Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Andrea]

Originally Posted by Miss Tick

Well they discovered who was the cause of the incident at that school in SC. It wasn't the cop who assaulted that young girl, it wasn't the teacher who stood there and watched, it wasn't even the student who apparently brought this violence on herself by not following orders and maintaining the most calmly non aggressive way of sitting I've ever seen. Surprisingly all this was caused by the student who filmed it.

http://www.alternet.org/civil-libert...urbing-schools

I guess we have the answer to that age old philosophical question "if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it does it make a sound?"
It would seem the powers that be there in SC think the answer is NO.

However, I do see some holes in their logic.
There were people around to hear the sound of that girl being assaulted. If you muzzle them that doesn't erase the deed. Controlling the flow of information forever changes the integrity of the scenario. Not to mention what it says about the integrity of the people in power.

I do not read that article the way you appear to have read it.

No one made the officer throw the girl across the room. He is at fault. Not anyone else. Doesn't matter what she did to have the officer called (short of physical violence on another), nor what another student did, the response was excessive. The officer was abusive, and should be fired and charged.

[Cin]

Originally Posted by Andrea

I do not read that article the way you appear to have read it.

No one made the officer throw the girl across the room. He is at fault. Not anyone else. Doesn't matter what she did to have the officer called (short of physical violence on another), nor what another student did, the response was excessive. The officer was abusive, and should be fired and charged.

Of course the officer should be fired and charged with assault. It certainly was not Officer Ben Fields first rodeo, he has a history of being abusive, so in my mind that makes a host of people, his superior officers, the entire police department and whoever else turned a blind eye to his violent behavior, accountable for what he does. I don't know what article you are referring to that you read that I took a different way, but this is the article I posted:

South Carolina Teen Who Filmed School Cop's Assault is Arrested for "Disturbing Schools"
This story keeps getting worse.

By Adam Johnson / AlterNet

October 27, 2015

UPDATE: This has gotten much worse. Niya Kenny, 18, who filmed the now infamous arrest has been arrested herself for "disturbing schools." She's out on $1000 bail.

WLTX reports that Kenny was trying to "stand up for her friend" when she filmed the assault, telling Loren Thomas of WLTX, "I was crying, screaming and crying like a baby. I was in disbelief." Both Kenny and her mother are understandably skeptical as to why she was arrested for "disturbing schools."

"But looking at the video, who was really disturbing schools?" Kenny's mother told WLTX. "Was it my daughter or the officer who came into the classroom and did that to the young girl?"
http://www.alternet.org/civil-libert...urbing-schools

I was being sarcastic when I said "Well they discovered who was the cause of the incident at that school in SC. It wasn't the cop who assaulted that young girl, it wasn't the teacher who stood there and watched, it wasn't even the student who apparently brought this violence on herself by not following orders and maintaining the most calmly non aggressive way of sitting I've ever seen. Surprisingly all this was caused by the student who filmed it."

I was also trying to point out that it's insane to spend time trying to cover up incidents like this by intimidating the people who bring them to the attention of the public, as though if no one sees the abusive incident it did not happen. Thus the reference to if a tree falls in the woods.

Instead those with the power should be doing something about the individuals who perpetrate this type of violence. To me it is particularly despicable when those people whose job it is to protect and serve, instead harm.

Also just for clarity's sake when I said "the student who apparently brought this violence on herself by not following orders and maintaining the most calmly non aggressive way of sitting I've ever seen", I was once again trying to be funny (when will I learn that while I may be a lot of things, funny ain't one of them). I find it ludicrous to imagine that someone sitting as passively as that student was sitting when that police officer assaulted her could ever be seen deserving that kind of treatment. I don't doubt she was being difficult and that's why the officer was called. That's a problem in and of itself. Why when a student is not presenting as violent is it ever necessary to call for police back up? When are teenagers not being difficult? It's their job. (trying to be funny again). What I mean is that as long as a student is not being violent no one has a right to attack them the way that police officer did. There are plenty of ways to deal with someone who won't leave when you ask them to. I have worked with difficult populations through the years, including troubled adolescents, and I've found that it is way too acceptable to deal with teenagers aggressively, much more acceptable than with many other populations. I see that attitude at the route of the problem although at this point it has gone beyond that and needs to be dealt with as a crime. But it would also be a good idea to examine this inherent belief that aggression and violence is acceptable in dealing with non violent students. And we haven't touched on the reality of how black students are going to be treated more aggressively than white students in any given scenario. We need to take systemically sanctioned violence out of schools. In this incident it was ridiculous to drag that girl like that. She was asked to leave after refusing to hand over her phone and she refused according to what I read. That hardly merits that kind of violence. In my mind if you want to separate someone and they are being passively resistant, perhaps you could consider moving everyone else? But I think I digress here.

Anyway back to the issue, this is not the first time attempts have been made to punish people for filming crimes.

[Andrea]

I am sorry. I read your post to say the young woman that objected to how the girl was treated had started the incident. Thank you for clarifying.

[Kätzchen]

http://journalistsresource.org/studi...iew-statistics


The scholarly article, featured above, talks about difficulties in establishing stricter methods of accountability, concerning excessive force (read: brutality) -- with regard for the slow growing body of research on this social issue since the race riots of 1992.

Item of interest noted: It's not clear how the public can utilize a reporting system (which is supposedly already in place at local, state or federal levels in the justice system). If I read the article correctly, the DOJ claim is that the reliability of aggregate information culled from established reporting system (s) is not and cannot supply accurate samplings of case material for the DOJ to recommend or draw new standards of accountability, so that police brutality can be monitored more closely and enforce efforts to eradicate police brutality.

I thought it was an interesting article, for those who would like to read about this social issue.

Eta: thank you Miss Tick for your commentary. I appreciate your take on this issue.

[Cin]

Originally Posted by Andrea

I am sorry. I read your post to say the young woman that objected to how the girl was treated had started the incident. Thank you for clarifying.

Ah, I see. Well that was me trying for levity, poking fun at the ridiculous and whatnot. I don't know when I will accept that humor in my hands is unrecognizable at best. I'm glad the second post made a little more sense. Sorry about the confusion.

You know it's kind of sad how I say it, but I must not believe it because I know I will try to funny again, probably my very next post.

[SirenManda]

I've been reading over a few of the articles, and I'm heartbroken for the child. It's a failure on any adults part to stand by and watch a child get brutally pulled from a chair. I do not care if she didn't get up, I don't think it warrants the level of brutality she received. I would feel the same if it were my own child, no one should be putting their hands on your children. I would start a civil suit, something is wrong with how much force the officer believes was needed. We aren't talking about a riot outside, we are talking about children in a class room. It's shocking to see how everyone stays silent and doesn't try to help her.

[Blade]

I have to say when I saw this video my first reaction was, if someone did that to my kid, they would be arresting me, cuz I'd be on him like a duck on a june bug. I'd deal with her at home. Some of my family who are SC educators and administrators and some in law enforcement didn't agree with me.

First of all I would have been mortified not to comply with what the teacher said to begin with. Secondly I heard she threw a punch at him (felony). Third, she hadn't actually done anything to be thrown around the room and I felt the officer was way out of line and excessive in his choice of how he responded to the situation and allowing it to escalate clearly on his part.

This evening I saw on the news that he has been fired which I agree with. However there are still charges against the girl. I haven't heard what they are, I'm betting they will be dropped, due to the circumstances.

The Sheriff said on the news that the officers actions were not consistent with his training. That he had several other options. He said his decision was made by asking himself is this the kind of person I want wearing our badge. The answer was no.

I stand with Jackhammer, pick the desk up and carry her to the hallway. No confrontation.

[Kätzchen]

Unless you're a person of color, which my biological sons are, it's hard (really hard) for people who are not of color to grasp the tidal wave of no feasible recourse or available remedies of any immediacy when things go really wrong.

Wrong as in losing your life to immediate death or being locked up in prison based on false facts, and then on top of it being assaulted by law enforcement officials, then let down by the justice system.

I know it first hand.

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