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Star Wars Prequels Crime Social Networks Twitter

William Shatner Upset By Police Who Drew Guns Upon Stormtrooper On May 4th (cbr.com) 431

McGruber writes: On Twitter, William Shatner is sending his contempt to the Lethbridge Police department and three of its officers that celebrated May Fourth by drawing their rifles on and then taking down a woman dressed as Stormtrooper, who had been standing in the parking lot of a Star Wars-themed business. According to CTV News, the restaurant was promoting its special May the 4th drive-by and takeaway menus with a dancing stormtrooper.

"In the video, Ashley can be seen dropping the blaster and trying to get on the ground as the officers surround her but being unable to do so due to the rigidity of the costume," reports CBR. "The officers then push her down, remove the helmet, handcuff her and pat down the stormtrooper costume. At the same time as Ashley's boss Brad Whalen, the owner of the Cantina, screamed to the police that Ashley was holding a plastic gun, the author of the video approached the officers to tell them the same thing. The police, however, instructed him to stay back and not interfere."

An investigation has been opened to see if the officers' actions were appropriate.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

William Shatner Upset By Police Who Drew Guns Upon Stormtrooper On May 4th

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  • lucky girl (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bloodhawk ( 813939 ) on Wednesday May 06, 2020 @06:24PM (#60030220)
    personally I would love something like that to happen to me (as long as they didn't get trigger happy), the payout from the lawsuit or settlement will be huge.
    • Re:lucky girl (Score:5, Interesting)

      by FuegoFuerte ( 247200 ) on Wednesday May 06, 2020 @07:01PM (#60030314)

      I think you don't know how this works.

      It's very difficult to pin anything on cops. Hell, they can commit full-on murder in broad daylight in a crowded park and barely get a slap on the wrist (look up the Native American who was carving wood in a park in Seattle and got shot for holding a knife).

      I was wrongfully arrested by some small-town asshole cops, had one of them standing on my face, another when I asked if they could loosen the cuffs a click came over and cinched them down another click or two just for spite. Got to spend a night in county jail, and when all was said and done I only had to pay $6000 in attorneys fees and $100 or so to the court to get a "stay of proceedings" where it mostly dropped off my record after a year of good behavior.

      Justice isn't a thing in the system we have here in the USA, or apparently Canada. It's pay-to-play, pay-to-walk-away. If I had been poor, I would probably have a record for something I didn't do. Instead, I got to pay to have the threat of a record-without-a-trial-for-totally-bogus-charges hanging over me for a year, and then got to walk away.

      Oh, and the personal property they took off me? Yeah, never got some of that back, because they conveniently neglected to catalogue it.

      I know some good cops. I know some bad cops. Bad cops are the reason people hate cops, and the reason why, when a cop gets shot, the first question that comes to my mind is "I wonder what he did to deserve that." For every good and innocent cop who gets shot in the line of duty by some a-hole, there are probably two dirty cops who got shot because they were being a-holes and doing something actually deserving of it.

      • Re:lucky girl (Score:5, Interesting)

        by grasshoppa ( 657393 ) on Wednesday May 06, 2020 @08:29PM (#60030536) Homepage

        You fail to understand how the system works.

        The cops already lost this one because of the optics; it's a woman, she was doing everything right AND it taps the culture button ( starwars ). It was guaranteed to get a celeb endorsement ( although I'll grant that Shatner is an ironic icon, but he seems a good guy overall ). They're already in a bad position and on the defensive. What're they going to do? Come out against public sentiment and say...what? Even if she was doing whatever they believed her to be doing, they've already lost, and if they don't know it they need to fire whoever is in charge of their PR.

        She'll get a payout ( that the citizens have to pony up for ) and a public apology, the dept will make a lot of noise about retraining their officers ( which will be a powerpoint slide, maybe ), and it'll go away.

  • by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 ) on Wednesday May 06, 2020 @06:24PM (#60030222)
    Some scary black rifle shrouds and pistol grips. Trudeau would approve of the offocers' initiative.
  • Saw the video... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SirAstral ( 1349985 ) on Wednesday May 06, 2020 @06:26PM (#60030226)

    These cops were disgraceful, what a bunch of inept fucking morons and before someone says "they may not have known" about the 4th and Star Wars then there is a problem with a Police force that does not keep track of the social atmosphere of the people they "claim" to be serving and protecting.

    Police should most definitely have a finger on the pulse of these kinds of things. Need to keep these ass-clowns AWAY from any conventions or multiple SWAT teams will be called in.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      These cops were disgraceful, what a bunch of inept fucking morons and before someone says "they may not have known" about the 4th and Star Wars then there is a problem with a Police force that does not keep track of the social atmosphere of the people they "claim" to be serving and protecting.

      To be fair, assuming that someone dressed as a Stormtrooper isn't carrying a real gun is probably a bad idea. So even if they do know about the 4th and Star Wars, a certain amount of caution is in order.

      But the moment they got a good look at the "gun" in the hand of the teenage Stormtrooper named Ashley, that should have been the end of the matter. There's a photo of her blaster, and it's blatantly obviously a hand made toy, even at a distance. Police training in weapon recognition has been abysmal for 4

      • "assuming that someone dressed as a Stormtrooper isn't carrying a real gun is probably a bad idea"

        WTF? Do a lot of actual violent criminals in your town dress up in elaborate costumes from children's movies and dance around in parking lots? For realz?

      • by shess ( 31691 ) on Thursday May 07, 2020 @12:49AM (#60030998) Homepage

        These cops were disgraceful, what a bunch of inept fucking morons and before someone says "they may not have known" about the 4th and Star Wars then there is a problem with a Police force that does not keep track of the social atmosphere of the people they "claim" to be serving and protecting.

        To be fair, assuming that someone dressed as a Stormtrooper isn't carrying a real gun is probably a bad idea.

        It's a stormtrooper, what are they going to do, shoot you with it?

        • by swillden ( 191260 ) <shawn-ds@willden.org> on Thursday May 07, 2020 @08:05AM (#60031654) Journal

          These cops were disgraceful, what a bunch of inept fucking morons and before someone says "they may not have known" about the 4th and Star Wars then there is a problem with a Police force that does not keep track of the social atmosphere of the people they "claim" to be serving and protecting.

          To be fair, assuming that someone dressed as a Stormtrooper isn't carrying a real gun is probably a bad idea.

          It's a stormtrooper, what are they going to do, shoot you with it?

          Judging by the historical documentaries I've seen, they're going to miss you with it, making black marks on the walls around you.

    • by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Wednesday May 06, 2020 @08:34PM (#60030542) Journal
      If you watch it, at first you feel like you're watching an episode of Reno 911!
    • I could forgive someone for not knowing about the 4th, but regardless, what person in this day and age doesn't instantly recognize a Star Wars stormtrooper outfit, and could therefore should be able to instantly surmise that there's about a 99.999% chance that the "weapon" is also a Star Wars themed toy, and not a threat to anyone.

      Now, we can admit it was probably not great judgment to be swinging around a pretend gun, even in a stormtrooper costume, given the recent incidents in Canada. But once the offic

  • I didn't think you could be challenged by police for openly carrying a weapon? Even if it is fake.

    Perhaps because it wasn't holstered and she was holding it?

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      Lots of states are not open carry.

      California used to be open carry. But when Ronald Reagan found out that black people were also allowed to own guns, he put a stop to open carry for everyone.

    • Re:Open Carry? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Wednesday May 06, 2020 @06:47PM (#60030282)

      Perhaps because it wasn't holstered and she was holding it?

      She wasn't holding it.

      She had placed the toy on the ground and stepped away from it.

      The cops should be fired. No one this stupid should have a gun and a badge.

    • by msauve ( 701917 )
      "I didn't think you could be challenged by police for openly carrying a weapon?"

      It wasn't a weapon, unless you used it to smack someone on the head. And what's next, getting shot by the cops for having a Super Soaker?
    • There was no weapon.

      It's not illegal to cosplay. And if a cop is too dumb to recognize a stormtrooper on May the 4th outside a business decked out for the occasion, they should not be a cop.

  • by JeffOwl ( 2858633 ) on Wednesday May 06, 2020 @06:41PM (#60030266)

    FTFS "An investigation has been opened to see if the officers' actions were appropriate."

    You don't need an investigation for that. The answer is "no, the actions were not appropriate."

    • by scdeimos ( 632778 ) on Wednesday May 06, 2020 @07:26PM (#60030380)

      Lethbridge's chief of police is calling for an investigation into the actions of responding officers after video of an arrest outside a Star Wars-themed restaurant on May 4 surfaced online.

      ... and ...

      LPS Chief Scott Woods initiated an investigation under the Alberta Police Act to determine whether the responding officers "acted appropriated within the scope of their training and LPS policies and procedures." The investigation was spurred by video of the arrest circulating on social media.

      My cynical self says the only reason there's an investigation is because of the video. And it will probably focus more on how there came to be video rather than the totally inappropriate actions of the police officers.

  • by bjdevil66 ( 583941 ) on Wednesday May 06, 2020 @06:42PM (#60030268)

    FTA: "Apparently a couple of people had called 911 and said that there was somebody with a gun on 13 Street N.," said Brad Whalen, the restaurant's owner.

    Who were the stupefyingly ignorant two people (or cruel pranksters) that called 911? They just caused a lot of people a lot of trouble while putting a 19 year old's life at risk. And if it was a prank, it won't be hard to figure out what two assclowns made those calls.

    Prank or not, the next time Canadians want to make fun of Americans, all we have to do is retort with this story. Both the callers and the cops were... just... ignorant.

    • "Who were the stupefyingly ignorant two people (or cruel pranksters) that called 911?"

      The same thing happens when people see somebody on the sidewalk with a _camera_!
      Then they are immediately _concerned_.
      You know, in the current climate, in this day and age, terrorists!

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      They [put] a 19 year old's life at risk.

      Whether her life was at risk depends on whether that police department has been trained in de-escalation. Could someone who has had that training (or given it) tell us whether their actions were appropriate?

    • The 911 callers got the wrong message from “Use the Force.” It doesn’t mean the police force!
  • So...
    You can dress in tactical gear with real assault weapons and storm your state capital, and the police just give you a knowing nod:
    But you can't can't stand outside a Star Wars themed store in storm trooper costume with a plastic storm trooper rifle without being taken down by the police.

    Right.. no wonder autistic people don't understand our world and our strange social rules because it hardly even makes sense to me.

    • Ooopsie... this was Canada... egg on my face. Seriously Canada?

    • Re:Only In America (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Areyoukiddingme ( 1289470 ) on Wednesday May 06, 2020 @07:04PM (#60030324)

      You can dress in tactical gear with real assault weapons and storm your state capital, and the police just give you a knowing nod

      ...in the US.

      But you can't can't stand outside a Star Wars themed store in storm trooper costume with a plastic storm trooper rifle without being taken down by the police.

      ...in Canada.

      Both of these scenarios are different flavors of batshit crazy, but they at least didn't happen in the same country, or under even remotely similar gun laws.

    • Re: Only In America (Score:2, Informative)

      by Type44Q ( 1233630 )

      ...with real assault weapons

      For the umpteenth time, there's no such thing: there are semi-automatic rifles - some with dangerous-looking bits of plastic, some without - and there are mil-spec assault rifles... and under Federal law, those are entirely ineligible for private ownership if they've been manufactured after 1985.

      The average [self-identified] liberal's perspective on firearms seems to be comprised of equal parts A-Team and CNN...

      • No such thing, until the ban.
        Technically, the 1994 ban did define the term "assault weapon". Per the law, an assault weapon is defined as a firearm with any combination of certain cosmetic appearance features that look scary to certain people who don't know anything about guns.

        I don't recall if "black" is on the list of scary looking, and therefore an assault weapon.

        The term appears to have been coined by gun control advocate Josh Sugarmann, who wrote:

        --
        Assault weaponsâ"just like armor-piercing bullets

    • Storm? No, that would be an act of violent insurrection. Peacefully assembling to protest the actions of government is hardly the same thing. Even if the protesters carry with them a reminder that they posses rights upon which government cannot infringe.
  • Obviously there has been a vast number of Storm Trooper violent crimes. You know, attacking Rebels, manning the Death Star and so on.

    The police are such asshats in situations like this. Every one of them involved needs to be demoted to Mall Cop. No, wait. That's an insult to Mall Cops everywhere.

    They should be assigned to the TSA. Nothing insults those people.

  • He's upset about that, but no comment on the unprovoked killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia? Heh. At least she wasn't murdered.

  • A berserker dressed up as a cop and murdered many people in Canada recently. I do not know the details of this incident which seems very excessive. Very traumatic for the victims. But imagine people including police on edge recently.
  • ...and far far away. What's ancient history to Kirk?
    Anyway, it's not a helmet, it's a mask; we're all supposed to wear such things, no?

  • Why do we need that in the title. Police being stupid is enough. It doesn't need to be "further legitimized" by attaching a celebrity to it.

    The fucking news needs to stop reporting what people are feeling and report on what's fucking happening.
  • Canada just banned "assault-type weapons". The definition of such is based on appearance. Other than "colour", a stormtrooper weapon certainly looks like an EvilBlackGun.

  • Take away law abiding citizens rights to own ACTUAL guns.
    So now police can arrest you for holding a plastic TOY gun!

    WAKE UP CANADA!

  • by ShoulderOfOrion ( 646118 ) on Thursday May 07, 2020 @01:01AM (#60031018)

    Even if the weapon was real, it's a known fact that stormtroopers can't hit anything.

  • by RobinH ( 124750 ) on Thursday May 07, 2020 @05:11AM (#60031356) Homepage
    The only thing that seems to be confirmed as that they were real police officers. We still don't know who the two people were who called the police and how they were related to the people in the video, and someone (the restaurant owner?) happened to be filming at that time... a coincidence? This smells an awful lot like an attempt at a viral promotion gone wrong. Poorly handled by the police, for certain, but something is fishy here. I don't think we have all the relevant information.
  • by MitchDev ( 2526834 ) on Thursday May 07, 2020 @06:11AM (#60031442)

    And yet people wonder why so many view cops with distrust and contempt....

  • As a Brit waching from across "the pond" I find it so funny ( read: in a pathetic way ) that an actor in a costume with a plastic gun gets manhandled by law enforcement for being a threat, meanwhile a bunch of backwoods yahoos crying about Covid-19 lockdown infringing their rights, drapped in the confederate flag ( considered contraversial, read: rascist to many ) and carry automatic weapons, are allowed to gather outside government buildings and chant about their rights in full view of the Police!

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