Posted on 08/02/2011 11:19:32 AM PDT by Smogger
FULLERTON – Surveillance video surfaced Monday of two witnesses describing a fatal confrontation between a homeless man and six police officers.
The video from an Orange County Transportation Authority bus shows a woman and a man getting on the bus shortly after the July 5 incident between the officers and Kelly Thomas, 37, a homeless man who suffered from schizophrenia.
The woman, who appears agitated, gets on the bus at the Fullerton Transportation Center and tells the driver "the cops are kicking this poor guy over there. ... He's almost halfway dead."
The male witness tells the driver that the man, later identified as Thomas, was sitting on a bench when he was approached by two officers and ran from them. "They caught him, pound his face, pound his face against the curb ... and they beat him up," the man said. "They beat him up, and then all the cops came and they hogtied him, and he was like 'Please God! Please Dad!"
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
To some, everything the police do is unjustified.
Of course. The difference, though, is that they are organized to counter external forces and they are not unionized.
“The difference, though, is that they are organized to counter external forces and they are not unionized.”
Actually, they are charged with countering all “enemies foreign and domestic.”
...and, whether you can name one or not, we should watch them carefully. We should watch judges, legislators, councilmen, teachers...all of 'em.
Are you saying we shouldn't?
Let’s take a look at the facts as provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cftb0242.pdf) for 2009.
In ALL industries there were 542 homicides in 2009 - 462 were in private industry. Areas included construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, professional and business services, administration, leisure and hospitality.
There were 80 homicides in government. 18 were in the federal government. 7 were in state government, though none were police. Local government had 55 homicides, of which 48 were public safety, aka police. Curiously more police died in traffic accidents than were shot.
So, the implication that police have a particularly hazardous occupation is not borne out by the facts.
I can see you have an agenda. You explain and justify the cops behavior so we can alll be as enlightned as you.
“Name one military action against a citizens in the last 50 years.
...and, whether you can name one or not, we should watch them carefully. We should watch judges, legislators, councilmen, teachers...all of ‘em.
Are you saying we shouldn’t?”
Other than the Kent State Massacre in the 60’s I can’t think of any offhand. Should we watch them? Of course we should. Should we view and treat them as some sort of inherently malevolent thugs, with no value to us? No.
If this had been done to a known terrorist captured and held at ab Grabe prison the 6 American soldiers who did this would be court martialed and in prison.
Exactly. However, if you had been able to name more than one example over the past 50 years, we might view them differently.
On the other hand, I can name 10 questionable actions by law enforcement against citizen in the last 6 months.
Kent State was not a military action as it was carried out by a state National Guard unit under the provisional orders of Ohio Governor James Rhodes. This was a police action carried out by a unit acting with police powers. Absent a nationalization of those guard units by the President with orders for them to organize under the chain of command of the national military they could not perform a military action.
“On the other hand, I can name 10 questionable actions by law enforcement against citizen in the last 6 months.”
So can I. But I weigh that against the all of the laudable actions they performed and I’m glad that I live in a community with law enforcement agencies. Sure, we hear about all of the awful things the police do since that appeals to the liberals that run most media outlets, but I’m not going to let that determine for me the character of most police forces as a whole.
Personally, I like when they protect and serve...
I wholeheartedly agree.
The trends are troubling, however....
I wholeheartedly agree.
The trends are troubling, however....
Branch Dividians?
There were probably that many in Seattle alone.
Are you suggesting that we should not hear about it? How about this particular case? Should we sweep it under the rug because of the "laudable actions" performed by most cops every day?
“Are you suggesting that we should not hear about it? How about this particular case? Should we sweep it under the rug because of the “laudable actions” performed by most cops every day?”
What I’m saying is that the brutality of unethical cops which is selectively spoon fed to us by left-leaning news outlets should not be the sole criteria by which we judge the police. The moonbats that produce my local Northern California news programs, as well as the big three networks, CNN, etc. rarely, if ever air instances of the police providing noble service. I’m not going to assume that that’s because it never happens.
Fair enough. I’m not going to assume that it always happens.
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