I think I just became Public Enemy #5.

[judecorp]

While 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.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I hate to say this because it seems that you were doing what you thought was right, but you are wrong in so many ways. First of all, many blacks scream racism when they want to make a scene. I have a big problem with that. (The best way to keep yourself down is to LIKE it there) Screaming about 'racial profiling' is just as bad as 'sit your black ass down'. And because I use the term 'black', am I racist? The term 'african-american is ridiculous, politically-correct nonsense. In the REAL world, we use terms like black, white, asain, middle eastern, etc. Just remember, racism is perpetuated against everyone, but only blacks yell amd scream and whine about things until they are granted SPECIAL treatment. I don't hear asians doing that, although just as much racism is perpetuated against them. It's those who scream loudest that you are forced to pay attention to. It's sad, actually, that people would want to voluntarily segregate themselves. But back to the original subject, You don't know why the man was being arrested and the officer wasn't using excessive force, but you describe what you saw as 'atrocious'. I can't see your point. Do you think that the cops shouldn't be arresting people. Maybe if someone commits a crime against you, the cops can just tell you "well we know who did it, but we cant go arrest him, we may need to use force and then we'll be in trouble..so we'll just call him up and ask him to turn himself in, but other than that, our hands are tied." It seems thats what would make you happy. I can agree that most cops are bullies and bitches, but you had no idea why that man was being arrested. You mentioned that the woman was screaming at the second officer and waving her finger in her face...that would be assault and she could have been arrested. The officer was nice and simply pushed her hand down, using justifyable force, it is not assault. Familiarize yourself with the law before complaining about it. Then you say of the man who threatened to bomb the police station that you couldnt see what was happening while he was being arrested after he ran (more gronds for justifiable force), but you would like to make a complaint and report what you saw. Well which is it, did you see it or not? You cakll it a 'horrible display of abuse of force, but the guy essentially threatened to kill the entire police force. Not to mention that you said you couln't see what was going on. You truly are misguided. It seems to be that you are too idealistic and not a bit realistic. Cops abuse their power everyday, nothing you mentioned even came close to that. The officers could have arrested everyone there but chose not to. Screaming and yelling in the street at an officer while he is trying to make an arrest is grounds for arrest, even if the officer was doing something wrong, which isn't the case from what you have described. If you don't like the way our police officers do their job, if you don't agree with the legal system or the rule of law, or our society in general, do something about it. (making a illegitamate complaint is not doing something about it, by the way) There are much bigger problems in this world than a black man being arrested and you THINKING it was unjustified or based on race. There are children being blown to bits in wars, our president and attorney general are nazis and all of our freedoms are being taken away. So, you're free to be wrong for now, but for how long. Get a new hobby. Leftism requires some rationality and intelligenge.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for letting everyone know who you are. At least I have the guts to put my name to my thoughts and actions.

1. The man was arrested for jaywalking, at an intersection with no crosswalks.

2. There is a continuum of racism, and Asians are closest to white people on that continuum.

3. The Columbus Police Department has a history of racial profiling against African Americans.

4. You weren't on my street corner that day, were you? I didn't think so.

Thank you, drive through. Next time leave your name, though. And use paragraphs.