First this video does not show the entire picture.

Protesters often get violent and out of hand. They also often plan this sort of thing.

Often they will scout for the less in control police officer and assault or harass that officer until they lose control. All for the purpose of propaganda.

Edit out the reason the police used force and cry victim. The cop may be wrong in use of force, but they are portrayed as just randomly violent cops and oppressing peaceful protesters. This is often not the truth. Often cops are the reason people like code pink can protest and not worry about those who disagree with them.



Also lets remember the action of a few do not equate to all.

If a few cops cross the line, not saying these did, but if they did they do not represent all cops.

Just like:

a female b! does not mean all women are B.

a black felon does not mean all blacks are felons.

a white racist male does not mean all white males are racist.

not all asians are short some are tall..

ect... ect...

For those who say "treat cops like crp" that is just a self fulfilling prophecy because in general uniform or not they are people and will treat use as you generally treat them. This is where most "victims of the police" come from; a cop approaches them and the first thing they do is give the cop an attitude and reason for suspicion. How would you feel if you were just doing your job and someone treated you like S?

Most cops join to serve their community which is more then most can say they do for their community.

Like any profession, and all people, some are good some are bad.

The next time a cop stops someone from assaulting you and robbing your home or worse remember that.

wow that is a very crazy video ... its quite disturbing how the police act now a days in the U.S.

this is off topic but i was watching one of the videos along the bottom of how people "attacked" fox news at the dem. convention and it made me laugh how so many people have lost trust in the news .... one guy even states that fox news is public relations for the government

I am not going to defend the behavior of any cop that does that in an everyday situation. That said, this is the DNC. These people are professional protestors. They know the rules and they know just how far they can push their limits. If a protestor is overstepping themselves, they also know what is coming next.

As far as I can tell the cop did nothing wrong here.

I am not sure why she was grabbed at the end though.

You know I've been seeing a lot of videos like this lately around here and for the most part they are blatant displays of unnecessary force and abuse.

I do want to point out something though and people may not want to hear it. The police have been doing this sort of thing (and worse) in minority communities for ages and nothing was done to stem the rampant police brutality. I live in Baltimore and have worked within impoverished communities through non-profits and I see these sort of accusations coming in all the time. Occasionally on the news but nothing is done because no one cares if the cops rough-up the underclass poor and minorities.

Personally I remember there was an African American man that was loitering on my stoop. The guy had done this before and when asked to leave he did but he would return ever so often so I got frustrated and thought perhaps the police could ask him and then he may take me more serious. When the cops came that night the first thing they did was scream at him, pick him up and slam him to the concrete twice.

The guy did nothing. Said nothing.
I was horrified. It wasn't what I expected. I regretted even mentioning it.

This sort of abuse of power is a serious problem within the police communities.

This is nothing new and no the police didn't suddenly become "fascist" or "brutal" what is happening is that it is now spilling into our backyard and most of us aren't used to it. Instead of ignoring the issues and disregarding the victims as whiners this sort of thing should have been addressed long ago. We inadvertently fostered the problem through ignorance because it wasn't OUR problem.

It is becoming that now though and I see it getting worse from here.

Maybe its time this does spread everywhere and when they start body slamming upper-class white girls and callously knocking white boys off bicycles only then will something get done.

My 2 cents.

- Lee

[edit on 28-8-2008 by lee anoma]

Originally posted by spookjr
Peaceful protest is a joke.

Tell that to Gandhi...

Let me preface this by saying that I am a Police Officer which by judging many of the responses here makes me a bad guy.
Yes I know there are bad cops and there is no excuse for them but cops are ppl and there are lots of bad ppl out there. Some get through sadly.
These videos never show what happens prior. They are easy to edit in a biased fashion so we are all forced to speculate here.
We do not know what/if she did or said anything leading up to this or what her attitude had been. I can say that the officer never approached her. He was holding his ground in a line holding his club cross wise. He does not have to retreat. She obviously got very close to him. Cops are trained to give ppl a hard stiff arm with open palm or cross check with club to the chest to back them off (not to face). You can't limp wrist someone away from you. You cannot let someone get close because someone can possibly take your sidearm and nobody knows what her intent was. A small woman can injure a large man too and bottom line is Im going home to my family unhurt.
As for the interview thing again...its only showing the immediate footage so we dont know what she was saying prior. *Hypothetically*, if she was inciting the crowd, thats mob action and she needs to be arrested to keep a situation as calm as can be. If she is inciting the crowd against the police, its called barretry and that could lead to a very dangerous situation. There are many peaceful demonstrators who speak their opinions the right way. Then there are those who seek confrontation which is wrong way.
So again I know that most ppl here will see things there own way no matter what is said. They will view the police negatively and wrong regardless. I just had to give my .02

On a side note. The good cops almost never get recognition. It is a very difficult job and can be very rewarding and very frustrating. Not everyone could do it.

Originally posted by PeaceWarrior
Let me preface this by saying that I am a Police Officer which by judging many of the responses here makes me a bad guy.


On a side note. The good cops almost never get recognition. It is a very difficult job and can be very rewarding and very frustrating. Not everyone could do it.

Absolutely does NOT make you the bad guy - I've had some terrible experiences with your worst but some awesome experiences with your finest -
so I get it - and having been a rowdy demonstrator I understand your position.....but that doesn't change the fact that brutality is a thing that has always been used and over used to dampen political speech...confrontation, even peaceful confrontation is intimidating to both sides, the police and the protesters..that's why its important for folk on both sides not to over-react...the difference is that police have been trained, are armed, and usually pack a wallop - Most people that demonstrate are not pros, have little experience, don't know what to expect and are shocked when it gets nasty after so little encouragement.
thats why I say to those who protest...don't judge, don't hate, just get your message out, understand what you might be in for and be aware...

First of all, assault aside, at the eight second interval to the eleven second interval you can clearly hear (after listening repeatedly) the officer[presumably, the officer that is.. even though one can clearly see his mouth motioning this remark at around the six second mark,..] declaring, "get back up bitch". Derogatory terms, verbal assault, and harassment is not warranted I presume, even when an officer is [presumably] taunted by a civilian. Is this correct? Can anyone validate or negate this?

Next, if I am not mistaken (which I may in fact be,..) it appears that after reviewing the video clip well over 50 times, that the officer strikes the female civilian in her neck, and while she is turned away from the officer. This can theoretically be proven by the position that she is in when she strikes the concrete. I would think, and again I may be incorrect, that when someone in struck in a pushed sort of fashion it is more likely for the person to end up position on their back and/or backside, as opposed to their side. The woman is clearly, and irrefutably on her side upon landing. An officer is not permitted to strike a civilian when the civilian in turned away from the officer, correct [please correct me if I am mistaken]? Furthermore, striking a civilian in the neck/head/back region is also not permitted, and could be seen as using excessive force as well. Again, correct me if I am wrong.

TBC...

I live in Canada and I feel scared that this is happening in the States. I really really really really believe that the American people will stand up to their masters and say, "We will be free again, we will prosper again, and we won't stand for anything but freedom and peace!" I just want to say you have my support those of you who are truly fighting for freedom. My blessing to all of you.

Listen the code pink idiots are so full of crap they are a bunch of socialistic pacifist fools and hypocrites. just like the NOW women organization was quite when the bill clinton had all his women problems.

the code pink people would be killed by the teroist and they dont understand the threat.

i would sugest that the code pink people who wish to undermind our military and the pacifist ideaolgy makes our country weaker. They are more of an ememy then the terrorist.

But the first amendment protects and gives them that right to peruse a change of policy to protest and assemble and speak.

I hope they see that in a socialist society the nazi police force would act that way.

one of the greatest enemy's to our country is these rouge police these nazi thugs who violate their oath of office and are criminals.

That cops is the greatest enemy and everyother cop who abuses his oath and service.

i hate the code pink idiots but they have their rights and no cop has the right infact it is illegal for him to do this and assualt her and the constitution.

this is criminal assault the cop is a criminal and should be put in jail 1 year and loose his officer certificate

it is that important.

we have too many laws that conflict and overlap and hold us down in to many ways but we have no official rules or laws that specifically out line policy for enforcing the laws. the tell it to the judge crap is wrong.

this police force shaved head mentality is nazi and it is the greatest threat to our country.

new laws and rules spelling out police policy, authority and specific rules need to be passed and criminal charges for faulse arrest and violations.

cops are wrong all the time they are human it is time we take charge of them they work for us, we need to lay the law down on them

chris

Ok, he butts her in the face then comes back after. Don’t want her talking to the press do we ? These guys are a joke. There trying to Cover their butts on this. They need to arrest her in order to do that. So she is pulled away from the reporter. Looks like it might not work . Were all looking at the evidence right here on ATS. I wonder if he will be working next week.

I had crowed control training. he should have pushed in the chest with the baton. Not hit her in the face. looks like he kind of lost it too. You need to be very cool in these situations, but don’t let no one get to close. This is someone who needs remedial training for sure.

[edit on 28-8-2008 by SJE98]