Bill Thompson Gives Speech Comparing Trayvon Martin Killing To Stop And Frisk, Fails To Mention NYPD Shootings

From Daily Politics:

The only black candidate for mayor said Sunday Trayvon Martin was killed because he was black - and the NYPD’s stop and frisk policy is driven by the same kind of bias. 

“Trayvon Martin did die because he was black. Of that there is no doubt,” ex-City Controller Bill Thompson told the congregation at Abundant Life Church in Brooklyn, saying that regardless of legal merits of George Zimmerman’s acquittal, “George Zimmerman was suspicious of Trayvon because he was young and because he was black.” 

 

He turned the issue into his most forceful attack to date on the NYPD’s stop and frisk policy.
 

“Here in New York City, we've institutionalized Mr. Zimmerman’s suspicion with a policy that all but requires our police officers to treat young black and Latino men with suspicion, to stop them and frisk them because of the color of their skin,” he said, charging young men of color “are profiled, as Trayvon was profiled. If our government profiles people because of skin plot and treats them as potential criminals, how can we expect citizens to do any less?"
 

Thompson said his natural instinct is to steer clear of the topic of race.
 

He has taken a moderate stand on stop and frisk compared to some of his Democratic rivals, criticizing it as abusive and calling for an overhaul but opposing its abolition as well as bills to create an NYPD inspector general and allow people to sue over racial profiling.
 

But in an unusually passionate speech for the typically subdued candidate, he said he felt compelled to speak out after the not guilty verdict in Martin’s killing, “after a jury of our peers declared the killing of an innocent black youth to not be a crime."
 

He said the verdict prompted tough conversations between children and parents, “especially those of us like me with young black sons.”
 

“I do not believe our government can fully stop racism, but I do believe we must constantly look to see how it may enable it, even unintentionally,” he said. “So we must ask ourselves, when fear of young black men ends in deadly violence against the innocent, has our government perpetuated that fear by targeting people of color with suspicion?”

 

Let me know when Thompson feels "passionate" enough to connect Trayvon Martin's tragic death to the tragic deaths of young black men shot and killed by the NYPD here in NYC and call for the NYPD to stop killing black men for crimes like having a hand in a waistband or trying to flush dope down the toilet.

 

Somebody said in a comment on another post here at Perdido Street School that they could never vote for Bill Thompson because he is the ultimate hack.

 

I think there is something to that.

 

Even in this supposed "passionate" speech which Thompson gives about an issue he says he cares a lot about, he takes the hack route and softballs his criticism against the NYPD.

 

Here's a part of the speech Thompson conveniently left out:

 

Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman because Martin was black, there is no doubt about that.

 

Kimani Gray was killed by the NYPD because he was black, there is no doubt about that.

Ramarley Graham was killed by the NYPD because he was black, there is no doubt about that.

Just as George Zimmerman targeted Trayvon Martin because of his race, ultimately killing him with impunity and walking away a free man from the crime, the NYPD targets black men in this city every day and every so often, they too ultimately kill one with impunity, as has happened in both the Graham and Gray cases.

See - you can connect the Trayvon tragedy to the NYPD's killing of black men in this city.

 

Thompson should be taking a stand on these NYPD tragedies instead of giving a speech on stop and frisk that he's had poll tested to death for a couple of weeks before he had the guts to go public with it. 

 

He has been trying to thread the needle on stop and frisk and NYPD police brutality for the entire campaign.

 

But you can't thread the needle on this issue.

 

You just can't.

 

Trayvon's killing was a tragedy and an outrage.

 

But so were the murders of Ramarley Graham and Kimani Gray.

 

POSTSCRIPT: And don't get me started on Thompson's aggrandizing Obama's Trayvon speech.  

 

I'm sure it hasn't occurred to a hack like Thompson, but given Obama's drone bomb killing track record killing men of color, Obama is, in the words of Cornell West, "a global George Zimmerman."

Where's The Daily News Cover For Ramarley Graham?

Back on February 2, 2012, Ramarley Graham was followed home by NYPD detectives and shot and killed in his family's apartment.

According to the NY Times, members of the NYPD's Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit pursued Graham after they allegedly received a report that Graham was armed with a gun.

No gun was found on the scene or on Graham's body, though police did find a bag of marijuana in the bathroom where Graham was shot.

Graham was apparently trying to flush the bag of dope when police broke into the apartment and shot him.

The Times describes what happened at the scene this way:

The impression that Mr. Graham had a gun was reinforced as officers tracked the three men. The group next went to a home at 728 East 229th Street, where Mr. Graham was spotted leaving with what appeared to be the butt of a gun in his waistband, according to another set of radio transmissions among the narcotics team members.

Two officers wearing raid jackets and bullet-resistant vests emerged from a van and yelled, “Police! Stop! Don’t move!” said Mr. Kelly, citing the account of a civilian witness. 

But Mr. Graham made it to his home at 749 East 229th Street, and the front door locked, stymieing officers who were pursuing him with their guns drawn. Another tenant, Gene Davis, 60, said he saw the officers rushing through the outside gate before they reached the door. They yelled at him: “Don’t move! Get back!”

Eventually, a man alerted by the commotion let the sergeant in a back door and told him that Mr. Graham lived on the second floor. The officers then spread out: One stayed on the ground floor; the sergeant stayed on the stairs; and two lead officers went to the apartment and knocked. When no one answered, they “broke open” the door, Mr. Kelly said. 

Precisely what happened in the bathroom seconds later is not clear. On Thursday night, the police said Mr. Graham had tussled with an officer, but on Friday, Mr. Kelly said there did not appear to be any evidence of a struggle. 

“We don’t believe there was contact,” he said. 

The officer yelled, “Gun! Gun!” and then fired, Mr. Kelly said. 

The teenager’s grandmother Patricia Hartley was in the hallway. Paulet Minzie, the landlady, who lives on the third floor, said she heard the grandmother shouting at the police: “Why you hitting me? Why you hitting me?” 

Mr. Graham’s 6-year-old brother was also screaming, Ms. Minzie said. “He said, ‘They killed my brother!’ ” she related. 

The two officers involved in the shooting were stripped of their guns while an investigation was pursued.  

At the time, Bloomberg and Kelly said some publicly soothing words about the shooting.  

But later on we learned that the NYPD officers had threatened to shoot the grandmother on the scene, then taken her to the 47th precinct where she was held for hours while the cops worked her over, trying to get her to change her story:

EDENWALD — The NYPD cop accused of gunning down Ramarley Graham also threatened to shoot the slain teen's sobbing grandmother in the chaotic moments after cops burst into their Bronx apartment, a new lawsuit charges.

The blistering 108-page lawsuit filed by Graham's family details how plainclothes officers in street narcotics unit barged into their apartment, fired at the teen and hauled his grandmother away for hours of grueling questioning and intimidation.

Graham's family filed the lawsuit in Bronx Supreme Court on Friday, on the eve of the anniversary of his death. They accused the NYPD of improperly training officers, unfairly targeting minorities in stop-and-frisks and trying to cover up the shooting of the 18-year-old.

Officer Richard Haste shot Graham in the chest on Feb. 2, 2012, after following the teen into his apartment bathroom. Graham's grandmother, Patricia Hartley, who was several feet away from Graham at the time, immediately cried out, "Why did you shoot him, why you killed him?" the lawsuit says.

Haste then pushed Hartley into a vase and said, "Get the f--- away before I have to shoot you, too," according to the lawsuit.

Hartley, who was 58 and weighed 85 pounds at the time, was then allegedly forced into a seat and had her arm twisted behind her back after she tried to make a phone call.

Cops eventually took Hartley to the 47th Precinct station house, where investigators called her a "f---ing liar" and claimed she was covering for the dead teen, whom cops believed had thrown a gun out a window, the lawsuit says. No gun was ever recovered, and a small bag of marijuana was found in the toilet.

Officers also allegedly dipped their hands into her coffee, then flicked their fingers against a wall to show how blood splatters. They also showed her a picture of a shot man they claimed was Graham, according to the lawsuit.

Hartley was allegedly locked in a station house room for nearly seven hours, and cops ignored her and her daughter's request to leave, the suit says. Hartley's lawyer says he was also denied access to her for more than 90 minutes. When Hartley was eventually released, she was treated at a hospital for trauma.

Officer Richard Haste was indicted on manslaughter charges in June 2012, but no charges for the alleged NYPD cover-up of the Graham shooting that took place at the 47th precinct were filed, nor did the mayor or the commissioner offer any soothing words to the family about how awful it is for an 85 pound grandmother to be worked over by the NYPD after they had threatened to shoot when she got upset over their shooting of her grandson.

What's worse, the indictment of Officer Haste has since been thrown out of court because the DA's office screwed up:

NEW YORK (WABC) -- A Bronx judge threw out the indictment against an NYPD officer in the fatal shooting of a Bronx teenager. 

The judge said the assistant district attorney made an accidental mistake to grand jury, which voted to indict Officer Richard Haste on manslaughter charges in the death of Ramarley Graham.

Graham's mother was in the courtroom at the time, reacted very emotionally and had to be removed from court.

"I am angry and cannot express my feelings alone," Constance Malcolm said. "I am ready to take it to the streets and the highest of the highest. Please be prepared for a major protest."

The family quickly condemned the decision.

"If it means going back to the grand jury or if we have to ask the federal court to deal with this case, we are going to keep fighting, no matter what," dad Frank Graham said. "Whereever it leads us, we will go there. We will never stop until justice is served in this case, until Richard Haste goes to prison for murdering our son. If we start over, we will start stronger."

"Murdering cops must be held accountable," said Frank Graham, Ramarley's father, "Tell Richard Haste we are not going to rest until he goes to prison."

The Daily News ran a extraordinary cover this morning lamenting the shooting of Trayvon Martin and the not guilty verdict of the man who admitted to shooting Martin, George Zimmerman, connecting this travesty of justice to others like the murder of Emmet Till.

But somehow the Daily News editors who are so broken up by the Martin murder and the Zimmerman verdict can't bring themselves to get all broken up about the murder of Ramarley Graham or the treatment his grandmother received at the hands of the NYPD officers in the 47th precinct.

Let's revisit this case once more:

Police broke into Graham's family's apartment and shot him right in front of his grandmother and little brother while he tried to flush a small bag of marijuana down the toilet, then threatened to shoot the grandmother if she didn't go passive at the scene.  They then took her down to the 47th precinct where they worked her over for seven hours, trying to get her to change her story about what she had witnessed at the scene of the shooting, calling her a "fucking liar" and other indelicate things while they put the pressure on her.

What happened to Trayvon Martin is a travesty and should not and cannot be forgotten.

Make no mistake about that.

But we have our own Trayvon Martins right here in New York City and we have our own George Zimmermans too - though here they sometimes wear blue shirts and shiny badges and get away with executing teenagers in their home for the crime of trying to flush some dope down the toilet.

I look forward to the Daily News expanding upon their extraordinary cover from this morning by putting Ramarely Graham on the cover and connecting his murder at the hands of the NYPD with all the other black men murdered by the cops in this city over the years  - from Amadou Diallo to Sean Bell to Patrick Dorismond.

But as usual with this sort of thing, I won't be holding my breath because, as I noted this morning 

the Daily News wants you to believe they're on the Justice For Trayvon Martin bandwagon while they conveniently ignore all the Trayvon Martins murdered here in New York City by the NYPD because linking those murders with Trayvon's doesn't fit into their ideological worldview.

Queens Residents Protest NYPD Brutality

I'm telling you, if the mayor and the police commissioner are not careful, they are going to see some serious problems this summer:

A drug bust outside a Queens housing project erupted into a tense three-hour standoff Friday night as dozens of angry residents marched on the 113th Precinct and cops in riot gear stood guard over their stationhouse.

Shocked witnesses said police officers pounded on brothers Raynard Fields, 27, and Corey Crichlow, 33, outside the Baisley Park Houses during the 7:45 p.m. arrest on Foch Blvd.

“The cops came up to the car and dragged (Crichlow) out and started beating on him,” said witness Gary Frazier, 22. “When (Fields) tried to calm the situation down, they beat him down. Cops came from everywhere.”

About 50 incensed residents protested the arrest and what they call a pattern of brutality by the NYPD by marching down Guy R. Brewer Blvd. to the Baisley Blvd. stationhouse. They ran through the streets, knocking garbage cans over during their 6-block trek, witnesses said.

“I am sick of the 113th Precinct harassing the young black men in the Baisley projects,” said marcher Kathy Moore, 40.

Cops responded to the impromptu protest in riot helmets and batons, forcing protesters onto the sidewalk.

“They were wilding out here,” livery cab driver Danny McLennon, 42, said of the residents. “The cops shut down Guy Brewer Blvd. Not even the buses could get through.”

More cops in riot gear met protesters at the 113th Precinct, where Fields was being treated inside an ambulance parked next to the stationhouse. Sources said he suffered a deep gash to his face during the brawl. He was expected to be taken to a hospital, a relative said.

...
“(Residents) were throwing things from windows,” a police source said.

...

  Crichlow’s cousin said she tried to record the arrest, but a cop snatched her phone.

“(Cops) were kicking (Crichlow) in the face, stomping him, leaning on him with their knees,” said cousin Tyniera Hogan, 32. “He was trying to get up, but they kept pushing him back down . . . it didn’t look like he was resisting.”

Hogan said Crichlow was taken to a hospital with bumps and bruises.

“Some officers don’t have the respect to serve,” Hogan said of the cops who arrested his nephews and sparked the outrage. “Kids got mad and the community got mad.”

Classic - cops take the phone away so that the handling of the arrest cannot be recorded.

They're using tons of technology to record citizens wherever they go.

But the state sure does not like its officers to be recorded, does it?

Because they're teaching the boys and girls in blue to first take out the recorders.

Well, these incidents of unrest are starting to mount.

This one comes on the heels of a few nights of unrest in East Flatbush after a 16 year old was shot and killed by the police.

And as I said earlier, if the Mayor and the commissioner and the NYPD are not careful, one of these incidents is going to erupt into something city wide.

There is a lot of anger out there at the police.

And frankly, the mayor and the commissioner could do a lot to defuse that - if they cared to.

Bloomberg: There Can Be No Independent Monitor Of The NYPD

Because the king and his army must not be accountable to anybody:

Mayor Bloomberg blasted a plan to create an inspector general to monitor the NYPD as an election year ploy that will be disastrous for public safety.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn backed the proposal Tuesday, calling for an office within the city Department of Investigation that could subpoena police officials and documents.

Quinn is hoping to secure the mayor’s endorsement in her run for City Hall this year — but Bloomberg called the bill the latest in a pattern of politically-motivated attacks on the NYPD that could plunge New York back into the bad old days.

“We cannot afford to play election year politics with the safety of our city, and we cannot afford to roll back the progress of the past 20 years,” he said. “This bill jeopardizes that progress and will put the lives of New Yorkers and our police officers at risk.”

He said an inspector general with the power to oversee policy would undermine the police commissioner’s authority.

“I don’t think any rational person would say we need two competing police commissioners,” he said. “That kind of breakdown in the chain of command would be disastrous for public safety.”

Actually the point isn't to have two competing commissioners.

 

It's to have the currently unaccountable police commissioner who runs the police department like a paramilitary force and brags about having missiles to shoot down planes in the sky be called to account.

 

As Wayne Barrett pointed out here in 2011, the NYPD has been beset by scandal during Kelly's Reign of Terror:

 

There is now such an avalanche of scandal descending on the NYPD that even Kelly is threatened by it, depicted in a front-page New York Times story last week, and editorial this week, as an institutional captive of the department unable to independently investigate all the terrible things its members do. That recent list includes allegations, some already proven, of drug-planting, ticket-fixing, Muslim-spying, gunrunning, pepper-spraying, and “frying another nigger,” with the Times insisting that many of these revelations were uncovered by everyone but Kelly’s Internal Affairs Bureau, mostly because it’s too internal. In fact, the one scam IAB did help probe, the indictment of 16 cops for killing parking tickets and other favors, was compromised by an IAB lieutenant heard on one tape tipping off the perpetrators.

Barrett doesn't blame Kelly for these messes, he says the NYPD may be "a force unto itself, untamable, as dark sometimes as the streets it patrols...Could anyone do a better job of containing these excesses and outrages than Kelly has?"

 

I don't buy Barrett's argument.

 

If the NYPD is a "force unto itself", barely controllable, untamable, as dark as the streets it patrols - then maybe it's time for somebody outside the department who is independent of the department to police it.

 

Clearly Ray Kelly is not up to the task.  

 

Just ask the families of all the people of color shot by NYPD cops, ask the Occupy protesters bludgeoned by the NYPD whiteshirts, ask the victims of NYPD drug-planting in Queens, ask the people spied upon by Ray Kelly's CIA within the NYPD.

 

If any department in King Bloomberg's government needs an outside independent watchdog, it is certainly the NYPD.

 

No wonder Bloomberg doesn't want one.

 

For Bloomberg, accountability is for the little people, not for the mayor or his police commissioner.

Jumaane Williams And Ray Kelly

From Capital NY:

The New York Police Department commissioner and one of his leading elected critics are in a fight over what really prompted the violence last night at a vigil for a 16-year-old Brooklyn teenager shot and killed by police.

According to Ray Kelly's comments after a City Council budget hearing, there was a large crowd memorializing Kimani Gray, who was shot and killed on Saturday. A gun was recovered at the scene that may have belonged to Gray and "there is nothing to indicate that this shooting at this time was outside the guidelines."

From that larger crowd, according to Kelly, a smaller group, perhaps 30 or so people, split off. They attempted to steal a cash register from a Rite Aide. They assaulted a customer who tried to stop them. The group also hurled fruit at a local precinct and "trashed" a bodega.

Kelly said,  "I don't see it related to the demonstration. ... " But apparently people took it upon themselves to go in and trash the store, try to take the cash register, in some way shape or form. I don't think that has or should have any relationship to a peaceful demonstration."

 ...

After Kelly spoke to reporters, Councilman Jumaane Williams said Kelly was "belittling" the real problem, which is growing tension between poor and minority communities, and the police.  Refusing to acknowledge last night's violence as a symptom of that problem will only lead to more violence, Williams warned.

"There was a great display of frustration," Williams told reporters.

Standing outside 250 Broadway, where today's budget hearing was held, Williams said, "We have been saying that something like this can happen. I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner. And we know next time it's going to get worse if they don't come to grips with that."

Williams said this area lacks a community center and, more generally, economic opportunities for young people. He called for dramatic increases in funding, and for Kelly to visit the district with him.

As for the violence last night: "We have been saying that something like this can happen. I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner. And we know next time it's going to get worse if they don't come to grips with that."

In a statement last night, Williams said the mayor and police commissioner were ignoring the "root cause" of the violence, and "I fear this will be a long and bloody summer ahead."

Kelly definitely not hearing there's a problem and Bloomberg is too busy trying to ban large containers of Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew to reach out to the people living in the poor and minority communities a la John Lindsay.

Frankly, he may not even know where those areas are.

NYPD Cops Brutally Beat Man They Mistakenly Thought Was Trespassing

All caught on tape:



The Murdoch Post reports:

The Brooklyn DA and NYPD Internal Affairs are investigating cops caught on tape beating a man wrongly suspected of trespassing in a Crown Heights synagogue, authorities said yesterday.

The Oct. 8 beatdown took place at the Alternative Learning Institute for Young Adults, a synagogue and outreach center for troubled youths.

Cops believed that Ehud Halevy, 21, was homeless and trespassing.

A volunteer security guard mistakenly called police, not knowing Halevy had been staying there for about a month, with permission.

When cops first approached, Halevy, not wearing a shirt or pants, refused to leave.
“You’re not kicking me out — I have a right to stay here,” he insisted according to law-enforcement sources.

Halevy put on his pants before the confrontation escalated to the incident caught on tape.
He was booked for assault, obstructing governmental administration, criminal trespassing, resisting arrest, harassment and pot possession.

“He [Halevy] was in a needy position. He needed a place to sleep,” said Rabbi Moshe Feiglin, who runs the center.

Several politicians said cops went overboard in using force.

“When we watched the video and saw some of New York’s Finest behaving in a not very fine way, brutalizing an individual for absolutely no reason, it was just something horrible,” said Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind.

The only reason Dov Hikind cares about this incident is because the cops beat a white guy who was Jewish.

If this had been another one of those "NYPD Beat Black Guy For No Reason" or "NYPD Shoot, Kill Unarmed Brown Person," Hikind wouldn't have blinked twice.

Therein lies the reason why the NYPD are getting away with all of this brutality.

For the most part, it's happening to people of color and most white people don't seem to really give a shit about that.

But when it happens to one of their own, suddenly the Dov Hikinds are giving interviews to the Murdoch Post criticizing the NYPD for excessive force.

How about criticizing the NYPD for the excessive force and brutality they show every day of the year to people of color in this city?

How about starting a Knapp Commission to investigate Ray Kelly and Michael Bloomberg and all of the police violence these men have allowed to be perpetrated across this city?

The Bronx D.A. has put the NYPD and its Stop and Frisk policies on trial in the Bronx.

How about we start putting these crooked, violent cops who are beating and shooting and murdering people all over this city on trial too?

How about we put Kelly and Bloomberg on trial for running this kind of police department?

Kelly's response to two recent fatal shootings of unarmed civilians by the NYPD was to issue a “tactical awareness bulletin."

 NYPD cops have been warned to brush up on their firearms tactics after two unarmed civilians were recently shot dead by police, The Post has learned.

A memo went up in precinct houses last week reminding officers to “slow down . . . request backup . . . exercise firearms control [and] formulate a tactical plan” before shooting.

The “tactical awareness bulletin” — which outlines various scenarios in which cops could “inadvertently” or erratically discharge their weapons — was also read during roll call, sources said.

The reminder comes in the wake of the recent fatal police shootings of Queens National Guardsman Noel Polanco, 22, during a traffic stop on the Grand Central Parkway and Bronx bodega worker Raynaldo Cuevas, 20, who collided with a cop while fleeing a robbery.

 That's not good enough.

Make no mistake, the police are under a lot of pressure from the top to constantly increase arrests, push the crime stats in the precincts down, and make Kelly and Bloomberg look like crime fighting geniuses.

One of the consequences of all of this pressure is that a lot of cops are taking their frustrations out on the public.

And some, like our old friend Tony Bologna of OWS fame, are just sociopaths who like to goon it up.

But the people in charge of the system - Bloomberg and Kelly - are the ones responsible for these problems and they are the ones who could put a stop to it if they wanted to.

Instead we see week after week more incidents of police brutality, of innocent people being shot and killed by the NYPD, of unarmed alleged "perps" getting shot and killed while "resisting arrest."

The NYPD is out of control and yet, nothing is done to stop this and nothing seems to happen to the people most responsible for this.

NYPD Bills Family Of Man Killed During Chase For Dent To Cop Car

Brillaint - don't only just kill people, but charge the family fees for the privilege:

The mother of a man who was struck by a New York City police department car during a chase says cops want her to pay $710 to have the car repaired, New York Daily News reports.

Tamon Robinson, 27, was killed in April around dawn after he tried to outrun officers who were chasing him through his Brooklyn housing project. He was fleeing after being caught stealing decorative stones from the grounds, police said.

Now his mom, Laverne Dobbinson, 45, says she's been ordered to pay the cost of repairing the police car that killed her son, the paper reports.

"We're still grieving, and this is like a slap in the face," Dobbinson said."They want my son to pay for damage to the vehicle that killed him. It's crazy."

A letter dated Sept. 27 and mailed to her son seeks $710 for "property damage to a vehicle owned by the New York Police Department," according to New York Daily News. It also threatens to slap the family with a lawsuit if the claim isn't paid.

After being hit by the squad car, Robinson slipped into a coma and never regained consciousness, dying six days later of blunt impact head injuries.The city medical examiner ruled his death an accident.

At the time, Robinson worked at a muffin shop but also tried to make extra money hawking items, including paving stones to scrap dealers, his mother told the paper.
The police department's Internal Affairs Bureau is probing allegations from witnesses that Robinson was deliberately mowed down.

An NYPD spokesman did not return a call or e-mail from the paper seeking comment.

The NYPD is out of control - much more so now than during even the worst days of the Giuliani administration.

Here they deliberately run over a guy stealing freaking paving stones, then bill his family for the damage to the squad car.

Now that the story has made the news, you can be sure the city will drop the collection against the family.

Nonetheless, the story is emblematic of Mayor Bloomberg's New York.

Cops murder victim, get away with the murder with impunity, then bill the surviving family members for damages.

You can't make this up.

The Old Mask Law Of 1845

Gothamist reports that at least three masked Pussy Riot supporters, and perhaps as many as six, were arrested at a rally outside the Russian Consulate attended by about 40 people.

The justification for the arrests?

As we learned after some OWS arrests last year, "wearing masks is in violation of a law that bars two or more participants from doing so." The law dates back to 1845.

Ah, yes - the old two or more participants are forbidden from wearing masks at the same time and congregating law.

That makes sense.

But how about these guys? Why aren't they arrested for violating the old two or more participants are forbidden from wearing masks at the same time and congregating law?



Frankly I think the NYPD ought to be arresting Dirty, Creepy Elmo in Times Square before they arrest the masked Pussy Riot supporters outside the Russian Consulate.

Who is the bigger nuisance - the masked Pussy Riot supporters or Dirty, Creepy Elmo?

Hackers Target Cop Who Pepper-Sprayed Protesters

I bet Lt. Pike didn't envision this when he calmly and methodically pepper-sprayed a bunch of peaceful protesters sitting on the ground last Friday:

The UC Davis police officer filmed casually pepper-spraying passive student protesters is the latest target of the computer hacking collective Anonymous.

A new 10-minute video attributed to the shadowy "hacktivist" group threatens the officer directly and makes public his personal contact information - including his cell phone number and an alleged home address.

The voicemail on the working cell number for Lt. John Pike was full Tuesday.

"Dear Officer John Pike, we are Anonymous. Your information is now public domain," a computer-generated voice narrating the Anonymous video states.

"Expect our full wrath," the voice continues as viral video of the Friday incident plays in the background. "Anonymous seeks to avenge all protesters…We are going to make you squeal like a pig."

The ominous message, which ends with a photo of Pike and the sounds of shrieking pigs, makes no excuse for exposing Pike to potential reprisals.

"We have no problem targeting police and releasing their information even if it puts them at risk because we want them to experience just a taste of the brutality and misery they serve us on an everyday basis," it says.

The message I would send to Lt. Pike is this:

Lt. Pike, your methodical, cold-blooded pepper spraying of peaceful, non-violent protesters seated on the ground who posed no threat to you or your colleagues clearly shows that you are a sociopath who is unfit for police duty.

You need to be stripped of your badge and your gun immediately and fired from your job.

You should be arrested for your violent behavior.

In addition, the protesters you harmed should sue you personally in order to hold you accountable for your actions.

You need to defend yourself in court before a judge and jury.

It is only by holding violent cops who engage in acts of brutality accountable for their crimes that we will stop additional acts of police brutality from occurring.

Police Defend Use Of Pepper Spray Against UC Davis Protesters

The Associated Press finds a retired policeman from Baltimore who wrote the city's book on use of force who defends the use of pepper spray on seated, passive protesters at UC Davis as Standard Operation Police Procedure:

SAN FRANCISCO — As video spread of an officer in riot gear blasting pepper spray into the faces of seated protesters at a northern California university, outrage came quickly — followed almost as quickly by defense from police and calls for the chancellor’s resignation.

University of California Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi said in a statement Saturday she was forming a task force to investigate the police action and the video images she said were “chilling.”

However, a law enforcement official who watched the clip called the use of force “fairly standard police procedure.”

In the video, an officer dispassionately pepper-sprays a line of several sitting protesters who flinch and cover their faces but remain passive with their arms interlocked as onlookers shriek and scream out for the officer to stop.

...

The protest was held in support of the overall Occupy Wall Street movement and in solidarity with protesters at the University of California, Berkeley who were jabbed by police with batons on Nov. 9.

Charles J. Kelly, a former Baltimore Police Department lieutenant who wrote the department’s use of force guidelines, said pepper spray is a “compliance tool” that can be used on subjects who do not resist, and is preferable to simply lifting protesters.

“When you start picking up human bodies, you risk hurting them,” Kelly said. “Bodies don’t have handles on them.”

After reviewing the video, Kelly said he observed at least two cases of “active resistance” from protesters. In one instance, a woman pulls her arm back from an officer. In the second instance, a protester curls into a ball. Each of those actions could have warranted more force, including baton strikes and pressure-point techniques.

“What I’m looking at is fairly standard police procedure,” Kelly said.

Lt. Kelly is absolutely correct - this is standard police procedure.

And that is the problem.

How anybody could say that a person pulling their arm away from a policeman or covering their face from pepper spray is engaged in an "active resistance" is beyond me.

But Lt. Kelly does.

And you can bet a lot of other officers in both blue and white shirts think the exact same thing all across this country.

These guys have seen the enemy and it is every American who does not meekly comply with the orders of the establishment - WORK, SHOP, OBEY.

As I wrote earlier, it is only a matter of time before they start shooting real bullets.

And they'll defend that too.

Ducking police bullets while peacefully rallying against Wall Street is, after all, an "act of resistance."

This Is What Fascism Looks Like