This should be convincing evidence that the Ferguson Effect exists, at least in this one case.
There are a couple of reasons why the racial rioters come out in force after a police shooting of a black person. There may be some people who have a sense of justice that they feel needs fulfilling. But they often fall into the other two camps. One group is there for political reasons. Racial discontent might drive up voting among African Americans. The Black vote is traditionally a reliable Democrat voting bloc.
The other is an effort by a smaller group with the intent of scaring police away so that war lords can rule the neighborhoods.
Anyway, to the story. Here's the headline: Chicago Police Superintendent: Officer Being Beaten Chose Not to Shoot Due to Media Scrutiny. According to the story, a man crashed his car into a corner liquor store, the police were called, and cops went to see if the driver was OK. The driver was combative, and a female cop tried to cuff him at which time he threw her onto the pavement. A police superintendent said this:
“This attack went on for several minutes,” he said. “As I was at the hospital last night visiting with her, she looked at me and said she thought she was going to die and she knew that she should shoot this guy but she chose not to because she didn’t want her family or the department to have to go through the scrutiny the next day on the national news.”
Blue lives matter. Maybe after the election the national news media won't be such active accessories in those BLM demonstrations.
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