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Hung jury in California police brutality case

Discussion in '2003 Archive' started by Terry_Herrington, Jul 29, 2003.

  1. Terry_Herrington

    Terry_Herrington New Member

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    A jury deadlocked in the beating of a black handcuffed teenager in California. Is this justice?

    Link
     
  2. Johnv

    Johnv New Member

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    Justice? Yes, being judged by a jury of one's peers is indeed justice.

    I'm surprised. I thought for sure it would have been not guilty.
     
  3. Terry_Herrington

    Terry_Herrington New Member

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    Evidently you did not see the video.
     
  4. Major B

    Major B <img src=/6069.jpg>

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    According to a state policeman who is a friend of mine, what we could not see on the video was the teen's handcuffed hand beind him gripping a delicate part of one of the cops...
     
  5. Johnv

    Johnv New Member

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    I did. From what I heard, the testimony of the defendants was not inconsistent with the video. The video, fortunately or unfortunately, doesn't remotely show everything. Also, we don't see the entire video. We only see a few seconds that news agencies would refer to as "the good stuff".

    Additionally, one of the officers was found not guilty of filing a false police report.

    Lastly, public opinion and the media have been trying to make this a race issue where no such issue exists. Thankfully, that issue did not enter the courtroom.
     
  6. Terry_Herrington

    Terry_Herrington New Member

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    It would not have mattered if the defendant was green. Police brutality is wrong.

    Several years ago I worked as a correctional officer here in Texas. If I had struck a handcuffed inmate in the face, especially after slamming him onto a table(there are no cars in prison), I would not only have been fired, but charges would have been filed against me.
     
  7. Wisdom Seeker

    Wisdom Seeker New Member

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    I don't pretend to know what was not shown on the news. But seeing that handcuffed teenager's head and body slammed against the truck of that car and seeing the officer punch the boy in the face is not acceptable to me. It made me fear police. No, I can not look at this and find any reasonalbe excuse for that lack of judgement or control on the part of the officer.

    If a police officer can not control his own reactions, how safe are any of us?What seperates authority from the criminals?

    It shouldn't matter what the boy did to him while he was handcuffed. The fact that the officer reacted this way is not okay. It's akin to tying up a child and hitting them while tied. A parent would go to jail for this, and yet police are allowed to treat a person, a child who was under restraint this way?!


    Hung jury...that just makes me sick.
     
  8. Johnv

    Johnv New Member

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    Yes, police prutality is wrong. Using necessary force is not.
    But if the suspect was attempting to overpower you, regardless of whether or not the suspect is in restraints, you're entitled to use reasonable force.

    Yes, I felt the same way when I originally looked at the video. But when I learned that the suspect was still attempting to overpower the officers, which included attempted grabbing/punching of an officer's crotch (which cannot clearly be seen in the video, due to the vehicle obstructing the view), I came to the conclusion that the amount of force used may have been reasonable to subdue the suspect. And comtrary to layman's thought, a cuffed suspect is by no means automatically considered subdued. I used to work for a law enforcement agency (as a non-sworn personnel member), and I have seen, first hand, incidents where a cuffed suspect has seriously injured another party.
     
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