I'm as staunchly pro law-and-order as anyone, BUT there is a tipping point where it becomes more important to rein in police than blindly support them.
1. After an incident of this type occurs, the officers involved are, at minimum, WITNESSES, if not outright perpetrators of a crime. Every human being sees and hears things from his or her own unique perspective. The only way to obtain a full understanding of an incident is to get every possible witness statement independently of all others. That gives you as many perspectives as there are witnesses.2. EQUIVALENT TO means the statement is an analogy. Just in case you never heard of the concept, it is a comparison between two things that are not the same, but have some similarities. The purpose of an analogy is to clarify and explain.
3. Allowing the officers who did this beating to see the video was equivalent to allowing them to coordinate their stories before writing their reports. Plain and simple. It might or might not be collusion in the legal sense, but it sure as heck is in the commonly understood sense.
4. Because the average person doesn't come in contact with police often, most people are not aware of the incredible growth in policing agencies at federal, state, county and local levels. Not only growth, but an increasing tendency to turn police into overly aggressive paramilitary organizations. Click here to see a list of the federal agencies with policing powers. The feds have made it a crime to lie to the FBI despite the fact that the Constitution guarantees us a right against self-incrimination. If you don't talk to them, they assume you're guilty and pressure you immensely. They are legally allowed to lie to you. If you do talk to them, you can't lie to them even to protect yourself. Most state and local policing agencies follow what the feds do.
5. Lastly, but most importantly, the man these officers beat to death was known to them. He was a slight man of about 135 pounds. He was a diagnosed schizophrenic. He was not even accused of any crime. He was merely in an area where some citizen had called 911 to say they thought someone was trying to break into cars. That's it. Six or seven or eight (whatever the number) big, tough, armed cops beat a mentally ill 135-lb innocent man to death. It is not a constitutionally conservative thing to defend the cops in cases like this. Quite the opposite.
Great post.
The simple fact remains that you do not have the facts in this case, nor do I nor does anyone else commenting on this thread. The story given out by talk radio and the news media jumped to the conclusion that the FPD officers beat Kelly Thomas to death and that “something should be done” about it. What I see is that the civilians discussing the incident are attaching their pre-conceived notions and beliefs about “police brutality” and schizophrenics to the story line, using it as a soap box.
I notice that you omit Kelly Thomas’s criminally violent past, including the fact that he tried to choke his mother resulting in a restraining order issued against him. His parents are presumably housed and yet tolerated Kelly living on the street rather than with them. Why, because they were afraid of him.
I am not saying that Kelly deserved to die a horrible death, but whether it was a direct result of the struggle at the time of his arrest has not been determined.
I see much more excitement in impugning and attacking the police than I see of genuine grief at the loss of a human life. I think Kelly was failed by several people prior to the arrest incident.
His father Ron has called for the death penalty for one or more of the police officers. He published their names and photos. He rejoices that the police chief has gone on medical leave, and calls for the resignation of the Fullerton mayor. Ron Thomas has full use of the media platform at any time he wishes. This has been an entirely one-sided presentation of a story, and in my view Ron Thomas’s crusade has an unwholesome flavor.
Excellent post. Thank you.