As fellow law professor sent me this video of Oakland police shooting a photographer. The video raises serious questions of the unjustified use of force.
In the video, the police appear to be standing without challenge when, around the 33 second mark, an officer suddenly shoot a photographer who is a good distance from the police line.
I cannot imagine the claim of justification in this case when the use of rubber bullets present significant potential harm to citizens, as shown below.
Kudos: Professor Alberto Bernabe (John Marshall Law School)
Source: Lowering Bar
I have an idea at least some of the protestors knew about the camera, especially since they were facing that way. The police had their backs to the camera for the most part. My first reaction was to wonder if the police had known about the camera, they would have sent someone to confiscate it.
I hope this video goes viral. Powerful and disturbing.
OS,
I agree but I am not holding my breath on the Justice Department.
OS,
Did it appear to you as if the young man in glasses knew the camera was rolling? At the beginning of the clip he appeared to glance up at the camera and point to one cop who shortly started jabbing.
Lets hope the Feds decide this is a civil rights violation and look into it. The US Attorneys have been sitting on their hands regarding the banksters, so maybe they can look into the police aggression.
OS,
Thanks for the warning … I toughened up before hitting play.
My word, those young people are brave … the didn’t break and run, they didn’t attack, they stood their ground.
The cops on the other hand … makes you wonder what kind of discipline they use on their own kids or if they take their violence home to their spouses. Maybe social services should look into it.
You are right … the numbers on their helmets will make identification easy.
All the officers looked around for cameras, it seemed to me. They are a team up to no good from the start.
In San Diego, they treated their prisoners like cattle:
“On October 28th between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. the Sheriff’s department provided a bus and two vans for prisoners arrested at the Civic Center by the San Diego Police Department. During that time 35 individuals were taken into custody, 36 men and 14 women. The men were placed in a Sheriff’s bus and the women were put in Sheriff’s vans to be transported to the Vista Jail and Los Colinas Detention Facility for booking.
During that time there were no restroom facilities available for arrestees, forcing some of them to relieve themselves as they sat on the bus or van. For the Sheriff’s Department to provide mutual aid in this kind of mass arrest circumstance is not unusual; this unfortunate result is very unusual and it is currently being reviewed. The Sheriff has directed that a Critical Incident Review be conducted internally. Also, the Sheriff’s Department and the Police Department will conduct a mutual debrief to examine in detail how the operation was handled. From those reviews we will determine how to improve our practices to assure that this does not happen again.”
Sure, they all have a ‘review’ after the fact. this makes me think there is little to no training or education going on in the departments on how to deal with these protests at any level. And no rules gives them free reign to de-humanized the protesters.
If you look closely, the officer who starts hitting the kids first has “+14” on the back of his helmet. That should make him easily identifiable even if we cannot see his face in his Robocop uniform.
This was in Berkeley, CA today. Notice the second officer from the left look around, apparently looking for cameras before he makes his move. They did not count on an “eye in the sky” with a clear view.
If you have PTSD or a weak stomach, I suggest not clicking on the video.
Shano,
Great Greenwald clip. He is right that there is “cheating” going on with the 1percent.
Gtedd, Greewald agrees with you
The roots of official anarchy, like that revealed in this current post, are substantially traceable to a doctrine of law that predates our Declaration of Independence, as well as our Constitution.
In other words, we see in our society a degeneration of officialdom that is actually the removal of accountability, but sugar coated by American Jurisprudence as sovereign immunity.
http://www.readersupportednews.org/news-section2/316-20/8317-focus-how-the-war-on-terror-militarized-the-police
The most serious consequence of the rapid militarization of American police forces, however, is the subtle evolution in the mentality of the “men in blue” from “peace officer” to soldier. This development is absolutely critical and represents a fundamental change in the nature of law enforcement. The primary mission of a police officer traditionally has been to “keep the peace.” Those whom an officer suspects to have committed a crime are treated as just that – suspects. Police officers are expected, under the rule of law, to protect the civil liberties of all citizens, even the “bad guys.” For domestic law enforcement, a suspect in custody remains innocent until proven guilty. Moreover, police officers operate among a largely friendly population and have traditionally been trained to solve problems using a complex legal system; the deployment of lethal violence is an absolute last resort.
Soldiers, by contrast, are trained to identify people they encounter as belonging to one of two groups – the enemy and the non-enemy – and they often reach this decision while surrounded by a population that considers the soldier an occupying force. Once this identification is made, a soldier’s mission is stark and simple: kill the enemy, “try” not to kill the non-enemy. Indeed, the Soldier’s Creed declares, “I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.” This is a far cry from the peace officer’s creed that expects its adherents “to protect and serve.”
Those officers are a disgrace to the badge.
Roger, 🙂 Wicked humor.
Hmmm.. And more lawsuits on the way:
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/245255/20111108/occupy-wall-street-occupying-court-rooms-amendment.htm?cid=2
Well…If he was shooting Rubber Bullets….I suppose its the same as blanks right….
OS: There is a similar difference between a photographer getting a shot and getting shot.
lol
It seems like the police have been violating their own protocol for all of these supposedly ‘non lethal’ weapons for quite some time now. Look at all the abuses caused by use of the taser.
Are they being trained properly at all? Does it have anything to do with steroid use in the force? There has to be some reason for all these mistakes, illegal killings and sadistic acts of our police forces.
Our local small town police recently tasered a well known mentally challenged panhandler (including tasering once when he was already in cuffs) causing a huge public outcry.
Cops are above the law and knowing this, that is why they do the things they do. 9 times out of 10 the things they do to people never hit the news or newspapers so it goes un noticed.
Unless they are self-insured, it is the city’s insurance carrier taking the hit. Keep it up and the liability carrier will dump them as a policyholder.
Roger, Mark Twain once wrote that there is a vast difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
There is a similar difference between a photographer getting a shot and getting shot.