible......no excuses!

[Skittles]

43. tragic

[NoodleyAppendage]

45. Murdered by thug on supervised release following 121 month bank robbery conviction

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/02/us/memphis-officer-killed-traffic-stop/

[moondust]

46. "Let's flood the streets with guns and see what happens!"

[Evergreen Emerald]

51. And this is the reason so many police officers

respond as if they are going to be killed. Because many times, they are.