Quote:
Originally Posted by David Sklansky
So, you are saying that a group of black law enforcement officers "planned" to beat up a young black man who hadn't committed a major crime to the point where his death was a decent possibility, even though they were wearing bodycams and were taking a big risk of ruining their own lives?
The fact that Slighted did not quickly join in to refute me should have been a tipoff.
First, the fact that your actions might be caught on camera doesn't tell me much. It is not uncommon for a killings to occur in relatively busy public areas. If you are in public, there is an excellent change that you are on tape.
Second, the fact that the officers are black and the victim is black doesn't tell me much about the officers' intent. People kill other people all the time for reasons other than racial animus.
Third, I never said that these officers started their shift with a specific intent to kill someone. Indeed, that is highly unlikely. But that level of premeditation isn't necessarily required to support a murder charge. I'll give you an example. If you hit a drunk in a bar with a pint glass, a shard of glass severs an artery, and the person bleeds out in two minutes, you are highly likely to be charged with manslaughter.
If you beat a man outside a bar unconscious, and then you spend five minutes dragging his body around the corner, and then you kick him in the head three times and he dies of a skull fracture, you are likely to be charged with a more severe offense than manslaughter. By the time you start kicking him in the head, you have had time to think about what you are doing. And you are making a decision at that point to continue with your violent attack.