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Boston cop who boasted of hitting protesters with his car gets eight-day suspension
By adamg on Sat, 10/09/2021 - 12:27pm
WBZ reports Sgt. Clifton McHale will be suspended for eight days for "conduct unbecoming a police officer" for saying he hit protesters - although investigators said he didn't actually do so - the night riots broke out following a peaceful George Floyd march and vigil on May 31, 2020.
Dan Kennedy has more, calls the punishment a "slap on the wrist."
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Comments
Sooo
He was in a cruiser which was surrounded by people who beat on it and pelted it. He was in a tense situation and was responding to assist officers who were calling for help. He then used hyperbole.
You all want him fired for that?
Sure
You get paid more than $200K a year and run around with a gun and the ability to arrest or kill people… shouldn’t you also have the self control to not hit protestors with your car and brag about it?
(Don’t overthink it. The answer is yes, and there should be zero tolerance for Clifton’s bullshit.)
https://www.wokewindows.org/officers/11904-clifton-mchale
Was anybody hit?
Don't overthink it (not that you're capable of thinking). The answer is NO.
Oh for god's sake
Act your age.
How many bootlicks does it take to get to the center of a Toot…
Seriously? Do you have like any evidence to back up your assertion his car was being struck by protesters?
He doesn’t say anything about it himself while engaging in your hyperbole. He just says he was in unmarked cruiser and people were around it.
Well actually
Yes. The BPPA put out a tweet with video showing his car being surrounded by a crowd of people who were banging on the windows and pulling on the doors.
https://twitter.com/BostonPatrolmen/status/1340430071480393728?s=20
Seriously dude?
That shows a car. How many patrol cars were on-site that evening?
Can anyone else besides the BPPA, who protects pedophiles and the officers who commit the most dispacable actions, say it was his car? The BPPA is not a trustworthy source.
In the article the officer in question only talks about an unmarked vehicle. More hyperbole? Your copaganda clearly shows a police vehicle being attacked and if that was his car why didn’t he say he was attacked or use being attacked in his defense?
How’s literally lying working out for you?
Edit: Your “hero” also was nearly indicted for raping an intoxicated woman in 2005, but the DA felt there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute him. She reported the rape and he just said it was consensual sex he engaged in within his work vehicle and while being paid. Cops sided with cops and that was that.
Let me get this straight
I know you ACABs ain’t the brightest so I will bust out the crayons for you. It has been stated that his car was unmarked. The car in he video is indeed unmarked. It is stated that it was his car. You do not deny that the car in the video was indeed attacked, in fact you actually to your credit identify the car as being attacked. Bravo!
Now let’s go with theory A of your nonsensical rant, that it is not his car but it was another officers car. Why would we assume that his car was not in fact attacked? If one car was surrounded by the crowd, and we do in fact know that multiple cruisers were in fact damaged and some even burned, why would think that somehow miraculously he was allowed safe passage? Seems rather illogical.
Let me know if I need to bust out some more crayons and explain to you that there was a riot that night and how riots work. It seems like you might be getting it, but I am thinking you were the kid eating the paste during arts and crafts.
Bust out the crayons!
Insult me all you want, but you’re not giving evidence. Who besides the BPPA says it was his car being attacked? He isn’t even saying that himself. Is he lying? Or are you?
Way to assume I’m with the ACAB crowd. You know, you can have deep concerns about the lack of accountability within an organization that purports to protect us and not think the whole system needs to be demolished first.
But if it’s between ACAB and fascistic bootlickers like you, I know which side is interested in actually discussing ways to make our city safer for everyone and those that protect criminals hiding behind the badge.
Actually
Had you read the Globe article it does mention his cruiser being attacked. But I imagine the Globe is a tad difficult for you as it does not include a box of crayons and a maze.
Since you read the globe
Did you read the part about him raping a woman on duty?
I read he was not even indicted of rape
From what I read he was not convicted of rape they were false allegations. He is a very brave officer and the thugs who attacked his car belong in jail. God bless our heroic BPD
False allegations?
There were only two of them in the car, the woman was intoxicated, he's a cop, and his father is a retired deputy superintendent. The possibility of convicting him of rape under such circumstances would be below zero, if that were possible. His punishment is roughly equivalent to an ordinary citizen receiving three death sentences. All because of false allegations! Our heroic BPD must really hate cops.
We may never know
what actually happened in that reported crime, but clearly BPD Internal Affairs did take issue with some of his conduct during the course of that investigation: https://www.wokewindows.org/complaints/13405
And let's be honest with ourselves, cop suspect or not, sexual predators far too often get away with the harm they've caused.
Um
So the crowd was doing it to another car but not his car, right? Ah, yes makes perfect sense.
What does it feel like
To have boot polish on your uvula?
Or have you so lost all sense of reality that you can't describe it?
You have very very low
You have very very low expectations for police officers if you think this is acceptable.
"you all"
Yours is the first comment in.
Yes!
But he was right in assuming that some people would want Sgt. McHale fired for that. Because he should be fired for that.
It just strikes me a certain way
when someone is out on the full defensive before anyone has even taken the first swing.
As for the topic at hand, I'm glad I'm not involved in these decisions. I don't know if McHale should be fired for this, but it does seem to me he's getting off easy. I don't think two weeks of unpaid leave is going to be terribly unbearable for someone who earned more than the mayor last year...
He clearly knew that the words he was speaking were wrong, or he wouldn't have corrected himself when he realized he was being recorded. And they were just words, as we understand the circumstances, so he wasn't describing actual actions he took in response to the situation that was ongoing. As a sergeant, he was likely superior in rank to most of the officers down there on the street that night; that's the first line of supervision on our patrol officers, and if they aren't exemplifying the most professional behavior at all times, why would we expect the subordinate officers he oversees to do so?
It also contributes to a dangerous culture
If he lies and says he was hitting protestors, that's going to tell his subordinate officers that it's OK to do so.
soooo
...and without getting into the rest of the thread, in short - yes.
Police officers are, at the very least, supposed to be trained to use better judgement and to understand why they should at all times. Being a cop is a choice, they choose to take on the responsibility that comes with it.
They constantly want special consideration, then they should damn well earn it, don't you think?
Would it be acceptable for
Would it be acceptable for your doctor to brag about giving you an infection?
Joking or not?
Or for a fireman to brag about setting your house on fire?
Hell, kids at Dunks get fired
Hell, kids at Dunks get fired fired for joking about spitting in a drink of a particularly rude customer. If somebody making minimum wage can't joke/lie/talk shit about something without consequences, why are police, who are literally supposed to be held to a higher standard of judgement and make six figures in this city, allowed to?
Outrageous!!!!
Outrageous!!!!
Whether he did strike people or not, the fact that he claimed he did and was proud of it is cause enough for his termination.
who does he serve?
Exactly. This is outrageous. Is he there to serve the community? An 8 day vacation is not a punishment.
Eh
It’s called “excited utterances” and they come up all the time in court. Not too mention most men tend to ahem compensate in certain departments, it’s not surprising he would have exaggerated his actions to his fellow officers much like a person will say their weight is a little lower than what it might be in real life.
- a Suffolk ada
Lying about your weight does not indicate …
… violent tendencies.
Was anyone disciplined
For shutting the Transit system down stranding thousands of peaceful protestors who were just trying to get home before all hell broke loose?
This cannot be reformed.
This cannot be reformed. Defund the police with the goal of eventual abolition.
Amen
.
Just showed my wife
Who’s a nurse in town this asinine comment and we’re both laughing.
You can’t be serious?
Your ignorance and your wife
The ignorance of you and your wife doesn't render my comment asinine. Police abolition is hardly a new idea. I don't get the feeling that you're interested in learning about what it actually means or why people would want to work toward it, but Alex Vitale's "The End of Policing" is a great primer if you are.
Ignorance
This is like saying "we should replace all aircraft with flying bicycles. Your skepticism about the possibility of this is mere ignorance. I won't explain how it can be done, but here's a book about it." You have to work a little harder than that. You can't just present a conlusion that is, on the face of it, absurd, without presenting an argument to go with it. You have to give people some reason to think you're not a kook before they're going to consider your book recommendations.
I don't care that much about
I don't care that much about convincing some anonymous person on the internet or about whether or not they think I'm a kook. But I never said their skepticism of abolition is ignorance. Ignorance is a lack of knowledge. Not knowing about a movement that's been around for decades is ignorance of that movement. My book recommendation was merely meant as an illustration that yes I am serious (to answer the question that was posed to me) and that I am not alone.
And
A flat earth is not a new idea. But it is also as asinine as abolishing the police.
I'm shocked that the guy
I'm shocked that the guy tripping over himself to lick boots at any possible opportunity in these comments is not in favor of abolishing the police.
Bad analogy
Earth has never been flat. Police have not always existed.
Why the (expletive) does it matter
What your wife's profession is in this context?
The police cannot be abolished
The primary purpose of police is the protection of property. As long as the moneyed elite retain economic, and therefore political, power, they will hire police officers to protect their property. To "abolish" the police is therefore merely to change their name, as the Royal Ulster Constabulary is now the "Police Service of Northern Ireland".
To truly abolish police you must abolish property itself. The team from hell will win the Stanley Cup on home ice before that happens.
I think the guy should have
I think the guy should have gotten a medal. Those “peaceful protesters” vandalized and looted my back Bay neighborhood.
So...
...you think the punishment for looting and vandalism should be vigilante execution? Tell me how that works.
Nice try, Buddy
Criminals vandalized and looted your neighborhood under the guise of protestors.
To protect...
...and to swerve
"Bragging" and "boasting" isn
"Bragging" and "boasting" isn't a good description for what he was doing on camera. It insinuates he had secret motive to hit people, which isn't apparent in the video.
What the officer did in the video was retell the events with a lack of seriousness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMYF-Y_r52Y&t=10s
The problem wasn't his police work but his demeanor.
demeanor
is a huge part of police work. if you can´t get that right, and choose to ignore it, especially as any kind of superior, you should not be a police officer.