Once we have legislatures that will do their job our way, then we can start purging the police department of those who won’t.

-jcr

They’ll just go on welfare then. Shit, they basically are already.

One thing I wish we had is a denominator. It’s a big country, and there are lots of cops and lots of traffic stops. We don’t know how many of those cops or stops aren’t abusive. I would like to have good numbers on how prevelant this sort of thing is. Does anyone have a link or reference to someone trying to get a handle on this?

As things are going now, the endpoint is that middle class white people like me end up with about the same attitude about the police as poor urban blacks. This will make police work way harder, and crime easier and more common. I wish I saw a way for this not to happen.

First, (and I realize this is from the story you linked, but you didn’t correct the author…) the “conflicting commands” weren’t conflicting at all. The original contact officer ordered Greene to not move, then asked another officer to come forward to perform the vehicle extraction.

Second, your comment regarding the failure to distinguish intoxication from a diabetic reaction as being a result of improper training is way off-base. A diabetic with out-of-whack blood sugar can easily be mistaken for an intoxicated individual. Just yesterday I saw a man attended to by EMS and even they had to do a blood sugar test and a PBT to see whether he was intoxicated, had low blood sugar, or both. If EMS can’t do it without tests, how do you expect an officer to distinguish between the two on the spot, with mere moments to decide whether an individual is drunk and a threat or diabetic and in need of insulin (and still possibly a threat)?

This is not to excuse what the officers did in the video after they started dogpiling Greene (everything up to the dogpile I can easily see as reasonable, without information to the contrary); the strikes to the head were clearly excessive, and the knees to the ribs were likely excessive also. I’m just saying your first point is invalid.

Did Hell freeze over?

Thank you for confirming what we all knew to be true – the police set their own rules, routinely break their own rules, cover up the violations, stonewall any outside inquiries and move on to the next citizen.

Just one part you left out, if I may add it: They enjoy this tremendously.

Protect & Serve (Themselves!)

In murder cases the “premeditation” required for first degree murder can happen in the pause between the first shot fired in self defense and the second shot fired a few seconds later. This face-kicking officer was never in any personal danger, was not involved in the arrest and the victim was completely in custody at the time of the assault (albeit for only a few moments).

The guy who jumps on his back is clearly guilty of excessive force as well. The amount of “resistance” offered by the victim is beyond minimal… it appears to be entirely related to confusion as to what “on the ground” means. After all, the guy is lying on his side on the ground when one officer pulls him to his knees. While on his knees on the ground they keep yelling “get on the ground”. 5 seconds later they force him violently to the ground while holding his arms such that he cannot catch himself. They then jump on his back with as much force as they can muster, clearly not merely in order to gain control but in order to mete out punishment. This results in broken ribs. This is felony assault or mayhem depending on your jurisdiction.

“Take him out on the wrist lock” is a clear indication that they never had any intention of worrying about whether the driver was going to comply or resist. They were going to assault him regardless of his actions. You can hear just how amped up on adrenalin they are by their breathing. Gun-boy is huffing and puffing like he ran a marathon and he wasn’t involved in the wrestling match.

The people who are paid to hold these “public servants” to account should be out of a job. The fact that our citizenry continues to continence police chiefs, prosecutors, mayors, councilmen and judges who do not hold them to account is depressing and a little terrifying.

figures out what the new rules will be, then games the system til it happens again.

Describes everything about the state you need to know.