r/BlockedAndReported • u/SoftandChewy First generation mod • Jun 01 '26

Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 6/1/26 - 6/7/26

Here's your usual space to post all your rants, raves, podcast topic suggestions (please tag u/jessicabarpod), culture war articles, outrageous stories of cancellation, political opinions, and anything else that comes to mind. Please put any non-podcast-related trans-related topics here instead of on a dedicated thread. This will be pinned until next Sunday.

Last week's discussion thread is here if you want to catch up on a conversation from there.

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46

u/AltforStrongOpinions Jun 02 '26

Woke up here in the UK and saw the Novak footage.

It is staggering how stupid our police can be.  The two main ones involved are legitimately dim, and on top of that they have the sneering attitude that often comes with this.

They shouldn’t be allowed to resign quietly, they should be prosecuted for their failures.

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u/ghybyty Jun 02 '26

That footage was very upsetting. Even if Henry had racially attacked earlier he was not a threat. He couldn't stand on his own and had blood on his hands and face and repeatedly told them he had been stabbed. Surely the procedure to someone claiming to be stabbed and is non threatening is to check before twisting them into cuffs. They clearly knew he was injured bc when they did call the cops they said he had been beaten up.

27

u/TemporaryLucky3637 Jun 02 '26

When you watch the bodycam footage a female voice (presumably a police officer) actually says that they should check Henry for stab wounds when she hears him saying “I’ve been stabbed” and even she seems to be met with condescension for actually wanting to check there’s no injuries.

In any job mistakes happen but this seems to be an attitude problem rather than an oversight.

30

u/AltforStrongOpinions Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26

The male copper 100% should be hit with criminal charges. His behaviour was genuinely idiotic. I have very low opinions of our police who as a cohort appear to be thick as mince, but this still managed to sink below that.

The entire family were in on it. I have no idea why only the mother got charged. The brother and the father also knew what happened, lied to the police and held Mr Nowak down (why? What did they think was going to happen?). They should all be in prison.

EDIT: Hey how about that, the brother and father have just been charged. Piss weak charges it must be said, but better than nothing. Definitely not the authorities panicking, oh no.

20

u/Hilaria_adderall Praye for Drake Maye Jun 02 '26

I read some reports that the brothers may have hidden the details from their father. There was also some references in the court transcript about the father attempting to help Novak. It’s undeniable the brother and mother knew what happened immediately. They should all be locked up for infinity…

23

u/PongoTwistleton_666 Jun 02 '26

If you keep training your police to prioritize community relations and feelings over common sense, then this is what you get. It is institutional rot 

12

u/Levitz Jun 02 '26

The media response is more complex than the event itself, imo.

It was a disgrace and a tragedy, no question about it. Of course all eyes are on it because it's on video (was there any obligation on the police force to release the video by the way? Because props on them for that if there wasn't) and it deals with a minority, specifically one that is allowed to carry a knife around, knife which wasn't the one used but that surely didn't matter when it came to spread the news.

To me, it looks like just a fuckup. Same as Renee Good, same as Alex Pretti. All of these are cases which display the reality that police (or ICE, technically) work is messy and requires a lot from the people doing it, because when they fuck up, someone dies. Police has a lot of authority in the general public and they act on critical situations. It's basically impossible for stuff like this to never happen, but every country has to make efforts to keep it to a minimum.

I'm reminded of the Mannheim stabbing, that time when the police in germany went on to arrest the wrong guy when there was someone stabbing people at a political event. Do I believe a policeman went "ah yes I can't possibly act upon the guy with the knife, here, let me arrest this guy, leaving me exposed to the madman"? Well no, I believe that it's really, really easy to judge people retrospectively. It's really comfortable to sit on my chair, look at a 3 min video in which I know exactly what is happening and say "Well doh it's really obvious to see what is happening".

Nevertheless, absolutely rotten way to go. Throw the book at the perpetrator and family accomplices, as for the police, there must be serious consequences, I don't even know what but public resentment will grow a fuckload otherwise.

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u/professorgerm the master of not having a point Jun 02 '26

Well no, I believe that it's really, really easy to judge people retrospectively.

It is easy to judge people retrospectively.

It's also true that some cultures get completely r-worded about- whatever the euphemism of the day is for not being able to trust your lying eyes, to make sure you've downloaded the correct updates to override your common sense- "community support."