Simple and sweet. To the point.

The blame here lies in the actions of Andrew Grande. Nobody forced him to swallow a bag of pot. The cops didn’t know he had swallowed the bag and they thought his actions were of someone resisting arrest, not the actions of a man who was choking. If you didn’t know he was choking would you have thought anything different? NO.

Stop blaming the cops. If they had known beforehand, they would have helped. They tried to help once they realized what was taking place, did they not?

Yes, it’s terrible. It’s a horrible thing that happened. What a frightening and helpless feeling that must have been…. but it was through fault of his own and nobody else that he is not alive today.

For most of you, you could stand to learn from the adage: Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. A lot of FOOLS posting on this page.

Your name is insensitive as hell.

Your point is sound.

Then you called us ladies. #anti-gay

http://lifestrand.net/andrew_grande

By the way, he was gay in real life as well. Just to clear that up.

(1) this is clearly not a gay issue. people who are making it a gay issue are self-righteous heterophobes looking for their next “i’m a victim” chorus line to dance in. there is no gay issue here at all.

(2) the guy was scared and feared… to the point of trying to swallow a small bag of POT. Pot. it’s so ridiculous. he wasn’t scoring a brick of smack, he wasn’t drunk driving, he wasn’t buying coke from a homo-hating reggae singer… he just wanted to smoke some weed, fuck his girl, and have a good night.

yes, there are SEVERAL things that went wrong. but out of everything that could have prevented this incident the main one is that someone would be in such fear of being caught with minimal pot, that they would attempt to swallow such blulging plastic, unswallowable object.

and that’s where my heart sinks the most. it’s just such a damn shame.

But there is also not a shred of evidence that these cops were going after him because he was gay – or that they even knew he was gay at all. He shoved a girl and then shoved a bag of pot down his throat. The moment they realized what was happening, they tried to help him but couldn’t. Tragic, yes. Hate crime? No.

There are people for whom it’s always true that cops are bunch of dumb assholes on a power trip looking to beat the shit out of or kill any minority group. For a very minute group of cops, this I am sure is true. But the truth is that cops prevent or stop far more violence on minority groups than they commit. It’s a fairly thankless job that doesn’t pay well and puts them at risk every single day.

I’m sick of these drugged-up idiots being made out to be the victims when, in fact, they are the victims of their own stupidity and reckless behavior. Just because they’re in porn doesn’t make them gods.

2. i’m totally against tasering. And I think cops rely on tasers when they could use other types of force. It’s one dude and 3 guys. Look at the cop who is ready to taser him again. Gimme a break.

3. the dude was pushed back down as he is choking.

why the dude swallowed a plastic bag with pot… well, that’s just panicky crazy.

this is sad.

Yeah, too bad none of that was actually shown on tape other than the taser, which he knocked out of himself within seconds.

You don’t know when they knew he was choking.

heterosexual police

You don’t know that they’re heterosexual.

You’re an embarrassment.

*kick* Sir, stop resisting!
*punch-punch-punch-punch* Sir, stop resisting!
*pound pound kick punch kick kick* Sir, stop resisting!
*ZZAPP! ZZZAPP!* Sir, stop resisting!
*punch-kick-stomp-kick-pound-kick-stomp* Sir, stop resisting!

…oh look, another one’s gone off and died on us.

Ok guys, to our horror, he committed suicide in front of us, and we were unable to stop him although we tried valiantly, right? Right. See ya at Dunkin’ Doughnuts.

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The majority of those officers assigned to that type of detail are there becaue they pissed off their sergeant and he (the sergeant)is getting even with them by assigning them to “fag” patrol. It probably still goes on in many other cities too, not just NYC.

That notwithstanding this is one jury I would not want to be on. I will keep why not to myself.

And naturally, since the reputation of the constable is magnanimous, it’s no excuse to run from them because you were afraid of getting the beatdown.

Then there’s the arguement about how most police officers are fine, outstanding dedicated protectors of the thankless citizenry. How about that Blue Wall? If you’re not moral enough to turn in your corrupt co-workers, then you’re corrupt too. End of Line.

I AM SO SAD FOR DUSTIN AND FOR ALL HIS FRIENDS, FAMILY, GIOVANNI SUMMERS AND MANY MANY MORE PEOPLE WHO’S LIVES HE TOUCHED.

You all are in my heart & sending all the love and hugs to you in the difficult time.

I had been emailing with Dustin about possibly working together and I’m sad I never got to meet him in person. He seems like a super cool, cute boy & sweetie.
We lost 2 beautiful boys in the past few days, Dustin Michaels & Todd Welch. wow…its a time.

HUGS TO ALL WHO ARE HURTING RIGHT NOW!

love… your fan…
mr. Pam

Oh, and AlwaysGay – enough with the anti-hetero nonsense. My parents are awesome and heterosexual which, as it turns out, was quite advantageous for me when they hooked up 43 years ago.

Such as heart conditions.

That makes a big difference.

A guy hopped up on dust, on the other hand, will attempt to tear the face off of any man – cop or not. The drunk belligerent that wants to prove his manliness by challenging an officer will also make his intentions clear. The behavior of these people is easy to discern. It’s for those people tasers were designed.

Cops forget these simple facts.

While I sympathize with your frustration, I do want to point out that we don’t actually know the sexual orientation of the police officers (whom you repeatedly refer to as “heterosexual”). I think it’s important to keep in mind that LGBT people are everywhere, including within the ranks of the police force.

I also think it wise to exercise some restraint before jumping to any conclusions that this man’s death was in any way related to his sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is not always immediately apparent, and since I didn’t hear anything in the report about the victim being at a gay bar or in any other similar circumstances, I think it’s important to keep in mind that this was probably just another case of police officers using tasers in a way that resulted in someone’s death.

I think that’s the real crime: the use of tasers. There are too many factors that could contribute to someone’s death, most of them related to ingesting an illegal substance, and tasers are simply overused.

On to the tasering incident… to copy what I wrote elsewhere:

1) Tasers are supposed to be gun alternatives. That means, in situations where the use of a gun would otherwise be justified (e.g., an officer’s safety is in danger) a Taser is used as a life-saving alternative. Tasers ARE NOT meant to be pacification devices!!! They were never introduced as such yet they’re continually used in that manner.

2) Escalation in force: a) Strength (this includes baton use). b) Strength in Numbers. c) Pepper Spray. d) Taser. e) Gun.

What steps were missed in this encounter?

3) Tear gas, rubber bullets, “mosquito” sirens, and microwave emitters are pacification and dispersal devices. Tasers are not.

4) A few months back, national news was made when an otherwise healthy person suffered cardiac arrest at the end of a taser. It turns out the good folks who make Tasers released a usage bulletin telling officers they should AVOID using a taser in the torso area and, if it’s unavoidable, to aim for the lower torso. Watch the video. The guy was pulling the barbs out of his chest. Someone didn’t get the memo.

Tasers are a real problem. They’re a problem because they’re being abused by cops on a daily basis. Cops who forget that they were taught hand-to-hand combat in academy; cops who don’t want to deal with the inconvenience of blowback from pepperspray; cops who view a 5000-Volt jolt as acceptable pain to inflict on someone who doesn’t heed their instructions; cops who may be advised that tasers are acceptable alternatives to leaving lasting bruises on a suspect.

And this is all unacceptable. Their use has to stop.