r/interestingasfuck • u/SilkenSeraph • 1d ago

/r/all Ryan Waller, a 22-year-old man who, despite having a bullet in his eye, endured 4 hours of interrogation by cops who thought he was lying—only to receive medical help too late.

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u/8bitAnarchist 1d ago

If I was that, dude, I would’ve literally said nothing until I got medical attention. I guess cops would just let you die tho

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u/fakawfbro 1d ago

He was regressing into childlike behaviors due to severe brain damage. The cops in this case were absolute bastards.

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u/GearsZam 1d ago

This is the most important part that some folks aren’t taking into consideration—he wasn’t being grumpy and visibly sleepy and snapping at the officers by any choice of his own. His brain was not functioning logically, it was slowly sustaining more and more damage.

He did not have the capacity to turn this situation to his favor. He very clearly does not understand what’s going on, and if I remember correctly from watching his interrogation, he didn’t even realize his girlfriend was dead most of the time.

Like. This is on those cops, 100%.

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u/Orshabaalle 18h ago

Yep this interrogation was a very hard watch. Watching the guy self soothe while being completely unaware of his own state of health, how he got there, and where he is.

Just over, and over, pleading to the cops that he want to get some sleep.

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u/GearsZam 15h ago

That was the hardest part for me, too. The fact that he kept stating he was shot in the head and that he just wanted to sleep. Even if he hadn't been shot in the head, any head injury followed by "just let me sleep" needs medical attention immediately.

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u/LuxNocte 1d ago

You misspelled "All".

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u/fakawfbro 1d ago

I avoid that rhetoric no matter how much truth might be in it because it’s the exact rhetoric used by loud and proud bigots. We should be able to promote policing reform without stooping to the level of an uneducated anti-Semite.

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u/SeamlessR 1d ago

Cops aren't a race, a religion, a sexual orientation, or a skin color. They're a job, they're a choice, and they're all bastards.

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u/fakawfbro 1d ago edited 1d ago

Would you support those who hate prostitutes? That’s a job, not a religion or race.

I think you’re being dismissive of how culture, family, and yes, even noble intentions, factor into some people’s decision to pursue policing as a career. Agree to disagree. I’m an ally but I’ll never support generalizing rhetoric which contributes nothing but sparing you from the headache of morally grey thinking. That’s lazy as hell and far more destructive than necessary. The fact that you need to run down the list of things policing isn’t purely to separate yourself from being comparable to a bigot should tell you a lot about the issues with what you’re arguing.

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u/ncvbn 1d ago

Wouldn't the more apt parallel be pimps? I suppose it's possible that there are some virtuous pimps out there, but it seems credible enough that all pimps are bastards.

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u/fakawfbro 22h ago

More so going for the comparison of career choice somehow determining someone’s morality. Plenty of people look down on prostitutes for being prostitutes, something I imagine most ACAB adherents would look down on… but both groups are looking down on those careers because of the reality of what its labor entails, not anything to do with the actual human behind the labor. Pimps I think would be an unfair comparison because they’re generally predatory and have next to no capacity to do good, whereas cops often do good (just not systemically). Like, the cop going to play basketball down at the community center is a bastard because of the institution? The cop standing in a courtroom keeping a douchebag murderer from acting out and hurting more innocent people is a bastard? Sounds like lazy thinking to me, idk

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u/ncvbn 14h ago

Pimps I think would be an unfair comparison because they’re generally predatory and have next to no capacity to do good

Isn't this the exact kind of "generalizing rhetoric" you were criticizing?

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u/fakawfbro 13h ago

You just said it would be a better comparison, but alright, lol. Sure, let’s explore that. I didn’t say all pimps, but sure. For the record, saying “generally” is actually the opposite of generalization, ironically, because it’s acknowledging there are exceptions to what’s being said. Saying ALL x are x is a generalization, but is not the same as saying “all x are generally x”. Important distinction. Let’s pretend that’s not the case for conversation’s sake though.

Pimps, through their existence, take money from those who have earned it through selling their bodies. There’s also a high correlation, obviously, between pimping and sex trafficking, not just of adults but also of minors. The pimping “profession” exists outside the bounds of the law, and is essentially, in its absolute best forms, an extrajudicial form of vigilantism meant to prevent abuse of sex workers through financial and sexual abuse. In clearer terms, sex workers get protection from strangers in exchange for not being protected from their pimp’s abuse. Through prostitute’s work, pimps are enriched.

Cops are a publicly funded institution that has been put into power through democratic processes. They have regulations, governmental oversight (not nearly enough though, don’t get me wrong), and training (often not good training, again). Policing can do harm and can also be improved, but systemically speaking sometimes strays into useful territory. Police solve crimes on occasion, save lives on occasion, do good on occasion. Their abuse of law-abiding citizens is considered an anomaly and, when justice is done, will be punished harshly by the law. Pimps’ abuse, meanwhile, is the cost of their protection.

In my view, there’s more than enough clear distinctions between the professions to consider them wildly different things. Judging people based on their choice of career as some sort of morally enlightened arbiter is what I’m criticizing - but that doesn’t mean you can’t acknowledge the systemic reality of what that career entails. If the line was “cops are generally bastards,” I’d have no issue whatsoever with that rhetoric. That’s not what it is, though. It’s a willfully childish generalization of what the situation actually is, refusing to acknowledge exceptions, cultural circumstance, and the ethical complexities inherent in society needing some form of policing to prevent complete anarchy and, put bluntly, to prevent a rapist’s or murderer’s paradise from forming.

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u/SeamlessR 23h ago

Would you support those who hate prostitutes

No, because prostitutes aren't uniformed officers of law enforcement.

I think you’re being dismissive of how culture, family, and yes, even noble intentions, factor into some people’s decision to pursue policing as a career

I am not being dismissive, I am being real: police culture is terrible, police families are harmed 4x higher than non cop families by their cop spouses, and noble intentions are stupid and people who bring that up to defend what they're doing are only doing that because they have no other defense for what they're doing and should feel stupid.

Agree to disagree. I’m an ally but I’ll never support generalizing rhetoric which contributes nothing but sparing you from the headache of morally grey thinking.

You are not an ally. You are muddying waters by attempting to conflate being a cop with being anything that the word "bigot" applies to, which are referred to as "protected classes"

The fact that you need to run down the list of things policing isn’t purely to separate yourself from being comparable to a bigot should tell you a lot about the issues with what you’re arguing.

I felt the need to run down the list of "protected classes" that cops are not (there are more protected classes than what I listed, cops still aren't on that list) because the things you say indicate you need to be run down the list of things cops are not. Since you seem to think ACAB is on the order of traditional bigotry. It is not.

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u/throwaw4y1211 1d ago

And they were hired FOR their personality traits. All cops, all politicians, all CEOs.

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u/sunflowerads 1d ago

he was brain damaged and had no idea wtf was going on. there was zero possibility of coherent thought, it was absolutely insane that he was even conscious.

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u/donuttrackme 1d ago

You would have a bullet lodged in your brain. No telling what you would've actually done with brain damage.

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u/dicksjshsb 1d ago

I could’ve sworn I’ve heard stories about similar situations where the actual murderer gets medical attention and then charged with the crime.

How is medical attention going to affect whether or not they can prosecute him? Honest question.

Seems like you could bring him to the hospital with cops to make sure he doesn’t flee and just document all the injuries in case they are crucial to the investigation.

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u/LuxNocte 1d ago

If you get him medical attention then he might sober up and ask for a lawyer. Interrogate him first, maybe he'll just confess so he can get medical attention, innocent or not.

Don't be confused that "justice" is the goal here, just convictions.

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u/Ree_m0 1d ago

They tried to take advantage of the fact that he wasn't able to keep his story 100% straight. A fact that was purely and exclusively caused by his injury they failed to provide treatment for.

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u/dicksjshsb 1d ago

That’s wack

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u/Stevieeeer 42m ago

It’s because it’s easier to coerce someone into saying something when they are in severe pain. Doesn’t matter if it’s true, doesn’t matter if it’s morally or ethically ok, it’s just all about coercion.

Don’t forget, most of the guys hired to do this job were the “bang my own head against the locker to show how tough I am” kind of guys in high school.

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u/Codyyh 1d ago

he had more and more brain damage as time went on.

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u/8bitAnarchist 15h ago

The fact that he had a brain injury during the interrogation is information I did not know

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u/TrineonX 1d ago

Poor guy was not even lucid. He had no idea where he was and what was going on. He was injured so bad that he didn't even know that he was injured.

This wasn't an option for him

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u/Alpha_Majoris 1d ago

American police cannot be trusted. Never tell anything to them. In the USA it's not about finding the truth, it's about closing a case, and it doesn't matter if you found the real killer or criminal or not. If you have somebody convicted in court, innocent or not, you've done your job. It's a crazy fuck-ass system.

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u/8bitAnarchist 15h ago

I’m American and I totally agree and have seen it

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u/SteakandTrach 1d ago

His brain wasn’t working because of the bullet lodged in it.

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u/8bitAnarchist 15h ago

The fact that he had a brain injury during the interrogation is information I did not know

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u/UwU-Sandwich 1d ago

"if i was in a state of shock, barely conscious and had a brain injury i wouldve [insert logical action]"

yea, sure buddy

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u/8bitAnarchist 1d ago

I didn’t know he was barely conscious, buddy

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u/UwU-Sandwich 15h ago

my brother in christ there was a BULLET inside of his SKULL

he was found ON THE GROUND with a HEAD INJURY

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u/8bitAnarchist 15h ago

Where does it say that in the original post? All I see is the picture and the title that he had a bullet in his eye. You need to calm down nerd

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u/No_Discipline6265 16h ago

He was suffering brain damage, incoherent at times and then telling them he'd been shot, too. He said shot with an arrow because of the  brain damage. The black eye and being incoherent should have been enough for them to seek medical intervention, even before they realized he'd been shot. He had been in the house with his girlfriends body long enough that she was decomposing, he thought she was asleep, they left him in a car for 6 hours at the scene and then interrogated him for however many hours. 

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u/8bitAnarchist 15h ago

The fact that he had a brain injury during the interrogation is information I did not know

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u/No_Discipline6265 10h ago

It's an infuriating situation. His parents sued, spent all the money, prepared for trial for years, and the case was thrown out. I've seen videos of interrogations where the suspect fakes a panic attack or fakes fainting and police get them medical care. Just the bruising on this guy's face and the bizarre behavior should have been enough for medical intervention even before they noticed the bullet hole in his nose. 

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u/8bitAnarchist 8h ago

I just can understand when people defend all cops, it boggles my mind. There’s so many of them that are scum like this

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u/Steelpapercranes 1d ago

He had a lethal head injury that ended up killing him. you're not outsmarting cops when you're actively dying lol

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u/8bitAnarchist 15h ago

The fact that he had a brain injury during the interrogation is information I did not know

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u/Steelpapercranes 14h ago

It's the title of the post. He received medical help too late!

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u/8bitAnarchist 13h ago

Bullets can move through the body. I had a friend that was shot and he was doing ok till it got to his heart