On Thursday, an abusive arrest of a journalist was recorded in Alalbuquerque, New Mexico. The video is below. In the clip, APD Officer Daniel Guzman appears to pummel KOB-TV cameraman Rick Foley after telling him to move to a different location. Not only is Foley arrested without cause but $50,000 in camera equipment is reportedly ruined.
Foley is a 25-year veteran of the news business but that experience hardly prepared him for the likes of Officer Guzman. This video seems pretty damning for Guzman. The sudden attack seems to come from no where. It is clearly unnecessary and excessive under these circumstances.
Once again, the question is what would have happened if this were not caught on tape. Most such abusive arrests only have the suspects words against the officer and are routinely dismissed. The fact that this abuse would target a journalist covering a police scene only magnifies the problem. It also shows how little deterrent Guzman felt in turning violent –even with a cameraman filming.
For the video, click here.
How many times have we heard after IAD is done that the 6 or more officers beating someone that it was justified. I’ve seen videos where the person is not moving and the cops are yelling ” stop trying to grab my gun”, “don’t move”, etc. You roll your eyes and it suddenly becomes resisting arrest. Just a bunch of power hungry turds. Don’t they do any mental testing on these guys before they are hired. They mostly likely are victims of bullying when in school and now get the chance for payback.
‘Oddly’, this is not odd at all
-which is exactly why it so troubling.
Bob Esq- tell your huntin’ buddies there is something called IAD
(Internal Affairs Division) to deal with unstable wayward cops
and, furthermore, when the ‘behind the woodshed’ mentality comes out, you’re your hands will be full of dirt.
You graduated St. John’s Law (’97)?
Patrick Nielsen Hayden,
I agree with Timmy Mac. I’m glad you wrote in.
Jill
Patrick Nielsen Hayden,
“I’m angry at cops and authority figures who abuse their power, but oddly enough, I find it easier to forgive them than to forgive the people who always defend them no matter what the facts are.”
That’s the truest thing I’ve read in a very long time. Well said.
It never fails — no more how ghastly the police behavior, someone will _always_ show up to defend it. And explain how it was the victim’s fault.
I’m angry at cops and authority figures who abuse their power, but oddly enough, I find it easier to forgive them than to forgive the people who always defend them no matter what the facts are. Certainly, faced with a choice of who to be stuck in an elevator with, I’d much prefer a cop who sometimes loses his temper, to one of the people who always rush to defend the authorities, usually with long digressions about illegal immigrants and how kids don’t respect their parents these days. The cops are just normal people with normal human weaknesses. The reflexive defenders are suffering from a truly scary breakdown of normal human mental and moral ability.
Suzanne,
Oddly, I feel the need to preface my remarks by stating that I have several friends who are cops; many of which I still go hunting with every other year or so.
That aside, I agree with the sentiment that a cop has just as much right to go home after a shift at work as the next person; and I’ve had several discussions (legal) with my friends regarding those moments when a perp obstructs a cop’s right to go home after a shift by giving chase; putting up a fight, putting the cop in danger, etc.
In those cases where the perp, in lieu of simply cooperating, creates a situation where the cop is constrained to employ opposing force, almost invariably I side with the cop.
But just as my friends told me, there are good cops and there are a-holes who cross the line, i.e. using unnecessary force on a power trip or just for shi+s & giggles, and thereby making my friends jobs harder than it already was.
In this case, my friends would side with the camera man, showing that the cop was doubling back and avoiding being in the picture frame because he had a non-cop like agenda; otherwise, he wouldn’t try to hide.
If that cop ends up being dragged behind the woodshed by his fellow officers, he’d be hard pressed to find a sympathetic ear.
Suzanne:
I enjoyed your commentary, but I do like it better in the original German.* You were born too far West and seventy years or so too late for those views.
* Thanks to Georgie Anne Geyer who cogently responded to Pat Buchanan’s similar rant advocating servility to authority and zenophobia in one brilliant sentence.
So this kind of unprovoked, outright abuse happens on a street in full view of the public and a news camera.
I wonder what happens behind closed doors?
The photographer would not have had any troubles if he had done as the officer told him to do instead of “mouthing off” and provoking the cop. The cop made no move toward the photographer until he stated that he did not intend to comply with the officer’s directions. That’s clearly when the scuffle began. It became a control thing and the testosterone started flowing. Cops are human for Chrissakes! Yes, they are trained and taught not to let mouthy asshole citizens provoke them but people these days have NO RESPECT for the law. Just look at our elected officials who turn their collective backs while this country is flooded with illegals who are pandered to and catered to while you and I pay their bills. Not to digress, the photographer should have politely complied with his instructions from the cop and NONE of this would have happened. You can even hear a woman’s voice in the background telling the photographer that HE is going to break HIS camera, clearly not directing those admonishments to the police officer. And, oh, by the way, one other thing that is taught in the academy, “They might beat the rap but they won’t beat the ride!”
The photographer should sue the city and the officer for that attack. The video clearly shows the cop circling the photographer and ambushing him when he tries to put the camera away. This guy should be in an anger management course and drummed out of the police force.