MovieChat Forums > River (2015) Discussion > River "murdered" Riley? Hardly.

River "murdered" Riley? Hardly.

posted 9 years ago by Beady-El
4 replies | jump to latest

Speaking as an American watching this show for the first time, there is one key element of this show that is hard to wrap my mind around.

In the US, Riley’s death would barely have registered on the media’s radar. Riley fled in a panic when a single (unarmed) police officer merely pursued him. Never laid a finger on him, never even threatened him – just chased him – and in response, he jumped off a balcony.

Here, we let cops go for shooting kids “armed” with toy guns; Riley would get all of 10 seconds on a single night’s newscast.

Kind of undermines one of the show’s premises…

[–] defcon79 8 years ago

And this is the difference between US attitudes, where all suspects are treated as guilty and cops are glorified. Hell, police here murder people every day with impunity, of course no one would care about this.

Doesn't mean River wasn't guilty.

[–] seanover3 8 years ago

Gimme a break, River gave pursuit and knocked on his door as he suspected his car was involved in the murder. In response the kid jumps off his own balcony and falls to his death.

This would never be blamed on the police officer in the USA or Canada and I find it very difficult to believe it would be any different in the UK.

[–] Rolltide (964) 4 years ago

Not much difference between the US or the UK in the way suspects are treated. The word murder is stupid because River was not charged with any crime. It was a question of good police work and how he could have done his job in a way that would not have ended in the death of the kid.

Obviously River is too emotionally involved when he came to investigating that murder because he loved Stevie.

[–] Rolltide (964) 3 years ago

What are you talking about moron? US police do not murder people every day. You are a liar.