Some stats about the NYPD in the New York Times. Bratton is giving more discretion to local commanders for disciplining cops for minor offenses. That’s good. It’s another move away from the micro-managed overly top-down approach of former Commissioner Ray Kelly. The article then tries to say Bratton is not applying Broken Windows within his own department… but that once again mistakes Broken Windows for Zero Tolerance.
Seemingly arbitrary and pernicious discipline is a major cause for low officer moral. The idea that you can get punished for wearing the wrong color socks just as easily as excessive force, for instance. (Though seriously, I hate seeing cops with white socks. They make black cotton sports socks. Go buy some. A pick up a few more white t-shirts while you’re at it.)
Arrests dropped to 388,368 in 2014 from 394,537 in 2013.
Summonses fell to 359,202, from 424,850.
Street stops plunged to 46,235, from 191,558.
Those stats are not hard to find. But these don’t surface as often:
The number of officers suspended without pay each year hovers around 200. A total of 172 were suspended last year and 117 have been suspended so far this year, through Friday. Those put on desk duty, or “modified”, reached 134 last year and number 98 so far this year.
Last year, 96 officers were arrested, mirroring an average of about 100 each year, a majority of them on drunk driving and domestic violence charges, the department said. (An arrest automatically leads to a suspension so all of the arrested officers are among those counted as suspended.)
That means that about 70-75 NYPD officers are suspended without pay at the department’s discretion. For those who believe in some mythic Blue Wall of Silence, how do you account for an NYPD officer being arrested, mostly by other NYPD officers, every 4 days? (About one in every 350 officers is arrested each year, which seems like a lot to me. For non-police, the number is about 1 arrest for every 20 people).
I leave you with this quote:
“Chief got kicked; chief kicked inspector; inspector kicked captain; captain kicked lieutenant; lieutenant kicked sergeant; sergeant kicked cop; cop kicked civilian. This is what Bratton has to undo.”
You know when you hear that on the subway, some obnoxious person is going to come through, asking for money.
Well, I sure am.
I don’t ask much of you, gentle reader. But why not give a little money to help feed hungry people? And it will actually go to buying food to put in hungry bellies.
My wife is one of the people behind this, so I guarantee it ain’t no scam.
But first read this, by our friend Annia Ciezadlo. Yes, this is what I (but mostly they) did on our summer vacation.
But you may ask why I care. I ain’t no bleeding-heart do-gooder. But I do have a soft-spot for Syrians. See I’ve been there. Twice. For vacation. Aleppo was wonderful. A lot of people don’t realize that most refugees from Syria are educated middle-class people. They had lives and jobs and dropped their kids off at school got stuck in traffic and lived in nice apartment buildings. Until the war. And now their neighborhood might look like this:
That was Aleppo back in 2007. At the juice stand by the park. We ordered a tamarind drink and the kid gave us a drink and then wouldn’t take our money. Why? Because we were Americans from far away. And he was very sweet. Today he might be marching across Europe today, cursing the Hungarians.
So how does this relate to the Greek island of Mytilene (AKA Lesbos)? It just so happens I’ve been going there with my family for a long time. And it just so happens that this year a massive humanitarian crisis is literally washing up on the island’s shores. And many of these refugees are the same damn people who were so nice to us back in Syria!
My wife and her friend speak Arabic. So they went off to see how they could help. Mostly I hung out at the beach guarding this octopus to make sure nobody else ate it before they got back for dinner.
I didn’t want to take up room in the little rent-a-car, which they were filling up with people walking across the island in the heat. Plus, it was vacation. Anyway, I did go one time with them across the island to help out with my limited Greek. See, here’s Kara Tepe, the refugee camp, a few weeks ago.
And here’s my wife taking and giving polaroid-like pictures to cute orphan refugees. Oh, did I just play the cute hungry orphan card? Gosh, I guess I did. (This is a different camp, just FYI.)
So give a bit to help feed hungry people who are being forced into a trial by ordeal across Europe. They’re nice people. Really. And if there’s a chance, put “cop in the hood” or something in a message. I’m curious if anybody reading this will be inspired to give money.
Interesting conceptreported in the New York Times to get subway dancers out of the subway. An arrest based approach wasn’t working (not the first time you’ve heard that):
Arrests alone — though drastically increasing — were not solving the problem, Mr. Bassin said. He said many of the dancers interviewed in the planning stages of the new effort viewed being arrested as part of the cost of doing business. The statistics appear to bear that out: A quarter of those arrested in 2015 for dancing on the subway had previously been arrested for the dancing
I should mention I know Mr. Bassin, a lawyer in the mayor’s office. This is a very Broken Windows approach:
Ian Bassin, approached the Police Department with an idea for addressing the problem — which results in regular complaints from passengers — by providing an alternative to the criminal justice system.
And I like that even de Blasio is getting better at understanding Broken Windows:
“Broken windows doesn’t mean simply arresting our way out of every minor infraction,” Mr. de Blasio said in a statement. “It means focusing on quality of life while providing pathways for all New Yorkers to reach their full potential.”
One reason I like this program is it does not limit police discretion. It’s still up to the officer. But now cops can actually help solve the problem (and most people, myself included, think it is a problem) rather than just choose between basically no enforcement and arresting a kid for dancing on the subway:
Though officers may still pursue arrests or issue summonses for soliciting on trains, they have been urged to consider the alternative approach: handing out the cards with information about the dance initiative.
Every transit officer now carries the small, brightly colored square cards. Roughly 200 have been handed out to dance groups since officers began the effort in May.
“It’s very refreshing for us and our officers to have another alternative when we’re out there,” said Joseph Fox, the chief of the Police Department’s Transit Bureau. “What this program has given us is something in between warning and admonish, and enforcement.”
As a result, Chief Fox said, arrests of dancers are down, 185 through late August, compared with 264 over the same period in 2014. (There were 153 arrests of dancers in all of 2013.)
Also of note:
Chief Fox said he and Mr. Bassin looked into the backgrounds of the men who were arrested or given summonses for dancing on the trains and found that, while a large number had had some contact with the criminal justice system, it was mostly for minor offenses such as fare beating. A smaller fraction, roughly 25 percent, had been previously arrested for a serious crime like robbery, burglary or felony assault.
The jury is still out on whether the program is working. And success can be judged a few way: fewer complaints on the subway, fewer conflicts on the subway (I’ve seen a dancer punch a guy for not moving out of the way on a busy train), more people being able to enjoy the right to get home without illegal distractions, fewer people entering the criminal justice system, and potentially more dance potential. Some of the guys do have serious skillz, but they’re probably not going to be “found” on the subway. They might be in a city-sponsored public performance space.
Now if only they could make a city-sponsored public performance space for all the subway beggars…
There’s an interview with Justin George in The Trace. He was a Baltimore Sun reporter who recently moved on to Milwaukee. I like that he’s willing to consider the possibility there might be some trade-off between aggressive policing, which causes community resentment, and getting illegal guns off the streets, which saves lives:
Which of the citywide initiatives to help cut the homicide rate has been the most successful?
What everyone talks about most is these plainclothes cops, which are very controversial. These are detectives who are working in unmarked cars. They gather intelligence. When Baltimore’s homicides dipped below 200, in 2011, for first time in decades, one of the things pointed to were these units. They were chasing down leads, looking for guns and getting info on who has them. But a lot of black residents were being unfairly harassed. At the John Hopkins gun policy center they say that some units that are specifically trained to spot guns have shown effectiveness in other cities. But these units also run the risk of alienating the neighborhood.
So what can be done to turn things around in Baltimore?
I can only speak to what the residents tell me. And they tell me repeatedly that there aren’t enough things for you to do on the streets. They say that they want more recreation centers; they miss the different athletic leagues and getting youths involved with good influences. And there’s certainly that notion that a lot of these kids need people who are rooting for them. And when I say kids, I’m talking about teens here. I think if there’s a boost in the economy, you’ll see a change. But I want to express, I’m not an expert in any of this — I’m just a humble journalist. But I do think people underplay the poverty in the city. They really don’t understand it.
A new report from the New York’s CCRB (civilian complaint review board) is out.
There are some interesting things here. Much more video evidence means more complaints are being substantiated. But overall complaints are down substantially (22%) from one year ago.
And this:
From January 2014 through June 30, 2015, one percent of identified officers on the force were responsible for 18% of all misconduct claims, five percent were responsible for 52%, and 10% were responsible for 78% of claims during this period. Five percent of officers were responsible for generating 100% of force complaints. Significantly, 86% of officers had no CCRB complaints during this period of time.
That’s on page ix. There are another 62 pages after that I skipped.
In case you’re wondering how police could possibly be opposed to a “violence prevention program” like a city-funded program that “hires ex-felons to mediate disputes,” consider this from the Baltimore Sun: “One of the guns found in a raid on the Safe Streets violence prevention program’s East Baltimore office has been connected to at least two shootings.”
Also found were a “semiautomatic handgun with a 26-round extended magazine found in a ‘drop-style ceiling’ in the office. Two loaded guns and four extended magazines were found in a cabinet. A plastic bag containing .40-caliber cartridges was found in a plant pot. Police also said they found 450 suspected heroin capsules as well as materials such as cutting agents and sifters used to prepare heroin for distribution.”
Basically this was a tax-payer funded criminal enterprise. And yet, somehow, “City officials remain supportive of Safe Streets, which has been credited with stemming violence in the neighborhoods where it is active.”
I don’t know what neighborhoods they’re talking about. This is a city where the homicide rate doubled in April.
I wonder how close the vetting for the Safe Streets participants gets to the mayor. This sure would be an interesting case of “follow the money.”
[More on the program and the arrests, from NPR. (Thanks to PG)]
No, Freddie Gray should not be. What a disgrace to MLK, Jr. I hate to paraphrase The Trump, but just because you are killed or die in police custody does not make you a hero. But such is politics in Baltimore.
When these officers look at this larger-than-life mural with Gray in the center, they see a drug dealer next to the greatest civil rights leader of all time and they can’t seem to make sense of that.
“Put that little girl up there. McKenzie. Not him,” the officer says.
He is referring to 3-year-old McKenzie Elliot, who was killed in a drive-by shooting last August. “Why weren’t there riots for her? That, I would understand.”
This comes from a piece in Salon by Danielle Ariano, who went on a ride-along in Baltimore. It’s well worth reading the whole thing.
I often joked about this, but I really never thought this day would happen.
On August 16, both New York and Baltimore had 208 murders. Baltimore has added another 8 since then. I’m not certain about NYC. New York City has 7.5 million more residents than Charm City.
I told her to get back in her car several times, which she finally did reluctantly . I approached and asked for her license. She was on her phone saying she wanted a sergeant and another officer and added: “If I’m going to get shot, I want it to be recorded because I know this is recorded and I know my rights . . . if I get shot, I want it documented.”
She wouldn’t stop talking, yelling really, at me and into her phone : “He just pulled me over for being black. I can’t believe this would happen to me. There are all those drug dealers, and you’ve got to harass me!”
…
As I returned to my car, a call came over the radio for a woman being assaulted by a police officer at my location.
In light of the Sandra Bland car stop, I couldn’t help but think of this one car stop I did, many years ago. Nobody got hurt.
When Sandra Bland was asked by Officer Encinia if she, “was done,” she actually was. Officer Encinia could have issued a ticket or a warning and walked away. But he chose not to. That was a mistake. Not legally, mind you. But morally and tactically, it was stupid.
“A roadside domestic,” is how my friend and retired Baltimore cop, Leon Taylor put it. (“Code it, David-Yes.”) Yeah, my idea of a fun Friday night is seeing Leon, who happened to be in town unexpectedly, and analyzing the full Sandra Bland arrest video over a beer.
Both Bland and Encinia could have deescalated, and neither did. But it’s not Bland’s job to deescalate. She’s not paid to interact with citizens and make things safer. It’s not her responsibility. She can do whatever the hell she wants. It might end up with her getting arrested. Sure. But it’s only the police officer’s moral and professional responsibility to do the right thing.
The job of a police officer is avoid creating potentially dangerous situations and to deal, professionally, with upset people. To intentionally not do so is bad policing.
Here’s my timeline and transcript of the Officer Encinia Bland encounter. Times are based on the above video. (The transcript isn’t perfect; but it’s the best I could do.) The video starts with Officer Encinia wrapping up what seems to be a very nice car stop. (That car then pulls away from the curb without signaling, I can’t help but notice.)
1:15 Bland makes right turn onto road.
1:20 Cop makes a U-Turn.
At this point I’m wondering why he’s interested in Bland, if he is. It’s not clear if she signaled a right turn (or stopped) or not. But he never mentions this later. Is he just speeding to get coffee? I don’t know. But it does seem like he already intended to stop her. But maybe not.
Maybe he liked stopping cars so he could give drivers warnings instead of tickets. And then he’d leave feeling all warm and fuzzy. I don’t know. But you don’t really deserve credit when you pull people over for bullshit and then choose not to write them up.
I’d guess he’s pushing roughly 35-40 mph in what is 20 mph zone. At 2:00 Officer Encinia pulls up behind Ms. Bland, who changes lanes without signaling. Bland later tells Encinia, quite honestly, that she was trying to get out of the officer’s way. Technically, though, she did failed to signal a lane change.
2:40 Officer: Hello, Ma’am. The reason for your stop is you failed to signal the lane change. Do you have your driver’s license and insurance with you.
[pause or incomprehensible]
What’s wrong?
Officer Encinia checks the car’s front tag and then returns to police car by 4:23. He exits the car at 8:35. Now up to this point, except for a very bullshit nature of the actual violation, it’s hard to fault the officer for any of his his actions or demeanor toward Sandra Bland. For her part, she signals complete verbal compliance. She’s not happy. But then why should she be?
8:39 Him: OK, ma’am.
[Pause]
Him: You OK?
8:50 Her: I’m waiting on you. You… This is your job. I’m waiting on you. Whatever you want me to do.
8:55 Him: You seem very irritated?
8:57 Her: I am. I really am. I feel like you stopped me, for what I am getting a ticket for — I was getting out of your way. You was speeding up, tailing me. So I move over, and you stop me. So, yeah, I am a little irritated. But so that doesn’t stop you from giving me a ticket, so…
Now here Bland is attempting to connect. She actually thought the officer cared what was wrong. After all, he did ask, well, “what’s wrong?”
There’s a long 5 second pause before the officer says, “I’m sorry, Ma’am. I’m just going to give you a warning. Please drive safely,” and Bland drives away.
Oh, wait…. That’s not what happened. But that could have been the happy ending. But it wasn’t.
They both end up taking the low road, but it’s initiated by the police officer. This could have been the perfect time for a cop to win her over. This is how community relations start: not with a community relations officer, but with every damn interaction between police and the public.
Think of everything that has happened in the past year with police. And then think of the stupidity of this stop. And then you ask someone, “what’s wrong?” and leave them for four minutes to think about the answer? Four minutes is a long time to wait for a traffic stop warning, but it’s not crazy long (computers do go down and/or get slow). Four minutes is enough time to sit and fume and think about history and present and want to answer the question, “what’s wrong?”
Let’s rewind a few seconds:
Her: I am. I really am. I feel like you stopped me, for what I am getting a ticket for — I was getting out of your way. You was speeding up, tailing me. So I move over, and you stop me. So, yeah, I am a little irritated. But so that doesn’t stop you from giving me a ticket, so…
[four second pause]
9:09 Are you done?
Oh, no he didn’t!
See this is where things went south. She told him what was going on in her mind. She was willing to receive a ticket. But she wasn’t going to be happy about it. You don’t have to be happy when you think the cops are going to give you a bullshit ticket. Especially for some violation that was caused by the cop’s presence in the first place. You have to obey. And until this point, Bland does obey. And as a cop, that’s all I ever really wanted. But rather than calm down or even listen to Bland, the officer is as rude as you could be in three non-obscene words: “Are you done?”
It’s like the officer is saying, “If I don’t engage you, you’ll never how I really feel.” Or, “Are you through telling me that bullshit?” Or, “I want you to start talking so I can tell to shut the fuck up.” Try that with somebody you love and see how it works. Bland was compliant. She was resigned. The problem from the officer’s perspective seems to be that she wasn’t properly deferential. She wasn’t shucking and jiving:
9:11 You asked me what was wrong and I told you. So now I’m done, yeah.
9:14 OK.
9:20 You mind putting out your cigarette please, you mind?
9:24 I’m in my car. Why do I have to put out my cigarette?
9:29 Well you can step on out now.
I have no idea what Officer Encinia’s intention is here. Except for her tone, it’s her first pushback to his authority. Now don’t get me wrong, authority is important to a cop. But authority is something you receive. It’s something you earn. It’s not something you demand. And the cop quickly becomes an asshole. Why? Because he can.
I guess because she said she didn’t have to put out her cigarette in her car (though legally, she probably would have had to put out, if ordered, based on officer’s perception of safety) maybe Encinia thought, I’ll show you by taking you out of your car comfort zone. And then you won’t give me any lip. This is straight up Southpark shit.
Again, the cop is in his rights, as the Court has defined them (Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 1977), but I don’t see how he’s making himself safer by getting her out of her car. Is she under arrest at this point? I don’t know. But the Court has said that police (in a Texas case) can arrest people for even non-arrestable traffic offenses. Does that make sense? No. But it’s Law of the Land.
It’s possible Encinia knew his he could arrest on any traffic stop and chose to do so. Dickish, but legal. (Often this constitutional right is prohibited by state or local statute, but I doubt I don’t it’s prohibited in Texas). Either way, you can arrest her the moment she refuses to comply with the lawful order to get out of the car. Disobeying a lawful order is a crime. The game is rigged in police officers’ favor, I’m telling you. And that’s why you shouldn’t play.
At any time up to this moment Bland could have also deescalated. She could have said, “yes sir, sorry sir.” And probably she would have gone on her way with a warning. She made a choice. A bad choice. You’ll never win an argument like this with a cop. Nine times out of ten, on strictly legal grounds, the cop is right. And the tenth time? You’re still not going to win.
9:30 I don’t have to step out of the car.
Step out of the car
9:37 Her: No, you do not have the right to do that.
Him: I do have the right. Now step out or I will remove you.
9:45 Her. I refuse to talk to you other than identify myself.
He’s right here. She doesn’t have to make small talk. But she does have to get out of the car. There’s too much bad “know your rights” crap on YouTube. The problem with learning “your rights” on the internet is it’s often flat out wrong. Also, even if it is right in some cases, it may not apply in your case. And there’s no way to know. It depends on a lot of factors you may not know about. And the cop is under no obligation to tell you so. Sometimes, you know, there actually is a time sensitive emergecy.
The best legal advice, my advice that will never get you locked up or shot, is comply like a complying fool, do not run away, do not fight. Period. Is that too demeaning for you? Too much Ethiopian Shim Sham shucking and jiving? Well that’s up to you. But as I tell my students: pick your battles.
But keep in mind police officers do not have to give you a reason for their actions. Ever. You can ask, “why?” They are under no obligations to answer. Ever. Police never have to answer your questions. Now tactically and morally, and just as common courtesy, there are very good reasons officers should sometimes explain their actions, but legally they do not have to. And sometimes (not most of the time, mind you) there are good reasons not to.
And if you insist you have a right when you don’t, well, that’s how you talk your way into handcuffs. Or worse. At 9:48, just 7 minutes after this doomed blind date started, they start bickering like a couple that’s been in bad relationship for 170 years.
9:48: Step out or I will remove you.
Her: I am getting removed for a failure to signal?
Him: Step out or I will remove you. I’m giving a lawful order. Get out of the car now. Or I’m going to remove you.
9:54 Her: I’m calling my…
9:55 I’m going to yank you outta here (take the keys)
OK, you going to yank me out of my my car.
9:59 Get out
10:00 [calls for backup]
This is a dumb move. From a tactical perspective, what the hell is he doing? She is not an imminent threat. So you try and force her in a position where she might be? You want to force her out by yourself instead of waiting for backup that is literally a couple minutes a way. If you’re solo and want to arrest somebody or get a person out of a car (not an easy thing to do), then you, office, shuck and jive and do the Ethiopian Shim Sham until you have backup. There’s no reason to do this alone. And yet he does. Why? I don’t know. I guess because he wants to prove his dominance over her. And Bland knows that. It’s horrible policing.
Her: All right, let’s do this.
Him: We’re going to.
Her: Don’t touch me.
Him: Get out of the car
Her: Don’t touch me. I’m not under arrest, and you don’t have the right.
I can’t help but wonder if Sandra Bland would still be alive if she did actually understand his rights and her obligations in a police-citizen car stop.
10:10 You are under arrest
I’m under arrest for what?! For what?
Failure to obey a lawful order. Or just because he wanted to, based on Atwater.
Officer Encinia then calls for faster backup around 10:15. This is also horrible policing. Other officers now will race to the call. But the only reason you need backup is because you made a bad tactical decision, officer. Racing to calls is dangerous. Officers get killed. And if you make your fellow officers race to your bullshit too often, well, after a while they’re going to go really slow and stop at all the red lights. Safety first, after all.
Him: Get out of the car. Get out of the car, now!
Her: Why am I being apprehended. You’re trying to give me a ticket…
I said get out of the car.
Why am I being apprehended?
I’m giving you a lawful order. I’m going to drag you out of here.
You threatening to drag me out of my own car?
10:30 Get out of the car! I will light you up. Get out of the car!
[He’s holding his Taser. Bland complies.]
Her: Wow. You doing all of this for a failure to signal.
Him: Get over there.
Her: Right yeah, let’s take this to court.
Him: Go Ahead.
Her: for a failure to signal.
Get off the phone.
I’m not on the phone. I have a right to record this. It’s my property.
Put your phone down.
Sir?
Put your phone down. right now. Put your phone down.
For a fucking failure to signal. My goodness.
11:03 Come over here.
Her: Ya’ll are interesting. Very interesting. You feel good about yourself? You feel good about yourself? For a failure to signal. You feel real good about yourself.
Him: Come over here now.
Her: You feel good about yourself.
Turn around. Turn around now.
Why can’t you tell me why I’m being arrested.
I’m giving you a lawful order.
Why am I being arrested?
Him: Turn around.
Her: Why won’t tell me that part?
11:25 I’m giving you a lawful order. Turn around.
Why will you not tell me that part?
You are not compliant.
I’m not compliant because you just pulled me out of the car.
11:30 TURN AROUND!
Her: Are you fucking kidding me. This is some bullshit.
Him: Put your hands behind your back.
11:35 You know this is straight bullshit. And you pull this shit. Full of straight this That’s all is some scary ass cops. Y’all bitch ass is scared. That’s all it is. Fucking scared of a female.
Him: If you would’ve just listened.
See, now we’re just in straight-up bickering couple bullshit. He’s dismissive of her. She’s trying to emasculate him.
11:49 I was trying to sign the fucking ticket! Whatever.
Him: Stop moving.
Her: Are you fucking serious?
Him: Stop moving.
Oh, I can’t wait till we go to court. Ohhh, I can’t wait. I cannot wait till we go to court! I can’t wait. Oh, I can’t wait. You want me to sit down now?
12:01 No.
Her: You was going to throw me to the floor. That’ll make you feel better about yourself?
12:06 Knock it off.
That make you feel better about yourself? That’ll make you feel real good, won’t it? Pussy ass. Fucking pussy. For a failure to signal. You doing all of this. In little ass Prairie View Texas. My God, they must…
Him: You were getting a warning. Until now. You’re going to jail
Her: I’m getting a, for what?!
12:23 You can come read it.
For what? I’m getting a warning for what?
Stay right here.
Her: For what?! You were pointing me over there!
12:29 I said stay right here
Her: Oh, I swear on my life, y’all some pussies. A pussy-ass cop. For a fucking ticket you gonna take me to jail.
[Him to dispatcher: I got her under control. She’s in handcuffs.]
Her: What a pussy. What a pussy. What a pussy. You about to break my fucking wrists.
Him: Stop moving.
Her: I’m standing still. You pulling me, goddamnit.
Him: Stay right there. Stay right here.
Her: Don’t touch me. All this for a traffic ticket
13:00 [Officer 1 to officer 2]: Cover me right over here.
Him: This right there says a warning. You started creating the problem.
Her: You asked me what was wrong. I trying to tell you.
Him: You got anything on you person, that’s illegal.
Do I look like I have anything on me. This is a maxi-dress.
I’m going to remove your glasses.
This is a maxi-dress.
Come on over here.
13:20 You an asshole. You about to break my wrist. Stop. You’re about to break my fucking wrist.
Stop it.
Officer 2: Stop resisting ma’am
If you would stop, I would tell you.
13:34 You are such a pussy. You are such a pussy.
Officer 2: No, you are.
You are dinking around You are dinking around When you pull away from me, you are resisting arrest.
This make you feel good
Officer #2: I got it.
Her: This make you feel good, officer, a female. For a traffic ticket.
Officer #2: I got it. Take care of yourself.
Her: You a real man now. Knocked. Slammed my head in the ground. I got epilepsy you motherfucker
13:56 Him: Good
Officer #2: You should have started thinking about that before you started resisting
14:02 All right. Yeah, this is real good. Real good for a female. Yeah. Y’all strong. Oh. Y’all real strong.
14:09 I want you to wait right here
I can’t go nowhere with a fucking knee on my back. Duh.
And here’s it’s all over but some more shouting.
14:22 Him: You need to leave.
15:00 Sit up on your butt.
16:10 She started yanking away and then Kicked me, and I took her straight to the ground.
16:20 Officer #3: One thing, you can be sure it’s on video.
16:55 Ring got you there?
31:38 Him: She kicked me, started yanking away. I brought her down into the grass. [He did put her down in the grass, which, well, I wouldn’t say it was nice of him, but it was much nicer than bringing her down on concrete, which he could have done.]
You know the funny thing? We’re only talking about it because she killed herself (or was brutally murdered by correctional officers). This is what is messed up about the rest of the criminal justice system. Bland spent three damn days in jail for failure to obey and also, while in cuffs, kicking and scratching a cop without serious injury. And now she’s dead.
As commenter to a previous post put it: “This is a bad job by the trooper… but not the worst I have ever seen.” No. It’s not the worst I’ve seen. But, man… it is bad.
