Thursday, January 08, 2009

We're the Only Ones Not Defending it as Best Practice Enough

According to the lawsuit, Parks disregarded Brown's repeated statements that her injuries prevented her from putting her arm behind her back, as the officer had ordered. The lawsuit says Parks ignored Brown's efforts to tell him about the documents she had with her that described her condition....

"We're not defending it as best practice," Pishko said. However, "Officer Parks didn't know he was dealing with a citizen who was brain-injured.... All he knew was she was noncompliant and agitated." [More]

Oh, bull. He assaulted a disabled woman who is clearly impaired.

She was not endangering him in any way. And who wouldn't be agitated with an irritating agitator like this bullying "Only One" treating you like a hostage because you were hula hooping, that is pursuing happiness...?

[Via Les K]

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

of course he is defending it as "best practice". After all, this is the very best practice Parks can get for the only kind of policing he has the courage for.

Perhaps he should look into the possibility of extended advanced training of a like nature in an elementary school special ed. class. Then he'd really be a tough, dedicated professional. One, the department wouldn't be afraid to turn loose in an old folk's home, if they can find one where all the old folks require the use of walkers or worse.

Anonymous said...

It is unbelievable that the only way a highly trained male police officer can come up with a way to restrain an unarmed brain damaged woman is to taser her. What would he have done before the advent of taser? Beat her with is pr24? Good grief.

Here is just a random thought. If you can't handle an unarmed brain damaged woman by yourself without injury to her or yourself, why not use that radio thingy and call someone who can. Then use that cell phone thingy and start looking for another line of work.

Anonymous said...

This is one of those thing that really gets to me. I'll tell you guys, I have a daughter with speical needs and this didn't make me mad it hurts me deep inside to know my government has people like this that are sick in the head and can hurt the weakest of us all. This is a pure asshole on an ego trip. This is the kind of pig that would stomp on a baby in a raid. Over turn a crib spilling out a baby on the ground. Kicking a child down a set of stairs as he hold his MP5 on the kid.
This pig is a cold hearted Brown Shirt punk. Punks like this are a clear and present danger to all of us lawful citizens. This video is a huge black eye to American.
Yea, this one really got to me.

Anonymous said...

Officer Parks is going to do something somewhere at some time to the WRONG person, and get his payback, and I hope I hear of it. His supervisor, and HIS supervisor and the mayor, too, I hope.

Anonymous said...

Remember that Norfolk has an ordinance that is illegal under STATE law, prohibiting guns at festivals and such on city property (like parks). They arrested a man, who was not charged by a judge who KNOWS the law, and arrested him AGAIN when he did it again. Another man was leaving a city council meeting in which HIS unlawful arrest for having a gun was complained about, and HE was arrested for having a gun at Waterside, a shopping and restaurant complex that failed and was taken over by the city WHICH IS NOT POSTED NO-GUNS.
The way they treat gun owners is the way they'll eventually treat everyone. This case proves it again.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a violent person. Things like this are slowly changing that.

Kent McManigal said...

Do you think there are a few "good apples" among them anymore? I don't.

Anonymous said...

Those Norfolk cops are some real winners....

Anonymous said...

David,

In context, here are previous articles:

Norfolk Hula Hoop Lady accused of excessive noise, assault

Prosecutor drops charges against Norfolk Hula Hoop Lady

Norfolk police chief orders new round of Taser training

David Codrea said...

Well, Mack, you just succeeded in making me madder about this than i already was.

They charged HER with assault.

I wish I could say "unbelievable."

Anonymous said...

David, it's worse than you might think. Read this (sorry for not including it earlier):

Out of jail, Hula Hoop Lady says she can't recall arrest

Excerpt:

After her release Tuesday afternoon, Brown said she didn't remember anything about Saturday's arrest. Jail staff returned Brown's possessions, including a medic-alert necklace reading: "Seizure disorder, metal rod in lower LT leg & pin LT shoulder, allergic to penicillin, aspirin."

Brown's lawyer is Howard Copeland, who is married to her social worker. The Copelands said Tuesday that they talked with police who patrol near Wards Corner after last year's incident to warn them about Brown's brain injury and the conduct it might cause.

"When she's confronted, she has a negative reaction," Marylin Copeland said. The injury makes Brown prone to passive seizures, during which she doesn't react to her environment, Brown said.

"This is something most people don't understand - especially cops," Brown said.

It also makes her impulsive, Copeland said. Still, Brown doesn't believe she assaulted police officers, given her physical limitations.

"No way," Brown said. "And I was brought up by my parents to respect and obey police officers."


Not only that, but under most circumstances, Virginians are supposed to be released on a summons, not taken to jail for the weekend:

§ 19.2-74. Issuance and service of summons in place of warrant in misdemeanor case; issuance of summons by special policemen and conservators of the peace.

Of course, if the cop claims he was assaulted...

Anonymous said...

I have a profoundly retarded sister with a seizure disorder, so this really hits home with me. I would think that tasering someone with a seizure disorder is extremely dangerous because it seems that it could trigger seizures. Seizures can cause brain damage and people can die from them.

Here the lady is clearly apprising the cop of health problems and he totally blows her off. Given that tasers can be lethal, his purposeful blowing off of relevant information prior to putting 1000's of volts of electricity into her strikes me as gross negligence.

Kent McManigal said...

Strikes me as "evil".

Anonymous said...

People not from around here pronounce it Nor-foke or Nor-fawk. We locals have always made the last syllable rhyme with "duck." Maybe we knew long ago that the place was really folked up.
Mayor's name is Fraim. He hates guns, by the way, campaigned to keep gun shows out of the downtown Scope coliseum. That's how it works. Disarm the peons, then peon them and tell them it's raining.
A judge said military personnel stationed at the many bases there aren't "residents" and therefore can't be GRANTED concealed handgun permits.

You can probaly write the city officials at norfolk.com, but all it'll do is make you feel as if you've done SOMETHING. They're beyond listening to WORDS.
Parks tased this impaired woman TWICE AFTER she was on the ground. I always see my mother in those poor old ladies being tortured by JBTs.
Protect and serve. Ms. Brown is one of those Parks should have been protecting, from people like HIM.
He had that taser pointed at her a LONG time, indicated by the TaserCam. He was waiting for a reason to light her up.
You know, furriers kill minks with an electrode up the rectum so as not to spoil the pelt. Can't imagine why that comes to mind.