Originally Posted by
Genoobie
HWorld,
I'm not defending the incident or the perpetrators actions, and it's sad that there are so many incidents but you have to contextualize the incident (and you do this but in my opinion not clearly enough). 1971 is a hot time and follows very shortly on the heels of heavy rioting and race related crimes. The commissioner was probably just trying to keep peace in a city on the verge of boiling over with crime (and NYC in the seventies was a dangerous place to live).
Since you're involved in NYPD, Yusuf Hawkins, Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima, I mean it's not like NYC or NYPD has a stellar record with race issues and things probably are already pretty tense when police arrive. I attribute incidents like this more to mob mentality instead of conspiracy.