Friday, February 21, 2014

The Militarization of American Law Enforcement

When Cops actually believe they are here to rule and control, instead of protect and serve.

Fat bastards. . .

The Blaze:

She Allegedly Went on a Simple Jog in Her Toe Shoes. So Why Did She End Up Screaming and in Handcuffs? ‘I Didn’t F**king Do Anything Wrong!’

It allegedly started with her jogging in her toe shoes and sporting headphones. It ended in video of her screaming and being led away in handcuffs. What happened in between is a matter of debate, but video showing parts of the incident is certainly gaining traction online.
Whatever the woman did to get the attention of Austin, Texas police, a witness’ video of cops detaining her on a city sidewalk Thursday morning then escorting her to a nearby squad car indicate she was not happy with their actions.
Image source: YouTube/
Image source: YouTube/The Daily Texan/Chris Quintero
“I was doing nothing wrong,” she said at first to a nearby witness while sitting on the sidewalk with her hands behind her and one officer standing over her. “I was just crossing the street.”
But as police escorted her away while pedestrians passed by, things got ugly.
Image source: YouTube/Chris Quintero
Image source: YouTube/The Daily Texan/Chris Quintero
“I didn’t f**king do anything wrong! I didn’t do anything wrong!” she yelled before being placed in a nearby squad car. She then began crying as she pleaded, “I f**king crossed the street.”
Image source: YouTube/Chris Quintero
Image source: YouTube/The Daily Texan/Chris Quintero
Image source: YouTube/Chris Quintero
Image source: YouTube/The Daily Texan/Chris Quintero
The Daily Texan, the student newspaper for the University of Texas at Austin, reported that police arrested the woman for failing to provide identification.
Student Chris Quintero, who the Daily Texan reported witnessed the arrest, said he saw the woman jogging with headphones on when police ran after her. When the woman failed to stop, the officer grabbed her by the arm and handcuffed her, Quintero said.
“She repeatedly pleaded with them, saying that she was just exercising and to let her go,” said Quintero, who also shot the video and took photographs of the incident.
The woman can be seen in the full video attempting to get up from the sidewalk and being kept down by police officers.
Austin police did not return phone calls from TheBlaze about why the woman was detained.
According to a statement to The Daily Texan from police spokeswoman Lisa Cortinas: “[In this case], the call is titled failure to identify.”
Four officers by squad car after woman was placed inside it. (Image source: YouTube/The Daily Texan/Chris Quintero)
Four officers by squad car after woman was placed inside it. (Image source: YouTube/The Daily Texan/Chris Quintero)
Here’s Quintero’s edited video with embedded close-up photographs:

Here’s the full clip via LiveLeak:

And the LiveLeak poster’s description:
Sitting at Starbucks, on the corner of 24th and San Antonio, I noticed a particularly odd situation.Two Austin Police Officers standing outside the Castilian just lingering. Every time I looked back there was a different student holding a carbon copy of what looked to be a jay walking citation. Suddenly one of the cops shouts at an innocent girl jogging with her headphones on through West Campus. He wobbled after her and grabbed her by the arm. Startled and not knowing it was a cop, she jerked her arm away. The cop viewed this as resisting arrest and proceeded to grab both arms tightly, placing her in handcuffs. She repeatedly pleaded with them saying that she was just exercising and to let her go. She repeatedly cried out, “I did not do anything wrong…just give me the ticket.” The other officer strolled over and not they where making a scene. She tried to get up. I doubt she was running away, as she was in handcuffs, but the second cop pushed her back down to the ground. Because of the commotion, they walked her to the cop car in the alleyway next to the Big Bite, where she, overcome with frustration, yelled loudly to gain attention. Because of that, the cops tightened their grip causing her to squirm and kick. Then came two bike cops from down the alley. Now we have four cops and one small, helpless girl in the back of a cop car, because she was just going for a run.
UPDATE: As TheBlaze pointed out earlier this year, citizens have a variety of rights when it comes to interacting with police, including whether or not you have to show ID, and laws vary from state to state.
According to the infogrpahic in TheBlaze story from January and other sources, in Texas you only have to show ID once you’ve been arrested, not before. If you’re lawfully detained in Texas, you do not have to provide ID. However, you cannot give false information about who you are.
It’s still unclear if the woman in the video was arrested or detained or if she had ID to show or provided information of any sort to police. TheBlaze will update this story when police provide the information.

2 comments:

Pastorius said...

It's too bad most will only see the video. The critical facts are

1) she was jogging
2) she was wearing headphones

While it is not advisable to jog while wearing headphones, there is no law against it, and it is the kind of thing people will do when they feel safe in their community.

Problem is, these tough guys dressed up as big boy policemen, got insulted when the little woman, who surely did not know why some guy was grabbing her, fought back against their self-perceived tough guyness.

Fuck them, those widdle bittie babies.

Anonymous said...

What do you think you're gonna get when you try to exercise your "Constitutional" rights?
This is what you'll get, folks.