In the wake of yesterday's column about five Birmingham, Alabama, police officers fired after they were caught on film beating a suspect who was already unconscious, the usual suspects are out in force to defend the put-upon boys in blue. They tell me I've been unnecessarily mean to the police officers who were, after all, just administering a well-deserved attitude correction to a guy who got what he deserved. As this country gets ever-more rule-bound and subject to the whims of government employees, keep an eye on the people who think this way. They make up a good share of your neighbors and they're happily pushing this country in the direction of a police state.
First, let me be clear that not everybody who commented on the story cheered on the beating. Several people were outright horrified and recognized that you don't have to think a suspect is an angel to believe that he doesn't deserve to be physically abused when he's offering no resistance whatsoever.
But others ...
In the comments, Phil and Geoff both agree that Anthony Warren, who led police on a chase after being stopped and questioned about drugs, is a "scumbag" who got what he deserved. Phil suggests that it's unfortunate that Warren was unconscious and so unable to experience the beating first-hand. Geoff thinks the officers involved should have received medals (for good aim, I suppose. Those limp, motionless targets can be tricky).
Tex Rick and Cop's Son, on the other hand, disagree with the beating. They think Anthony Warren should have been shot instead. Says Tex Rick:
Use the gun next time. Perp wasn't worth a scratch on their knuckles after he attempted to run over first policeman.
Jim Jones thinks I'm a "jackass" for criticizing drug-law enforcement as the spur for a high-speed, long-distance chase and resulting beating.
If the peaceful use of drugs leads a man to endanger the police and everyone else on the highway, I think he might deserve a beating.
Arguably, chasing after a guy along the highway at high speed because he might be involved with the use of officially disfavored intoxicants is what caused the danger.
But the cause of the chase isn't the main issue here. The main issue is that the police beat on a man who was senseless and utterly incapable of offering resistance. In the image below from the police dashboard camera video, you can see an officer with his arm upraised to deliver a blow to the suspect, who is lying face down after being thrown from the van.
In fact, it doesn't matter if Warren was a drug dealer, a child molester, a jay walker or a serial killer. The job of the police is to apprehend him so that he can be tried, his guilt or innocence determined, and an appropriate penalty imposed through a legal process that is based on the assumption that the authorities don't always get it right.
The cops don't get to act as judge, jury and executioner.
Understandably, people get hot under the collar in stressful situations. In moments of conflict, it can be hard to control your temper.
If you can't master your emotions, though, you have no business wearing a badge or wielding the wide-ranging license that employment as a law-enforcement officer now carries.
But too many of us have become power-worshippers. The attitude is effectively summed up when Phil writes, "Don't brake the LAW and you won't get beat."
It's so good to know that the founders put all that effort into reinforcing the presumption of innocence and crafting the Bill of Rights so that meatheads two centuries down the line could assume that anybody the cops label as a transgressor deserves an on-the-spot thumping with clubs.
Trials and due process are so drawn out, after all.
My doubts about the wisdom of a car chase as a follow-up to questions over drug use are worth interjecting here. It's not just foolish and failed drug prohibition that is at issue. It's the fact that almost everything we do these days is bound up in an ever-tightening web of laws and regulations that threaten to put us on the wrong side of the authorities with very little effort.
And nowhere is that more true than on the roads.
Are your license, registration and insurance up-to-date? Is the kid's car seat properly fastened? Are the windows tinted a shade too dark? Did you go a tad too fast? What's in your ash tray? Can we search your trunk? How many beers did you have at lunch anyway? Is your windshield cracked? A broken taillight? Were you using your cell phone? Hands-free or to your ear?
And so on.
Phil says that if we don't brake ... err ... break the law, we won't get beat. That's cold comfort in a world in which it's increasingly difficult to avoid breaking one law or another during the course of getting through the day. It's even more difficult to go through the day without being suspected of running afoul of one of those myriad laws.
But no matter how many legal tripwires await us, the likes of Phil, Geoff and Cop's Son will be there to cheer on whatever horrors the cops may visit upon us if they suspect we've been snagged.
email J.D.: civilliberties (at) tuccille.com
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Comments
Police car chases should be restricted to crimes with victims. Police chases many times cause death and damage.
I'm concerned the beating tape was suppressed by the police department for a year. Where is the investigation of all police officers that knew about the tape and upheld the Blue Wall of Silence? The good officers need to wake up and root the bad ones out. Otherwise the public will think they are all taineted.
I can understand that after such a chase adrenalin can run quite high. I can even go as far as to understand _a_ cop 'doling out a little' as a result.
However after watching the video several times, I was not _a_ cop, but several. Not doling out a little, but A LOT.
Cops have a tough job. I am sure that very few actually look forward to a day like that day. Mistakes were made.... so be it.
What annoy me more than anything, is the justification and the hiding. Police too are role mode
It never a matter of controlling one's temper. In everything we ever don't/do, the moment before...we choose to do or don't do. It is a Choice. Temper is an excuse, not a reason.
As for those who applaud such beatings, they've no comprehension that said actions may soon come to a theater near them, and they'll quickly scream that 'their rights have been violated'.
Damn shame the van just didn't crush this POS!
I feel torn on this issue. My first thought is that these cops went too far in venting anger. I have seen and heard of cops abusing their power too many times and it has not given me a good perception of the law enforcement officials as a whole.
However, I do hold a harsh opinion about how justice should be served. I believe that when a crime (physical act of violence) is intentionally committed, the perpetrator should be subjected to the same actions they performed on their victim, and it s
These cops did what they had to do to stop the suspect, except for the dumb cop that stepped in front of the vehicle on foot. However once they stopped the vehicle, the suspect was unconscious and beating him at that point accomplished nothing positive; it was just police brutality at that point.
And for the guy who said don't break the law and you won't get beat. I grew up in a bad neighborhood, not by choice, but we were poor. The cops used to love going to people's homes and beating up
People justify the police actions because the driver was endangering lives. I think the question should be which is more endangering, a driver evading the police or the 7 patrol cars following a drug user who are also endangering lives? The issue starts with improper police procedure. A police officer is trained to enforce the laws, not break them. Assult is a crime. These officers committed assult and should feel fortunate that all they lost was their jobs and not their jobs and their free
Bob = "Don't break the law and you won't get beat"
Are you that stupid? Police brutality, whether the person is guilty or not, is NEVER okay. We give the police a lot of power and expect them to conduct themselves in an honorable manner. This is disgusting. I hope Bob is beat next.
I sure hope I never run into these 3 idiots that defend this unnecessary action on the pArt of the Gestapo agents. These 5 cops should be prosecuted and imprisoned where they can get a taste of their own medicine. Cops today are getting more and more militaristic and just maybe a few need to feel the ire of a few of us that think they are way over the line on this incident and sadly more and more of this stuff all the time.
Bill says "I think the question should be which is more endangering, a driver evading the police or the 7 patrol cars following a drug user who are also endangering lives?"
Would you rather have them not follow him at all and just hope he doesn't kill anyone as he speeds away?
Oh and one more thing.
Bill says "People justify the police actions because the driver was endangering lives."
Cops have guns to protect themselves when THEY FEEL THEIR LIVES ARE ENDANGERED. Yes, the beating looks excessive, but if he had actually run over the cop and killed him would you still be condemning this behavior? It's always too much until someone innocent dies, right Bill? This man had full intent to kill that cop, and that is not debatable.
Lester says: "This man had full intent to kill that cop, and that is not debatable."
Oh really? Not debatable how so? Do you have ALL the undisputed facts? Perhaps you have a printout of the brain activity at the time Mr. Warren almost hit the mentally deficient officer who thought stepping in front of a speeding suspect's vehicle was a good idea, hmm?
Cops' lives ? Citizens' lives
Not NOW, not EVER! If you think otherwise, tighten those chains upon your neck further and be good little subject/slave.
Hmm, Examiner didn't like the Unicode character for not greater than. That last comment should read: Cops' lives are not greater than Citizens' lives
they are all tainted. Were they not, the mythical "good ones" would have moved to correct the issue. They did not. Therefore they are all tainted.
Lester, you know nothing of the law or what it means to be an American. There are many cool places in the world that would love to have you and your uncivilized, hateful ways. Please consider moving far away.
Magyar, the cop didnt step out in front of the vehicle..He was waiting to throw a spike strip like he is trained to do when the suspect swerved across 2 lanes to hit him. That is total disregard for human life and he needed beat. Are you guys that are so against it telling me if someone comes up and tries to kill/kills your brother right in front of you that you are going to call the police and in no way try to hurt this person? You wouldnt complain at that point if the police showed up and beat
High-speed chases are like, "Why were you running?" "He was chasing me." I saw too many wrongful deaths in Kentucky and Ohio, back in the day, deaths on both sides and collateral damage.
As far as temper, I often wonder how a cop would handle being a nurse or orderly in a mental institution?
you are really stupid......they abuse of their power.
Well, you can't blame "suspects" for running these days. You never know what these cops are up to. I'm a law abiding citizen, but a person can only take so much raping, robbing, murdering of babies in the womb, arms twisted, choking, etc. I'm talking about my personal experiences with these animals! My first impulse when I see a cop car is to run because I know that they have some brutal, perverted, sadistic thought in their heads. That's why they put those uniforms on every day - the oppor
In "political Ponerology," Lobaczewsky shows that any human population includes 5% to 6% psychopaths and an unstated percentage of followers who obey and admire psychopaths. Psychopaths tend to gravitate to jobs in politics and police departments. This situation evolved because it tended toward survival of small, hunter-gatherer groups. If a solution is not found, the tendency will produce a Hell on Earth that will make Hitler and Pol Pot look like naughty boys.
"As far as temper, I often wonder how a cop would handle being a nurse or orderly in a mental institution?..Novista"
You're kidding, right? These, the cops, are the inmates running the asylum.
Good cop is an oxymoron.
Bummer these guys lost their jobs though; I feel for the waitresses and busboys at Applebees that will have to endure the wrath of their former cop manager.
i agree with everything your saying. regardless of the fact that he may have deserved it its not their place to beat a senseless guy. further, to recomend shooting him is rediculous. where has the sanity gone
i have been in the birmingham al jail and they dont do anything to reform an offender there is no mental help; no psycotheraphy and most are right back in soon after getting out we need a better system on to teach these young people that there is a way out the goverment should set up training and re;ocating the family and lear them a good money making trade and give so mental help and theraphy to help them break the cycle while i was in birmingham and bessemer and walker co jail there was no confrancing no theraphy and only a very few could even go to jail on sunday we could do better than just givving up these young people are worth saving lets retrain them relocstr thrm sn do things thst would help put them in the right direction
i ment that they was only a few that was allowed to attend church on sunday and usually it was the same 4 that went all the time all theinnmates would bebefit from a good chutch sermon we just throw them kids in a cell and wonder why they end up like thay do lets face it its just as much our faught for no setting examples and guideing these young people in the correct direction we sre part of the problem when we could be a part of ther solution we can go it david uptain
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