The LAPD's unlikely defender
Homeless advocate Ted Hayes was shot by police, but he praised the cops and blasted violent protesters for drowning out his message.
By Cliff Barney
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August 18, 2000 | LOS ANGELES -- On Monday night, with no warning, Los Angeles police who were herding concertgoers from the Rage Against the Machine concert outside the Democratic National Convention shot homeless activist Ted Hayes with a steel beanbag; and then, while he lay barely conscious and gasping for breath on the ground, flipped him on his belly, stood on his head and neck and cuffed his hands behind him.
One of the night's most memorable images was a picture of Hayes, splayed on the ground on top of the American flag he carried, which ran prominently in the Los Angeles Times. It was the beginning of a week that featured a mild form of martial law as the Democrats gathered at Staples Center mostly oblivious.
The day after his shooting, just out of the hospital, Hayes rather predictably held an angry press conference. But unpredictably, he blasted the protesters and praised the police. In Hayes' view, the demonstrators were at best spoiled white kids, and at worst evil, violent anarchists up to no good.
"Those people robbed the homeless people's freedom of speech last night," he said. "Theyre quick to step over the homeless people, and our cause, to make their noise. Has anybody heard today what the message of the demonstrators is? Have you heard anything about corporate greed and how they are actually oppressing people? Have we heard anything about the corrupt politics of the Democrats?" Long drawn-out sneer: "Noooo-o-o ... all we hear about is ruckus and tear gas and fighting and cops and robbers."
Just to make sure people didn't misunderstand, on Wednesday Hayes went on Fox News Network from a skybox in the very Staples Center outside which he had been shot, and used the occasion to denounce the American Civil Liberties Union for filing suit against the police who had shot him...
