[vinbreau]

Same here. I was once assaulted by a police officer on the property where my father worked. The cop was employed as security and did not wear his badge openly. He was dressed in civilian clothes with his badge on his belt, behind his back. He verbally accosted me on a visit to my dad's place of work. Not knowing he was a cop I let him know where to go. He grabbed me, bent my arm behind my back and shoved me face first through hard metal doors. My father was livid and got in on the argument, on my side. I had bruises all over my face, neck and arms. I filed a complaint against him, but a week later he was part of the largest cocaine bust in my town's history. As a result he was beyond reproach. I've got a few other encounters like this, though not as bad. Not all cops I've run in with were bad, some were more than reasonable, but the bad encounters outweigh the good at least 3 to 1. Give a power tripping person a badge and a gun, hide them behind the blue code and the average civilian has little to no recourse.

[zw123456]

It is interesting, almost everyone I know has a story where some cop abused there authority. When people start sharing their stories, it is always amazing to me how many people chime in with similar encounters. Until it happens to you, people don't realize how frightening and scaring it is. I completely feel for you. I was physically ill for weeks after my encounter. I believe that it is a problem that is far more pervasive than maybe is realized.

[happynomad]

I am in a somewhat similar situation. The article talks of Mitchell fearing for his life due to police unwilling to protect him. I had a nasty string of events happen to me that also left me fearing for my life and unemployed (threatened after I quit my job... I quit twice, first time they nearly doubled my salary, second they said: 'you are going to not be able to keep a job ever again.' Months later at my new job I started receiving violent threats, then people violently broke into my office--nothing was stolen.) I notified the police, I asked them if they could look into--there were video cameras, and they could see who broke in and chased after me as I hurried out the emergency exit. They didnt investigate anything, or even record the break in as a crime AFAIK. I was then told I was being be fired for the break in occurring after I was told not to report it, but said that I did anyways ("this has nothing to do with you performance here in your job duties"). both were relatively small companies.

There is a lot more that was happening at that time, and it went from concerning to blatant to surreal. I was stalked/followed home by unsavoury-looking people. Men were knocking on my door speaking inaudibly and sometimes in Spanish. My tires had oil smeared all over them one time and had been overinflated. This is not inclusive of everything that happened. I called the police repeatedly and nobody did anything. I dont know how to get these concerns raised to anyone that cares.

Eventually I left the country and have been living abroad a couple of years since then. I am not really sure what to do without a job reference as a mid career male, but I get by in my days by meeting so many nice people and going to such beautiful places and trying to forget about what happened. I dont know if I can find a real job again and I think my life will be basically over if I cant. Im thankful for everything, but to be honest, I want to work again and am not sure how to recover from this in terms of career.

I havent talked about this with anyone, but when I read this I thought I'd chime in. Enforcing law and peace with prudence is important enough that when it isn't done right, people like Mitchell and I experience our lives are transformed and we are unemploued. In the meantime, terrible people are enabled. Police in my case and in the story's may have just been too busy, or misunderstanding, or overwhelmed--I dont know what the problem is, but the outcomen is awful.

[jpatokal]

It's difficult to say this in a polite way, but I think you should get an appointment at a psychiatrist and get assessed for schizophrenia. What you describe, particularly the "blatant to surreal" bit, sounds very much like potential symptoms: I'm not saying you're making this up, but that there's a very real possibility that your brain is connecting dots that it shouldn't be.

[happynomad]

Haha I wish I was just crazy. I agree that it sounds unlikely. I also understand the temptation you express: to live in a world where the simplest and most easy-to-live-with answer is the right one: Ian Murdock "just snapped and went crazy." Snowden "just snapped and turned against his nation." "Poor minorities resort to violence to solve problems, employed upper-middle class don't ever engage that sort of thing." We don't like to live with uncomfortable truths. Unfortunately for me, I never did anything of such significance to humanity as those two--so reasonable and inquisitive minds will be relatively unlikely to look at my situation in detail.

Anyways there's a lot more to the story. I had a pretty bad reputation due to getting made a scapegoat for some things that werent my fault. I stood my ground which blew up in my face as multiple higher-ups doubled down. So I quit and their response was to close to doubled my salary, gave me a promotion, an apology, and lots of nice perks like use of a company apartment, expenses paid, etc, and asked I please just forget it ever happened. It's a long story and I could have made my life a lot easier if I just kept my head low, blended in and shut up.

[billyjobob]

Nevertheless, you should still see a shrink. If you don't like the stigma of mental illness then see one who calls themselves a 'life coach' and say you're going for advice on improving your life.

[happynomad]

Alright, well we have two possibilities here. In the case that you are wrong, you condemn a victim to a slanderous label while enabling aggressors. In the case that you are right, and given what limited information is available here, it could appear a prescient response, but the other side of that is perhaps it would be quick-to-judge at this point--which is coming across as off-putting.

Sometimes you may think you know the answer to what someone else is going through, just by having a quick listen to what they have to say. What I would say to that: It's better to be thankful you have never experienced something like this.

That said, it isn't bad for me at the moment. If this had never happened I would still be working with boring business logic software in a company run by salesman, buying things I didnt need and wasting my 20s.

Anywaya, to be honest, it is alleviating to imagine this as all a psychotic imagination. The moral and egotistical implications and questions for me, in that case, feel much easier to answer. Not to mention--I don't have to worry about a nasty person seeking a nasty deeds.

[zw123456]

I understand that surreal feeling, I had that a little bit for a while after because you suddenly just realize how vulnerable you actually are. I would not in any way pass judgment on someone else's state of mind based on only a post but for it was helpful to have someone to talk to about it (besides an attorney). For me it was my Dad, but if you don't have someone like that it is not a bad idea to seek out someone.

[happynomad]

I hear you. It's apparent how I am coming across. If something like this happens, someone must be crazy and it's easy to look at the person suffering and say, that must be it.

I don't have someone like that, nor have I ever spoken with an attorney. I would be very interested in speaking with a psychiatrist, if for any reason, just to rule out the possibility, and who knows, but at this point in my financial life, that's not really in the cards.

[vinbreau]

Thanks. I have a few friends, all on the conservative end of the spectrum, that claim I brought it upon myself by not trying to fit in. I was the weird kid in my town, not bad, just not a cowboy like the majority of the people in the deep south. As if that was excuse enough to warrant police abuse.

[qrbLPHiKpiux]

i feel that anyone with authority will exercise abuse at some point. I believe this is why the US has 3 branches of government. Abuse, unfortunately, is human nature.

[ams6110]

Cops are not trained to be "reasonable" they are trained to use overwhelming sudden force. This is for their own safety, because most people they deal with in close encounters are also not reasonable people.

[istjohn]

Then they are trained wrong. It is imperative that cops--the people who patrol the neighborhoods our children play in, who are the first response to a (usually harmless) mentally ill person violating social norms, who are the recourse of overwhelmed parents with unruly children--it is imperative that cops are approachable, amicable, empathic, and reasonable.

[mr_overalls]

I'm afraid you have been given wrong information.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_force_continuum

[valuearb]

Most cops never have any reason to fire their weapon. Being a police officer is a relatively safe profession. Everyone they have contact with has legal rights.