Replies

Sadly, they seem to have picked the wrong fellow to rough up. Now I could point out a number of Anarchists I saw at the Battle in Seattle (WTO) from Eugene who started a riot. THOSE folks deserve what this fellow got.

Sadly, they seem to have picked the wrong fellow to rough up.

I doubt much will come of it. A couple years back my niece, a tiny little 20 year old, got smacked around by a couple of cops (knees, elbows and face scratched up real good from contact with pavement) for questioning their authority to detain her and a couple friends who were behaving lawfully (walking from one girl's house to another, where doubtless they intended to smoke some dope or maybe do some drinking).

She shopped for a lawyer to help her make a case, they all told her she was wasting her time.

THOSE folks were sort of egged on and emboldened by the media and community reaction to the cops' manner of interaction with them at a couple of events that took place here in town in the preceding year. In the first incident, the cops totally lost their cool on them when they staged a sort of sit in at a construction site. Everyone saw the video on the evening news, and it was clear the police were acting out of anger in their treatment of some of the folks at that protest, instead of just professionally doing what needed done. In the latter incident, they went into town intent on disrupting traffic as a means of drawing attention to themselves. The cops again reacted with more anger than professionalism and the ensuing melee was like none this town had seen before.

All of that set the stage for what happened in Seattle - the situation would likely have been more controllable had the cops reacted more professionally to their first major escapades in Eugene.