Man claims cop beat him 'to a bloody pulp'

Man claims cop beat him 'to a bloody pulp'

www.torontosun.com

MISSISSAUGA — At first glance, Michael da Rocha looks like he has been beaten with a baseball bat in a violent mugging.

The mentally ill 32-year-old, who claimed he had never been in trouble with the law before last weekend, alleged he was “beaten to a bloody pulp” by a plainclothes police officer while out for a stroll through downtown Toronto.

Even several days later, the frightened man’s eyes are swollen almost shut and ringed with purple — the right one is caked with dried blood. Stitches poke out from his bulging, reddened left ear and his normally thin face is puffed out

(visit the link for the full news article)

So I'm not sure what to say here really, I understand the man may have been acting suspiciously and even ran from them, but what could possibly justify a beating like this? I'm sure that they had him in a position where they could've cuffed him prior to all the harm they caused.






www.torontosun.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Edited to include link to image.

[edit on 14-5-2010 by InSanE1]

I just saw this a couple hours ago in one of the Suns stands. He looks bad. I've seen some crazy people in China town in the middle of the night so I understand why the cops try to chase him when he runs but if the guy's story is true and the cop never identified him, then SWHTF.

Then again, I've always seen the Sun as a sensationalist tabloid that will have this on its front page (as it was) rather than, say, Thailand's crisis or the EU bailout.

That's exactly how I caught it too, I saw it on a stand and it's a bad picture.

Despite the fact that I agree with what you're saying about the Sun, I still have no reason to doubt that this incident happened.

I haven't found any other sources for this yet though

The Police acknowledge the incident so thats a given. The problem here is the officer, or NO COP for that matter, has a way of knowing your medical history before hand. I also believe, according to this article, that it was a solo cop and this man fighting...not cop(s). This could explain why he got so banged up....if he has this mental issue and becomes that paranoid he, in his mind, is fighting for his life...so the struggle was probably not just some little tussle.

It sucks when you find out AFTER THE FACT that the people have different disorders, but you can only go with what you have in that instance, and make a decision based on that. I hope he gets back on his meds, but one things the article DOESN'T point out is WHEN did this happen? meaning what time?

I thought police were trained to subdue people without causing to much harm...this guy was 5-7 and 145 pounds.....

curb-stomping should only be needed in the extream cases..not some little guy.

save the beatings for the thugs and gang-bangers.

reply to post by wrathchild


quoting the mans size, but leaving the cops size out of the article...hmmmm...also, man has a mental illness causing him to have extreme paranoia, that = size not mattering when an adult male thinks he is fighting for his life....trust me, been down this road in my career and I am a combat vet, 9 year cop, and have trained my whole life to fight and defend......if this were TV or MMA (where there are rules) that would be awesome...but out here there are no rules and NOTHING goes as planned....so that guy you view as "little" and harmless can be the worst encounter you'll ever have.

Again the article is leading me to believe this was a ONE on ONE encounter too....so there are only two people who know what went down, and only one who knows how tough of a man Michael is....I'll wait to hear more on this incident....

reply to post by rcwj1975


agreed....if it was an one vs one fight...and the officer had no choice but to beat the person into submission..then fine.

reply to post by wrathchild


Yeah, I'm having trouble imagining any kind of scenario where a police officer would need to hit a guy profusely in the face. The guys face is pulverized after "several days".

Ever heard of mace? if the guy was putting up such a huge fight, then it is most certainly a case where a tazer is warranted. The police are so into using those things if you even look at them wrong (Yes, I'm exaggerating) but when it's warranted (supposedly) they don't use any of the items at their disposal specifically meant for the purpose of subduing an unruly perp?

Before you say, "their damned if they do, damned if they don't" referring to me talking about the use of tazers, what I'm saying is that in order for a cop to be justified into beating that guys face in the way he did, a tazer is a circumstance that IS warranted for use. Not simply "failing to comply".

reply to post by nunya13


One problem with what your saying....he was plain clothes officer...meaning all he has is a gun...no other weapons or less lethal options other then his hands. Had this been a uniformed officer I would agree with you 100%, but you and I both know that uniformed officer WOULD BE criticized for ANYTHING he did by SOME people.

The man beaten up actually had not done anything other than "act suspiciously" according to the police report.

Does acting suspiciously warrant a beating? When a man innocent of having committed any crime runs from an unidentified stranger in a dark lane-way in the middle of the night, does that warrant beating him up?

I can't believe the police turned around and charged the mentally ill man with assault when defending himself was probably all he was doing.

Is it wrong to "resist arrest" when you haven't done anything to legitimately be arrested for?

Unfortunately, you and I know to bow down and genuflect when a person in authority threatens you. The man with schizophrenia just acted on his fears and emotions and got abused for it. There is no rational for the officer taking such excessive actions against someone guilty only (in his mind) of being "suspicious".

Fits the definition of police brutality perfectly. The cop initiated the commotion, instigated the tension and fear, and then let loose with totally irresponsible aggression.

The only person who actually committed a crime here is the cop.

[edit on 5/15/2010 by wayno]

Police in uk and usa both have access to mind control, that they can go back through your memories. So just go back through these two and see what happened, if true.

The police are just monsters with a badge, i dread to think what mental cases are really in the police and going down to there pub at the weekend boosting about beating and killing anyone they want.

But heck its just a few, lol, yep really most if not all police are scum, off there rocker, just waiting to do stuff like this, whether this is true or not as a story, its going on all over this world.

Originally posted by wayno

I can't believe the police turned around and charged the mentally ill man with assault when defending himself was probably all he was doing.

That's called a 'cover charge'.

It covers the cops ass and ruins the credibility of the victim. The average person sees the words 'charged with...' and thinks "that criminal had it coming"

Associating being charged with being guilty. People do this. Just ask some guy who was charged with a sex crime but is innocent, he'll always be seen as guilty, even though he's innocent.

So a cop beats some pleb for not genuflecting....well who you going to believe a cop or a guy who goes around attacking cops? (which is one of the things he'll probably be charged with after hurting the cops knuckles with his face)



[edit on 15-5-2010 by Exuberant1]

Originally posted by Exuberant1
Associating being charged with being guilty. People do this. Just ask some guy who was charged with a sex crime but is innocent, he'll always be seen guilty, even though he's innocent.

Exactly if your a male who never wanted to have sex in your life, and the police make it up, the mob will believe them. The police can make it all up, who the feck cares about any person, not them thats for sure. They know they can label anyone anything, and destroy anyone.

Sick cases all over the world in the police, and they get away with this all the time.

Here is my pet theory...overall relating to the rash of cop beatings that we all have become more aware of since Rodney King.

First, most cops come from a middle class background which would entail everything about normal American/Canadian life that we imagine.

As American as apple pie would be were I would classify most cops.

Most, not all, of today's police force would have had pretty well the same viewpoint of life that we as civi's have and of course they have a altruistic motive (most) concerning maintaining what we would as a group consider to be normal Western civilization type of life.

After a year of three on the street these guys/gals are subjected to the very worst that human beings can do.

So what most people who only read about or see on the five oclock news these guys/gals confront every day.

That is their job but still the relentless involvement of the evil some people are capable of boggles a persons psyche which naturally begins to classify certain individuals as targets.

That is normal human reaction to shiznet as we all have a need to classify that which we encounter.

So even though their are mechanisms built it to the bureaucracy of police forces to help protect officers from the things they face once in a while a person(cop...a.cop is a person although some people forget that) will snap.

On top of that, and I am not saying that what took place was justified, this cop has no idea what he is facing when placed in this situation so they need to protect themselves and sometimes people get banged up.


Of course this is only part of the way I perceive it.

And I need to say that the vast majority those who we would consider to be criminals are very "likable" humans as well. Likable but.... The world is a weird place. Nothing like you see on TV.


Take any subgroup you see and I bet everybody would data point out to a bell curve.

We tend to lump categories in a either/or scenario.

But the reality is their is a norm of human behavior as stipulated in a bell curve. But cops generaly only see the extremes and not the norm of human behaior.

So this will cloud their view...and probably for the better if looked at in the makeup of evolutionary psychological fight or flight psyche needed for this type of job.

lol....I think to much.

Being a well rounded considerate (both sides of the story ) analyst is only a vain attempt to show everyone on ATS that you have great insight .
lol, All i see is vanity , cranial masturbation expressed on thread forums !
When it all comes down , you can sympathize ,and pretend to be sherlock holmes, but in the end , be confused and scared , and thats what they want,lol,
Let your mind wonder , while your soul is scalped , nanobit by nanobit,
Logic is for Vulcans , Heart is for Humans , What does your heart say ?

Originally posted by rcwj1975
The Police acknowledge the incident so thats a given. The problem here is the officer, or NO COP for that matter, has a way of knowing your medical history before hand. I also believe, according to this article, that it was a solo cop and this man fighting...not cop(s). This could explain why he got so banged up....if he has this mental issue and becomes that paranoid he, in his mind, is fighting for his life...so the struggle was probably not just some little tussle.

It sucks when you find out AFTER THE FACT that the people have different disorders, but you can only go with what you have in that instance, and make a decision based on that. I hope he gets back on his meds, but one things the article DOESN'T point out is WHEN did this happen? meaning what time?

After reading the full story at the link, I must say that if some stranger calls out to you in the middle of the night, you have every right to make a run for it. Every second counts. And in this case the stranger let loose a flurry of punches and elbows that could have REALLY killed the guy, so maybe his "extreme paranoia" isn't so much of a "mental disorder". The victim should have kept running to escape injury and possible death. It looks like skipping the meds possibly saved his life.

And on top of all that, all the victim did was ask to see a badge. I mean, anyone can claim to be cop..... even you Considering that lots of people are claiming to be cops and doing home invasion robberies, I would say that it is a reasonable request that only takes a second for someone to show their badge. Plus, the amount of crime that happens in Toronto is so non-existent (think of a white guy running down Younge Street in downtown Toronto with the store owners chasing after him blowing a whistle), that beating the guy up like that without at least showing your badge first is probably a criminal act in itself.

reply to post by MegaCurious


I agree...but did the officer NOT actually show the badge? According to ONE side he did not...the side that also openly claims a mental illness. Could he have been so worked up and scared to not see the badge even when shown? Could he have been shown the badge and decided that too was not enough because of the mental illness? There are SOOOO many what if's from BOTH SIDES.....and as I said before, there are only two men who really know what happened and why.

And I also agree that people do pose as officers to pull off criminal activity...so again, it IS tough for both sides.

reply to post by nunya13


Just a little info... I got my face kicked in by thugs a few years ago.... it took FIVE of them to do this kind of damage to my face.