"Good Samaritan backfire", one man's encounter with police brutality.

reply to post by flammadraco


I think our cops have just always kind of been like that. They used to be privately run cops and would do worse to us. They lightened up around WWII aside from breaking up civil rights protests and beating protesters throughout the 70's. Still, even through all that the police were always tough on the lower classes, people the general public tends to dismiss as long it's not the middle class that's being brutalized. Something that does make this white Silicon Valley guy's story somewhat unique.

Through out the past 30 years we've seen an increase in this behavior and a militarization of our police forces. We've gotten better at training our military troops to want to kill and many of them come home from the wars not having gotten their first kill. We see groups of cops unloading their pistols on suspects, even near innocent bystanders, and I have to wonder if they're not excited to get their first kill, and make sure it sticks.

We also have a media that feeds us cop glorifying police procedurals which show cops in only the best light. It allows us to focus on the good that cops do, which is legitimate, but it also helps in ignoring the abuses meted out on a daily basis. We read about them happening in other cities and states, but that often feels like reading about other countries to Americans. It's easy to ignore and none of us want to be on the receiving end of that police brutality if we took to the streets in protest.

gunshooter

mantisfortress
reply to post by gladtobehere

 

How this story should have gone:

Cop: "Your assistance is not needed. You need to leave the area immediately."

Dude: "Okay."

The End

Hey mantisfortress, question: what does it feel like to be wrong, and a troll? That about sums up your post here.
Just saying!

It's not my intention to be a troll. The author of the article states that the police gave him those instructions. What could the guy do other than interfere? The girl had minor injuries. It seems that his only motivation to remain at the scene was personal curiosity. The cops told him to leave. If he would have left, there would be no story. How am I wrong?

However, please don't interpret that viewpoint as me excusing the awful behavior of the authorities after the fact. They were barbaric and wrong. I personally do not trust most LEOs. That is precisely why I avoid contact whenever possible. When contact is absolutely unavoidable, I am awaiting nothing more than, "Sir, you are free to leave". The only time I might do otherwise is in an extreme situation. Maybe if the police were grossly violating someone's rights. In the case at hand, they were in the process of helping the injured girl. They were not perpetrating any injustice upon her. Why poke the poke the proverbial hornet's nest? Because you are a bicycle accident enthusiast? Foolish. For this reason, I completely stand by my initial statement.

Make no mistake, the actions of LEOs infuriate me. My heart goes out to the OP. Many LEOs are corrupt and it disgusts me. But, this entire ego/entitlement-fueled incident could have been avoided with some common sense.

reply to post by mantisfortress


True, and that is more of a real answer than your last post. But, the man was standing off to the side not truly interfering, just wanting to know her status, not illegal. A drunk driver rear ended me once, and his girlfriend was injured real bad. Her boyfriend that hit me could've cared less. I stood close by the whole timeto see if she would be alright. I never got in trouble, and there were a bunch of cops there. Besides, he said he was waiting for his friend as well. Its just pure inexcusable what the police did to this man, period. I trust you disagree about how he was treated, but don't rationalize what the cops did was right either.