I would hate to live in your world, spdrun. We agree about many things, including our distaste for the militarization of police departments, the Patriot Act, police action against political protesters, pot smokers, etc. But you come across as someone who has had no experience with violent criminals, either as a victim or law enforcement.
Personally, I’ve had experience with violent criminals, and I have ZERO compassion for them.
A tourist standing on a sidewalk looking at houses isn’t a violent criminal. Someone who attacks said tourist and BREAKS HIS NECK is a violent criminal.
I’ve been victimized by violent criminals before. Beaten up pretty bad once, carjacked another time. This does NOT in any way excuse police acting with excessive brutality in my book.
Screw that cop. Hope he rots in prison and comes out a broken man. Chances are, this isn’t the first time when he’s exceeded his authority and the bounds of reasonable force.[/quote]
Correct, what he was doing did not constitute a violent crime, but you have to understand that many criminals DO walk around looking into houses/garages when they are casing a location.
The cops don’t know he’s a tourist who is simply looking at houses (and there’s no saying he wasn’t casing houses, BTW). That’s what they were trying to ascertain when they were questioning him. The fact that he apparently kept walking away/resisting them is what caused them to put him on the ground.
Understand that what the caller and the cops were probably trying to do here was to prevent a crime from being committed in the first place. So, I have to ask: What do you think a criminal looks like before he is about to commit a crime? Do you think citizens and cops should try to prevent crimes from occurring in the first place, or should they just take notes after the fact?[/quote]
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. B. Franklin.
we could do all sorts of things to catch more criminals. We could strip search anyone who looks shady on the street. Hell, at this point I’m sure gramps would’ve greatly preferred a vigorous anal cavity search in broad daylight than the treatment he got. He’d probably give all his money to wind back the clock and just be subjected to that.
You can call the police. You can watch out. But you can’t detain someone just because a crime might occur and you have a bad feeling about someone. And definitely please don’t slam that person on the ground if they try to walk away when they’ve done nothing wrong and you have no cause to stop them.
