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Lawyer: New Orleans Man Was Not Drunk (Paging Rodney King)
AP/MSNBC ^ | 10/10/2005 | AP/MSNBC

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 ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: disorderly; drunk; leosgonewild; neworlean; police; racistcops
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To: moonman

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.


61 posted on 10/10/2005 10:33:20 PM PDT by Tarantulas ( Illegal immigration - the trojan horse that's treated like a sacred cow)
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To: Dog Gone

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?


62 posted on 10/10/2005 10:36:29 PM PDT by alias_fallen_angel (alias_fallen_angel)
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To: An American in Turkiye
I second Amen that!

The Rodney King reference in this thread title is an embarrassment.

What Does Rodney King have to do with what we all saw in the news.

Banging that mans head numerous times against a wall was sickening to watch.
63 posted on 10/10/2005 11:00:24 PM PDT by oceanperch (I love my Labradors Kolbe, Porter, Hunter and Yol)
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To: SweetPrincess

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?


64 posted on 10/10/2005 11:17:39 PM PDT by oceanperch (I love my Labradors Kolbe, Porter, Hunter and Yol)
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To: Dog Gone
Sixty-four year old drunks are the only ones I can beat up anymore. It helps if they're 74.
65 posted on 10/10/2005 11:37:13 PM PDT by MARTIAL MONK
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To: pepperdog
pepperdog wrote: He said he hadn't drank in years and also said that maybe they thought he was drunk because he doesn't walk too well. When he walked it was with a kind of unsteady gait, like he had arthritis or something.

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.

66 posted on 10/10/2005 11:42:03 PM PDT by Surtur (Free Trade is NOT Fair Trade unless both economies are equivalent.)
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To: An American in Turkiye

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.


67 posted on 10/10/2005 11:47:28 PM PDT by thefactor
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To: thefactor

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.


68 posted on 10/10/2005 11:52:24 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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To: DJ MacWoW
oh yeah i saw that as well. no excuse for that although i have had members of the press get way too close to situations like that and they need to be put in their place. although the way the officer handled it was just wrong.

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.

69 posted on 10/11/2005 12:02:25 AM PDT by thefactor
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To: thefactor
I think their personal turmoil is caused more by 500 cops that never existed except on paper and their looted stashes being found. There was a thread on FR today about cops having stolen 200 cars.

Normally I defend the police but not in NO.

70 posted on 10/11/2005 12:10:44 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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To: DJ MacWoW

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.


71 posted on 10/11/2005 12:17:37 AM PDT by thefactor
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To: thefactor

I'd be very curious what the occifers were smoking that day.


72 posted on 10/11/2005 12:19:56 AM PDT by drlevy88
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To: thefactor
i don't think the phantom cops' salaries went into patrol cops' pockets.

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.

73 posted on 10/11/2005 12:25:44 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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To: drt1

"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.


74 posted on 10/11/2005 12:32:08 AM PDT by Razz Barry
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To: spunkets

Ironic that "When the Lights Go Down In The City" is playing in the background.


75 posted on 10/11/2005 12:43:09 AM PDT by md2576 (Don't be such a Shehan Hugger!)
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To: drlevy88

Not weed or they'd have been more meeeeellloooooowwww


76 posted on 10/11/2005 12:45:44 AM PDT by md2576 (Don't be such a Shehan Hugger!)
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To: Rebelbase
No doubt a lawsuit is coming, but how do you collect a settlement from a city that is bankrupt?

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?

77 posted on 10/11/2005 1:01:06 AM PDT by ApplegateRanch (Mohamophages of the world, unite!)
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To: drt1

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.


78 posted on 10/11/2005 1:50:40 AM PDT by WasDougsLamb (Just my opinion.Go easy on me........)
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To: DJ MacWoW

I never defended the attack on the producer.


79 posted on 10/11/2005 4:40:50 AM PDT by TheBattman (Islam (and liberalism)- the cult of Satan)
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To: An American in Turkiye

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).


80 posted on 10/11/2005 4:47:14 AM PDT by TheBattman (Islam (and liberalism)- the cult of Satan)
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