Plainclothes Chicago police officers fired nearly 100 gunshots over 41 seconds during a traffic stop that left one man dead and one officer injured, according to graphic video footage a police oversight agency released Tuesday.

Five officers from a tactical unit who were in an unmarked police vehicle surrounded an SUV last month driven by Dexter Reed, allegedly for failing to wear a seatbelt. Video shows the 26-year-old Black man briefly lowering a window and then raising it and refusing to exit the vehicle as more officers arrived, yelled commands and drew weapons.

  • Alexstarfire@lemmy.world
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    Why are undercover cops pulling over a guy for not wearing a seat belt to begin with? Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for an answer to that.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      That’s an easy answer, they profiled him as a drug dealer and looked for any pretext to stop him. Instead of doing real police work like developing leads and stopping someone because they have probable cause to believe they’re transporting drugs. But that’s not sexy and adrenaline inducing.

    • foggy@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Isn’t failure to wear seatbelt a secondary offense? I believe you cannot be pulled over for it, only cited for it during a legitimate traffic stop.

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        7 months ago

        Got pulled over in Utah because my adult passenger wasn’t wearing his seatbelt correctly. There was no other pretense for it and there have been ad campaigns making it clear that officers will pull you over for that reason and only that reason.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    If a bunch of people in plainclothes rushed my car with guns drawn I’d think I was being robbed.

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    The audio isn’t all that clear but i heard a returning: “what is going on?” And a lack of an answer followed by excessive firearm usage.

    I have a feeling this person, same as the black guy from another video that refused to stop as he was convinced cops came to execute him and decided to pull into a gas station first…kinda knew what was going on by the energy the cops give off.

    If you want someone to co-operate you pull them over, explain the situation and there would be no need for firearms. But if you charge someone like wild bulls wanting to make a kill, people are gonna know…it’s instinct.

    I’e also seen this in a video where a guy got shot in his own house where two cops were yelling opposite commands and killed him for not co-operating, the worst part was when he knew he was fucked because they didn’t have their shit together. He was asking for clarity and bang bang bang…definitely cleared it up tho, but that shit ain’t right.

    Stop murdering people, please.

  • xkforce@lemmy.world
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    It is fucking sad and predictable how many people there are in this thread that defend the cops here.

    You dont get a prize for being the bestest bootlicker.

  • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    You’d think with all the shooting they do cops would be better at shooting things. A hundred rounds for one dude? Even if he was an actual threat that’s a huge waste of money. Ammo is expensive.

      • stringere@leminal.space
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        He fired at a group of dudes in civilian clothes driving regular vehicles telling him they were cops. Guess what more than tripled from 2019 to 2021 and continues? Car jackings and armed car jackings.

        They allege this was for a seatbelt. Weapons drawn for a simple traffic stop?

        Plainclothes officers, especially, should not be approaching people with a weapon drawn.

        • squozenode@lemmy.world
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          This is exactly why the “defund the police” movement is so popular.

          Traffic cops do not need to be armed.

          • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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            Traffic stops should also be initiated by marked cruisers. If needed, plainclothes cops can assist, but they shouldn’t be the first contact.

            • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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              I’m not stopping for an unmarked without being on the phone with 911 to make sure they’re a real cop.

              Growing up, we had a string of assaults in a podunk city that was perpetrated buy some guy(s) who bought some blue/red lights and a siren. Hell, for a while even the cops were saying not to stop outside of a well lit area at night…

        • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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          civilian clothes driving regular vehicles

          The vehicles had lights and sirens, and the officers were wearing body armour that identified them as police.

          The idea that he thought this was a carjacking just isn’t feasible.

          • Soggy@lemmy.world
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            Plainclothes police and unmarked cars should not exist (outside of, potentially, planned and warranted sting operations)

          • x0chi@lemmy.world
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            Not so feasible that even the 60 minutes show not so long ago did a episode/piece just about a wave of robberies that their method was using police cloths, sirens on their vehicles bought on Amazon… This must be common enough for 60 minutes show to do a piece on it, and I bet people who seen it sure think it’s a thing that is happening. Not that I’m blaming 60 minutes, just saying that it’s common enough for a national tv show to pick on it for a piece.

            • FilterItOut@thelemmy.club
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              Maybe… I still remember the national news piece about D&D being evil, and the national furor over satanic cults existing inside of day cares that had plenty of news coverage. Fearmongering isn’t a new millennium thing, it’s just gotten prolific due to the ease of the internet.

        • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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          20 rounds in a Glock mag, five officers, basically all five of them put an entire mag into the guy.

          I probably would too, if someone was shooting at me.

          • 100_kg_90_de_belin @feddit.it
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            So you’re telling me that State-condoned violence is managed by people who are not better trained than a rando on the Internet.

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            You don’t expect a trained soldier to shoot all the rounds when he is being attacked for multiple reasons. For other reasons you should also expect that a trained police officer shoots in the best possible way. All agents firing all the rounds in the mag sounds like panic too me, and if it is then cops should be better trained. One thing is how we civilians would react, another thing is how a professional that has a license to kill acts. And men with license to kill panicking and firing all the rounds sure isn’t professional… so why we admit that can say “oh I’m my case I would do the same.”. They are professionals, they should act professional, they NEED TO BE professional or else shouldn’t carry a arm and a licence to kill.

            • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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              Have you heard of suppressing fire? Soldiers fire a huge amount of ammunition without hitting anything.

              And as other commenters have pointed out, it’s not panic, it’s a strategy, keep firing until the threat is down.

    • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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      Not expensive enough. As the Chris Rock joke goes, maybe if bullets cost $10k per round we wouldn’t have so much needless gun violence.

      • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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        Ammo is expensive.

        Legit peanuts compared to what police departments actually spend their budgets on.

        9mm rounds cost ~$0.08 (less if you buy in bulk, which these departments most likely do) That means 100 rounds to kill this guy was about $8.

        They spend more on ammunition for target practice.

        I’m sorry, I know you hate cops but this is just an absurd angle to criticize them over. I know you won’t realize this though :(

        You can see what they said when you hit the reply button, even though the comment was deleted.

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            50cal is in the dollars per round for certain types of ammunition, less than ten cents a bang is bloody cheap.

          • FilterItOut@thelemmy.club
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            It once was, before gun companies and ammo manufacturers realized they could squeeze fud for all he’s worth if they rant (through means such as the NRA) that someone is coming for your guns. Eight cents for 9mm is pre-craze prices. I think the last bulk buy I saw was more in the $0.15 range. .223 has also doubled, in my experience. .22lr went through the roof. It was once $20 for 500 rounds. Now I saw 200 for $30. The only ammo I can think of that hasn’t changed greatly is shotgun shells.

            • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
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              9mm is currently like $0.22 per in 1000ct, .22lr is around $0.07, .223 is around $0.55.

              9mm and .22lr are about 25% higher than pre-craze, .223 has kept the same price as during craze.

  • juicy@lemmy.today
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    Chicago’s finest:

    In all, the city spent $295 million to resolve lawsuits alleging more than 1,000 Chicago police officers committed a wide range of misconduct — including false arrest and excessive force — in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, according to WTTW News’ analysis. Through the end of November, the city spent $62.3 million in 2023 to resolve police misconduct lawsuits.

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    I wish we lived in a world where we could readily believe this statement.

    The Civilian Office of Police Accountability said preliminary evidence showed Reed fired first, injuring an officer in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the city’s West Side.

    Rather than assuming that they probably shot their own officer in their excitement.

  • vortic@lemmy.world
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    If I had to guess, they pulled Reed over because thought he had something illegal in the car. The just used the seat belt as an excuse to pull him over and attempt to establish probable cause for a search of the car.

    That is probably supported by this:

    The Civilian Office of Police Accountability said preliminary evidence showed Reed fired first, injuring an officer in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the city’s West Side. Then four officers returned fire, shooting 96 rounds.

    As well as the fact that, even after a cop had emptied his magazine, Reed still managed to start driving away.

    I’m normally an ACAB guy, but the video makes it look like they were justified in continuing to fire, especially if it’s true that Reed fired first.

    • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.social
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      In that video they already had guns out and pointed at him. A group of unmarked “cops” shouldn’t be allowed to draw weapons and surround your car on a seatbelt violation. The second they all showed up with weapons drawn I would consider his shot self defense.

      They shouldn’t even be approaching the car until a uniformed officer is on scene to vouch that these aren’t just some Proud Boys (or any similar group of wanna be paramilitary out LARPing) playing cops.

      • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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        They shouldn’t even be approaching the car until a uniformed officer is on scene to vouch that these aren’t just some Proud Boys (or any similar group of wanna be paramilitary out LARPing) playing cops.

        Cash money says they were some Proud Boys being cops.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      The police always claim they were shot at first. The number of times I’ve heard that and it turns out the police shot themselves and then murdered someone makes me very hesitant to believe that without clear video of it.

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          There’s police off camera. You want people to believe the police? Release all the footage. This wouldn’t be the first time they released only the footage that shows them in the best light.

          • crossmr@kbin.social
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            Another angle isn’t going to show anyone else shooting first. This isn’t the George Lucas cut.

            this video has more angles: https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/traffic-stop-shootout-chicago-police-dexter-reed-escalate/ of course you could have been there and he could have looked at you and said ‘I’m going to shoot the police first’ and you would have witnessed him doing it and you’d still be saying the exact same things right now.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              You’re right this isn’t Hollywood. So why would you try to sell me that highly edited cut as evidence? That’s not a video it’s a slideshow with people talking over it.

              Edit to add - this is what we need to see.

        • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.social
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          He was surrounded by unmarked people with guns drawn and pointed at him as soon as he rolled down his window. Plain clothes officers should not be surrounding people with guns drawn for a “seatbelt” violation. I would say he felt like his life was at risk, and use of force was completely justified here.

          These cops murdered him, and should be charged as such.

    • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world
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      According to additional information, they were in an unmarked car and not uniformed officers. So for all intents and purposes, a random group of people.

      How do you expect someone to react to a seemingly random group of people approaching a vehicle and demanding they get out? Sounds like self defense in that context.

      We need all the information, with body cam video. Police have lied about these situations before to protect their shitty decisions. Their report cannot be trusted by itself.

      • crossmr@kbin.social
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        You mean like the bodycam video that it’s in the article? The one that clearly shows at least one of them wearing a vest that has ‘POLICE’ written on it while they repeatedly tell him to unlock and open the door? and after being told multiple times to unlock and open the door, saying he will, so the cops on the drivers side all back off to let him out and then he starts blasting at the one on the passenger side?

        There was absolutely no confusion at the point when he started shooting that they were cops.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          You can buy those patches on Etsy. Get a police car, get someone in their actual uniform. They’re the one that engages the driver with commands. Not this mob style shit they’re doing.

          • crossmr@kbin.social
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            What patch? The guy in the car was up on illegal weapon charges and illegal carrying a weapon. He didn’t shoot because he didn’t know who they were. He shot because he didn’t want to go back to jail.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              The one that clearly shows at least one of them wearing a vest that has ‘POLICE’ written on it while they repeatedly tell him to unlock and open the door?

              The one you so ably pointed out. And if our prisons are so bad people would rather die than go back we should probably fix that.

              • crossmr@kbin.social
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                That doesn’t appear to be a patch. Unless the prison comes with 24 hour massage and blow job service, very few criminals are ever going to want to go to jail. There is no fixing that. Maybe instead of trying to defend someone who would rather shoot at cops than face his illegal actions you could spend that effort teaching people like that not to be like that.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  Face what actions? Why was he stopped in such an aggressive manner again? A seatbelt?

                  And no the choice isn’t torture or blowjob.

              • sepulcher@lemmy.ca
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                Would rather die? He would rather fight than be punished.

                Damn, seeing how you guys twist facts and argue in bad faith really puts things into perspective than me.

                Most of ya’ll are too removed from reality to ever be brought back. These forums are just your containment zones, lol.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  Nobody in the criminal world thinks they’re going to shoot at police surrounding them and come out alive. He didn’t think he was getting into a fight and then going to prison again.

            • sepulcher@lemmy.ca
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              This is the rational response, but there are plenty of irrational children here whose growth has been stunted by these forums.

          • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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            These are police vehicles, with lights and sirens, you can see them in the video. That’s not easy to fake.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              They’re unmarked, any lights and sirens are low profile stuff in the grille or passenger compartment. And yeah you can buy them.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  Yeah, but that hasn’t stopped people. That’s why it’s important for police to not blur the line. Even one actual police car with one officer in their full uniform would remove the ambiguity.

                • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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                  You apparently get in a massive amount of shit of caught without your seatbelt too, yet here we are.

          • sepulcher@lemmy.ca
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            Wow. I think it’d be hilarious to see you in court claiming you shot at a police officer because you thought they were fake. Bonus points if you mention etsy.

            I guess if they actually were fake, you’d have a point. Kind of like when cops shoot at people who they think are armed.

              • sepulcher@lemmy.ca
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                The police have a duty to protect

                No they don’t.

                It’s not knowing it’s the police and getting killed because you thought you were being attacked.

                This guy clearly knew they were police, which is why you see so many apologists claiming that you can buy fake cop things online. They legitimately think that’s a rational belief; assume the people pursuing criminals aren’t actually police.

                I’m glad the real world is a bit more rational than what goes on here.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  If they don’t have a duty to protect then they’re just a well funded gang and they should be disbanded; by force if necessary. And if the world is so high minded and rational why are there so many stories of criminals disguising themselves as cops?

        • Halosheep@lemm.ee
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          The other day a car that was very obviously not a cop lit up some lights and ran a red light I was stopped at. Turns out you can just buy lights.

          • sepulcher@lemmy.ca
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            I don’t believe you, but okay.

            Putting spotlights or emergency lights on your car is highly illegal.

              • sepulcher@lemmy.ca
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                It’s definitely a deterrence.

                Go ahead, argue you thought they were fake cops in court. See how well that works for you out in the real world.

                You’d have point if they were actually fake cops.

                • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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                  Thank god all the laws have deterred people from breaking them. Like drugs, speeding, murder, changing lanes without signaling, running a red light, shoplifting. Those things never happen because theyre illegal! Why didn’t we think of this solution to crime before.

            • TheFriar@lemm.ee
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              It’s hard to say how you’d react when you’re surrounded by seemingly random guys “shouting profanities” at you, pointing weapons. The cops almost certainly escalated the situation completely unnecessarily. As they are wont to do. If you read the article, it very much sounds that way.

              Their excuse is he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. It isn’t clear how the situation went this way, but they apparently didn’t announce themselves as police, and when he rolled the window up they pulled their guns and shouted at him.

              Tell me how you’d react.

              And tell me honestly what you think would be more dangerous: a bunch of cops escalating this exact situation, or car jackers trying to force him out of the car? Honestly, it seems like the situation with the cops is more dangerous.

          • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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            You can very clearly see the lights in the video, there’s no way this person didn’t realize they were dealing with police.

            Why else would they have pulled over?

              • sepulcher@lemmy.ca
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                Which is highly illegal.

                Are you trying to say that he would be justified if he saw the lights because he could’ve thought they were fake?

                The cop-hate among ya’ll is insane. Really puts into perspective the kind of person that frequents these forums too much.

                • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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                  Which is highly illegal.

                  Better tell the criminals, they wouldn’t want to break the law.

                  The cop-hate among ya’ll is insane.

                  Let’s have a quick reality check here:
                  What was the crime?
                  How many police were involved?
                  How armed were the police?
                  Is that proportional to the crime?

                • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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                  I bought a light wand from Walmart and one of the functions is red and blue flashing lights. You can also use an app on your phone, I remember some kids getting in big trouble for messing with people using one.

                • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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                  Because the most prevalent armed gang will kill you if you don’t.

                  The real problem is the gang member was out of his colors, so it was impossible to tell which group of murderous thugs was actually involved.

            • PoopDelivery@sh.itjust.works
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              Yeah, we can see the lights from the video’s perspective, that doesn’t prove Dexter saw them. If we’re going off what the video shows, it doesn’t look like they pulled him over, it looks like they boxed him in with their vehicle.

              • stringere@leminal.space
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                it looks like they boxed him in with their vehicle.

                Yes.

                Five officers from a tactical unit who were in an unmarked police vehicle surrounded an SUV last month driven by Dexter Reed, allegedly for failing to wear a seatbelt.

    • Chozo@fedia.io
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      Plain clothes officers in an unmarked car with guns drawn on him for a seatbelt violation. How is somebody supposed to differentiate them from any other gang calling themselves “police”?

      He shot in self defense. Period.

          • crossmr@kbin.social
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            Clearly you already live in a fantasy world if you think a criminal illegally possessing a weapon simply shot out of ‘self defence’ when faced with returning to jail. No one was running up on him when he shot. They were backing off, clear as day in the video. The mental gymnastics people will go through to defend violent criminals is absolutely sad.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              Interesting that someone claiming to know a dead person’s motivations and thoughts accuses me of living in a fantasy world.

              • crossmr@kbin.social
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                I notice that you didn’t accuse the person who claimed he fired in self defence of having psychic powers. Maybe if your bias was so blatant I wouldn’t take everything you said as a giant trolling joke.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                  “You didn’t say anything to them, therefore what you said to me is not valid” is very poor reasoning.

    • Kalkaline @leminal.space
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      He shot at plain clothes police officers with an unmarked car that didn’t announce themselves as police in the video I saw, but they turned their video on after the encounter started.

    • blahsay@lemmy.world
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      Wow it’s genuinely disturbing that so many people here think attempting murder is an appropriate response to getting pulled over. Yeesh people.