ziadel

It's true. Americas citizens are under attack from those who have been designated our protectors and public servants.

http://www.tampabays10.com/weird/wei...?storyid=19792

Watch the video, it's spectacular.
I especially like the part where the police officer assaults the card carrying member of the press. That's a really fucking nice touch. Somehow, I've woken up right smack in the middle of Animal Farm, and I don't like it. When a sworn public servant, who takes an oath to uphold and defend the constitution of the United States, blatantly violates that oath and constitution, theres something seriously seriously wrong.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking, long hours, in a bad situation doing a thankless job, well know what I say to that? Fuck that. Thats right, thats idiotic thinking. It's LUDICROUS to think ANYTHING gives anyone the right to do something like this. I've worked 85 hours in a week, in 100 degree heat, getting burned by weld spatter, and that didn't entitle me to assault people, and neither does this. They're called New Orleans 'Finest' for a reason, their position mandates that they be able to rise above the shit that they are wading in and be an example. Unforunately, I see fewer and fewer of those examples in todays police force anywhere and everywhere.

Now, what we have on here is a video-tape of a unlawful act. If these cops don't do jail time, I'LL go to New Orleans and cheerfully hop in whatever riot I am sure will be occuring.


This country is falling apart, its abhorrent and completely unacceptable.

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Carno

Yes that is fucked up. Not the first time I've seen something like that either.

One of the many reasons I hate cops.

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Jinn

When I first read your article, I thought you were being a sensationalist blowing some "police brutality" case out of line. But that-- that was ridiculous and I hope to God or Allah or whomever that those police officers serve the same penalty that anyone convicted of assault would.

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Jinn

Could also be your penchant for starting fights. Five officers operating inappropriately should not make you 'hate' officers who donate their entire waking lives to keeping your neighborhoods safe of crime.

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ziadel

I can see why you might have though that, so to everyone else, please watch the video. It really speaks for itself.

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Carno

That video didn't make me hate cops. You don't even know what you're talking about.

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Church

I'm by no means a protector of the image in Law Enforcement, but in all defense, the NOPD is notorious for being corrupt and violent. This shouldn't be taken as representation of all law enforcement.

Although I do agree that what happened there was horrible and shouldn't have.

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Sweetpea

There are good cops and bad cops... such is human nature and it is indeed sad when those in power abuse it.

Sweetpea

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Astrocloud

This really doesn't suprise me.

My personal feelings are that people should be drafted to become cops. Anybody who wants to be a cop shouldn't be allowed to be in law enforcement -ever. (Excluding the draft rule). The fact is that too many bullies (for lack of a better description) become cops and they could care less about any constitutional "rights".

ziadel

easy fellas.

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ziadel

well, IMO, those were all bad cops. If there was one good cop in that bunch, you would have seen his billy club crack over the head of the police officer who was assaulting the member of the press.

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denim

It's another Rodney King video. I hope they're all convicted and sent to jail in another state.

Schwan

CNN has an even more shocking video. The whole thing was filmed by a CNN camerman from a hotel window nearby. It's very graphic - the victims face is smashed into a bloody pulp and his lying in a pool of his own blood.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/10/10/ta....ap/index.html (warning - gore and violence)

That video is downright shocking.

The_wall

The link wasn't working when I tried it so I can't comment on the video.

My feeling on cops are that I do see a need to have them, and I don't hate cops in and of themselves. I do hate a lot of what I see as retarded laws that they have to inforce, and when I see a cop busting a kid who had some pot in his car I start to dislike that cop because I feel he could use discretion on who he deals with. My hate is more with the lawmakers because I do understand that the cop is just doing his job, trying to get by in the world. But still he doesn't have to bust the guy going 15 over in a 25 he choses too and I don't like that.


I just wanted to comment that I think a better way to keep neighborhoods safe of crime is to create an evironment that doesn't foster crime. I feel that if the "criminals" of this country maybe had better living conditions they might not resort to stealing, fighting, killing etc.... Thats not to say there won't always be people who will steal, hurt, rape or whatever regardless of there conditions, and thus the need for a police force.

I don't want to change the coarse of this thread so I'll leave it at that, I just wanted to chime in with my 2 cents.

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Mojo_PeiPei

Yes, it's not there fault they make a concious decision to commit crime, it's somebody elses...

Agreed the video and actions of the cops are really fucked up.

As far as the reporter, he should've known better. Those cops were in an intense situation, he had no right to be running up in there trying to dick around, especially considering what was going on right in front of him.

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highthief

Jumpin Jesus - people who say they "hate all cops", it's about as indefensible a position as one can take. About as reasonable as "I hate all Jews". The majority of cops are pretty good people, who work hard and believe they can protect innocent people from crime. As with every profession, you get a few rotten apples, but people who volunteer to help other people have noble goals.

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Ganggreen

here's a real easy solution to all this that i think would help alot. if a cop is convicted with a crime, their penalty should be double that of a normal citizen. since they are entrusted with enforcing the law, they should be held to a higher standard. no cop should have an argument with this unless he/she is a criminal. this is my REALISTIC solution. the one which i would want is to string 'em up by their balls with piano wire, but don't think lawmakers would go for that.

raveneye

Since when do you get arrested for public drunkenness on Bourbon Street?!?

The videos are sickening -- those responsible should receive no special treatment whatsoever. The victim is 64 years old, for god's sake. He's lucky to be alive.

flstf

You are probably right, but we see these videos from time to time on the news and it makes one wonder just how prevalent this type of police brutality is. I mean, for every case that the news cameras just happen to be at the scene are there thousands of other beatings that are not filmed?

The_wall

Hell even on the TV show Cops, which I think tries to portray cops in a bright light, I often see what I find to be police brutality, not to the extent of the video but I still see some messed up stuff.

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Suave

Hating a whole profession based on prejudiced generalizations is as stupid as hating a whole ethnicity.

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RangerDick

I've met plenty of asshole lawyers, asshole cops, asshole nurses, asshole grocery baggers, asshole real estate agents, asshole stock brockers. Are we at war with all of those professions too?

Point being, there are assholes in every profession, not just cops.......they are human. Slapping a badge on somebody doesn't make them superhuman. They may still very well be an asshole.

shakran

I'm not a huge fan of cops in general myself, but please don't judge all cops based on these guys. Most cops wouldn't do that.

And BTW, new orleans cops in general are pretty well known for corruption. You do not EVER want to mess with NOPD.

highthief

Every time a teacher gets busted for child molestation, do we have a thread saying "teachers are at war" with us, or pondering a possible epidemic of teachers raping children?

No. Unfortunately, police are the most common authority figures in our society, and are the biggest targets of people who have a problem with authority, IMO. The vast majority of cops are pretty good people doing a samn hard, brave job. Like anyone, cops can make mistakes and, in this particular case, we seem to have a few bad apples who, if things are as they appear, should go to jail.

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jwoody

You can't say that it's just a few bad apples based on the evidence.

Out of five 'apples', three of them were beating a handcuffed man to a bloody pulp, one 'apple' was on horseback trying to block the camera, and the other 'apple' (who was the boss of the other four) then assaults the cameraman.

Which one was the good apple?

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raeanna74

Not that I'm excusing anything BUT incidents like this that cause the American Citizenry to speak up are what help to preserve our freedoms. It reinforces in the laws that the government or law enforcement are not allowed to attack or treat innocent citizens too roughly.

I'm sure none of that is consolation to the victims of this. I wonder though what had triggered this. It's not normal for ANYONE to go apeshit on someone who has not antagonized it.

As for all of them being involved. It's likely that pack mentality kicked in. Still not justifieable but explainable.

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MooseMan3000

You weren't being attacked by people you were sworn to protect. You weren't in constant fear for your life for weeks on end while thousands of drunkards rioted in the street. You weren't forced to stay there to try to protect those same drunkards that would just as soon see you dead just because you were a cop. So no, it's not really the same thing at all.

The man wasn't booked solely for intoxication. He was also booked for assault on a police officer, as well as "public intimidation." I don't know exactly what that means, but it sounds an awful lot like he was threatening to kill someone to me. It doesn't matter where you are, what's happening. If someone threatens to kill anyone, I fucking hope the cops will beat his ass down.

Furthermore, in the video it's obvious the man was struggling; it took 4 officers to restrain him. Now we have no indication if this guy was only drunk. For all we know, he could have been hopped up on anything. I've never personally had to restrain anyone on crack, but I witnessed two police officers trying to do the same. Two large men were thrown down by one smallish guy who was on drugs. He was ready to murder both of them, in the street. Had there not been a very large fisherman there willing to step in, he most likely would have killed them both.

Is this situation the same? Probably not. But we don't know that. The only evidence we have is what we see in the video, which begins well after the confrontation began. We don't know what the man said, we don't know what he did to warrant arrest. But the fact is, these officers were in a war zone. If you've ever seen a riot in person, you'll know what I mean. They were under constant and immediate threat to their lives. Did they overreact? Perhaps. But us judging them without knowing the whole situation is absurd.

Pragma

I second this - I'm taking a law enforcement class at my university this semester and the instructor (a retired deputy police chief) has talked at length about the corruption problems in the New Orleans police department (as well as other areas).

Sure, there are bad cops. These guys are bad cops. I don't hate cops - at all - as a result of this, and no individual cop ever will make that happen.

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Rekna

apparently the guy is now claiming he hasn't had a drop of alcohol in 25 years. I hope he got a blood test that night.

Also to the person saying he was resisting.... he didn't resist until the officers assulted him. Watch the begining of the video up to the horse blocking the view then watch closely when the horse is out of view at what the officers are doing.

BigBen

I never thought of that before. While I agree with your basic premise (Most people who are 'cop wannabes' are just power hungry asshole idiots) it does not stand the light of inspection.

I agreed with you, as I have an extreme dislike for Wooden Bullets (security guards who pretend they are cops) but then I thought about expanding that same logic to other professions. The thought of making politicians drafted worked, but doctors, teachers, soldiers didn't.

Logic: The people who are actively persuing that career must have alterior motives, and are therefore excluded from the process. Hmmm.

I agree with Ganggreen 110%. There is a trust that society places in our protectors. Like the thread that compared people to sheep, cops to sheepdogs, and criminals to wolves, we need these sheepdogs to keep us safe. When a cop breaks that trust, it is easily twice as bad as a regular citizen! I say 10 times as bad. Give them 10 times the sentence. I want that asshole cop to think 10 times before he does something illegal.

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Charlatan

If you look at the statistics, cops rarely get convicted of anything. There are a few that get made into examples but the vast majority get off with desk duty or nothing at all.

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Jinn

Account for the trumped-up charges or the angry criminal who wants the officer to suffer for writing him a ticket, and I'm sure that you'd find the majority of those were justified.

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highthief

We're not talking about a few bad apples out of 5, we're talking about a few bad apples out of tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands in North America alone. Or is the logic "These 5 cops suck, ergo, the 100,000 men and women in uniform also suck"?

You know, 60 cops died at the WTC on 9/11 trying to save other people, doing their jobs bravely - maybe all cops are saints, based on that singular incident?

IMO, there's no defense for these guys - 5 cops on an unarmed 60 year old - there is no reason for that level of force. None. And there is no police manual that I know of that would condone it.

But I probably know a dozen cops - they are pretty decent people for the most part, a couple of them I don't think much of as cops, but the other 10 are solid.

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Glory's Sun

am I the only one who finds it funny that Journey was playing in the background? When the lights go down in the city...

bet that dudes lights went out a few times.

I don't hate cops.. but I'm not fond of them either. Most of them are alpha males who automatically think you're doing something wrong when you're just standing on the sidewalk talking on the phone.

Jinn

To lighten the mood a little bit.. a story I stole from a police officer forum I read..

Cops are (funny) people too.

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denim

The first kid was right, his mom's gonna be mad.

Jinn

.... it was a joke, he didn't REALLY taser a little kid.

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Poppinjay

I like how the cop shouted his name and badge number at the reporter, telling him to get out his pen and write it down.

Stupid stupid stupid....

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denim

Not really. NO is apparently corrupt enough that he's confident any complaint will come to nothing.

Uncle Pony

I just wanted to touch on a few things Moose said.

Correct. IIRC in an article I read last night there is a Resisting Arrest charge in there too.

I've watched the video several times and only saw the one officer hit him. The rest were using control techniques, albiet it uneffectively. The dude in the tan vest was doing more to hinder them all than help.

I agree. On the flip side though, what's not to say the cops didn't instigate it? Could they have said something to him that may have made him resist arrest? We see only what the news media was us to see. Sensationalistic journalism at it's best.


Punching a 64 year old drunk in the face is a bit extreme though. I don't see the justification for that level of force in the video. It would be completely different if the man had turned and started swinging. But, again, the events that transpired before the start of the footage may tell a different tale. There is no justification whatsoever for officer Smith to attack the Associated Press journalist.

It sounds like the NOPD handled it appropriately. They will have to go to court and defend their actions, and then all of the evidence will be presented, not just a short video clip, to determine guilt or innocence.