Scott Wright paid a heavy price for clean hands. Wright was working on his old Cadillac in a parking lot when San Jose police approached. When Wright reaches for a rag to wipe off the oil on his hands, the police tasered him and then beat him with their batons — breaking his arm. They proceeded to charge him with resisting arrest — a charge that we often see in such cases where officers seek to justify such encounters.
Notably, the prosecutors dropped the resisting arrest charge but there has apparently been no action taken against the officers for the charge or the injury.
Mercury News has completed a study that seems to confirm what we have discussed previously on this site: the use of resisting arrest as a charge in cases of alleged police abuse. The newspaper reviewed 206 court cases in which the defendant was charged with violation of California Penal Code section 148, the misdemeanor crime of resisting arrest or delaying or obstructing a police officer. Of those, 145 — 70 percent of the cases — involved the use of force by officers.
It is a fascinating and disturbing study. While not known widely outside of San Jose, Mercury News is an extraordinary newspaper with a long list of award-winning investigations to its credit.
For the full story, click here.
Police these days seem to be utterly cowards! The least motion by a ‘suspect’ is considered a deadly threat which they must responded to with equally deadly violence.
I was just reading an article on lawfirms.com about police being over aggressive and taser happy across not only the US, but even in Canada:
http://www.lawfirms.com/police-taser-guns-videos.html
Bow and kneel? Almost.
It seems that we’re moving towards some sort of dark Monty Python reality where officers walk up, taser everyone around, draw their weapons and/or start clubbing/kicking, and only then announce themselves as police and begin asking questions…
How dare citizens seem to disobey our police masters? Perhaps we should all learn to bow deeply and kneel as a policeman approaches. This of course must be done slowly and correctly so as not to upset the officer’s sensibilities. Perhaps it should be taught to all children in elementary school. All hail our new, redefined and improved democracy.
And sometimes, the Merc isn’t up to such high journalistic standards: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_13502117?nclick_check=1
Does this news really surprise you, not me.
I guess this is what they will call “the clean hands doctrine” there in San Hosey.