(I realize that's a Fox News link. I actually saw the footage of reporter Christina Gonzales, who is married to a retired police officer, and her videographer being pushed around on another L.A. news broadcast-- they had more of it--, but decided to go to the website of the channel she broadcasts for for first-hand report.)
I caught the lead story on the news after Medium tonight, and this made me sick. When I first saw police apparently going after protesters, I was ready to reserve judgement in re. provocation, etc. Then they showed members of the PRESS being pushed and even kicked by uniformed police. I was horrified. (Besides this reporter, several Telemundo and other Spanish-language reporters and video crews, as well as other Latino-looking videographers, were pushed, kicked, shoved, punched. One videographer was hit and pushed to the ground, his camera taken and thrown several feet as he attempted to keep filming. One well-known Telemundo reporter was knocked down, curled into a defensive ball, and then was kicked more than once.)
This is inexcusable. I am very saddened that this state of affairs can exist in this country, because I don't believe that things like this "just happen"-- there has to be a mindset behind it. And my already weak confidence in the LAPD's ability to protect the public they are supposed to serve and act as they should is further lessened.
It just makes me sick, and mad, and sad.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
(I can't find the video I saw earlier, I'll keep looking and post it if I find it.)
Seriously, this is the kind of thing that makes me want to be at the next rally. And I would, if I didn't have small children who I am not going to take with me to someplace potentially dangerous.
The fact that it IS now potentially dangerous to go to a political rally-- a peaceful rally, in LA!-- shows how high tensions are on this issue right now. (Reportedly, the demonstrators started the confrontation after a questionable dispersal order, but also reportedly after verbal confrontations that by some reports were initiated by the police.) My dad used to take me to political rallies and protests all the time when I was Emma's age, but after this episode, I'm not taking my kids to any any time soon, at least not immigration issue ones.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Wow, thanks a lot for posting this. When I saw the story on the 9 o'clock news hour I was just flipping channels and FOX was airing it. Pretty much, the extent of the coverage was "Protestors started throwing rocks and debris at the police, so the police shot rubber bullets at a few and then they all left. No injuries were reported." But to find out that they were savagely beating innocent people based on racial profiling? Digusting.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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How come they only show the police being violent and not what happened before that? What happened in the minutes before this video started?
Posts: 1918 | Registered: Mar 2005
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There have been plenty of problems with the press coverage. On the Today Show, Diane and I were disgusted when the only rally that was mentioned was the one in Los Angeles - and that it was started by protesters. They didn't even mention that there were no incidents in any other city, including Chicago, where at least 150,000 people rallied this week.
The very first wave of coverage didn't seem to discuss the issue of possible police overreaction at all.
Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by DarkKnight: How come they only show the police being violent and not what happened before that? What happened in the minutes before this video started?
Someone probably called a cop a stupid, tubby, donut-hole-eating, sorry excuse for pre-bacon. That's my best guess anyway.
Posts: 1156 | Registered: Jan 2004
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quote:Originally posted by DarkKnight: How come they only show the police being violent and not what happened before that? What happened in the minutes before this video started?
Because news agencies purchase and broadcast what is provocative, the crowd throwing rocks can warrant a few seconds of the viewers attention, a cop beating a protestor with a billy club can last almost a minute but usually 30-45 seconds.
Also riot police usually do not roll cameras while they work, but random people in a mob can whip out cellphones and occasionally cameras when things heat up.
But I think your premise of "Nobody rolls cameras of the entire ordeal" is inaccurate. I've seen a few riots caught on tape where cameras clearly identified a person in the crowd who stepped out of line and the police were deemed justified in stepping up their response.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by DarkKnight: How come they only show the police being violent and not what happened before that? What happened in the minutes before this video started?
Someone probably called a cop a stupid, tubby, donut-hole-eating, sorry excuse for pre-bacon. That's my best guess anyway.
So the cops beat them. Fair enough, right?
From what I head on the news, some protesters were throwing rocks at the police. So the police fired rubber bullets into a crowd of people attending the rally and chased them off the property with violence and attacked and beat members of the press.
I don't think this is a matter of the media trying to hide the real story to get ratings. I think this is a matter of police going to far in what was undoubtedly a stressful situation for them.
In the clip, you see one officer throwing down the camera-man, throwing his camera on the ground and then kicking what appears to be the man's back. Then you see another officer walk up, help the camera-man to his feet, help him pick up his camera and pat him on the back. I don't think this story does, or was intended to, villanize the police, but it shows how a situation can escalate beyond anyone's control, and the more we as individuals are aware of that, the more we may be able to help prevent it in the future.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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"In the clip, you see one officer throwing down the camera-man, throwing his camera on the ground and then kicking what appears to be the man's back. Then you see another officer walk up, help the camera-man to his feet, help him pick up his camera and pat him on the back."
That's police for ya. I've known cops that should be ashamed to carry the badge, and others that were great.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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But you know the adrenaline starts pumping the second they put the helmet on and grab the baton. That very action will get people riled up to the point where anything will set them off.
LA sounds like a crazy place. The (not all) citizens will riot for any reason, and the (not all) police beat the citizens. I like my little mid-West city.
Posts: 1766 | Registered: Feb 2006
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*agrees with Kwea* Overall, I have been very impressed with the LAPD, especially in the past 10 years. The Christopher Commission did a lot of good, and the post-Rampart "clean-up" did more.
posted
The obvious dobie of this thread would be about LARP's finest, and would probably have a link to chainmail bikinis.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: *agrees with Kwea* Overall, I have been very impressed with the LAPD, especially in the past 10 years. The Christopher Commission did a lot of good, and the post-Rampart "clean-up" did more.
brojack,
Keep in mind, my view of LA is based solely on media coverage. My two trips to LA have both been for work (El Segundo and Huntington Beach). The traffic was horrible but the town was nice. I really liked Huntington Beach area. My comment was a half joke. I do like the relative small town feel of Tulsa (a big reason we moved back from Houston). There are things I did like about a big city though (major sports, better museums, more entertainment, better restaurants that aren't chains, etc.).
I'll take the eye roll . I hope you took my sarcasm with a light heart. I suspect you did or I would have been flamed big time.
Posts: 1766 | Registered: Feb 2006
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You're right, Kwea. However, some cops I've known are people who I am not comfortable giving the power of a gun to. Some are.
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
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The article I saw in the NY Times this morning said that the LAPD have been known to be more forceful than necessary under the current police chief, and that the violence was started by some teens a block away or something, who the police then followed to the rally and tried to break it up.
*looks for an online version*
Posts: 3420 | Registered: Jun 2002
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The LAPD does have some really good officers.
They also have some officers who either do not seem able to control themselves, or don't really know when it's appropriate to use force.
I'm still disturbed by the incident a year ago at the apartment across the street; the fact that the officers opened fire (and only hit the target twice, although more shots were discharged) in front of a building where children live, while the family of the depressed woman with a toy gun were screaming "it's a toy, it's a toy!" after she had said herself that it was a toy gun on her 911 call, and when I saw the gun it was pretty obviously a toy to me, still gives me the occasional nightmare. I'm thankful I wasn't home that night... We have far too many of those incidents.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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. I hope you took my sarcasm with a light heart. I suspect you did or I would have been flamed big time.
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