[Skybird]

^ My thoughts exactly.

Still, he did not fall by himself, but was pushed. Nobody would argue that if somebody gets shot, the victim was killed by the bullet and the shooter were not responsible fior it: the shooter has all to do with it. The consequence may not have been intended in this case, but that cannot protect the officers from being held accountable, like you may cause a car accident that you did not intended, still you are held responsible. It was reported there was a call by the police to move away. But even if he did not obey, that cannot be a reason to excuse health damage like this: skull fracture, very dangerous, initially in critical condition. It would be absolutely disproportionate to be allowed to injure people like this just because they - without projecting physical violence by themselves -do not immediately obey police orders - if that would be okay, you could as well legalise it to shoot protesters in the leg. This man suffered a skull fracture. HE COULD BE DEAD. The two officers pushing him must be held accountable, there is no way around that. A sober, neutral trial, if that is possible in this climate.

Personally I do not like police having to wear their names on their uniforms so that they can be personally identified and privately taken revenge on, which indeed is a problem in those states (Germany) and nations were it gets done like this: indeed it leads to threats being directed at the families of officers. But they should wear numbers by which they can be anonymously identified if charges gets filed against them by private persons. Examination of such incidents should not be left to an internal department, but must be transparent, the examination must be counter-controlled by an instance that is outside the police: the accused cannot be in control of the examination. It has been said a lot about the powerful police unions (in America) preventing right this neutral examination working if problems arise. That since so long nothing has changed for the better, is hugely to their part, since they block change and protect their members. Well, thats why I have read, and what they said in a docu in TV this evening.

There was a TV report on the US police on German TV tonight. In it they said the averag training time in US states (it varies from state to state) is 19 weeks across the nation - then you are an officer. That is ridiculous. Compared to European standards, the focus is extremely on combat and fighting. Psychological techniques of deescalating a socially charged situation and calming things down, by European standards are so underrated, that they do almost not exist, in comparison. I mean: 19 weeks versus several years of training, that is just a fraction of training time. That must have consequences, there must be lacks.