I would agree, except that something justified this in their minds. What would it be if not for, “Did the officers feel the need to send a message?”
Do I agree with them? Do I think anything justified what they did? No. That doesn’t cause me not to ask some questions.
As for the rest, I agree that some officers try to be judge and jury when they shouldn’t.
Some people in every profession do the wrong thing. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that some officers do too.
I agree that it is important to drum out the bad eggs, and include jail time where appropriate.
I think they saw him with the phone and assumed he was videotaping their beating of his friend and went after him to get the phone and erase the video.
The message they felt called to send was CYA lawlessness. It was unfortunate for them that he was not videoing, but calling his LEO father for help, who not only heard the beating of his son, but the comment regarding getting the phone because they’re being taped by it.
It’s time for the voters to step up to their responsibility to unemploy the elected officials responsible for allowing this to continue, largely because they are owned by the public employee unions.