Police Brutality and Oscar Grant

This post will not earn me many kudos with my fellow conservatives, but I have to say, that the sentencing of former police officer Johannes Mehserle to prison for two years for killing an unarmed man, Oscar Grant, is simply disgusting. The video shows that the man was unarmed and was not a life or death threat when the officer shot him. I understand that Mehserle says it was a mistake, and mistakes happen. But it is also true that Grant had a family. He was someone's son. Someon's relative. People cared about him. Some mistakes have consequences and I know that if someone "accidently" shot a cop or if Grant was the son or relative of an important figure, the leading politicians would be up in arms, demanding justice, demanding an investigation. But I don't see that happening. And frankly I find it disgusting.

That is one thing that I disagree with some of my fellow Republicans about. Police brutality. Yes we do need to be hard on crime. Without a doubt. But there is absolutely no reason to shoot someone who is lying on the ground handcuffed. There is no reason to beat someone up for no real reason, something which certain police officers have done and has been reported in the media. This doesn't mean that you go the opposite way and argue that criminals are poor abused things. You don't. But at some point there has to be a point of view in between, where you are not leniant on criminals but at the same time, there is no senseless violence towards suspects, becuase frankly, needless violence increases lawlessness.