No real way to describe it other than that. Someone called in a tip about some guy speaking Arabic. The guy was a tourist. Arabic, last I checked, (and I may be biased here because I have a brain) is a language, not a weapon or weapon-system. Apparently that’s enough to get cops to attack anyone with impunity.
Apologies for it being a Facebook video:
Guy passes out from the scare apparently. I really hope he did work for an embassy. That might actually get someone in trouble.
Holy fucksocks; just when I think my home state can’t embarrass me any further…
I originally read the story on Reuters and it stated that the gentleman was visiting Ohio to get medical treatment. It was implied that his initial health issues may have contributed to his fainting, which makes this even more terrible.
I’m not sure the desk clerk will get in trouble, but the UAE has now warned its citizens not to dress formally while visiting the U.S. And that’s very sad.
Things That Frighten Police
Blinking LEDs
Photography & Video Cameras
Black/Brown Adults and Children
Direct Eye Contact
Breasts
Lyft
Peaceful protests
Halloween
Lesbians
Imaginary Black/Brown People
Puppies
Turtles
Rap Battles
Free Speech
Mail Carriers
Motorcyclists
Disabled People
Drawings of Penises
Two-Dollar Bills
Milk
Languages other than English
Great list
Man that would happen every freaking day if not week near me with the mosque a block away and all if the Seattle cops were that particular about language spoken. While they have their faults and they do very much have them that at least isn’t one of them.
ETA not sure who is more fucked up here the hotel staff for being goddam stupid afraid of ‘terrist muslins’ or the popo for reacting with too much force. A simple squad car and an officer asking questions was all that was called for there. Not like the guy was going anywhere anyway.
According to this article from Reuters (thanks, @subextraordinaire) the people who called alleged he was “pledging allegiance to ISIS.”
Which is bullshit that hardly excuses the actions of the police. You can’t just throw people to the ground and ask questions later. You know what my first thought would have been if you told me someone pledged allegiance to ISIS? That it’s a mentally ill person having an episode. You know why? Because in 2007 I was on MARTA in Atlanta heading northbound somewhere between Midtown and Peachtree when I witnessed, for the first and only time, someone publicly pledging any kind of allegiance to a terrorist group. It was a homeless man saying he was part of Al-Qaeda. Everyone ignored him except for some yutz who thought America’s honor was being offended who offered a feeble, “Well, why do you live here, then?”
Also to add to the list:
Buying cat food
We missed getting caught at raping and getting caught at raping kids and complying with notice requirements for investigating raping and … well, those three again with domestic violence swapped in.
Enough with the SWAT tactics. Fucking chuckleheads with their MP5s come running in hollering at the top of their lungs about six of them yelling different stuff simultaneously. They don’t expect compliance. They expect to bag an A-rayb and then their wives might love them.
Only good thing in this video “okay, we gotta explain to him why this happened”, a luxury so many dead of cop violence never got.
Just finished the video. In the background, you can hear two cops saying “I couldn’t explain it. I don’t know what was up.”
#FUCKING EXCELLENT REASON TO RUN INTO A SITUATION WITH GUNS DRAWN.
“I don’t know, I can’t explain it. Why this happened. I don’t know what’s up.”
I work on a university campus. On days when classes are in session I’ve heard at least half a dozen different languages, including Arabic, being spoken just on my way to lunch.
This is a grim reminder of the bubble of privilege I live in that it never occurred to me that the language a person happens to be speaking would cause anyone concern. Of course it shouldn’t anyway.
This reminds me of Schneier on the policy of "see something, say something:
if you ask amateurs to act as front-line security personnel, you shouldn't be surprised when you get amateur security.
You realize that you now have a moral obligation to make this into a game thread, right?
Please oh please oh please make this a game
Also, does anyone else feel that the craziest news seems to come from the two (and only two) so-called bellwether states?
Are we not counting Texas, or does that fall more under “general asshole behavior” than it does “craziest news”?
Yes! I’d forgotten about Texas. Yes, Texas absolutely be the third member of what is now, I suppose, a three-ring circle crazy. And Texas definitely doesn’t have a lock on assholes in the U.S.
This seems typical of people not being critical of what police do. As “law enforcement”, their job is neither to wander around looking for trouble, nor to bother people who they decide are suspicious. People should call them when laws are being violated, and they should respond only when laws are being violated. But the average citizen and the average police officer appear to have one thing in common - hardly any of them ever read, study, and know what those laws actually are. Police seem happy to promote this status quo because it inflates their budget and sense of importance, so the task falls upon everybody else to put them in their place.
This seems typical of people and police being paranoid and racist.
