Adam Kokesh served in Fallujah as a Marine, then got in
hot water for appearing at an anti-war protest in uniform. This weekend, he was brutalized by US Park police for silently dancing at the Jefferson Memorial as part of a small flash mob. The event was captured on
video, which is fascinating and surreal.
posted by eugenen
on May 28, 2011 -
241 comments
We have heard how the officer – who had been expected to remain stationed by his van – strayed from his post after grappling with a protester he tried to arrest for spraying graffiti on a colleague's vehicle.
He then swung a coat at another protester, pulled a BBC cameraman to the ground, used a palm strike against a man trying to get through a cordon and finally pushed a man he said was threatening a dog handler.
Harwood said he was confused, isolated and fearful of his life, and was dealing with a "very hostile" crowd.
When we resume in the next few minutes, we should hear finally about his encounter with Tomlinson.
Liveblogging the Ian Tomlinson inquest: Police Constable
Simon Harwood explains his alleged attack on
Ian Tomlinson
posted by orthogonality
on Apr 5, 2011 -
77 comments
Oakland's Turf Feinz (
previously)
dance in memorial for Oscar Grant (
previously). While the riots in Oakland received more media coverage (
previously,
previously), there's been
several memorial murals painted across Oakland and
numerous songs channeling local anger,
outrage,
observations,
lamentations,
reflections, and
frustration. The news gave the nation broken windows and burning cars, while the town continues peaceful protest, 2 years later.
posted by yeloson
on Jan 1, 2011 -
11 comments
On 1st April 2009, a newspaper seller called Ian Tomlinson was returning to his home, through the middle of the G20 protests. He was not part of those protests. He was struck from behind, by a masked policeman who had covered up his identity numbers, and fell to the ground. A few minutes later, Ian Tomlinson was dead (
previously on mefi)
Today, the
Crown Prosecution Service (motto 'Fair, Fearless and Effective') announced that there would be no criminal charges against the policeman
(CPS statement ,
Guardian coverage).
[more inside]
posted by reynir
on Jul 22, 2010 -
59 comments
BART Police stripped of Tasers. After a sergeant attempted to taser a 13 year old boy, fleeing on bicycle, BART has decided to remove Tasers from the BART Police force.
“What are you going to do about Tasers? What are you going to do with officer who does something silly like shoot their Taser out of a window at the victim?” asked Sweet. “BART does not have enough insurance to pay for some of the things we do.” Previously.
posted by yeloson
on Apr 16, 2010 -
62 comments
Video of an unarmed man being shot by a San Bernardino Sheriff's Deputy while appearing to comply with orders.
Senior Airman Elio Carrion, 21, had been riding as a passenger in a Corvette that was involved in a brief, high-speed chase with the deputy that reached speeds of 100 mph before the Corvette crashed into a fence, authorities said.
The videotape, shot by Chino resident Jose Luis Valdes, shows Carrion sprawled on the ground and repeatedly telling the deputy, "I'm on your side."
The deputy then seems to shout, "Get up!" after which Carrion appears to lean forward.
"I'm going to get up, all right?" he says.
The deputy then fires his gun three or four times from about five feet away.
"Shut … up, you don't get up …!" he shouts.
Moaning in pain, Carrion responds: "You told me to get up."
The deputy then radioed in to dispatch that shots had been fired. [LA Times]
posted by Mijo Bijo
on Feb 2, 2006 -
154 comments
"Keith, Keith, I'm only 31!" Those were the last words of Johnny Gammage, a black motorist who died just inside the city limits of Pittsburgh, when he was pulled over by
police from from some of the Steel City's
wealthiest,
whitest suburbs, some time between 1:47 and 2:10 AM,
10 years ago today. It made
national headlines at the time, but now you won't even find "
Johnny Gammage" in Wikipedia--and while the nation fixes on
a more recent incident, even the city that was torn apart by the scandal of it is passing the tenth anniversary
virtually unnoticed.
posted by jefgodesky
on Oct 12, 2005 -
37 comments
