zlacker

Could it have? I don't know. What is encouraging is that in the past they would have put the officers on paid leave and treated them with deference while the investigation took place. In this case they were promptly fired within 48 hours of the incident by the police chief.

There were also a lot of statements from police leadership that this incident wasn't acceptable or normal police procedure which is a drastic change from in the past where you had people staying silent or even defending and rationalizing the perpetrators actions.

The looting and rioting weaken a cause that after many years of being in the spotlight seemed to have reached a tipping point of overwhelming agreement.