Update: transcript of Mayor’s press conference on the subject:
http://pittsburghpa.gov/mayor/release?id=3189
Already the city’s responsiveness and even-handed language is a breath of fresh air.
The cop in question picked a bad day to start throwing punches- Peduto is probably pissed that his big day doing a slew of weddings is getting forgotten beneath this.
Did they “open an investigation” before arresting the girl? No, she went straight to jail, and that’s where the cop should be until and unless he’s found not guilty by a jury of his peers.
And his partner should be right beside him as an accessory for failing to slap cuffs on him immediately.
pulled the woman out and grabbed her hair and punched her in the stomach a few times
His parents must be so proud of him.
Apparently she was already fighting with someone who was protesting the parade.
The cop chose to break up the fight by grabbing her by the hair of the head and yanking her backwards. When she responded defensively to a new, unknown assailant, he commenced to pummel her with body blows.
I guess attacking his fist with her belly was too much for him to handle, so naturally, she is charged with a couple of felonies.
I would love to be surprised by an actual, impartial investigation, but I’m not holding my breath.
I pray for a future in which we can sum up our opinions of this event in a single unicode character…
“Reversed Hand With Middle Finger Extended.”
Good thing there’s no lesbian cops.
Only being charged with “resisting arrest” always suggests that they were only “arrested for resisting arrest,” a sort of absurd legal tautology, but also horrifically functions as a euphemism for “assaulting police officer’s fist with one’s face.” How often is someone charged with only that, and it’s actually legitimate and warranted?
In all fairness, this cop was merely completing his application for his transfer to the NYPD, where punching unprovoked teens gets you a a white button down and a $120K / year retirement plan.
Helpful Civilian Translation:
We’ll investigate this thoroughly. And by investigate, we mean Officer Punchy will get a cushy desk assignment for the months it takes to fade from the public’s attention span. Then, he’ll get a suspension, or if the Chief of Police has enough job security, he’ll get “fired”. Of course that will immediately get appealed by the Police Officer’s Union. After which it will be determined that maybe, possibly, the officer in question made a minor “tactical error” and he should go right back onto the force (with full back-pay of course).
Repeat this as often as needed, until a serious enough felony is committed by Officer Punch-arello, at which point we’ll either be questioning why he was able to remain on the force for so long and/or he’ll be allowed to retire and keep any pension he’s earned for all the loyal service over the years, protecting the citizenry of Pittsburgh.
Definitely some Catch-22 vibe there… or would that be “Kafka-esque?”
Either way, I agree with you.
The level of force used by police, or at least the reporting of it, seems to have increased recently.
Likewise, the shooting of police seems also on the rise.
Does this department teach police to punch, rather than restrain those involved in physical altercations?
With this kind of bad press, I wonder if police department’s Public Affairs Officers don’t worry that someday, some “cop shooter” will be hailed as a hero in some quarters.
These incidents are undermining the trustworthiness, credibility and effectiveness of the police.
We are winding down the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps it is time to wind down the war on citizens too.
I guess it must be the style of uniform and the guy’s build; I can’t help thinking
For the first part, I think the level of force is pretty much what they were always able to get away with. Maybe the biggest changes being the ability of citizens to record the cops and maybe the newer, highly destructive military tools most law enforcement depts are clamoring to acquire. An old S&W 6-shooter doesn’t kill as many civilians as a fully-automatic HK MP5 does when you kick the wrong door in during your 4AM drug raid.
As far as the latter point, I don’t think mortality rates for officers are experiencing any drastic fluctuations. Seems to be more a case of wider reporting and institutional hysteria to justify bigger, tough-on-crime dept budgets. And I’m fairly sure there’s some BS going on with the numbers. IIRCC, mortality rates for cops are below quite a few other professions, while national police groups like to lump on-duty deaths of LEOs with typically mundane, non-violent deaths like traffic accidents.
I realize we’re on the same side, but I’m just going to note the word swap there. She was “arguing” with someone, which probably means a verbal encounter - not a fist fight. The cop wasn’t breaking anything physical up.
This apparently what she was saying:
“She was saying that being gay is not a sin and that she was a lesbian and proud of it, and that she wasn’t going to hell for it,” witness Autumn Huntera told the Gaily Grind.
At this tumblr link you can read more. Basically, she stepped too close to a protester - didn’t touch them, so the officer grabbed her by the neck from behind to pull her away. Then the officer began hitting her when she didn’t respond to the question, “Do you want me to hit you?”
I wasn’t there, so I can’t say if that’s what actually happened. Those are the eyewitness reports.
You know how you get double the punishment for speeding in a construction zone?
Cops should face double the penalties for civil rights abuses.
What’s the equivalent phrase for “war criminal?”
The police are your friends.
Trust them.
