Friday, August 20, 2010

We're the Only Ones On the Beat Enough

What started as a walk to the park with his dogs ended with a trip to the hospital for a Denver dog owner. 32-year-old Mark Ashford says he was beaten black and blue by two Denver Police officers. [More]
That'll teach him to offer an abuse victim his services as a witness! We won't stand for "uppity"!

Make sure you watch the video.

Notice the headline said "New case"? Here's the other recent one.

It's a good thing we have all those cameras, as this Denver Police incident shows. That way, we can turn them away when the beating starts--but in fairness it does redirect to let us watch the kid get dragged into the cruiser and see a door slammed on his ankle.

That'll teach him to call his dad when a friend is being manhandled!

Make sure you watch that video, too.

Why do they do it? Because based on results, they think they can get away with it.

It's not like Denver "Only Ones" assaulting citizens hasn't been known about for a long time. Hell, a few years back, they even made souvenir shirts bragging about it. And nothing has been done about it.

They have to get caught on tape being thugs, and then the weasel-wording starts.

These guys are asking to get pushed back. And if it happens, it will include all the 'good apples" who keep their mouths shut and go along to get along.

When those of us who have predicted a day of reckoning see it unfold, exactly what is our incentive supposed to be to put ourselves at risk trying to intervene? And if vicious brutality is directed at us or those we love, will it really be all that hard to understand if some refuse to submit, and take it on themselves to restore law and order?

[Via William T]

3 comments:

Defender said...

In the second video, those cops are giving the prone, immobile man quite a massage against the asphalt. I'd be complaining about it too if I were on the phone nearby.
Both videos look like something out of the news footage that made us hate and fear those Cold War Eastern Bloc tyrannies.
Lesson? Video them, document them verbally, but from cover.
When they object to the point of violence to our mere criticism of their lying and casual violence, it is with the express or implied approval of their superiors, all the way up to the mayors and state legislators. Or else something would be done. Examples would be made and warnings given, and badges taken. That ain't happening.
LEOs behave in ways that alienate them from the people, and then blame that alienation for the anger which leads them to more acts which alienate them. We wouldn't tolerate it in CHILDREN.
I see now why teachers sometimes feel there's no choice but to punish the entire class because of one troublemaker.
Good apples, it's not snitching, it's justice. Isn't that supposed to be your profession? Stan up, and you'll have more friends than you can count.

Pat H. said...

Taking badges is not enough, either these thugs go to jail, or we sanction them ourselves. That's the message that needs to be published loudly and widely.

You'd be shocked at what a .40 projectile does to a femoral artery.

Anonymous said...

When I was a cop I was instructed that anyone could record us and that we had no expectation of privacy and they had the right to do so. A constitutional right to do so.

Evidently I was mis-informed.

Way to win friends and influence people.