A woman in Florida says her 55-year-old “medically fragile” father was falsely accused of theft at a Florida grocery store last week and then seriously injured in a violent encounter with police. Now, she says, he is hospitalized and has lost the ability to speak.

  • NegativeInf@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    We don’t have police. Just corporate enforcers. Pinkertons in different uniforms. Oh, you are accused of a 17 cent theft and didn’t do it? Eat lead I guess. I’m just so tired.

  • agent_flounder@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    She said he told her that he picked up four bananas, one of which he ate on the way to the register, and that he told the cashier that he needed to pay for four bananas even though she scanned only three. Anjelica Lee said her father told her he was followed closely while he was shopping by a white female employee, who, she said, accused him of stealing the banana he ate.

    “At first, I was trying to ask her what happened, and she was like, ‘People like you and him shouldn’t come into the store if you don’t have money to pay for things,’” Anjelica Lee said. “My mom is white, and my dad is Black. So I’m mixed. So I think she meant Black people. And it just escalated from that, and she went to cussing me out.”

    JFC. Racist piece of shit.

    Fuck the cops. Fuck this piece of garbage cashier.

    Fuck all this.

    • MuffinHeeler@aussie.zone
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      10 months ago

      Wow. Non American here. My kid regularly eats while I shop. I just bring empty packets to register for them to scan and they normally throw them out for me. No problem. Like zero problem.

      I don’t even think our police would show up if they were called. They take 3hrs to turn up to a home invasion, so I doubt they’d show up for a banana. This is a crazy level of policing.

      • OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        A lot of retail stores will have a police officer sit in their car close by so they can have a quick response to e for shoplifters. I see it a lot in areas that have several larger retail stores grouped together.

  • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    “At first, I was trying to ask her what happened, and she was like, ‘People like you and him shouldn’t come into the store if you don’t have money to pay for things,’” Anjelica Lee said. “My mom is white, and my dad is Black. So I’m mixed. So I think she meant Black people. And it just escalated from that, and she went to cussing me out.”

    You can almost guarantee the victim will be Black.

    Every. Fucking. Time.

  • Ibex0@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    A police spokesperson said Monday that the body camera video would not be released until the cases are resolved.

    That could take years! That’s unacceptable.

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      They are hoping that by then people will forget about it and not notice when its dumped so theres no outrage.

    • fidodo@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      We need a national oversight agency where all this footage should be sent to so it is managed by a neutral 3rd party. Why the fuck would we allow criminals to manage the evidence against themselves?

      • rekabis@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        Why not a national police force, such that a disgraced cop can’t just mosey on to the next town over and get hired there?

        One of the big problems with America is that it is so frictionless for cops to just city-hop whenever they fuck up.

        At least in Canada, with the RCMP being in most cities and towns, it is damn difficult for any RCMP officer to job-hop. Especially when the RCMP is a clear cut above in training, and anyone who tries to job-hop from them to a city cop will be intensely questioned as to why they are downgrading so significantly.

        Yes, the RCMP has some pretty bad apples; power doesn’t corrupt so much as it attracts the corruptible like flies to excrement. And the RCMP gives its officers plenty of power, for sure.

        But in just the last few years alone, I have seen RCMP officers disciplined for behaviour that wouldn’t have even raised an eyebrow in any U.S. police force.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I the rules for body cam requests in the city I work for. It can only be denied for the following reasons:

      1. The video was taken in a private home and the homeowner does not consent to the release.

      2. The video is of a non-jailtime citation/interaction and the principal civilian captured on film doesn’t consent to the release.

      The second one is because the city is a tiny enclave for the super-rich (average new home is about 6 million dollars), and there’s celebrities and stuff getting pulled over pretty often. We had tons of ORRs from paparazzi for all incidents.

    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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      10 months ago

      She said she feared for her father’s safety, so she got a bat from her car, approached the woman and told her to “pick on someone her own size, someone able-bodied.” She said she did not threaten the woman with the bat. Still, she said, the woman called police.

      the woman who called 911 told police that “after an incident with Joseph inside the store,” she encountered Anjelica Lee waiting outside with a metal bat in her hand. The woman told police that Anjelica Lee, while holding the bat, had told her to “clock out cause I’m gonna whoop your ass,” according to the affidavit. Anjelica Lee said she remembers telling the woman to meet her outside but not saying that.

      Afterward, the affidavit says, Anjelica Lee put the bat back into her car, went inside the store and knocked items off the shelves. She denies having done so. The woman told police she “was placed in a well-founded fear that” Anjelica Lee was going to cause her harm while she was holding the bat outside the store, according to the affidavit.

      Seems the father’s problems had less to do with the banana and more to do with his piece of shit daughter.

      • EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        And what part of that justifies beating the father? The daughter was a bitch(possibly) so you say its ok that the police put the father in the hospital?

        Is that just how its supposed to work in your eyes? if your child acts up the police get to beat you into a fucking coma?

        • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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          10 months ago

          What beating?

          I ctrl-f’d the page for the word “beat” and found nothing. The only claims I see from the daughter or the father (I’m ignoring police claims) of any physical contact with the father are that he was pushed against a car by “nine or 10” of the 8 responding officers who were also arresting her, and then pushed to the ground.

          In the hospital photo provided by the family, I see no bruises, abrasions, or other injuries consistent with a “beating”.

          He interfered with the officers attempting to arrest his daughter, who had just threatened people with a baseball bat; a deadly weapon. Both pushing against a car and pushing to the ground are reasonable uses of force in detaining an uncooperative subject.

          It seems the daughter went bat shit crazy in the store, threatened employees, police responded in force, and dad got between them and the violent criminal they were there to arrest. He was quickly arrested by some of the cops while the others arrested the daughter.

          What do you think they should have done differently, once the daughter had began threatening people with a deadly weapon?

          • EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Anjelica Lee said her father, who already had a pacemaker, sustained an acute kidney injury in the encounter and is undergoing dialysis. She also said he can barely talk and is disoriented and confused. “He’s waking up panicked,” she said. “He doesn’t know where he’s at. He can no longer feed himself. We have to do that for him. They’re saying that some of the injuries could be long-term.”

            Read instead of ctrl-fing for an exact word i used in an attempt to be a pedantic bootlicker. He’s in the hospital, one of his kidneys is fucked up. But your right. they just pushed him around a little. and, again, he absolutely fucking deserved to have one of his kidneys trashed because he didn’t raise his daughter right.

            Thank you. You have enlightened me on how the world works.

            • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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              10 months ago

              I cited all claims of physical contact with the father: a highly exaggerated claim of being pushed against a car, and a claim of being pushed to the ground. Both claims were made by the daughter. I excluded all claims made by police.

              The daughter’s own claims suggest he was interfering with her arrest, telling her to ignore their instructions. The physical force she claims was used against him is consistent and reasonable for a non-compliant subject.

              Based entirely on her biased and exaggerated claims, I’m not seeing how their force was excessive or improper.

              Perhaps video evidence will arise showing something she didn’t see. She’d better hope they do, because her own statements have pretty much ensured police and the city will prevail if she tries to sue.

              • EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                So they lied about his kidney injury? Him being in the hospital altogether is a lie? You say this is appropriate but, you yourself, say at the worst he tried to get them to stop arresting her. Your main claim as to why he deserved what happened to him is what his daughter did. Thats your go to.

                • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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                  10 months ago

                  Lied? No. Misrepresented? Likely.

                  She acknowledged he was in poor health to begin with. She described chronic conditions, as well as acute symptoms occurring immediately prior to the altercation. They stopped at the store because his arms and legs were cramping up “due to an infection,” and he thought potassium would help.

                  Infection can cause acute renal failure. One of the early symptoms of acute renal failure is general cramping due to electrolyte imbalances. I think that it rather likely the kidneys were “injured” prior to the altercation and not during it.

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    I see they opted for the Israeli definition of “measured and equitable response”.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      10 months ago

      Reminder that the IDF trains US cops. Palestinians are used as guinea pigs for policing techniques.

      • john_fla@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Yes, though lately it’s been taking a lot longer. The state government under 25 years of GOP rule isn’t too fond of the Sunshine Law.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Hey morons, that Monty Python sketch about defending yourself from being attacked with a banana by shooting the attacker was supposed to be a joke.

    I sure hope they disarmed the guy.

  • NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    Did anybody read the article and see the part where she were threatening the employees with a bat and admitted to it?

    I think they’re sort of burying the lede on this one.

    I would completely expect the police to show up, armed and ready for someone who did just receive a call about threatening people with a metal bat.

    Fuck the police and what they did to him, but let’s not pretend like this isn’t a whole other thing than the headline.

    That being said, can anyone tell me what the cops did to this dude other than make him sit in the back of a police car I very well might’ve missed it.

    The latter part of that article go wild

    • jettrscga@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      To answer your question on what the cops did:

      Anjelica Lee said. “My dad said to me: ‘Don’t get out of the car until they can fully see you, because they’re going to shoot.’ And after he said that, nine or 10 of them jumped on him, and then they slammed him on the car.”

      She said she could hear her father screaming: “You’re hurting me. I can’t breathe.”

      This is all from the woman’s perspective. But it sure seems suspicious that he had chest pains that the police’s story can’t explain.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      She said she feared for her father’s safety, so she got a bat from her car, approached the woman and told her to “pick on someone her own size, someone able-bodied.” She said she did not threaten the woman with the bat. Still, she said, the woman called police.

      • NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        If you walk up to someone with a bat in your hand and tell them to pick on someone your own size, you are threatening them with the bat.

        If not to be a threat there is no purpose to bring the bat

          • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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            10 months ago

            Then you don’t understand the concept of self defense.

            A bat is a deadly weapon. To justify the use of a deadly weapon in self defense or defense of others, a reasonable person must believe there is a credible, criminal, imminent, threat of death or grievous bodily harm, and that the deadly weapon was necessary to end that threat.

            “Laying hands” does not describe anything remotely close to such a threat.

            • sizzler@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              Oh dear, a classic case of downvoted for uncomfortable truth. The fickle nature of forums strike again.

            • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)@badatbeing.social
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              10 months ago

              I think if the person is white you can use “stand your ground” and shoot people of color without issue. This isn’t about her having a bat, it’s that she doesn’t look “white enough” to use the same defense several white folks have used now. And those white folks went looking for trouble and still got to shoot people with impunity. She only had a bat and was basically telling the Karen if she wants a problem to keep it up.

              I just don’t see how that isn’t self defense. She also feared for her father’s life from some racist shithead that instead of calling police if she really thought there was an issue, decided to put her hands on this gentleman and then continue to harass him. And I don’t know that stores particularly policy, but most chains strongly discourage harassing and chasing down customers because you have a hunch they may have taken something. So she also likely broke store policy in pursuit of her racist vendetta.

        • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
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          10 months ago

          How do you know she walked right up to Karen? How do you know she didn’t just go and stand by her father while leaning on the bat?

          And why didn’t the woman just ask to see the receipt instead of going all Karen?

          You assume too much.

          • NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social
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            10 months ago

            Based just on the facts, she picked up a bat and then issued a threatening statement. Whether you are 2 feet away or 50, that is still threatening someone with a weapon.

            Why are you arguing against this?

            I assumed nothing.

            I used only the things that the lady herself stated.

            If you disagree please point me to the information that you think proves your point.

            I will look at it and reevaluate, I might not change my mind but I will at least listen to your opinion.

            Please, feel free.

            • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
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              10 months ago

              Based on what media is reporting, which is rarely ALL the facts.

              And you do assume you know how far away she was standing, what her tone of voice was, etc. If you weren’t there = you don’t know for sure.

              You also didn’t respond to my question why Karen just didn’t ask to see the receipt … like a non-racist likely would.

              • NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social
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                10 months ago

                Because I am not trying to defend her actions.

                I agree that that is what should have happened.

                Can you give me an example of how holding a metal bat in your hand and telling that to someone in this situation would not be a threat?

                • circuscritic@lemmy.ca
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                  10 months ago

                  Look, my personal mantra is “pick on someone your own size”, which I chant every morning when I’m roaming the streets with my walking bat.

                  Only a bigot would find that threatening.

              • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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                10 months ago

                Based on what she has said. Her description of her own actions with the bat constitute a threat. Unless you’re arguing she was misquoted, she issued a threat with a deadly weapon.

      • ripcord@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        If you read the rest of the story, they claim she was waiting outside with the bat telling the lady to come out, went inside and knocked a bunch of shit off of shelves, etc.

        Which may not be true, but pretty sure a bunch of people were being stupid and escalating things here.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          everyone was escalating here, except perhaps the victim. Even then, it seems like you get the manager and make sure they have the cashiers statements instead of trying to leave

    • Cyborganism@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      Yeah. You’re right.

      The daughter totally escalated the situation by bringing a baseball bat and threatening the clerk. No wonder they called the police.

      And the old man, according to affidavits, was simply taken into the back of a police car without any violence to himself. Then he complained of chest pains while in the car so they called an ambulance. He was alert when the ambulance arrived.

      The man had a heart condition that was aggravated due to his daughter escalating the situation and getting the police involved. And now he’s in the hospital because of her behaviour.

      However this could’ve all not happened had the store employee not been a dick. So this is really all that person’s fault.

      • NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social
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        10 months ago

        I don’t agree with that logic.

        You are stripping away everyone’s free will except the employee.

        At any point during this, anyone could have made different decisions and just stopped this whole thing

          • NoIWontPickaName@kbin.social
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            10 months ago

            Friend, I already agreed to that.

            My statement is that everyone here was an adult and they all made poor choices.

            Granted that the dudes action was small, but now that I think about it that was actually what started it.

            It should have stopped with just asking the cashier how many bananas he paid for.

            They did not even need to bother asking him and risking someone just thinking they were being called a thief.

            I know that is how I feel every time I get asked for a receipt, and I am a middle aged white guy in redneck country, god only knows how often he probably has to deal with it.

            • die444die@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              Do y’all’s grocery stores charge by number of bananas? Mine does if by weight. Not that I think that makes a difference, if I keep seeing people taking about paying for an extra banana so im curious.

              • AA5B@lemmy.world
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                10 months ago

                People do it with grapes too, also sold by weight. But here we only have a few. Surely she could have typed in 1/3 extra weight and been pretty damn close

                • dan1101@lemm.ee
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                  10 months ago

                  Many cashiers can’t do math tho, and if you ask them to they think you’re trying to scam them.

                  I think the fact that this guy had a medical flareup that the potassium in the bananas would help will help him in court, if he would even be able to go to court.

    • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      Afaik over there are all out of shape so I would use the term “sport” loosely, but I’m all for more people getting into sports, especially the ones that benefit the society.

      Probably should be televised, have events with a panel of judges to score each shot.

  • yuriy@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    The cops’ report noted that she “struck him in the arm against his will”.

    I am absolutely fucking disgusted by this weasely use of language

  • BigWheelPowerBrakeSlider@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    This is Polk County, Florida, home of the cowboy sheriff Grady Judd who has never seen a camera and microphone he didn’t want to use to engrandize himself. Except for the body worn ones. Polk County residents are not the most enlightened of people. But, never discount there being two sides to every story.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Cops only knew that there was a shoplifter threatening the employee, and they saw the daughter with the bat. So they rolled up and took care of it.

          I really put almost all of this on the employee. Even in her own words, how do you follow someone out of the store screaming at them and threatening them, then say you’re afraid because the woman had a bat?

          • Misconduct@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            So the cops… See the woman with a bat and beat the shit out of the old man? Is this supposed to paint the cops in a better light or make them look less incompetent and stupid?

            • AA5B@lemmy.world
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              No, I don’t see how anyone could absolve the cops in this scenario. Incompetent, stupid, prone to violence, ready to violate human rights at the drop of a hat, are all fair descriptions here. Many of these police violence stories have in common that one officer crosses the line out of fear, but the others join in with some sort of mob mentality.

              But cops were new arrivals who most likely didn’t know the context. Fault them for excessive violence, having to control the situation with fear, need to be obeyed, etc, but this is sort of like a “swatting”. The person calling with a presumably incomplete story is most at fault. That person should be in prison, but it doesn’t change that those officers shouldn’t be trusted with authority and there needs to be a fundamental change in policing

    • Misconduct@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      No answer to their question huh? I’d love to know what you think this old man could have done to justify putting him in the hospital like this. Go on. Tell us what other side to the story makes the end result ok.