[Peace-discuss] And the FOP's response to Norbits'suspension
E.Wayne Johnson
ewj at pigs.ag
Sun Apr 25 00:04:06 CDT 2010
The problem with the police in Champaign is not just the racism but their attitude in general.
It is often said that "the speed of the outfit is the speed of the boss". This most certainly holds true
for the Champaign City Police. Norbits is culpable for sure. There is no doubt in my mind that he
fully intended to shoot, and kill Kiwane Carrington. But blaming him for his actions
is a bit like blaming the fruit for its quality. The tree and the roots need to be examined.
You won't begin to approach the problem until Finney is extracted. Suspensions wont do it.
The only suspension that would do Finney any good would occur at the end of a rope. Since that in itself is
objectionable, and is quite inappropriate even in jesting, we would need to settle for simply firing the guy.
Then you need to look why the Champaign Police has the attitude.
----- Original Message -----
From: Jenifer Cartwright
To: Court Watch ; stop at iresist.org ; coalition at iresist.org ; peoplespotluck at lists.chambana.net ; Brian Dolinar ; j4tado at gmail.com ; Peace-discuss
Sent: Sunday, April 25, 2010 12:10 PM
Subject: [Peace-discuss] And the FOP's response to Norbits'suspension
[Taking this off Peace (again) and putting it on Peace-discuss (again)]
Hello Justus (is this yr name or yr hope??),
I have long wondered if the Carrington's lawyer has been looking at bringing suit against Norbits for involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide, and if not, why not. Lots of information in yr email (which I hope is true) that supports this. Thanks for the great additions to a sad, sad subject that fortunately does not seem to be going away any time soon.
--Jenifer
--- On Fri, 4/23/10, j4tado at gmail.com <j4tado at gmail.com> wrote:
From: j4tado at gmail.com <j4tado at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PeoplesPotluck] [Peace] And the FOP's response to Norbits'suspension
To: "Jenifer Cartwright" <jencart13 at yahoo.com>, peoplespotluck-bounces at lists.chambana.net, "Court Watch" <announce at communitycourtwatch.org>, "AWARE peace" <peace at lists.chambana.net>, stop at iresist.org, coalition at iresist.org, peoplespotluck at lists.chambana.net, "Brian Dolinar" <briandolinar at gmail.com>
Date: Friday, April 23, 2010, 3:45 PM
I am new to this discussion group, but I like to pay attention to abuse of power in all of its forms.
It seems Champaign is merely like any other city w/ a diverse population: we have a sizable minority, they are concentrated largely on one side of town, that side is largely poor or "lower-middle" class, and the police have an adversarial relationship to them. Not to mention an ignorant, reactionary mayor.
Looking specifically at the issue of police training, or SOP, and the issue of our police carrying the ubiquitous Glock semi-auto pistol, it seems that Officer Norbits did not follow procedure when pointing his weapon. I was part of a firearms safety/training program held by the U of I Police several years ago, and they showed us the proper way to hold a firearm, and in particular a handgun, was to keep the trigger finger held out straight and off of the trigger unless we were absolutely ready to fire. The Glock doesn't have an external safety, however, it has a small lever in the middle of the trigger that has to be depressed before the trigger itself can be squeezed. Officer Norbits clearly had his finger wrapped around the whole trigger, which by procedure is ready to fire. He obviously had the muzzle trained on Mr. Carrington, because the bullet ended up in his heart. Gun aimed at "center mass", finger on the trigger, does not sound like an accident. Norbits should be fired on the basis of negligent homicide.
And why doesn't he (Norbits) resign? He killed an unarmed kid. Where is his conscience? Years ago, back in the 80's, there was a Champaign detective, can't remember his name, who shot and killed an armed man who had shot at officers when they went to arrest him. That detective resigned himself from the force. He had been cleared of any wrong doing. He clearly had the right to shoot when being shot at. Why did he quit being a cop? Apparently he had a hard time dealing with it in his mind. One should question if a cop should remain on a job where they might do it again. Champaign will be synonymous w/ New York City and other cities in having a cop being allowed to rejoin the force after gunning down unarmed, innocent civilians. Does anyone feel particularly safe w/ that cop working the beat? What side of town will he be patrolling?
Another thing to consider, in New York, it was discovered that the Glocks used to kill Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell were modified. This made the triggers ultra sensitive, enabling the officers to squeeze a trigger more rapidly, thus being able to empty a 16 shot clip in 4 seconds. I wonder how our officers weapons are set up. Do we have officers patrolling with hair triggers?
Sounds like the CPD is a perpetual work in progress. Over the last two decades, a number of unarmed civilians have been killed by Champaign police when they should have been simply taken into custody. Whether it was the techniques used to restrain them, or use of firearms, the CPD is very slow to learn how to avoid this kind of tragedy. There is an element of danger out here, yes. Sometimes, the police might have to respond in a way that requires force. True. But what happened to Kiwane Carrington and others is entirely avoidable.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Justus Fortado
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-----Original Message-----
From: Jenifer Cartwright <jencart13 at yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:50:18
To: Court Watch<announce at communitycourtwatch.org>; AWARE peace<peace at lists.chambana.net>; <stop at iresist.org>; <coalition at iresist.org>; <peoplespotluck at lists.chambana.net>; Brian Dolinar<briandolinar at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PeoplesPotluck] [Peace] And the FOP's response to Norbits'
suspension
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