Tamir Rice

It's like some sort of horrible hypothetical gone wrong. A twelve-year-old with a toy gun in a park. People were all around, and no one was concerned. Police rolled up in their car and shot him point-blank, though the window. And one of the officers has a history of issues.

If this blog has taught me one thing, it's the ability of tribalism to short-circuit rationality. At times, Freepers will hate the police, especially when they themselves are inconvenienced. But at the moment, with all these cases that have black people on the other side? While some Freepers are taken aback by the above horrid facts, most Freepers don't really bother with the horrid facts - they go straight to trying to figure out a way that the police are okay.

NorthstarMom - that this kid was HUGE!

5’7” and 195 pounds is a very big 12 year old. I’m not defending the officer but he probably didn’t look like a young boy playing with a toy gun. With the hysteria that always follows mass shootings the officer could have felt a great deal of anxiety and pressure to protect everyone at the park.

Gay State Conservative saw a photo, which is all he needs.

The kid had no chance. The cop car rolled up to a few feet and the cop on the passenger side just shot him. Watch the video.

I can't recall if the photo I saw was the actual "gun" that the kid had or if it was identical to it...or close to identical.If the photo I saw was even close to looking like the one the kid had I say "no culpability".

Of course this is a sad case.And it should be obvious that it bears *no* resemblance to Tayvon or Gentle Giant.Parents should warn their kids about stuff like this.

DonaldC is mostly sad that he can't deny that black people might be right this time.

In that video, there were occasionally people walking by but the kid was by himself. The police arrive by driving through the park and stop within a few feet of the kid and shoot. This could go the race baiter’s way depending on what else comes out I guess.

umgud draws a parallel to an actual criminal who was not killed.

One of my stupid in-laws committed an armed robbery with a pellet pistol. He was caught and charged just as if it were real.

bgill blames the twelve-year-old.

Here’s an idea. Don’t walk toward cops with a toy gun without the orange tip. Don’t wave a toy gun at passersby. Don’t be stupid.