Posted on 10/10/2005 6:59:52 PM PDT by drt1
Officers taped beating man arrested for public intoxication plead not guilty. A television producer recorded as New Orleans police officers arrested and beat Robert Davis, believing he was intoxicated in public. Davis' lawyer denies his client was drunk.
Updated: 7:50 p.m. ET Oct. 10, 2005 NEW ORLEANS - A 64-year-old man who was repeatedly punched in the head by police in an incident caught on videotape was not drunk, as police have alleged, and put up no resistance as he was being pummeled, his lawyer said Monday.
The man, a retired elementary school teacher, had returned to New Orleans only to check on property he owns in the storm-ravaged city and was out looking to buy cigarettes when he was arrested Saturday night in the French Quarter, the lawyer and the man’s father said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
It's tempting for some to tar all law enforcement officers with the same brush due to the well-publicized actions of a few bad ones. Yet I'm sure we have all seen compassionate officers who go out of their way to help people. Those officers don't make it on the nightly news because their compassion doesn't make good "tragedy TV." They're out there risking their lives every day to keep us safe, and they don't deserve to be lumped in with these soon-to-be jailbirds.
I remember talking to an old-time Sheriff's Deputy (who has since died of cancer) about the guys who trained him when he was a rookie. He told of one Deputy who would take a suspect behind closed doors for an interview, and come out wiping the blood off of his pistol barrel after having obtained a confession. That kind of abuse spawned the modern Use Of Force guidelines which are honored by good officers everywhere. So let's please refrain from saying that most police officers are unprofessional, don't know how to communicate with the public, and have God complexes, because it's simply not true.
Davis contends that he was asking the mounted policeman about the French Quarter curfew while hunting down some cigarettes. A second officer interjected and Davis cut him off telling him not to interfere since he was not even talking to him. Davis further explained that he is arthritic and may have appeared unbalanced, however, he was not drunk.
Drudge reports Davis' attorney stated that his client does not think that the attack was racially motivated.
Later, Davis, himself, expressed on news video that he "hates to say it", but, he does believe that race played a role in his physically brutal attack by NOLA police officers.
So, it appears that additional 'geriatric enforcers' were required and they were merely backing up their fellow officer in "subduing" a 64-year old man and, therefore, are definitely NOT GUILTY... just business as usual, exhausted and frustrated cops simply doing their jobs "enforcing the law."
A civil rights probe chanting the anthem SHOW ME THE MONEY can be heard loud and clear.
It's going to be interesting to see exactly how this case will pay off since the City of New Orleans is broke?
How much of this is going on that doesn't get caught on tape.
Is there a law that prevents the Federal Govt coming in and imposing Martial Law replacing the local Police untill honorable men can be put in place?
This scares the bejeesus out of me because I am diabetic and have lost all feeling in my feet due to diabetic neuropathy. I stagger around like a drunk because I can't tell how well I have set my feet until I place weight on them. If my feet aren't optimally placed, it throws my balance off and have to re-balance myself, often with several steps in a row like that because each new misstep causes the same kind of weight distribution and feedback problems. If having an unsteady gait is cause for a beating, I am in serious jeopardy.
independent of this incident, do you jump to the same conclusions concerning media reports involving soldiers? or do you hear all the facts first and then make your decisions? tell me what happened right before the camera was rolling and i will digress.
I'm more interested in the cops reaction to the AP producer. He grabs the guy, shoves him on the hood of a car, yells he's been in HIS city 6 weeks and to go home. What do you suppose brought that on? The video is in post 14. It happens at the end.
but i will not comment on what the mindset of the NOPD must be right now. at least the guys on the tape showed up for work. i put some blame on the idiot mayor nagin. why in the heck would you open the bars when even the cops are still going through so much personal turmoil? it's a recipe for disaster.
Normally I defend the police but not in NO.
hell, i AM a cop and i have a lot of trouble finding the good in this situation. it's tough. the city holds a lot of the blame IMHO. i don't think the phantom cops' salaries went into patrol cops' pockets.
I'd be very curious what the occifers were smoking that day.
Not likely.
I think the police were under manned in a "party town" and they just gave up. That and most of NO and La are corrupt. It wouldn't pay off to be too honest.
I think the stress is from having a light shining on them. And they aren't alone in the blame. But you can bet they'll take the brunt.
"Police said Davis was booked on public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation."
What in the world is "public intimidation", and how is it a crime? Sometimes I think they make things up as the go along.
Ironic that "When the Lights Go Down In The City" is playing in the background.
Not weed or they'd have been more meeeeellloooooowwww
Maybe he will accept payment in school buses.
Or, they could sell some of the stolen Caddies, and give him the proceeds.
Guarantee him, and his heirs and assigns, a perpetual seat on a Levee Board, with all the rights, privileges, and graft appertaining thereunto?
Ray "I see people gettin' murdered" Nagin said, “I don’t know what the gentleman did, but whatever he did, he didn’t deserve what I saw on tape.”
---Nor did the public deserve to see you lie your arse off on video tape over what was going on in New Orleans Ray. And anything you have to say, NO ONE would ever believe, so shut up.
I never defended the attack on the producer.
I also notice that there are cuts to the footage. What was shown in those cuts (if anything)?
If the guy was not resisting arrest, then why did it take so many cops who apparently were working hard/straining to restrain the man? Especially the cop in the shorts -
The more I watch the video, the more doubt I have about this being justified, but I still would like to know what happened before the video started, in the cuts, and afterwards.
It appears that the producer got slammed partially because he got too close to the "action". He was almost right on the pile when the cop shoved him back to the car and slammed him (cop was out of line,he should have handled that a LOT better).
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