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Originally Posted by ottopilot
These kinds of stories could make great Dexter episodes.
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LOL, you're a sick man. Maybe he can leave the cop in a cage for hella long and then accidentally get him blown up by a psycho British chick?
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Originally Posted by dksuddeth
I understood wills OP. the problem is one of having two choices.
1) accept the beating, and whatever injuries accompany it, and watch the courts grant qualified immunity to all officers involved unless you're lucky enough to have someone videotaping the entire incident to clearly show that law enforcement was out of line, or
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Actually, we got a ton of videotape from the protest I referenced as an example in the OP, including a reporter getting beaten mercilessly for literally doing nothing wrong. It helped quite a bit to have multiple angles on many beatings that day, and I suspect those videos are responsible for the punishments that were handed out.
But I did not fight back one bit. As a matter of fact, I didn't see anyone fight back one bit. People were understandably pissed, of course, and a lot of very harsh things were said after the initial attack, but considering that there were few to no police injuries whatsoever and there were so many protester injuries, it's clear that everyone there was aware that the system is set up to protect police before protesters.
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Originally Posted by dksuddeth
2) not accept the unmitigated use of excessive force and respond appropriately.
The problem you'll face with #2 is probably being in the minority group. If you are, nobody will really care and think to themselves 'they got what they deserved for not obeying the police'. A shitty prospect at best.
At some point, we as a people are going to have to determine when we've had enough and start eliminating some of that undeserved protection of the law that the government agents enjoy.
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I suppose that's what the thread is ultimately going to come down on: there's a paradox in this situation. While in the case of MacArthur Park self defense for the people brutally attacked would have been, imho, reasonable... a line does have to be drawn. If someone attacks a police officer and then claims self defense then the entire thing falls apart. Not every case is cut and dry.
If someone gets in a physical altercation with a police officer, there should be a burden of proof on the civilian. Still, though, should that burden be met, assaulting a police officer charges should be dropped and assault charges should be brought against the officer, not this bullshit "we'll protect our own" policy. Police officers are people, too, which means there are responsible police officers and there are irresponsible police officers. The latter should not be protected in spite of their reckless behavior.