Yale incident

It wasn’t intended to be name-calling. Not all of us automatically think of sex acts that are similar to people’s names. That is your problem.

I wasn’t thinking of a sex act at all! To me it just seems like a way to objectify the student, making him less like a kid we can look at as any college kid, imagining how it would feel if that happened to our college kid.

I’d be fine with posters referring to my kid as Bay Jr. What exactly is the problem with that.

As I said, it identifies the kid too much with the dad, who is the one who publicized this incident, and makes him seem less than any-old-kid as in what if this happened to my kid, what would I think?

Ok you are certainly entitled to feel that way, but it doesn’t help me understand why you accused me of “name-calling.”

The YPD officer’s union has come out in support of the officer’s actions: http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20150209/police-union-takes-yale-to-task-over-investigation-of-students-detainment

When has a police union come out not in support of an officer’s use (or show) of force?

I would assume they usually do, don’t you? I don’t think they are generally required to make a public statement about it, though.

Not required, but it is not surprising that a union voluntarily voices support for a member under criticism.

Lie on the ground in winter weather for 2-4 minutes with a gun pointed at you and tell me how that feels to you.

I’m not saying the officer did anything wrong (I honestly don’t know), but as a parent I totally get how upsetting this would be if it happened to my kid, especially if there was no indication that the perpetrator was armed and/or it isn’t standard operating procedure for stopping any student under similar circumstances.

We don’t know that Blow’s son lay on the ground for 2-4 minutes, only that was the time period given for the “entire duration of the investigative detention.” I think the reports said Blow was asked to wait and be questioned by another officer, so that probably factored into the 2-4 minute period. The lying on the ground portion may have been much shorter.

I don’t think anyone doubts that the incident would be upsetting to any non-perpetrator suspect and his/her relatives. But I also don’t see how you can expect that there would be a different procedure for stopping any student who is a suspect, though. Are you saying that student-felony-burglars should be treated different than non-student-felony-burglars?

^^^Well, that’s really the question, isn’t it? Do on-campus burglary suspects routinely have a gun drawn on them before being told to lie down, face-forward, on the ground? Are they treated differently if they’re believed to be students? Do officers respond differently to a white suspect than they do others?

You’re probably right, however, that he wasn’t on the ground for several minutes. It’s still got to be pretty unnerving.

No, I don’t think the issue being raised by Blow Sr had anything to do with how Yale students are treated. He was questioning whether a cop in the same circumstances would have drawn his weapon on a white suspect in the same circumstances.

But then does the gun normally come out immediately when an officer stops a burglary suspect?

Perhaps you’re not familiar with this case: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/10/new-york-city-police-officer-indicted-in-fatal-shooting-in-stairway-housing/ It’s a little more like the case we’re talking about than your gun-toting neighbors. Note that he’s been indicted, although the police union assures us that it’s an unfortunate accident.

Yale Report Clears Police Officer in Encounter With Student
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/05/nyregion/yale-report-clears-police-officer-in-encounter-with-student.html

The report said that only 12 seconds passed between the officer approaching Mr. Blow, jr and the end of the encounter. Still unnerving, but actually a very short interlude.