It was at that moment on live television that the man was hit by a county police car. Let me correct that, he was run over. The man flipped over, his head smashing into the windsheild and a shoe flying some 30 feet into the air from the impact.
The police then swarmed on top of the criminal. The man was then stood up and walked away – obviously dazed at the least. No ambulance was called, nor any first aid done.
When I described this to a friend of mine at 6pm, The conversation went like this:
“Was the guy Black or White? Why did they move him?”
I responded with “What do yuou think. And they had to move him, there were cameras all over the place. They just ran him over and had to show that he was ok. You know one of them had to know that there were news cameras above them.”
And my friend then went on to say
“Well you know that the on-board camera won’t be working. They’ll come up with a piece of paper that says the think was broken a week ago. ‘Why does it look like a billyclub smashed it?’ Dunno but the CD player doesn’t work either’”
“Yeah, and the dog pissed on the camera. Yeah that’s the ticket.”
“No it was the fuse that burned out. The officer was trying to put out the flames from the fuses with his foot, which is why he ran the guy over.”
Now all levity aside, one thing seems obvious to me. The man, who was Black, was visible to me watching the television that had the feed from a helicopter above and partially obscurred by overhanging trees. The county police officer that ran the guy down at around 30 miles per hour had a full unobstructed view. He hit the guy on purpose.
I may not be familiar with police procedures in Houston, but I imagine that running over suspects is not in the manual. I also doubt that failing to provide medical aide for someone they have run over is also outside the books.
Is this going to be a lawsuit? Oh yeah. This guy will gop to jail, he is a criminal after all, but he’s going to get paid for his time. And deservedly so. There were about a half dozen or more officers a couple of seconds behind this guy, with a police helicopter among others above him. He wasn’t going anywhere. And a 1 ½ ton vehicle at 30 miles an hour is excessive in virtually any circumstance.
But the question I want to pose to you is this. When you were reading this post, at what point were you sure the man was Black – before I mentioned it. Was it because of the crime, or the punishment?
If it was the crime, why did you assume he had to be Black? And if it was the punishment why would such excessive force make you sure? Doesn’t that mean that the police are racially biased, and therefore the legal system in America is screwed up? And if that is true as well, why aren’t we fixing it?
3 comments:
The following comment was made at 1800blogger, where I am a contributing author.
Dave Knight
Even in the United Kingdom black guys get a raw deal and I have it on authority from a black friend who has duel American/British nationality that the race situation in the USA is worse than here in Britain. There is an exception that to this. In recent years Muslim Asians have been the subject of a witch hunt by the right wing press and they get searched more, shot and beaten by the British police.
I saw this live on the local Ohio news. It caught my attention because I was born and raised in Houston. I must admit, I didnt know what the "suspect" did (and I still don't) but NOTHING gives our so called "protectors" the right to serve up their own brand of "justice" by running ANYONE over, color be damned. I was almost brought to tears out of anger and concern for the man...I was sure he was dead or paralyzed. I was glad to see he was able to walk at least, but I really hope this doesnt go unnoticed. I'd be willing to stand up with anyone to say "no, we will not accept this behaviour from ANYONE, especially not out Law Enforcement!"
Anonymous,
I agree that this is unjustified. I agree that no suspect should be treated in this manner. I agree that police DO NOT have the right to do such things to anyone.
But I have to also note something.
In Houston the police run over a Black man, In Philadelphia 15 cops beat on 3 Black men that are laying on the ground, in New York police routinely shoot Black men with enough bullets to start a small war, In South Carolina a Black NY Times reporter is assaulted by police for doing his job, and infamously in California 6 cops taser and beat on a subdued Black man.
This isn’t rare occurrences, or random. This is systematic related actions of police forces across the nation. And there are no equivalents to police actions against Whites, though there are similar cases of police actions against Hispanics. What does that say?
And the media only presents these cases by accident. The major media also takes the side of the police in each case immediately. Listen to the newscasters as the police take away the man in the video. Note how they comment how he is “still trying to get away” after being hit by the car. Not how they say he is ok when police pick him up and walk him to the car, though the man is obviously limping and dazed. Note that no ambulance was called, and though his head hit the windshield hard, there is no concern if he has a concussion, internal bleeding, broken or fractured bones. Not one officer checked him over or started any first aid.
When have you ever seen an officer not seek medical aid for a White suspect? Which is standard procedure for all law enforcement as far as I know (the lawyers out there can correct me if I am wrong).
This event was concluded wrongly on many levels. And while some might say race is not involved, when you pay attention to all the incidents (of which I only mentioned a few nationally known occurrences) and connect the dots I can’t see how you can deny race is involved.
Something must be done. Because I’m tired of having a bull’s-eye on me as I walk down the street and a police officer passes me.
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