And most of all, we the people and the idiots we elect to represent us are the problem. We tolerate this kind of crap and like anything bad, tolerating it allows it to spread. Heck, we don’t just tolerate it… we celebrate it! Pogo was right. We have met the enemy, and he is us.

“Given the choice between 1) being put in a cage for years so some power-happy moron with a badge can get his jollies for the day, and 2) ridding the world of a power-happy thug, I would choose the latter.”

False choice. The choice is between possibly being put in a cage for years before being released and being put in a cage for years before having a needle put in your arm and coming out in a bag.

The situation is NOT going to be ended by killing the cop because you are NOT going to just “disappear” and get away with it. You would then, of course, end up on death row (meaning many, many, years in a cage before the release of death) or just gunned down by whatever vengeful police were “trying” to arrest you. Your mother & family in general, whom I assume you love, would be heartbroken and have to deal with the aftermath.

Revolutionary Violence has it’s place but uncoordinated actions by lone individuals don’t ever accomplish squat. They all hope that their action will spark some general uprising by the masses etc. …. they are fools fooling themselves.

Constitutional violations by police such as alleged here are cognizable in civil actions, not as defenses to criminal charges.

Whatever the police may have done unlawfully, the defendants were prosecuted for their conduct which followed.

Had they not resisted, their civil case would have been pretty much “open and shut” against the police since their own biases and motivations to sue would not be impugned by their convictions.

As others have mentioned, that also appears to be the only deterrent that there is ever going to be against thugs with badges doing whatever they want. Hey, even JFK said that when you make peaceful change impossible, you make violent change inevitable. And that’s all these fascist “rulings” are going to do in the end. The courts can say, “Yeah, they can do whatever they want,” right up until the people say, with bullets, “no, they can’t.”

“Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.” — Thomas Jefferson

History HAS answered this question, clearly the answer is “NO!”

We, the People stopped enforcing the Constitution about the time of Lincoln’s presidency, which is why we are suffering under this police state today.

The policeman apologized when giving me the ticket. There had been complaints by the neighborhood that people didn’t do their stop properly (“think of the children!” etc.), so he had received orders to give tickets to everyone passing by that stop sign. Didn’t think it was fair, but orders are orders…

Actually, that’s just a way of dealing with inherent flaws in human nature that are extremely difficult to correct – that is, a problem is not dealt with until it applied evenly to EVERYONE, and then, when it hits someone who “matters” (that is, who has come clout and, generally is the type who likes to throw it around), the problem is resolved.

It sucks, but it does get things done. I got a speeding ticket once for a similar situation – there was an area that had been changed quite a bit with construction, but the speed limit signs had never been changed (still 45 in an area that was now divided, limited access highway). Everyone ignored the signs, since they were clearly just out-dated… then, a couple of officers started ticketing people for it, and the signs were changed in less than a month.

Yes, it’s stupid, but it’s not actually malicious – there’s a big difference.

In a case like this, the way to end stuff like this is to make sure you have cameras (with sound) rolling from a non-obvious vantage point, and then have someone off camera (and not directly involved) protect the victim (of the police brutality) with lethal force.

It would take a VERY FEW of such actions to make difference (especially if the actual offender is never caught – whether someone goes to jail or not, the police know when the just grab a scape goat).

I honestly hope it never comes to this, but if actions like these continue, eventually, it will. Hey, officers! FIX IT BEFORE THAT, for your own sake as well as ours – actions like that do lasting social damage, even when they are necessary.

DO what they say, then make it your life’s mission to have their jobs, and own the local precinct as soon as possible afterwards.

If this were the norm, the government would just outlaw filing lawsuits against it.

DO what they say, then make it your life’s mission to have their jobs, and own the local precinct as soon as possible afterwards.

It is possible. it has happened. Remember, revenge is a dish best served cold.

seems there was a reasonable doubt as to whether he assaulted P.O.

maybe the judges (all of them) should repeat 1st year law school?

Both of the officers their commanders and the entire appellate bench should go to prison for contempt of their superiors (citizens) and breach of oath of office. The American People can no longer put up with this kind of insubordination from their servants.

The American people proved a long time ago to lack the civic virtue to demand the government call them “master.” The average voter is no more qualified these days to wield that power than the average bureaucrat is to regulate them.