I saw a YouTube clip that has been making the rounds lately. It depicts a incident on a BART platform where cops were responding to a disturbance. Thanks to ubiquitous video recording technology in cell phones there is immediate proof and it has gone viral.
In this video there are several young men who are being detained by the cops. One man is lying face down with two cops attending to him. One officer has his knee on the guy's back the other seems to be grasping the guy's hands. No struggle occurs, yet the cop felt a need to pull out his weapon to further subdue the detainee. He discharged his weapon.
The disputes became about whether the cop intended to use lethal force. I think that it was unreasonable to consider using force at all. No matter the past or current offense a person is suspected of committing. Reaching for a taser to abuse an individual already in custody is absolutely ridiculous. It goes to show you how little respect and self control these officers have.
I can certainly appreciate the difficult situations and stress police officers are put through. On the same token officers need to understand what it feels like to be targeted and persecuted. The paradigm needs to change in order for there to be real peace. Officers tend to behave like field hands or masters, quick to crack the whip to make an example of a person. They should understand that they are there to serve us; give respect and it will be reciprocated
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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6063982
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