Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

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Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
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Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

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Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy? You may not have heard about Sheneque Proctor--"the female Eric Garner who suffocated to death in police custody". Nonetheless, since the 18-year-old girl's death in police custody, family, friends and community members have been demanding answers.

Of course, getting any answers out of the police and their bosses, answers besides that they didn't do anything wrong, is near-impossible. For instance, between 2007 and 2012 Houston PD killed citizens in 109 shootings. Every killing was ruled justified. Every single one. They are perfect, according to themselves. For those of us in reality, in which police are not perfect and in which governments cannot be blindly trusted to investigate themselves, we must ask the very critical questions and demand real answers.

In the case of Sheneque Proctor, the autopsy was released on Tuesday. The short story is they are claiming she died of a "drug overdose". If we left it up to the police and their bosses, that's it; case closed; their hands are clean.

But it's not that simple, despite what police, their bosses, and corporate news might want us to think.

The 12-Hour Gap

Sheneque was arrested and pepper-sprayed at 2:39pm. The jail officer claims she was still alive in her cell when checked on over 12 hours later at 3:37 a.m. If she was dying of a "drug overdose" that whole time, this seems like a severe case of medical neglect. Do the police really expect us to believe this girl would have coincidentally died 12 hours after they arrested her anyway had they not pepper-sprayed and arrested her and left her in an awful cell for hours?

Coincidentally Dying Right Before Breakfast

Jail officers claimed they reliably did their rounds throughout the night, checking on Sheneque and finding her alive during that 12 hours after arresting her. They claim they checked her and saw her alive in her cell at 3:37 a.m. Then when attempting to wake her up for breakfast only 23 minutes later noticed her unresponsive. What a strange coincidence that after finding her dead at breakfast time it turns out she supposedly died right before that?! An explanation that doesn't require such odd timing coincidences would be one in which jail officers weren't perfect and didn't check on her reliably and thus didn't find her dying or dead until breakfast time.

The Asthma

The young girl had asthma. How quickly the corporate new report and police sympathizers gloss over that fact! Surely the fact that the girl who was pepper-sprayed and tossed in crummy cell for hours had asthma factors into the case.

The War on Drugs Issue

One of the girl's charges was marijuana possession. Police also love to throw on disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges whenever attacking someone on some other charge.

Marijuana has killed nobody. However, the war on drugs has killed thousands and ruined the lives of many more. How many of the over a thousand people killed by police each year would still be alive if not for the war on drugs? Only 8% of people incarcerated in the USA are even charged with a violent crime. So thinking because someone is in jail they deserve less sympathy is misplaced in a country in which the violent attackers enforce the law and peaceful people are thrown in prison. And to think jail is safe is misplaced as well. How many people in Texas die from heat in prison each year?

The "Drug Overdose" Slur

When they use the term drug overdose it seems to unjustifiably imply that the girl somehow killed herself with her own recklessness. That's already been thrown out by the nearly 12 hours she spent in police custody. However, it is also worth noting alprazolam was in her system which is used to treat anxiety disorders, panic disorders, and anxiety caused by depression. She was also only a teenager, not even old enough to buy herself a beer; the police need to take care of these children, not treat them callously and negligently and then blame the children for the children's deaths.

The "Criminal" Slur

Instead of asking and answering the tough questions like those asked above, many try to brush off incidents like these by blaming the victim, often with calling them a criminal as if criminal means bad person. We see this throughout the country with statist-sympathizers saying things like, "Breathe easy; don't break the law," or "instead of criticizing the police, stop breaking the law". Of course, that is nothing but a plain fallacy, unjustifiably mixing up the concept of 'criminal' with the concept of a 'bad guy'. However, let's not forget that Martin Luther King was a criminal. Henry David Thoreau was a criminal. Rosa Parks was a criminal. The Germans who hid Jews in their attic were criminals. On that note, I leave you simply with some pictures further debunking the criminal slur.

Don't accuse me of saying that the current U.S. government is as bad as Nazi's (or not). Rather, the point is simply to disprove the absurd "just don't break the law" argument.

The U.S. has so many laws we are all criminals. If you speed on the highway you are criminal, and a more dangerous one than a marijuana drug offender. That doesn't mean you deserve to be thrown in a cage worse than we treat animals and left to die.

What do you think? Trust that the police were perfect or ask questions and demand answers? How would you feel if this was your teenage daughter who died after 12 hours in police custody without receiving any kind of treatment or medical attention? What would you do?
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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Theophane »

Don't break the law -- stay out of trouble. It's worked for me so far.
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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes »

Theophane, so you are saying, See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?

Indeed, Rosa Park, Henry David Thoreau, Martin Luther King and the Germans who got arrested for helping Jews would probably have gotten into less trouble had they obeyed the law instead of being criminals. But isn't that really like advising rape victims to not wear provocative clothing or walk around dark alleys? Even if the advice is structurally true, isn't it misplaced and false in implication of seeming to blame the victim? Is such victim-blaming even a coherent response to the death of a teenage girl? To the pain and loss her family feels?

I'm not saying that any given arrested person happens to be as heroic as Rosa Park or MLK. That's not the point. Those examples simply demonstrate the fallacy in the 'just don't break the law' argument, which is just as fallacious however applied.
My entire political philosophy summed up in one tweet.

"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master."

I believe spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline) manifests as bravery, confidence, grace, honesty, love, and inner peace.
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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Obvious Leo »

Theophane wrote:Don't break the law -- stay out of trouble. It's worked for me so far.
Are you suggesting that people who die at the hands of police only have themselves to blame? If so then marvellous career opportunities await you in the totalitarian regime of your choice. In such a regime you'll be able to loot, rape, pillage and murder to your heart's content, secure in the knowledge that you can never be held accountable for your actions. It's also probably a hell of a lot safer than joining the jihadis in the middle east. These gangsters are attracted to similar entertainments but take far greater risks in the pursuit of their pleasures. If only they'd been a bit more diligent with their schoolwork from the outset they could have been cops in Texas instead. Good pay, flash uniform, fast car and the power to exert control over people who are powerless to defend themselves. Throughout all this you are yourself untouchable because you live in a world where might is right.

I don't seriously accuse you of advocating for such a world, Theophane, but your flippant off-the-cuff remark is symptomatic of a far deeper malaise that infects your entire society. Junkies deserve whatever they've got coming and girls that like to look pretty are asking to get raped. Kindly don't forget that the victim in all these scenarios is the person that finishes up dead.

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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Theophane »

Are you suggesting that people who die at the hands of police only have themselves to blame?
No.

Some are killed during violent skirmishes with police, some commit suicide by cop, and others are victims of unjustifiable police aggression. For all I know, Sheneque Proctor really was murdered by Texas police. Even though I haven't experienced it firsthand, I am not skeptical of police corruption and police brutality in general.

Drug-addiction is inherently destructive and people who live that way court death, not necessarily at the hands of others but almost certainly by their hand. They don't deserve death as much as they pursue it.
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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Spiral Out »

The "simple" solution is to have all interaction between law enforcement agents and detainees recorded on camera for documentation and dissemination by the public, and then hold personally responsible and automatically guilty of homicide any law enforcement agent who has had any such detainee incur serious injury or death while in their custody and if not while documented on camera and if they had not acted in a manner justifying such serious injury or death.

The welfare of the individual is the sole responsibility of the detaining agent and/or representatives if they are going to detain the individual against their will and subject them to potentially dangerous conditions or circumstances.

They must take complete responsibility when they have altered the course of the individual's life, even if said individual has committed an egregious crime.

If the individual has acted in such a manner as to have justifiably (according to majority decision) incurred serious injury or death at the hands of the law enforcement agent then so be it. It will have at least been documented for all to witness.

I would think that if law enforcement agents were held to a higher level of responsibility then they would act with a higher level of responsibility especially where their own personal welfare was at stake in such circumstances as their forcing their will on another Human being.

What did the autopsy reveal of her death?
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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Theophane »

With that kind of ridiculously obstructive surveillance, Spiral, law enforcement might as well not exist at all. :roll:
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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Spiral Out »

How is having the interaction between law enforcement agents and private citizens video-documented "ridiculously obstructive" and why would it negate the necessity of law enforcement?
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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Obvious Leo »

Theophane wrote:With that kind of ridiculously obstructive surveillance, Spiral, law enforcement might as well not exist at all. :roll:
Spiral Out's proposed model is roughly similar to the way things are now done in my country, and I'm all for it. It works very well in Australia and even better in the UK. Police violence is not unheard of but it's far more infrequent than it ever was in the past and unsurprisingly our crime rates have fallen precipitously across the board as a result.

If we treat people like **** then that's exactly how they'll behave and if we expect our citizens to respect the rule of law then we are entitled to expect an even higher standard of respect for this principle from those charged with enforcing it.

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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Eckhart Aurelius Hughes »

I think Spiral Out's solution would be a huge step to preventing police aggression. In fact, I have seen numerous studies that police having to record their interactions causes complaints of excessive force to plummet. Let's not also forget that such recordings can also protect police from false accusations, namely in cases where force was justified.

However, I keep hearing stories about police turning off their body cams before allegedly beating or shooting someone. What's the point of the camera if the police can just turn it off? If wearing the cameras is required, then I think for the same reason we need to require they be kept running.

With today's technology, it could be very easy to make them constantly recording and dropping the feed after a period of time unless saved. I believe this is actually how many security tapes work (meaning the recording is automatically deleted after a set period of time if not explicitly saved). This can allow someone to go back and save the video after an incident occurs, saving the person the trouble of turning on the device prior to the incident.

In addition to Spiral Out's suggestion, I would also suggest that ending the war on drugs and similar consensual crimes would also help greatly. I don't think thousands of Americans are killed by police each year simply because the police do not wear cameras, when in countries like Japan nobody is usually killed by police in an entire year. Wars cause casualties (on both sides), and the war on drugs is no exception. Unfortunately, the politicians, prison industry and police union leaders work for their own benefit and the benefit of the wealthy special interests who own both political parties and really run this country. Ending the war on drugs and the deaths that the war causes is not in their financial interest even though it would greatly benefit the rest of us, especially young girl's like Sheneque and their devastated families.
My entire political philosophy summed up in one tweet.

"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master."

I believe spiritual freedom (a.k.a. self-discipline) manifests as bravery, confidence, grace, honesty, love, and inner peace.
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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Obvious Leo »

Scott wrote: I would also suggest that ending the war on drugs and similar consensual crimes would also help greatly.
It would indeed but in the case of the US it would come at the cost of economic collapse. The drug business and the crime business have been the most successful economic drivers in the land of the free for decades. It keeps people in work, generates taxes and makes rich people richer. It's the American way, Scott.

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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Sy Borg »

Well said, Scott. Seeing the enormous damage caused by the war on drugs (which has proved as efficacious in fostering organised crime as prohibition), I wonder about the stakeholders in this issue and their motivations for wanting to maintain such a destructive status quo.

To what extent are pubs and clubs and the liquor lobbies involved in cannabis prohibition? Which people in high places have links with organised crime figures? Why were so many police resources directed towards busting obvious grass plantations instead of making a greater effort to deal with serious organised criminals? What are the business and personal links between the liquor lobby groups and lawmakers? How much do they donate to the major parties?

The current laws are about the vested interests of various powerbrokers, who skilfully play on the wowser lobby's conservatism. It surely isn't about the public good.
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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Misty »

Scott wrote:I think Spiral Out's solution would be a huge step to preventing police aggression. In fact, I have seen numerous studies that police having to record their interactions causes complaints of excessive force to plummet. Let's not also forget that such recordings can also protect police from false accusations, namely in cases where force was justified.

However, I keep hearing stories about police turning off their body cams before allegedly beating or shooting someone. What's the point of the camera if the police can just turn it off? If wearing the cameras is required, then I think for the same reason we need to require they be kept running.

With today's technology, it could be very easy to make them constantly recording and dropping the feed after a period of time unless saved. I believe this is actually how many security tapes work (meaning the recording is automatically deleted after a set period of time if not explicitly saved). This can allow someone to go back and save the video after an incident occurs, saving the person the trouble of turning on the device prior to the incident.

In addition to Spiral Out's suggestion, I would also suggest that ending the war on drugs and similar consensual crimes would also help greatly. I don't think thousands of Americans are killed by police each year simply because the police do not wear cameras, when in countries like Japan nobody is usually killed by police in an entire year. Wars cause casualties (on both sides), and the war on drugs is no exception. Unfortunately, the politicians, prison industry and police union leaders work for their own benefit and the benefit of the wealthy special interests who own both political parties and really run this country. Ending the war on drugs and the deaths that the war causes is not in their financial interest even though it would greatly benefit the rest of us, especially young girl's like Sheneque and their devastated families.
There will always be a trust factor that police can get around. How can "keep the cameras on" be implemented without violation?
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Re: Sheneque Proctor - Brushed off that easy?

Post by Belinda »

Theophane wrote:
I am not skeptical of police corruption and police brutality in general.
Then you seem to be dangerously optimistic. To put the matter into religious phraseology, the devil is always stalking around and it behoves all of us to seek out his evil and contend with it.
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