Police Violence 3/20

... of that incident by a blogger is here. She has the shot of the red haired girl getting hit and then an interview (quicktime) with her as well. Small world.

... of that incident by a blogger is here. She has the shot of the red haired girl getting hit and then an interview (quicktime) with her as well. Small world.

What violent arrest? That seemed relatively calm. Between your video clip and the one on Lisa's site, I think that the police showed considerable restraint in arresting someone that was obviosuly not interested in submitting. No nightsticks were being weilded at a defenseless man in the fetal position. They were holding the man in place and attempting to handcuff his hands behind his back. You can see far worse things on cops every night. The other officers were attempting to create a safe perimeter around the arrest, standard procedure, in an unruly crowd.

As for the girl, after watching the interview on Lisa's site, it's obvious that the force was justified. She ran into the street, towards the cops. This is an action that police tend to interpret as a threat, especially when outnumbered by a hostile crowd. After getting up from the newspaper racks she turned and headed toward the officer again. You can clearly hear him shout the command "Get back!" and he waits for compliance (which doesn't arrive) before hitting her. The force was not enough to cripple her (a real hit would have downed her) but it did turn her back toward the sidewalk. He didn't unload on her, one hit and he was done, as soon as it was clear she was backing down from her aggressive stance. I'm sorry she got hurt, but I'm more sorry that she was there in the first place.

I think you need to get a grasp on what true police brutality is.

"That girl" was my girlfriend, who was running across the street because she saw 3 cops beating the shit out of me for standing on the sidewalk, after they told us to get on the sidewalk. I was not resisting arrest, nor was I posturing aggresively or disobeying police orders, but rather running from them, and trying to help pick up a girl that they had knocked over from behind. The blow may not have taken her to the ground, but the officer definitely unloaded on her. She has a 6"x4.5"bruise on her right thigh, and has a lot of trouble walking. Right before the officer hit her, she screamed "I'm a minor." That's child abuse, legally, brutality aside. As far as her being a "threat", unarmed 17 year old girls with pink hair and congenitally fucked-up backs tend to run pretty slowly and harmlessly. At that moment, they were allowing many other people to run across the street much closer to me without atacking them. You weren't there. Giving us the order to disperse, then hitting with clubs when we turned our backs to walk out of the streets IS brutality, period. Macing people on the sidewalks for obeying orders, is brutality. As far as the attack goes, my and my girlfriend have filed complaints and are planning on filing lawsuits. If anyone has any more footage or photgraphs of her being attacked, or has any photos or footage of me being attacked down about a quarter block east on the south side of Market (I'm wearing black jeans, a black hoodie, and a purple and white baseball cap), it would be GREATLY appreciated. I recommend that anyone who feels that their civil liberties were violated at the SF protests contact the Office of Citizen Complaints at 480 2nd St. in SF. The employees there are exceptionally helpful, understanding, and friendly. Thank you.

obviously not police brutality? what do the police need to be doing beating us down with their clubs as we lye defenslessly in a bloddy mess on the street on the verge of pasing out from being beaten so badly? i was in that crowd, i didn't hear the cops ask once for the people to move back. i had my back turned to them walking twords the sidewalk, infact you can see me in the papers on page w5 march 21st chronicle, when a cop came without warning to push me out of the way. Call it whatever you want to, the fact is it's not right. we are peacefull protesters, no one was attacking the cops (no one wants to) or hitting them with batons or getting out of control, or disobaying. The cops were abusing their powers of using force to control the crowd. People are aching all over where ever they sit tonight because they were standing in the street or walking to the sidewalk. obvious his force was justified? explain to me why this cop had to hit this girl in the leg, with a baton no less, because she was yelling at him for him and all his cop friends unrulyness. imagine standing in a crowd when suddenly a cop with a baton and riot gear comes forcefully twords you pushing you out of the way or slamming you in the leg, injuring you for doing nothing but peacfully protesting, and you can't push back or fight back. The cops know that the people cannot fight back, you ever tried punching a cop in riot gear? i have there's no place to hit them, and they know that, and they abuse that power, clearly. there were 3 cops i saw in my whole 5+ protests who asked nicely for people to please step back on the the side walk. you would be amazed how complient the people were.
The people may not be brutalized like Rodney King, but that still doesn't make it right. No one was getting out of hand there, i was there. the only thing illigal anyone in that crowd was doing was standing in the street and perhaps flicking off an officer after being pushed with a baton. Have your ever been pushed with a baton or hit or anything, you see cause i wonder if you would be saying what you are saying if you had. That shit hurts and bruses. i have bruses all over my arms and my finger is all swelled up because some cop decided he would rather ram me with a stick then ask me to move back. Furthermore, the only reason any of the crowd was getting vocal and pissed is because the cops were hitting and pushing us way more forcefully then neccessary. that shit is not right, everyone who was there knows it, and everyone who does get pushed around with bruses to prove it should file a complant, badge # and everything.

I explained to you why the cop had to hit the girl in the leg with a baton. She did not respect his previous commands. And I'm sorry that your girlfriend has a "congenitally fucked-up back", but I'm sure you can't fault the officer for not doing an spine x-ray in the middle of an enormous crowd of protesters.

You are right, I wasn't there. And I have not spoken to anything that I did not see. I don't see any video of either of you so I don't know what happened to you. But I can say that based on the video I've seen of Sonya, the little force that was used was justified. At least your girlfriend can still walk, one police officer, just down the street, ended up with a broken (or at least a severly injured) leg. Another officer damn near lost an eye (cut by a bottle just under his eyelid).

I wasn't there because I was smart enough to know that there was going to be a lot of shit going down and despite any intentions I might have had there was the possibility of getting stuck in an unruly crowd and bad things happening to me. Both of you may have been peaceful, but there were plenty of people that weren't -- and guess what, most of them were wearing black pants and black hooded sweatshirts.

Ryan, can you clarify something for me? Were you standing on the sidewalk or were you running from police? Because you can't be doing both at the same time. * An officer can use force against a minor, when necessary, to uphold the law. Otherwise, it's assault. * Right before the officer hit her he yelled "Get back". * The only reports of mace or anything I heard was at a freeway on-ramp in the evening.

Angela, there definitely were people attacking the cops. Maybe not at the exact moment you were there, but the police were being threatened. And it's impossible to tell if any given mob of people is going to become aggressive or not.

I'm not saying you are wrong about what happened, but I'm reserving judgement, either way, until I see proof. Until then, I stand by what I said above. I can tell you honestly that the video won't stand up in court as evidence of police brutality or unnecessary use of force.

I recommend that if you want to protest peacefully in the future, you should do it someplace where people aren't protesting unpeacefully. Face it, the sole purpose of that crowd was to cause havoc. And you think it's unfair that you have to avoid someplace just because people are acting rowdy and illegally, well then welcome to the club. I can see where the video was shot from my apartment and I was affected by the protests.

And in closing, I have very little sympathy for you. You knew what you were getting into. It's obvious you have a predisposed hatred of law enforcement so you can not honestly say "I didn't think they would do that." You were taking part in a protest that contained a large amount of illegal activity and knew that police would be out attempting to control the crowd. I won't say that you got what was coming to you, but I will say that none of you should have been surprised, especially with the amount of time you (Ryan) and your girlfriend spend running at cops.