I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say you're all wrong.
True, the guys who were shot were scum of the Earth. And I wouldn't waste a thought on their misfortune. They had it coming, and this was G-d's way of giving it to them. It's a shame Charles Barron wasn't in the car.
But none of that matters, because that's not why the cops shot them. This could happen to law abiding citizens too, and that's what concerns me.
This had nothing to do with the race of those "upstanding individuals." It's about incompetent cops. Many of them (I can't say if that's the case here) on a power trip.
Several years ago, I passed a red light. A small sports car with two big, scary looking guys came rushing up from behind me and tried to cut me off. I assumed they were bad news, and I didn't wait to find out what they wanted from me. I took off, and they gave chase. About a half a mile later, they passed me, and blocked off the street. Then the two huge guys got out, and approached my car. I pulled a knife. At the last second, I noticed one of them had a badge under his jacket.
Thank G-d I saw the badge before they saw the knife.
Cops often go into action without identifying themselves. And if a startled individual tries to defend himself against what he thinks is an attacker, he will be shot. This time, it happened to three deserving gentlemen. But it can just as easily happen to you and me.
Why did he ram the police car? Put it in perspective. One of the cops claimed the "victims" had just had an argument that almost (or did) turned violent, and left the club, saying "get my gun." (In fact, that's where the gun came from. No one ever saw a gun, they just heard him ask for one.) Now this guy, who just had a fight with another model citizen, gets cut off by an unmarked minivan, and some tough looking men are coming right at him. What do you think he's thinking? He thought they were there to continue the fight, so he rammed them. Chances are, they did not identify themselves as cops, in which case I would have done the same.
Ask yourself this. We know that even if there was a gun, none of the cops saw it, and certainly, it wasn't fired. Now the other cops claim when they heard the first cop fire his weapon, they thought they were being shot at, so they returned fire.
AT WHAT? ? ? ?
How did they assess a target, if they couldn't possibly have determined who (they thought) was shooting at them? Is that procedure? Just fire in the general direction you think the shots are coming from? Are they taught to return fire before assessing the situation? What if the shots came from a window in one of the houses? What if there was a hostage in the car? What if there were pedestrians walking by?
Clearly these guys were not thinking, except for the commander, who took cover, and then came around to get a better vantage point. He didn't fire a single shot.
Remember Gideon Bash? He was waving a toy hammer above his head, and chanting prayers that would give the hammer magical powers. Six cops formed a semi-circle around him at a distance of 15-20 feet. They stood that way for 30 seconds. Bash did not make a move toward the cops. Suddenly, they just opened fire and executed him.
And what Yirmiyahu said is not that far fetched. Every missed shot is a stray bullet. Remember Amadu Dialo? 41 shots from 5 feet, and only 19 hit him. That's a sign of unprofessionalism.
The bottom line is we should all be thankful this happened to a bunch of losers who will not get the chance to do unto others as was done onto them. But we should take a lesson from it. The cops don't know - or care - what their doing.
Don't delude yourself. They're not there to protect you. They're there to be your overlords.