
Why the cops won't help you when you're getting stabbed - pfarnsworth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAfUI_hETy0
======
ngrilly
Seriously? Then what's the purpose of having a police? HN members living in
the USA, do you confirm this?

~~~
totalZero
Sadly, yes.

[http://nypost.com/2013/01/27/city-says-cops-had-no-duty-
to-p...](http://nypost.com/2013/01/27/city-says-cops-had-no-duty-to-protect-
subway-hero-who-subdued-killer/)

> [C]ity lawyers are arguing that the police had no legal duty to protect
> Joseph Lozito[.]

As mentioned in the video, the NYPD won that case.

According to the NYPD at the time, the cop was a hero who tackled an armed
madman:
[https://twitter.com/NYPDnews/status/36601438545125376](https://twitter.com/NYPDnews/status/36601438545125376)

The worst part is, some states legally require civilians to step in and assist
police officers. So, if the situation had been reversed in one of those
states, and a cop were the victim, the train passengers may have been liable
for inaction. As it actually happened, the inaction of the cops who hid in the
engineer's compartment is considered lawful.

Community-police relations in the USA are pretty bad by many accounts. There
is a large amount of civil outcry over this among Americans, including many
prominent black athletes and celebrities (not sure if you've heard of Black
Lives Matter, but systemic police brutality is the central topic of the
movement). There are videos of police officers murdering compliant and unarmed
civilians, often without consequences if there is a trial at all. Aside from
that, there have been situations (search "Baltimore officer planting drugs"
for one such video) where police have planted incriminating evidence only to
later be implicated by their surveillance cameras.

My take is that the average American (especially those who are not of European
descent) appreciates the service that police officers perform, but recognizes
that a slight irritation of a police officer can lead to a very aggressive,
potentially violent encounter. Bravery and congeniality are not universal
virtues among American cops.

I personally believe that it's safe to say that police departments in the USA
protect their own kind, even to the detriment of their ability to protect
civilians. Our cops get a lot of stuff right, they have great equipment, they
usually come quickly when called on, many of them truly are great public
servants and protectors, but they generally go unpunished when they do wrong.

American police are accustomed to use lethal force because the self-
preservation argument is very strongly accepted in American courts. "I feared
for my life" is enough justification for a cop to attack an unarmed civilian.
Betty Jo Shelby was acquitted in Tulsa for fearfully killing a man who had put
his hands on his vehicle in submission to police. A sheriff's deputy in
Tennessee tased an 81-year-old woman with garden tools in her hands because he
was concerned for his own safety.

I see this case as a logical extension of the permissibility of "I feared for
my life," an abdication of bravery that erodes public confidence in the
police. And ultimately, the loser in this specific case is the NYPD, for
lionizing a coward cop who hid while a mass murderer attacked yet another
person.

~~~
ngrilly
Thanks for the long and useful comment.

Yes, I've heard of Black Lives Matter. I read and watch a lot of things coming
from the USA ;-)

I'm shocked the police has no duty to rescue, especially in this case where
they were specifically looking for the killer and he was in front of them!

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty_to_rescue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty_to_rescue)

------
shove
It’s worse. If you’re black, you run the risk that the cops might gleefully
jump in and join the stabbing.

~~~
shove
Ugh thread fail

------
moomin
Advertising Standards should go after the police for their “Protect and Serve”
slogan.

