Posted on 08/18/2010 10:10:45 AM PDT by Fundamentally Fair
For 22 years, Anthony DeHerrera wore his law-enforcement uniform with pride.
The last thing the Pueblo sheriff's deputy ever thought he would have to do is spend a year and a half seeking justice on behalf of his son who was beaten by Denver Police officers.
He wants them to pay for what the videotape of their actions shows.
"If they were Joe Q citizens, they would be in jail," he says.
He says that what drives him are the memories of the sounds that came over the cell phone his son held that night
SNIP
A video was taken on the police department's own High Activity Location Observation surveillance system, released publicly last week, captures Michael as he made a telephone call to his father at 12:14 a.m. that night.
Then the video shows Sparks approaching Michael, tackling him to the ground and then repeatedly beating him with a department-issued sap, a piece of metal wrapped in leather. The officer then roughly picks him up and puts him in the back of a squad car, slamming the door on his shin.
But the night of the telephone call, the father knew none of this. He didn't even know where to go to check on his son. He only had his law-enforcement instincts and the knowledge that his son was in deep trouble.
(Excerpt) Read more at denverpost.com ...
What makes you think that?
I looked around and found it. That officer has a real problem IMO. Not only should the guy be fired outright, he should serve considerable jail time for attacking the kid.
That kid wasn’t doing anything physically threatening to the officer. He wasn’t disobeying an order.
The officer wanted the phone and to punish him for being on it.
Toss the book at the officer, since he was so willing to throw out the book with regard to the kid.
What a jackass. And the union thinks this was defensible? B.S.
I’ve got your video right here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-2Fljk0gkM
This Everett cop was acquited for murder. He blew the head of a drunk guy....
A juror fainted when she saw the scene pictures.
I drove by it on my way to work a year ago.
They are not flapjacks, those are pancakes, the correct name is "BlackJack" or, in common usage, a "sap".
The texas model looks like it was made for harder heads..
Boom towns have less cops. Safe towns have less cops. Heres my findings. Stick with them.
(1) Cops cause crime.
(2) More Cops means more crime.
(3) Less cops means less crime.
(4) Cops do not lower crime.
I put the seemingly least defensible finding on top. But its true too. Since I have confidence in the underlying truth of my findings I will not provide further evidence or argument for them. Truth has a way of arguing for itself very well once it is remarked upon.
What do you call that?
And the most sickening thing of all was the in house police ‘investigation’ who determined that excessive force was not used in this instance.
Glad you found the vid! Indefensible!
16th. St. Mall in Denver had a big problem with blacks beating on hispanics and white people just walking on the mall. Really violent beatings. ignored for the longest time until a video hit YouTube.
Then arrests were made. And then all the perps were let go.
That’s Hickenlooper’s sanctuary city.......the mile high city.......Denver.
Crime doesn't pay.
Traffic violators do!
Bad cops are no friends to good police work, good police forces or good communities. If all cops understood that there would be no “blue line” of defense shielding them, just because they were “one of their own”. Instead, the good cops would make sure their own units DISOWN them.
And in many smaller, rural setting the officers know practically everybody with whom they have contact. Situations that would be very dicey with a stranger are much less likely to get out of hand when the deputy knows the person they are encountering, and the person knows the deputy.
a black jack
Worth repeating.
I wonder if you would indulge a brief digression though.
Back in the day, when I was coming up, I might have been out after closing time once or twice. But one thing that never entered my mind was to loundly offer my advice/opinion on an officer's handcuffing technique, ancestry, or personal hygene while he was dealing with another unruly drunk. No one did, because you would have expected to have your @ss handed to you, and everyone present would have figured you had it coming.
Was that just here in LA? I don't think so, but maybe it was all wine and roses outside of the land of the Lotus Eaters. Post Rodney King, that's all changed, probably for the better. But the notion that the cops have gotten more likely to give a guy a "tune up", rather than less likely to be "proactive", runs counter to my personal recollection of past vs. present policing use of force standards. I realize this wasn't the issue you raised, but I'm curious, and it's impossible to have this discussion with the Libertarians for some reason, so I figured I'd just ask you what you thought.
“I would have to see the whole video, before I could even have a chance at a ball park observation here.”
Did you see any of the video? The cop goes from trying to break one kids leg to beating on the other. The cop had his dept issued weapon and was rocking it across the kids ankle while putting his weight on it. The second kid didn’t do anything and yet had the crap kicked out of him. Including getting the car door slammed on his foot.
Its well documented that the cops lied on their reports. Why would you back these thugs?
Two things:
1. The young man “looks” Hispanic.
2. Their last name is DeHerrera
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