Blacks in Inglewood back police despite incident

Associated Press ^ | July 13, 2002 | Associated Press Staff

[B4Ranch]

"I didn't like it, because they had him in handcuffs," said Luis Garcia, a 26-year-old truck driver. "But the cops have to do their jobs, and we didn't see the whole story."

Truck drivers are thinkers, contrary to what the media says.

[BenLurkin]

Worked in Inglewoood for several months back in 1978. Had the opportunity to meets hundreds of local residents as well as people form other nearby communities.
Inglewood itself is (was) a pretty calm place. Stopped into a local barber shop for a haircut and once the barber and the other customers got over their surprise everything was OK.
The Lakers used to play in the the "FORUM" nearby to the Civic Center. There is also a race track not far away.

[Prodigal Son]

I haven't seen the video and I doubt I will unless I find it on the net somewhere- I don't have a TV.

What I think reporters need to be very careful with is the language they use to describe this incident. From this article I learn that the youth was "body slammed" which to me says he was picked up and then slammed down on the car. The report also refers to the incident as a "beating" which sort of implies that the officer hit the youth multiple times.

Like I say, I don't have a TV and haven't seen the video but if I were to only go by a written account of it some articles would leave the underlying feeling that the cop was just one mean SOB who beat the daylights out of this kid and other articles leave me with the impression the cop was just doing his job. It is times like these when the media has an actual responsibility not to inflame a situation that could be near to boiling over by using overly dramatic language or wordage that is an embellishment of what actually happened.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

From this article I learn that the youth was "body slammed" which to me says he was picked up and then slammed down on the car. The report also refers to the incident as a "beating" which sort of implies that the officer hit the youth multiple times.

The descriptions are fairly accurate. The kid's feet left the ground and he was slammed onto the trunk of the cruiser. The officer punched him in the face approximately 4 times.

[duvausa]

I’m certainly no expert on this incident, but I have seen the tape a few times—and heard the police defense, which seems to me consistent with what I see on the tape. The boy’s legs are limp—he is attempting to resist the police—and the cop slams him up on the trunk of the car to keep him from sliding back onto the ground. At that time you can see the boy’s head look back and tho’ he’s handcuffed, he’s doing something—the cop behind him claims he grabbed his genitals and it looks to me like that could be true, tho’ you would have to be able to see through the car and the boy to know for sure—at that time the cop hits the boy once—just once—in the face. It looks shocking when you first see it, but with the explanation—still possibly excessive, but not so shocking. Meanwhile, that same cop is bleeding above his ear—and from what I’ve heard, the kid had no injuries.

(Where on earth did you get this “four times”? Someone must have been running the tape over and over again. Or are you referring to something other than what was on the tape?)

[MeekOneGOP]

Stopped into a local barber shop for a haircut and once the barber and the
other customers got over their surprise everything was OK.

Okay, I'll bite. Why were they surprised? Did you have hair down to your knees?
LOL!

[MeekOneGOP]

Like I say, I don't have a TV and haven't seen the video but if I were to only go by a written account of it some articles would leave the underlying feeling that the cop was just one mean SOB who beat the daylights out of this kid and other articles leave me with the impression the cop was just doing his job. It is times like these when the media has an actual responsibility not to inflame a situation that could be near to boiling over by using overly dramatic language or wordage that is an embellishment of what actually happened.

I understand that the kid had attacked the policeman. The police had a cut on his head.
Here is the video so you can check it out......

CLICK HERE, then scroll down about halfway
And Click on Play Video
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/07/09/police.beating/

---

A teen-ager whose beating by Inglewood police was videotaped said he had done nothing to provoke the attack. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reports (July 9)

The kid says he didn't provoke it, but if you're gonna hit a cop, you're likely
to deny it too. The courts will sort it out.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Where on earth did you get this “four times”?

You're right. I just watched it again. There was but the one punch. Serves me right for relying on memory. I would have sworn that there were a number of punches.

A good case in point on the relative unreliability of eyewitnesses, eh?

[Randjuke]

(from the CNN article)"I don't see white police officers slamming the heads of little white boys into police cars," [Maxine]Waters told a Capitol Hill news conference.

I doubt Maxine is around many white boys, but here in Iowa the cops will slam someone down if he is fighting with them. The difference is there's not a massive coalition around to protest, plus most of us are happy the police have arrested the jerk.

[Free the USA]

Index Bump

[duvausa]

"A good case in point on the relative unreliability of eyewitnesses, eh?"

Thumbs up on that! It always makes me shudder when I hear eyewitnesses quoted as gospel.

[Ohioan]

This report appears reasonably balanced. The problem is that it exists at all. The news media is trying to make a story out of a non-story (other than in the town in which it occurred). And people need to ask why?

There are on any given day over a thousand serious assault cases in the United States--not someone pushing someone else, or slapping someone else--but involving at least as much violence as occurred in this case. Some of those cases may involve law enforcement officers who have been provoked, but most of course do not. Some have racial aspects, but most do not. But they involve a victim being more severely injured than occurred here. They do not become the focus of network and wire service news coverage that goes on for day after day. They do not become the focus of political attention. They do not become the subject of a mass email campaign, trying to create a "talk it up," "write it up," movement to create a cause celebre'.

The mere fact that the media would consider it newsworthy that the law abiding, working and small business Negro community in the town involved would support their police--even after this local story--tells us more about the bias of the media than anything else. Of course a man in business--Caucasian, Negro, or whatever, is going to be inclined to support the Police who protect his property and patrons. That is not news, either. It is only common sense. What is news--and it is disgusting news--is that the patronizing media has so little real respect for America's rooted, Negro communities, that it supposes them all mere pawns in the endless agitation intended to marginalize their communities, and turn them against other communities and the Police who serve us all.

This whole hoopla tells us more about the media than about either the Police or any ethnic group in America. And many of us are getting sick to the core of our beings over this sort of totally biased focus.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[Prodigal Son]

Hmmm. That didn't work for me. I kept getting a little box that says I have to subscribe and it explains what I'll get for my 11 cents a day. I did see the photo gallery.

One thing I find striking is the comparison many people in these articles are drawing between this incident and the Rodney King incindent. That's what I was talking about before- responsible reporting. There is no comparison between the two- Rodney King was a "beat down" by many cops. From what I can gather on this incident, it seems to have been a "rough arrest". I don't think from what I have heard that the suspect was in any way "beaten"- my dad used to whip my behind worse than what this kid got. But here what I also see- the officer was white, the kid was black. The officer lost control. I don't know what really happened because I wasn't there, but the officer could have avoided all this if he simply had kept his cool- regardless of whether the kid grabbed his crotch or not. And finally, people are blowing this way out of proportion. Maxine Waters calling on Ashcroft to do something is just a little bit too much if you ask me.

On a side note- I witnessed my dad take a "beat down" from sherriff's deputies when I was a kid. He was a little bit drunk and making a baboon of himself at the County Hospital- to complicate matters he was almost a black belt in Karate and he liked using it. When he took the first two deputies down with some cool looking flips and throws- they pulled batons and flashlights and did a nice circle stomp on him. Every one of those deputies was white and so was my dad. He didn't file any charges and eventually after talking to the sherriff a few times he got the charges against him dropped as well. I'd say he caught it a lot worse than this youth did and I would imagine that there are dozens of arrests each day in the nation where similar scenes or worse are played out- we just don't see it. I was also arrested once (driving on a suspended lisence that I didn't know was suspended) and they cuffed me and put me in the car in a nice way- because I cooperated. I think it's a two way street.

[Prodigal Son]

Fair enough. It's like I said in my above reply (number 14) I think the cop brought most of this on himself because he lost his cool. From the pictures it doesn't really seem like the other cops are distressed at all. I haven't seen the video- how do they seem to be reacting to the situation live? Are they yelling at the kid or telling their partner to take it easy or what? I'd really like to see the video to make some sort of judgement myself.

[MeekOneGOP]

I understand. But, after all, they ARE the carrier of the LIBERAL agenda in
this country. Unfortunately so, imho..........

[luckodeirish]

Maxine thinks there are two types of people, blacks and racists.

[Conservative til I die]

Hi Liar. The cop hit him once.

[MeekOneGOP]

A couple of notes on that link. It's prompting you to download the RealOnePlayer,
formerly known as RealPlayer. I downloaded that the other day under a two
week Free trail basis. I'm cancelling it before they bill it. But you still get to keep
the RealOnePlayer, just not access their goodies (which, of course, is why they
give ya software, hoping you'll stay and pay monthly, lol!). It only took me
about 1.5 minutes to download with my Speedy AT&T Broadband Cable Internet.
And a lot of videos need that player to view them. I also have the Windows
Media Player. It's pretty good, as is the ROP.

[MeekOneGOP]

Yes, this is NOT a Rodney King situation at all. The kid was unruly and
resisted. That Dad with the suspended license and bad plates/registration is
really setting a great example for his son, too, huh? It sounds like your Dad
got a bit out of line, but also sounds like he tried to make it right by talking
to the Sheriff to get it worked out like normal and decent humans do!