Justified Use of Police Violence?
Any moral person upon reading this article located on the MSNBC News would most likely think to themselves, "What is this world coming to?." At least, that was one among the many troubled thoughts that rushed through my head while reading it. According to the article, a sixty-four year old retired elementary teacher was caught on tape being violently beaten by police in New Orleands.
The retired teacher, Robert Davis, had returned to the storm-devastaded city to check on a family owned property. While walking through the streets at night in the French Quarter, three policemen are said to have assumed that Davis was intoxicated, a charge he ardently denied, and proceeded on to beat him. Although Davis is black and all three policemen are white, the police spokesman Marlon Defillo claimed that race wasn't an issue. The Police Superintendent Warren Riley, in addition, is reported to have said that the video only presented "a portion of that incident" and "The actions that were observed on this video are certainly unacceptable by this department." (No kidding)
Nonetheless, after Davis had been severelly punched in the head, "kneed and pushed to the sidewalk with blood streaming down his arm and into the gutter," (can they get anymore graphic?) the "police said Davis was booked on public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation."
Even though all actions (or at least, a very good deal of it) was caught on tape, the officers were pleaded not guilty on Monday to battery charges.
This incident can be related to an event recently learned in our Ap History class which took place in March 1770, the Boston Massacre. Unlike the Davis incident, however, the people of Boston started the event by "taunting" the British soldiers on duty at the Custom House, throwing snowballs and rocks at them. This growing mob of angry colonists led the soldiers to panic and in turn fire into the crowd, killing five people. The soldiers, being defended by the law-abiding John Adams, were also declared not guilty (in this situation, however, it seems more justified than the Davis case). Even though the causes of these two events differ, the results were pretty much the same: police brutality.
The retired teacher, Robert Davis, had returned to the storm-devastaded city to check on a family owned property. While walking through the streets at night in the French Quarter, three policemen are said to have assumed that Davis was intoxicated, a charge he ardently denied, and proceeded on to beat him. Although Davis is black and all three policemen are white, the police spokesman Marlon Defillo claimed that race wasn't an issue. The Police Superintendent Warren Riley, in addition, is reported to have said that the video only presented "a portion of that incident" and "The actions that were observed on this video are certainly unacceptable by this department." (No kidding)
Nonetheless, after Davis had been severelly punched in the head, "kneed and pushed to the sidewalk with blood streaming down his arm and into the gutter," (can they get anymore graphic?) the "police said Davis was booked on public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation."
Even though all actions (or at least, a very good deal of it) was caught on tape, the officers were pleaded not guilty on Monday to battery charges.
This incident can be related to an event recently learned in our Ap History class which took place in March 1770, the Boston Massacre. Unlike the Davis incident, however, the people of Boston started the event by "taunting" the British soldiers on duty at the Custom House, throwing snowballs and rocks at them. This growing mob of angry colonists led the soldiers to panic and in turn fire into the crowd, killing five people. The soldiers, being defended by the law-abiding John Adams, were also declared not guilty (in this situation, however, it seems more justified than the Davis case). Even though the causes of these two events differ, the results were pretty much the same: police brutality.
posted by Anonymous | 9:42 PM
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