Police in New Orleans at it again.
As if the the New Orleans Police weren't under enough scutiny, They got caught manhandling a a guy on Bourbon St. with what seems to be accessive force.The problems in New Orleans just seems systematic and engrained into their system. It looks as though there is more that needs fixing than the levys. One has to also to wonder how the police officers behave when there are no cameras.
"We have great concern with what we saw this morning," Defillo said after he and about a dozen other high-ranking police department officials watched the APTN footage Sunday. "It's a troubling tape, no doubt about it. ... This department will take immediate action."
The assaults come as the department, long plagued by allegations of brutality and corruption, struggles with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the resignation last month of Police Superintendent Eddie Compass.
The APTN tape shows an officer hitting the man at least four times in the head Saturday night as he stood outside a bar near Bourbon Street. The suspect, Robert Davis, appeared to resist, twisting and flailing as he was dragged to the ground by four officers. Another of the four officers then kneed Davis and punched him twice. Davis was face-down on the sidewalk with blood streaming down his arm and into the gutter.
Meanwhile, a fifth officer ordered APTN producer Rich Matthews and the cameraman to stop recording. When Matthews held up his credentials and explained he was working, the officer grabbed the producer, leaned him backward over a car, jabbed him in the stomach and unleashed a profanity-laced tirade.
posted by Liberty @ 8:37 PM
7 Comments:
Liberty, it gets even better: the police said the guy (not the cameraman - the first guy) was drunk, but as it turns out, he's a teacher who hasn't had a drink for 25 years.
-V
Wasn't that hysterical, V? Shame is New Orleans hasn't got a proverbial you know what to you know what in...no suits for police cruelty would be paid! - Equality
Yeah, Equality - it's unbelievable. The guy is totally lucid and they're treating him like a drunk lunatic - it's not like it was just one punch either - he was covered in blood - I hope the media continues to cover this case becuase I would be really interested to see how those officers attempt to handle themselves in court. NOPD seriously needs to screen their few remaining officers, maybe even start from scratch. Every department (probably) has a few crooked officers, but this is just nuts. New Orleans is in distress, not lockdown. Why would anyone move back there after seeing all of this social disorder... what reason do they have to feel safe going home when their so-called protectors beat them for no perceivable reason? And even if there were a reason, which I doubt, there's no way it could possibly justify the beating in that video. One hit in self-defense is one thing, but they definitely had the power to slip on those cuffs if they had the power to make him bleed like that.
-V
New Orleans was a wonderful place, almost like visiting another country certainly its own unique culture. The culture within the city was decisivly diferent from just outside the city limits. What realy bothers so many of us who loved this place is it will never be what it was.
Large parts of the City will be bulldozed. Many of the relocated have indicated they don't want to go back. And certain idiots have shown how visitors to their tourist center can be treated
Dear V - you were too young to remember Rodney King in East LA, but would be interested in the story in context. More topically, (as this is the eve of Yom Kippur) check out some references to "kandelnicht" or candlenight, candlenicht in Germany, pre WWII.
I always loved New Orleans, for its charm and character - and most especially the music, but I had to admit a little bit of shock and fear when I discovered around ten years ago, that famous neo-nazi, David Duke considered it hub and home. This is/was the land of burning crosses not too long ago in a historical context. -Equality
Dear Equality,
I may have been too young to truly understand the whole Rodney King thing when it happened, but I remember it. The local public middle school I almost went to had Rodney King riots and it's the first national news frenzy I remember. The burning crosses thing has happened in so many places, so yes, historical context is necessary. People need to get over their burning crosses. Soon. Welcome to chruch versus state. Coming never to a nation which desperately needs it.
-V
That brings to mind the banning of just about anything religous in schools. If I remember correctly, congress added two words to the pledge of allegience to the United States then just as quickly stated that it could not be recited in school.....after many many years of reciting it before class every school day. Coupled with what has been going on elsewhere as in NO, it looks as if our country is going to hell in a hand basket.
Chuck
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