lookit, kiki (and everyone else)

[tattuchu]

What I'd like to know is why the hell someone saw them walking together and decided "He must be kidnapping her! Call the police!"

Racist assholes.

Ed Zachary, to quote Zilla. I mean, what the fuck?!
And when the cops questioned the little girl, and I don't have anything against cops, I'm not one of those people, but when the cops questioned the little girl, she kept saying over and over, "That's my grampa!" And they didn't believe her And mobilized the whole fucking police force to corner the guy, and terrify the little girl, after they'd already let them go earlier

[tattuchu]

What I'd like to know is why the hell someone saw them walking together and decided "He must be kidnapping her! Call the police!"

Racist assholes.

They were watching for a WHITE guy kidnapping BLACK kids. Perfect match, so they investigated.

You're missing my point. I'm betting even money this guy and his granddaughter were the people the police was looking for-- that someone saw them together and reported a kidnapping to the police.

That's my understanding from reading the article.

[hadespussercats]

What I'd like to know is why the hell someone saw them walking together and decided "He must be kidnapping her! Call the police!"

Racist assholes.

They were watching for a WHITE guy kidnapping BLACK kids. Perfect match, so they investigated.

You're missing my point. I'm betting even money this guy and his granddaughter were the people the police was looking for-- that someone saw them together and reported a kidnapping to the police.

Why would you think that? You have the chronology?

I read the article.

Forget it.

I think the police should have apologized, too.

[hadespussercats]

What I'd like to know is why the hell someone saw them walking together and decided "He must be kidnapping her! Call the police!"

Racist assholes.

They were watching for a WHITE guy kidnapping BLACK kids. Perfect match, so they investigated.

You're missing my point. I'm betting even money this guy and his granddaughter were the people the police was looking for-- that someone saw them together and reported a kidnapping to the police.

That's my understanding from reading the article.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Have fun with this, I'm outta here.

[Seabass]

When they found out it really was his granddaughter, though, they didn't even apologize. They were just like, whatever, see ya.

1st: According to him they didn't.
2nd: They were protecting the kid. Why should they apologize about that?

Lol, right? It's like complaining about a fireman who pulled you out of a burning building because he bruised your arm on the way out and didn't apologize for it.

[Ronja]

What I'd like to know is why the hell someone saw them walking together and decided "He must be kidnapping her! Call the police!"

Racist assholes.

They were watching for a WHITE guy kidnapping BLACK kids. Perfect match, so they investigated.

Zilla, did you read the HuffPost article that Tat linked to? To me this sounds like people have called in about one case that they found suspicious:

...reports of a white man kidnapping a black girl...

This one is from the the Daily Fail , but the message is even more specific: one anonymous phone call - it could even be someone with a grudge against his blog, a "popular blog about the criminal justice system in Texas" (and by the looks of it, quite critical at times)

...officers who claimed they had received an anonymous report of a white man kidnapping a black girl.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ghter.html

Reading the blog entries he wrote about a similar incident in 2008 and now, it seems to me the police considered him suspicious because he did not want to answer any unnecessary questions and was concerned about getting the kid home - so they descended on him, grabbed the girl and questioned her without any adult supervision, repeating the same questions over and over again. An the kids is five! ferchrissake...

Since when do the police in Texas have the right to ask whatever questions they please of someone who is peacefully minding their own business, and detain him/her and question a small child, instead, if they don't get as many answers as they would like?

And WTF is going on if they think they need 9-10 police cars' worth of personnel to handle one old man and a five year old kid?

[Warren Dew]

Lol, right? It's like complaining about a fireman who pulled you out of a burning building because he bruised your arm on the way out and didn't apologize for it.

More like a fireman who pulled you out of a building that wasn't burning and was in fact perfectly fine.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

I would be willing to to bet a small sum (had I any money) that if this were investigated further it would turn out that there was actually no anonymous phone call made by a member of the public.

[FBM]

I would be willing to to bet a small sum (had I any money) that if this were investigated further it would turn out that there was actually no anonymous phone call made by a member of the public.

[Svartalf]

When they found out it really was his granddaughter, though, they didn't even apologize. They were just like, whatever, see ya.

1st: According to him they didn't.
2nd: They were protecting the kid. Why should they apologize about that?

Lol, right? It's like complaining about a fireman who pulled you out of a burning building because he bruised your arm on the way out and didn't apologize for it.

Especially if said fireman is a pyromaniac who set the house afire in the first place.

[Ronja]

I would be willing to to bet a small sum (had I any money) that if this were investigated further it would turn out that there was actually no anonymous phone call made by a member of the public.

Whaaaa?! Are you suggesting that (some) police officers in Austin, Texas, USA could either have racial prejudice, overreact in or over-interpret/mis-assess a situation or even hold a grudge against someone who writes critically about police, judges and jails?

[Svartalf]

I don't know if the guy's face is widely known, but I wouldn't put it above cops to treat an unusual situation like it were a crime in progress, even in the utter absence of actual evidence that anything illegal is taking place.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

I would be willing to to bet a small sum (had I any money) that if this were investigated further it would turn out that there was actually no anonymous phone call made by a member of the public.

Whaaaa?! Are you suggesting that (some) police officers in Austin, Texas, USA could either have racial prejudice, overreact in or over-interpret/mis-assess a situation or even hold a grudge against someone who writes critically about police, judges and jails?

I wouldn't like to speculate on their motives - but I also wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

I would say that the 'anonymous tipster' bollocks is likely to be an excuse to act when they would ordinarily not be able to do so.
I strongly suspect that I've been the victim of such tactics myself some years ago. - Some years ago I borrowed my father's car and went to visit a friend. While I was there, I received a call from my father and he said that the police had been in touch about the car. It seems that someone had (allegedly) called the police and told them that the road tax was out of date (which was complete bollox - everything about it was perfectly legal). My father had explained that I was borrowing the car and gave them my number to contact me the next day, which they did.
They asked a number of questions which were none of their fucking business and eventually conceded that nothing was amiss.
I asked who had made this false allegation against me (which, I understand I was entitled to do) and the officer in question evaded several times giving me an answer - ultimately refusing to supply their details.
It doesn't take a genius to work out that this accuser probably never existed and was just an excuse for a reason to randomly investigate a member of the public.
I don't trust the police. Only a fucking idiot would. - They're dishonest, scheming cunts with no regard for the solemn sworn oaths they took to uphold the fundamental rights of the citizens of this country....I wouldn't piss on one if they were on fire.