“The video shows the officer securing the area. They were just making sure everybody was OK in the area, right now, it doesn’t appear to be anything that we have to look at much deeper. We’re looking into the matter, but I believe the police acted appropriately.” – New Rochelle City Manager Chuck Strome in New Rochelle Police Draw Guns on Black Youths over Snow Ball Fight NSFW [at talkofthesound.com]
Important note:
“Talk of the Sound received an official reply Sunday evening from the Office of the City Manager not NRPD: “New Rochelle Police were responding to a 911 emergency call reporting a man with gun at that location. The claim was unsustained. The incident will be reviewed by the department.”
The rest of the city manager’s statement should have read something like…”Upon arrival at the scene, the officer observed that there was, in fact, no one brandishing a firearm. So he went on about his patrol.”
It definitely should not have been “draw down on kids having a snowball fight and then frisk them”. Obscene. Between incidents like this and the Constituional affront that is “stop and frisk”, it’s a wonder more NY cops aren’t killed.
Despite all the marching and chanting slaves love their masters.
Cops are outnumbered 2,000 to 1. The only thing that permits them to run amok as they do is the slaves love of master. Sure, master beats them and occasionally kills a few here and there but master also feeds them, clothes them and “protects” them.
That was truly an outrage. THESE are the sort of people you march for, Ferguson, not violent criminals.
Decent article courtesy of ammoland.com
http://www.ammoland.com/2015/02/rules-for-them-and-different-rules-for-you-if-you-have-a-gun/#axzz3QbzNchs1
If That dog doesnt shut it, he will be Next!!
I chalk this whole thing up to climate change.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/westchester-pulls-gun-teens-snowball-fight-article-1.2099426
The devil’s in the details. This video shows nothing of what happened first.
Thanks for posting this link, JC.
If true (and it rings true to me) this changes everything, puts the events in the video in a completely different light.
After seeing the ‘rest of the story’, I’ll agree there likely was not a snowball fight. The rest is still wrong.
Interesting question is raised though… When does throwing snowballs become assault? I remember when I was a kid some boys woud put rocks in them, I have seen them break windows and draw blood. Kids also like to throw them at cars… Just saying, it can be pretty malicious.
” When does throwing snowballs become assault?’
That’s a stupid question – when thrown with malicious or negligent intent to cause harm and or physical property damage.
Like putting rocks in them and then using them to break windows – the problem isn’t throwing the snowball – it’s breaking the window.
I should have been more clear, I was recalling a recorded incident from a few years ago where frat boys were harassing slow moving cars with conventional snow balls. Turned out one of their victims was a professor, and when he got out of his car to confront them they dumped snow all over him and into his car.
So I think property destruction is indeed obvious, but even a seemingly innocent snowball can constitute assault depending on circumstances. What if it was a disabled person? A pregnant woman? What if the prank results in injury? At what point does a gunny draw on a snow ball thrower? It is an extremely ambiguous situation that can get out of hand quickly.
A “gunny” only draws a weapon when confronted with a deadly force situation, that causes them to feel genuine fear for their life. I dont think that any snowball fight would meet that standard for me, even if I felt distressing levels of butthurt at being pelted with snow.
“where frat boys were harassing slow moving cars with conventional snow balls”
Once again, Intent is the important part – not the “weapon”
You say it right there. They were Harassing. They became a hazard to motor vehicles traveling lawfully on a public roadway. The fact that they used a snowball is immaterial.
But, that’s not necessarily a deadly force situation. Potentially something they could be arrested for of course.
But a Private citizen in that situation — needs to get out of the situation by the most expedient means available. That means keep driving, just so we’re clear – get to a safe spot and call the police. Now if you take an impact from a Rock (whether encased in snow or not) that’s deadly force being used against you.
Still if you can extricate yourself from the situation without putting yourself in more danger you should.
No “drop the weapon!” and “stop resisting!”???
I thought that was standard CYA protocol.
Sad. Just…sad. We had snowball fights all the time when I was a kid in WI. I got a few detentions for throwing snowballs in school. It was one of my first experiences with the nanny state. Threw snowballs in the Marine Corps during drill weekend at Fort McCoy.
I’d still be throwing snowballs in uniform if I didn’t work in LA. This world needs less cops and more peace officers.
As for this guy, I’m torn about suspension or termination. When I’m in uniform I draw down for weird olde school reasons like felony stops and such.
New Rochelle Chief’s position: Nothing to see here, please move along . . .
And new information comes out. Shouldn’t be too fast to judge. The officer may have been responding to a brandishing call. Maybe the facts will come out and maybe they won’t.
” Shouldn’t be too fast to judge…”
It amazes me that people haven’t learned this by now.
But, but, you don’t hate cops, you say. You just post videos that are edited against the cops favor, and let the bile flow.
Another inflammatory article by TTAG. Don’t bother to do any research. I tire of the political crap that TTAG continues to post despite the readers preference for actual firearms news.
The rest of the story was actually linked in a previous post but no one cares. Reportedly, this clip started right after police took off in foot pursuit of a teen who was supposed to be armed with a gun per the 911 call. The truth of that narrative has yet to be seen but I am willing to wait. You wanna talk about sheep? Following the anti-police propaganda blindly is just as bad as following your government blindly.
TTAG when will your journalistic integrity mature to where you actually research your posts?
Think about your gun reviews. You don’t just look at the gun and write about what it looks like. You do some actual testing/trials to find out the “truth” about the gun. Why not apply that same standard to stories you find?
I know youre supposed to use overwhelming force/be better armed in war…but this is a dang snowball fight…bad decisions…
Guns don’t kill people, snowballs kill people.
It seems the difference between a NY Cop and a criminal is the 401k.
The Cops’ Story is, there was a 911 call reporting a person had actually pulled a gun from their waistband and the Police were dispatched. When they arrived ONE of six fled and was pursued, but not caught. The video shows the remaining five being rousted and patted down by an Officer, so it is “out of context”.
Conspiracy Theory: MDA set this up in cahoots with “Hands Up Don’t Shoot!” so the woman who took the video could record the Cops rousting the five teen boys while lamenting , “It was only a snowball fight…”and make the Cops look bad because the “Hands Up. Don’t Shoot!’ movement was losing steam and needed a rallying point of Police abuse. MDA, OTO needed to test their “COP-SWATTING” system, so they got the sixth kid to pretend he had a gun so they could call 911 to report “a Man with a Gun”, then have him dash off to a predetermined hiding place while MDA timed the Cops’ response-time. Meanwhile the faux gun-teen was enjoying hot cocoa and fresh baked cookies made by his Mom and the other five joined him shortly after being rousted and released. (just to be safe SARC-OFF)
Choose either story, but mine is more entertaining than what actually happened. We live in a Society where any schmuck can “manufacture” “News” with a Smart Phone and any moron, like me, can spin it however they want and people will take it seriously. We don’t want to know the Truth, we only want to know what suits our particular agenda.
Cr*p! Forgot to click the follow-up button.
The Cops’ Story is, there was a 911 call reporting a person had actually pulled a gun from their waistband and the Police were dispatched.
Is that still law enforcement’s official story? See http://dev.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/02/daniel-zimmerman/quote-day-nothing-see-edition/#comment-2062348
I don’t have time to track down the Broadcastify link right at the moment (I couldn’t find it on a quick look) but Talk of the Sound reported that they now have the 911 audio files and they are supposed to have a link on the updated page. The City was previously not going to release the audio.
Are we surprised? Police officers in that state are being target and executed in broad daylight. All these guys wanna do is go home safely to their families at the end of each watch. When society swings to an anti police view this is what you’re gonna get. We learn in physics every action has an opposite and equal reaction. This is your opposite and equal, cops that are on edge of being ambushed.
Call apparently came in as brandishing a firearm. Responding officers had to chase one guy who started adjusting somethinf in his waistband before taking off. Officer left behind draws his sidearm to secure the scene.
As much fun as it would be to pile on and ridicule the police for drawing on “kids throwing snowballs”, I’m not convinced that such a simple characterization does this story justice. My preliminary impression is that the police acted appropriately.
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