Joyce Bowman, who represents District G, said the incident gives the city a "black eye."I don't think it's the city that got the black eye, there, Joyce. Two of them, along with split lips, knocked out teeth, that Frankenstein stitch on the forehead, bruises all over her body...
...She said she would like to say more, but "it is a legal matter now and I serve on the Risk Management Committee — I do not think that it would be wise to speak on the matter at this time."Circle the wagons and bring in the mouthpieces and bean counters. God forbid a representative of the people should take a moral stand based on what's right.
District B Councilman Monty Walford said he wants to learn more before saying much on the subject. "I'm not ready to pass judgment one way or the other. I've been told I need to see the whole video."I've heard of "The Full Monty" but until now, not "The Full-of-it Monty. I'm sure there's gotta be some scenario to explain how she worked herself over like a professional from a fall on the floor. While you're at it, Councilman Python, why not share the whole video with the rest of us, too? Why wasn't it all released? And I'm sure you'd be this reasonable had the brutality been inflicted on your mother, wife or daughter.
Councilman Joe Shyne, who represents District F..."One thing you can say about it, at least it wasn't racial."Dang if it isn't Optimist Prime! That's some silver lining you found there, Joey. Who says the glass is half empty?
...Shyne said he was upset by the risky position the incident places the city in, since it is self-insured..."That's money that could go to police salaries or equipment and benefits," he said.Or truncheons or...hey, has anybody besides me noticed a complete absence of concern for the only legitmate purpose of government,the protection of people, their rights and property, and a complete focus on CYA and stuffing pockets with as many wads as possible while the building burns...?
...Other council members did not return e-mails or messages left on their work or cell phones.They're no doubt too busy getting guns "off the street".
And Chief Whitehorn agrees:
Thank all of you and I have passed that information along Mr. Mayor to all of our fine men and women of the police department. We have received about 50 calls on the gun program, the gun initiative that we’re following up on. We’ve made some arrest and hope to make many, many more.No doubt. Because when people see how they're treated when Shreveport's finest takes them into custody, and how deeply their elected representatives care about making sure their rights are upheld by city employees, they might not be inclined to go peacefully.
If you thought there was a good chance you'd get a beating like that--excuse me, I meant "you'd slip and fall"--would you?
Why anyone would reelect any of these bloated ticks after this sorry performance is beyond me, but they probably will.
UPDATE: I note Chief Whitehorn makes a special point in his press release to say "Before being transported from the scene, she was treated by Shreveport Fire Department paramedics for facial injuries resulting from the vehicle crashes."
Just compare the "after" pictures to the "before" provided in the video.
Nice try, chief.
7 comments:
The full video shows her refusing to take the breathalyzer until she can make her phone call. She was very quiet, not argumentative, simply wanted to assert her right to counsel.
It was at this point the officer started slamming her into walls while handcuffing her. Not till then did she scream or resist in any way.
The full video is 28 minutes long and was available on ksla's website, don't know if it still is.
Before the beating the officer turned off the video then turned it back on when he told other officers she "fell".
This is an odd case in that the police chief is the one who initiated any action at all against this officer. That is almost unheard of. I am sure that he is in political trouble now for exposing the city to monetary risk. So, I must wonder why he didn't go the full nine yards and charge the officer with the crimes he committed, instead of just firing him.
"Not enough evidence" quotes that they are using to deflect criticism for not charging this bastard is simply bullshit. There are people on death row convicted on less evidence than this.
the video is in 5 parts (overlapping so nothing is lost best I can tell) on youtube. She CLEARLY was not injured before an officer stood in front of the camera probably like SA said to turn it off.
I found the video and posted a comment in the other post on this. The audio's not the greatest. You can just search for her name and it should come right up, in 5 parts.
Some of her injuries might have been caused by the accident, bruising, but not all of those. They're liars. Period.
That is despicable . I'm at a loss for proper words. It just never ends....
Soon......
Bastards....
.........
That wasn't surmise on my part, the police stated that he had turned off the video. The news reported it that way. The PA officer said it was standard procedure to turn off the video when the arrestee refused the sobriety check.
I think we will find that is bullshit. Most jurisdictions leave the video on to gather evidence to support their contention that the arrestee was impaired, especially if they refuse the sobriety test.
Unfortunately, this is more par for the course in some parts of the South. The police in Shreveport and Bossier City have long had a bad reputation with Air Force personnel. When I was active duty, I would have refused an assignment to Barksdale because of that reputation. Good thing it was never demanded of me to go there.
The really sad part is that the officials in question are typical Louisiana "let's see how corrupt we can be" politicians. It is unfortunate that this woman ran across that thug in a uniform.
I don't mean to say that it's not worth calling everyone involved on the carpet, by all means it needs to be done. Rather, it is just typical for certain parts of the South — and it has needed to be cleaned up for quite a long time.
I wonder if Louisiana's new Governor will comment? Probably not. That's not the kind of corruption he's interested in.
I am really beginning to hate cops! In my town a significant portion of my tax bill goes to a mysterious line item called "structured payments" This is where they hide all the lawsuit payouts to people who are the victims of police brutality. Often these are the weak and elderly. The Department and their union will protect these villains to the end. We, as taxpayers get stuck with the legal bills and the payouts. Nothing ever seems to happen to these maggots and sometimes they are promoted to the State Police! I think that they should be imprisoned just like any other garden-variety thugs. How long do you think they would last in the "general population" at the Pen?
This really is dispicable.
The ONLY reason we know about this is because of the camera in the room.
Ironically, the fact that cameras are everywhere has "the bastards" worried. Recently, there was another incident in Utah caught on police-dash-mounted camera of a traffic stop in which an out-of-control thug cop tased a guy for merely asking why he was being stopped. Later, he got the tape and it spread like wildfire on the internet, causing "the bastards" a lot of grief and embarrassment. In response to this, the Utah legislature has introduced a bill intended to keep police/surviellance videos secret and inaccessable to the public.
So, instead of cleaning up the police departments and modifying the way they are changed, "the bastards" want to just hide it further.
I think that we will see more bills like this in the coming months and years.
On another note, one of my Black co-workers pointed out something very interesting yesterday. He said that in the past, cops did this to Blacks and Latinos all the time, but less so to Whites. Today, Whites are getting beaten/tased as much as Blacks and Latinos are, so now it gets a lot of attention. Though we can't deny that cameras everywhere and the internet have played a huge part in revealing this kind of crap.
The_Day_is_coming.
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