UMD police beating caught on video
Secret_Chimp
915 Posts
This is so fucked. The kid that you see getting brutally beaten in this video hired the law firm I work at to represent him in court. He is literally skipping down the street singing the MD cheer until he turns the corner and encounters masked police officers on horses and armed with batons. This is from during the 'riot' following the MD/Duke game. Here's the kicker: they are charging HIM with assault. You should see the police report, they say that he attacked the officers, causing the horses to freak out, ultimately resulting in his injuries. Check out the cop spraying pepper spray at the witnesses to make them disperse.
Comments
-the kid approaches the horse and touches it on the nose in what seems to be a playful or friendly gesture but technically,that is an assault. seems pretty open and shut on the law but it can't be in the public interest to criminally prosecute such a benign and harmless act that caused no suffering to the horse or anyone whatsoever. what possible societal need would there be in prosecuting this dude?
-were the cops pissed off by his happy go lucky demeanour and failure to pay them respect (read: display the requisite fear)? is it possible that the police were so tightly wound they just lashed out? did they think the kid was so intoxicated and possibly dangerous that he needed to be dealt with forcefully?
-you see those cops thwacking him with batons even after he is down and apparently totally incapacitated. the cops are going to have to come up with a pretty rich story to justify that.
ps. they cracked his head open and broke his arm.
Part of what's so maddening about it all is the police waited until after all the kids came out of the game to do anything. Instead of making their appearance known preemptively they came out of nowhere in riot gear, beating their shields like the gestapo. If you look at other videos from that night you can see crowds of people totally shocked and surprised by their sudden appearance. People running in fear. They dealt with a much worse riot about 7 years ago, same exact situation. You'd think they would have planned a little better. Not a single cop had a megaphone. These police are known for this shit, and they wanted some action that night.
that said, i find it pretty much impossible to justify the actions of the police on that video. university students coming out of football games are expected to be goof-balls we demand more of those we entrust to enforce the law.
you certainly seem to be trying your hardest to do just that.
don't worry, Rockadelic will be here any minute to explain how it's all the kid's fault.
I dunno, I watched the close-up a few times over, but I can't see him actually touching the horse. He has hand out, in what looks like a defensive (maybe not the right word) posture, as the mounted officer appears to be moving toward him. To me, it looks like he got taken down before he even had a chance to touch the horse.
This is
I could imagine the police on horse, saying something like "you can't go this way" and maybe the kid showed the slightest resistance in saying "why?" and then fatass police officer bumrushed him like he was fighting somebody at a frat party.
Bad looks on both ends.
let me be clear: i think it is completely abhorrent and criminal how the police on that video acted. full stop.
A serious threat to cops in riot gear?
Do i have to flip a car over?
Does smashing Mr.Hooper's window prove anything?
Was this a championship?
F*ck It im gonna party my ass off!!!!!!WHOOOOOoooooo!!!
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Do I have to beat these kids heads in?
Dont we have non-lethal weapons in 2010?
"Hello 911, yeah - there's been a burglary!"
"Nah - dont send nobody out here - im takin off from work to find them myself!"
At the same time, maybe these videos will enlighten people that you don't instigate police by prancing around them like fairies or flashing photographs of them at every corner. Treat 'em like a gang, in my opinion, especially when they're on alert like that. I mean would u skip towards a couple gang members if they looked like they meant business? That's essentially what's happening here.
First of all, I'm telling you- the kid came from around the corner. I've seen the entire video, in high definition on a big screen. You can hear his friend behind him in total surprise yell "woah, come back! come back!" They had no idea there was a riot squad around the corner.
Secondly, that kid didnt come within 6 feet of that horse. The cops on the horses approached him.
Third, nothing even happened. The kid was just standing there. He was probably a little drunk, so maybe he was slow to react. But these guys had no intention of reasoning or even talking to him before deciding to beat the crap out of him.
All three of those cops should get locked up. I just found out that the FBI is investigating this. In case you're not familiar with the PG Police, up until a year and a half ago or so the entire force was under DOJ supervision due to excessive use of force and corruption.
I'll chime in with a hearty F*ck THE POLICE. Pretty much what I do for a living is help to prove them liars in court. Most of the time it's pretty easy, because usually they're idiots.
You're smarter than that dude....I've always supported the prosecution and just punishment of any scumbag Cop that breaks the law.
I've defended the great majority of good cops who get stereotyped and thrown into the giant "F*ck The Police" box and will continue to do so.
I have no problem with saying "F*ck THESE Police".
How long of a sentence is it? Looks like they got plenty of evidence on the cops in this clip.
For f*cking real. This is a no brainer. The horse very clearly approaches him. Even if he said something stupid, force would not be allowed unless he posed a physical threat. He will get paid and paid very well for his troubles.
F*ck The Court Officers Too!!!!!
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/video-of-confrontation-after-u.html
A general "F*ck the police" attitude doesn't help anybody but the fact that scenes like these seem to repeat themselves with frightening regularity shows that this is more than a problem with a few bad apples.
Yuichi saying
Unless this was said in a sarcastic way... damn, you're saying you should better be prepared to just run from the police that gets paid to protect and to serve you? You should be afraid to take pictures of them? You blame people for not running away from them and for filming or taking photographs?
There is something very wrong here. I've only encountered a similar attitude of the police and towards the police in corrupted third world countries.