Teen Beaten By Police; Family Filing Police Complaint

[KevinmH9]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/05/18/nr.teen.police.beating.tape.cnn

Really? This is sickening.

 

[proudpittsburgher]

I may get flamed for this, but unlike the other video, there is no footage of what happened before the neighbor got there and started shooting video. Although, with two police officers there, I have a hard time believing they had to inflict as much punnishment on him as they did.

 

[User 1019]

All I saw was them holding and then searching him. While they may have roughed him up before the taping began, we don't have any evidence of it.

 

[Ashy Larry]

I agree with the above posts....it will be tough to prove the officers were responsible for his injuries by that video.

 

[zagoshe]

I understand that police brutality does happen.

That being said I almost always give the police the benefit of the doubt these days in these cases -- people act like animals and police are on edge as a result of it.

You never know who is armed, who is not, who is high on something and who is just an asshole - and frankly, getting home to kiss your babies and your wife should be your number one goal on the job.

So if you have to use a night stick to beat someone to get them in cuffs or a Taser or a Stun Gun or whatever, do what it takes.

 

[EE94]

I understand that police brutality does happen.

That being said I almost always give the police the benefit of the doubt these days in these cases -- people act like animals and police are on edge as a result of it.

You never know who is armed, who is not, who is high on something and who is just an asshole - and frankly, getting home to kiss your babies and your wife should be your number one goal on the job.

So if you have to use a night stick to beat someone to get them in cuffs or a Taser or a Stun Gun or whatever, do what it takes.

Then I bet this cop wishes you were his lawyer

 

[misterbc]

Zag, I'm with you.

Over the years I've met a number of cops and they are all upstanding caring people. The **** and abuse they put with is beyond what 99.99% of the general public would tolerate. So what if there is the occasional mistake made, they are only human. Forget preaching about a 'civil North American society', it's violent and degrading rapidly. Law enforcement is the only thing between "us" and "them" and I endorse whatever tactics necessary to send a message to the criminal element. They have taken over the streets in countless towns and cities in the US and Canada to the point where people are afraid to take public transit or walk down the street.

To hell with the criminals and all the bleeding liberals who seem to think these deadbeats are 'special' people and critisize the police for some tactics they need to employ to try to keep the rest of us safe. IMHO anyone against tough law enforcement is pro crime.

 

[zeke12]

That post probably reads better in the original German.

 

[misterbc]

My Dad, his 3 brothers, my Mother and her 2 sisters and her 2 brothers all fought the Germans in that big dispute during the '40's.

They are all alive and I think the same way they do. All of us are successful, caring generous people who aren't taken, as many are, by intellectuals and their writings who have no connection with the real world.

 

[zeke12]

Why is it that the "law and order!" folks are always arguing the law shouldn't apply to the police? Genuinely baffles me.

Anyway, I could give two ****s about this case. I was merely reacting to your absurd suggestion that you support "whatever tactics necessary to send a message to the criminal element," in a post justifying vigilantism.

Which is against the law, I hasten to add. The cops shouldn't break the law, any more than the "criminal element" should.

If that makes me a "bleeding liberal" or "intellectual," well, so be it.

 

[The Good Doctor]

Law enforcement uber alles!

Endut.

Hoch hech.

 

[Drip]

This was a kid.
Damn.

 

[writing irish]

My Dad, his 3 brothers, my Mother and her 2 sisters and her 2 brothers all fought the Germans in that big dispute during the '40's.

They are all alive and I think the same way they do. All of us are successful, caring generous people who aren't taken, as many are, by intellectuals and their writings who have no connection with the real world.

"Muerte a la inteligencia!" -Falangist slogan during the Spanish Civil War

 

[KevinmH9]

While few facts are known if the police did indeed beat this kid, you can see one of the officers legitimately choking the kid while he is seemingly unconscious.

Something isn't right with the story.

 

[misterbc]

Zeke, I posted in haste as this general issue gets my blood up. I didn't mean I support police brutality, rather that I understand the frustration in the law enforcement system that stems from kid glove treatment of criminals in the court system and how that can lead to isolated incidences of excessive force.

In British Columbia the judicial system is a joke. Citizens are rightly pissed-off that dangerous habitual criminals are back on the street committing crimes within hours of their arrest. I am assuming that many other jurisdictions have the same problems. Law abiding folks are afraid of their streets and want to take them back. It's an undeclared war, practically. The bad guys can do whatever they want but if the good guys have even the slightest lapse, they get **** on.

It seems that the existing system, largely proferred by academics, isn't working. Maybe there is room for a more common sense driven approach that may be more effective. In Canada our judges aren't elected and that could be a starting point for us.

I've read hundreds of your posts and you are a bright guy. In some circles my opinions are as well respected as yours. We just have 2 different views on this issue, probably due our age difference, I'm 57.

 

[zeke12]

Mr BC --

S'cool. I figured you probably didn't really mean any means necessary. And it certainly isn't the first time I've rankled someone with my views on police brutality. (Hi, Rosie! )

I know nothing of the crime rate in BC. I can tell you that locking more people up and locking people up for longer hasn't been much of a help, down here.

And the good cops do a thankless job for nowhere near enough pay, and deserve all of our respect and gratitude. But that's more of a reason to punish the ones who don't. They do very real harm to all policemen and women when they violate the law.

 

[writing irish]

Misterbc, I can understand about posting in haste when you're upset about something. The dumbest things I've ever posted on here generally were posted in such fashion.

I wasn't trying to bust your balls too hard with the Falangist reference, but anti-intellectualism is kind of sore spot with me. I live in a part of the country where that type of thinking is powerful and has consistently disastrous results.

So if you're sick of the namby-pamby liberals in BC, come to Texas where we throw as many people in jail as possible. Funny thing is, comparing BC and Texas, I bet our crime problems are a lot more comparable than our corrections systems.

 

[waterytart]

Zeke, I posted in haste as this general issue gets my blood up. I didn't mean I support police brutality, rather that I understand the frustration in the law enforcement system that stems from kid glove treatment of criminals in the court system and how that can lead to isolated incidences of excessive force.

In British Columbia the judicial system is a joke. Citizens are rightly pissed-off that dangerous habitual criminals are back on the street committing crimes within hours of their arrest. I am assuming that many other jurisdictions have the same problems. Law abiding folks are afraid of their streets and want to take them back. It's an undeclared war, practically. The bad guys can do whatever they want but if the good guys have even the slightest lapse, they get **** on.

It seems that the existing system, largely proferred by academics, isn't working. Maybe there is room for a more common sense driven approach that may be more effective. In Canada our judges aren't elected and that could be a starting point for us.

I've read hundreds of your posts and you are a bright guy. In some circles my opinions are as well respected as yours. We just have 2 different views on this issue, probably due our age difference, I'm 57.

mbc, I'll join Zeke and wi in the sentiment that we all occasionally get extra vehement when we post in haste. But there are neighborhoods in every American city where the local law-abiding folks try to steer clear of the bad guys and the police.

If it makes a difference, I'm 54.

 

[RickStain]

As usual, there's a pervasive feeling among some that America is getting more violent and that crime is rising.

Virtually every available statistic says they are wrong, and that America has been getting steadily safer for decades.

 

[JR]

p

In British Columbia the judicial system is a joke. Citizens are rightly pissed-off that dangerous habitual criminals are back on the street committing crimes within hours of their arrest. I am assuming that many other jurisdictions have the same problems. Law abiding folks are afraid of their streets and want to take them back. It's an undeclared war, practically. The bad guys can do whatever they want but if the good guys have even the slightest lapse, they get **** on.

It seems that the existing system, largely proferred by academics, isn't working. Maybe there is room for a more common sense driven approach that may be more effective. In Canada our judges aren't elected and that could be a starting point for us.

I've read hundreds of your posts and you are a bright guy. In some circles my opinions are as well respected as yours. We just have 2 different views on this issue, probably due our age difference, I'm 57.

Well, I live in Toronto and the idea that there's some sort of undeclared war and that law-abiding citizens are afraid of the streets is nonsense. The fact is all crime, including violent crime has gone down across the country.

In both cities the single biggest problem is gang activity, fuelled by drugs and easy access to handguns from the US.

And if you want to talk about excessive police force you don't have to look much further than the RCMP tasering and killing Robert Dziekanski in the Vancouver airport. And given the Horsemen's record of occasionally looking the other way when it comes to trampling on individual rights, I'm not quite prepared to give them carte blanche in dealing with suspected criminals.

And I'm older than you so it's got nothing to do with age.

And every time I hear "common sense approach" all I can think of is that twit Mike Harris's "Common Sense Revolution" which almost singlehandedly destroyed Ontario's education and health care system.

And I'm sorry but emulating US justice by electing judges and throwing every two-bit crook into jail is exactly what we don't need.