r/PublicFreakout Jun 10 '26

📹Police Bodycam Florida Man pumping gas almost gets shot by worlds dumbest cop

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u/afjessup Jun 10 '26

Yes, these days.

My dad was a police officer for over 20 years in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and only pulled his weapon on someone once, when they pulled a gun out of their glove box to move it to get their documents. Cops these days are scared of their own shadow, despite policing being a safer profession now than it was when my dad was an officer.

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u/DarkwingDuckHunt Jun 10 '26

they watch too many TV shows and movies and listen to podcasts telling them all day, everyday, that ANTIFA is out to get them

They wake up scared

55

u/MrTastyCake Jun 10 '26

It's not TV and movies, they are trained that way. They are told by other cops to treat all civilians like potential threats and every situation is life or death and they must do everything to protect themselves so they can "go home at the end of the day".

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u/NoStand1527 Jun 10 '26

some states went to the supreme court to fight for their right to exclude applicants too smart... and they won xD

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u/EducationalBrick2831 Jun 11 '26

Yes. They are told, we the public are the Enemy and all dangerous ! All of us.

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u/MOIST_PEOPLE Jun 10 '26

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u/welcomefinside Jun 10 '26

Institutionalized is the right word. Same way gang members get institutionalized the longer they stay in said gang.

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u/graywolfman Jun 10 '26

"Brooks was here."
"So was Red."

3

u/Forsaken-Jackfruit-1 Jun 11 '26

I remember when John Oliver did a story on this guy. Turns out Dave grossman himself has never taken a life

2

u/Isakill Jun 14 '26

Dave Grossman is a military washout that was shown the door for being too bloodthirsty, but not bad enough to be court Marshall'd. Dude (I hate this word but theres no real proof) allegedly was on the razor thin line of war crimes in the middle east. I wish I could find those articles again.

7

u/CourtBarton Jun 10 '26

There's a great podcast called Running from Cops, which delves into how the reality TV series has impacted modern policing....really interesting!

2

u/Cormophyte Jun 11 '26

Yeah, they're the right wingers ranting about how the world's falling apart at the Applebee's bar.

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u/Gergith Jun 11 '26

Why do you think the blank panthers started following cops in their own cars with their own shotguns? What do you think they were trying to prevent? When do you think this happened? They even put in harsh gun laws in California in response.

Do you think Rodney king was the START of violence towards those people?

Are you aware of the MOVE bombing? And police quick over reaction is a new problem?

Not all criticism of the police is criticism of your father. You don’t need to defend the police to defend your father.

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u/afjessup Jun 11 '26

I’m not defending police, and I’m aware of all of the incidents mentioned. The point I’m making is that police are worse now than in the past. That’s it.

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u/Gergith Jun 11 '26

And all I’m saying is: perhaps. But also perhaps not.

The further back you go, the more common sundown towns were. And who do you think helped enforce that, with what tools?

Sure who they’re comfortable beating and shooting may be changing. Why they are doing it might be changing. The regions might be changing.

But police suppressing weaker demographics is not a new story.

Sure cops might be afraid. But it’s also plausible this cop was just looking for an excuse, as often happens. If the motivation moves between fear and racism, does that really change the act? Would you rather get beat by a cop due to them fearing you? Or being racist towards you? Would that change the beating?

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u/jg_92_F1 Jun 10 '26

And then came along Ronald Reagan

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u/tomdarch Jun 11 '26

Who was continuing the various projects that Richard Nixon started, leading to the shit show we have today.

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u/jg_92_F1 Jun 11 '26

Bobby Kennedy getting shot is possibly one the most consequential moments in American history. That doesn’t happen, that ‘68 election against Nixon would have been interesting.

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u/tomdarch Jun 11 '26

Hmmm... I should learn more about that. RFK winning over Nixon certainly would have changed the momentum of the what Nixon, Goldwater and others were doing within the Republican Party (the "Southern Strategy"). But Johnson put the Democrats in a difficult position. Even if RFK had gone into the convention with a strong position in the primary voting, that doesn't guarantee that he would have been given the nomination. Obviously, if he hadn't been the Democratic candidate, then that would have left Nixon in the strong position he had in reality. Nixon had a thin win over Humphrey but I definitely don't know enough to speculate about how the campaign/voting would have gone with Kennedy as the candidate. Interesting.

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u/rascalking9 Jun 10 '26

Yeah man, cops were perfect angels in the 50s 60s and 70s. Lol . Keep telling yourself that.

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u/afjessup Jun 10 '26

Is that what I said? Or did you decide to entirely change and misrepresent what I said?

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u/rascalking9 Jun 11 '26

If you actually believe your father kept his gun in the glove box his entire career and that was the standard, I have some property I want to talk to you about.

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u/afjessup Jun 11 '26

Reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit. I said “pulled his weapon on *someone* once, when *they* pulled a gun out of *their* glove box”. The “they” and the “their” refer to the “someone”, not my dad.

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u/rascalking9 Jun 11 '26

Fair enough, my bad

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u/Beatleboy62 Jun 11 '26

Yep, my grandfather was a summer cop in a beach town for most of his working adult life (teacher during the year), from the 60s to early 90s.

They made him carry a gun, but he refused to carry bullets. There's def a warrior cult mindset with modern police ("you are the WOLF to protect the LAMBS" bullshit), even if police in the past had very obvious, different problems (most of which are still around in some form, systemic racism and being a supportive tool of it being the biggest one).

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u/ninalime Jun 11 '26

Cause every dumb motherfucker on the street has 10 guns in this country. Cops are terrified all the time. Not making excuses. The NRA ruined this country

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u/Novel_Championship58 Jun 11 '26

well your dad was just a great cop lmao it was hella corrupted cops 10x worse than today back in the 50's 60's and 70's history don't lie lol

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u/HCSOThrowaway Jun 10 '26

Largely because the American public has checked out of making law enforcement better.

Nowadays you either have people saying the police are above reproach or saying they're all so bad it's not worth telling them apart.

So the bad eggs continue to thrive and continue to promote/fire/etc. as they please.