I think I just became Public Enemy #5.
Sep. 11th, 2003 05:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
judecorpWhile I was tooling around on the internet about an hour ago, I began to hear yelling from outside my windows. I figured it was a couple of people arguing, so I let it go, until I heard a man yell, "Racial Profiling!" At this point, I looked out the front windows to see an officer handcuffing a young African-American man against a police car, and another man and woman yelling things like, "He didn't do nothing!" and "He was just walking down the street!" I decided to go outside and watch what was going to happen.
What I saw was atrocious. The police officer in question did NOTHING to try to de-escalate the situation, and in fact, made it far worse. The officer /and/ the two people on the street were in each other's faces yelling at each other, hurling insults. The two people were yelling about racial profiling, and the officer was yelling at the people to get away from the car. At one point, the officer said, "Get your black ass on the sidewalk." As you might expect, this caused an explosive reaction from the young man on the street. From the safety of his police car, the same officer yelled to the man, "Go back to the South Side where you belong!" The young man being addressed escalated further, and began to yell things like, "You don't know where I live! I'm from [some other place], and you better not come around there!" I was horrified and mortified, and made a mental note of the number of the police car (#14) because I planned to call the police department and let them know about the inappropriateness of racial insults.
A few minutes later, a second police car (#16) pulls behind the first one and at first I think she is going to de-escalate the situation. She was speaking calmly and trying to calm the people down, but they kept yelling. For reasons that entirely escape me, the female officer got right in the people's faces and screamed, "STOP SHOUTING AT ME!" Bad form... very bad form. Of course, the people kept yelling and gesturing with their hands, and the female officer yelled, "Stop pointing at me!" When the woman didn't stop, the female officer grabbed the woman's hand and thrust it downward. I was thinking, 'Hoo boy, this is not good.'
The next step, of course, is that the man and woman get even /more/ upset, and the woman starts hollering about assault (justifiably) and the man starts hollering about how all cops are bitches and pigs and whatnot. Finally, in a fit of sheer stupidity, the man on the street yells, "I support terrorism against the Columbus Police Department!" and "I am going to bomb the police station if you arrest me." Brilliant, I know. So of course, the female officer asks for his ID, and he starts running away, and then I couldn't see anything (cars in the way), but the man is screaming, and they have him face down on the ground (the male and female officers) and they are yelling, "Stop resisting!" It was a horrible display of abuse of force. They cuffed the second guy, put him in the second car, and in the next minute or so, there were THREE more police cars and a police van.
When all was said and done, and every police officer had left except one who wasn't there at all, I walked over to him and asked if he was making a report. I told him I wanted to report some inappropriate behavior on the parts of the two officers. I told him what I saw, and what I thought about it, and he asked me if I wanted to make a statement. I said yes, and I wrote one, complete with name, address, and telephone number.
I feel good about sticking up for those people, and for pointing out flaws in the way the officers handled the situation. I feel good about doing what is right, and keeping my promise to myself to combat racism at every opportunity. I feel good about having the guts to confront the police officers, even though we are conditioned not to question anything they say or do. At the same time, I'm really nervous that I'm going to have some sort of star next to my name now, so that I get pulled over all the time for stupid things.
What I saw was atrocious. The police officer in question did NOTHING to try to de-escalate the situation, and in fact, made it far worse. The officer /and/ the two people on the street were in each other's faces yelling at each other, hurling insults. The two people were yelling about racial profiling, and the officer was yelling at the people to get away from the car. At one point, the officer said, "Get your black ass on the sidewalk." As you might expect, this caused an explosive reaction from the young man on the street. From the safety of his police car, the same officer yelled to the man, "Go back to the South Side where you belong!" The young man being addressed escalated further, and began to yell things like, "You don't know where I live! I'm from [some other place], and you better not come around there!" I was horrified and mortified, and made a mental note of the number of the police car (#14) because I planned to call the police department and let them know about the inappropriateness of racial insults.
A few minutes later, a second police car (#16) pulls behind the first one and at first I think she is going to de-escalate the situation. She was speaking calmly and trying to calm the people down, but they kept yelling. For reasons that entirely escape me, the female officer got right in the people's faces and screamed, "STOP SHOUTING AT ME!" Bad form... very bad form. Of course, the people kept yelling and gesturing with their hands, and the female officer yelled, "Stop pointing at me!" When the woman didn't stop, the female officer grabbed the woman's hand and thrust it downward. I was thinking, 'Hoo boy, this is not good.'
The next step, of course, is that the man and woman get even /more/ upset, and the woman starts hollering about assault (justifiably) and the man starts hollering about how all cops are bitches and pigs and whatnot. Finally, in a fit of sheer stupidity, the man on the street yells, "I support terrorism against the Columbus Police Department!" and "I am going to bomb the police station if you arrest me." Brilliant, I know. So of course, the female officer asks for his ID, and he starts running away, and then I couldn't see anything (cars in the way), but the man is screaming, and they have him face down on the ground (the male and female officers) and they are yelling, "Stop resisting!" It was a horrible display of abuse of force. They cuffed the second guy, put him in the second car, and in the next minute or so, there were THREE more police cars and a police van.
When all was said and done, and every police officer had left except one who wasn't there at all, I walked over to him and asked if he was making a report. I told him I wanted to report some inappropriate behavior on the parts of the two officers. I told him what I saw, and what I thought about it, and he asked me if I wanted to make a statement. I said yes, and I wrote one, complete with name, address, and telephone number.
I feel good about sticking up for those people, and for pointing out flaws in the way the officers handled the situation. I feel good about doing what is right, and keeping my promise to myself to combat racism at every opportunity. I feel good about having the guts to confront the police officers, even though we are conditioned not to question anything they say or do. At the same time, I'm really nervous that I'm going to have some sort of star next to my name now, so that I get pulled over all the time for stupid things.
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no subject
Date: 2003-09-11 02:26 pm (UTC)HOWEVER, after all is said and done, I think you were well within your rights to express your concerns to the officer. I certainly respect that you did that.
no subject
Date: 2003-09-11 02:31 pm (UTC)Regardless, there was no need for her to get in their face like that. How is there a mob mentality with *2* people? After all, one of the other officers who came later talked the shouting woman down with little effort. He just talked to her with respect and listened to what she had to say. It's not rocket science.
Any person who is potentially involved with escalating individuals receives training on what to do and what not to do. Heck, I learned not to do any of those things in a freaking 3-hour workshop at my old job. Rule 1 - don't fuel the fire. Rule 2 - racial insults are wrong. Jeeze!
As for dominance, I simply don't agree with that at all. Yes, it is an officer's job to uphold the laws, and to control scenes. This was not scene control. These officers made the scene worse.