LAPD VS Unarmed Women

I stared this blog nearly four months ago after reading about a Dekalb County police officer who kicked a pregnant woman in the stomach.

Last month while my girlfriend and I were driving from Virginia to Texas we passed through Dekalb County Georgia.  The only reason I even realized it was because I saw a police speed trap on the side of the road.  When I saw Dekalb County proudly emblazoned on the side of the car it was almost like seeing a celebrity, a member of the police department who inspired me to start this blog.

On the entire other side of the country though, the LAPD has spent the past few days putting Dekalb County's Dickhead Cops to shame.  I normally paraphrase and quote the articles I find, but in this case I think it is more appropriate that I just copy and paste the entire blog from Boing Boing that popped up in my Google Reader this afternoon:

A drug-addicted woman who dropped off her two children at a police station because she recognized that she was unable to care for them was tracked down by LAPD officers who reportedly told her to "get your fat ass in the car," threatened to stomp her genitals, then followed through on that threat.

35-year-old Alesia Thomas is reported to have been "combative." After being stomped in the groin, she suffocated while being taken into custody, and died.

Why do we know about this, and why are five LAPD officers now under internal and criminal investigation in her death? The altercation in front of her apartment was captured by a patrol car's video camera.

This news comes in the same week that Los Angeles Police chief Charlie Beck vowed an investigation into another video that shows two LAPD officers body-slam another woman, a 5'4" tall mother and nurse targeted for using her cell phone while driving.

Michelle Jordan, 34, pulled over into a Del Taco parking lot after being flagged down by police. She then got out of her car. Surveillance video from the Del Taco camera shows that two male police officers slammed her into the ground—twice. Then, they exchange a celebratory fist-bump.

To protect and serve.

Empire State Shooting

By now we've all heard of the shooting that took place in front of the Empire State Building the morning of August 24th.  One victim dead and the gunman shot by two NYPD police officers also dead, with nine wounded and bleeding out on the streets.  A gory scene for sure, but what might not be making the rounds as quickly as the initial news is that ALL nine of those wounded during the shooing were victims of the police officers trigger fingers.

Fox News of all places had this to say about the wounded bystanders:

All nine bystanders caught in the crossfire of a shooting outside New York City's iconic Empire State Building were wounded by two police officers who had never fired their weapons on duty, authorities confirmed Saturday.

While the shooter did turn around abruptly and aim his gun at the officers giving them every right to open fire, you'd think there would be more consequences against the NYPD and the two officers in general for injuring nine innocent civilians.  Further testing after the gruesome morning events proved that:

"it appears that all nine of the victims were struck either by fragments or by bullets fired by police,"

Thank goodness none of the injuries are life threatening, however this doesn't take away from the fact that these nine people who were walking down the street on what seemed to be any given morning were abruptly hospitalized due to shoddy police work.  Unsurprising to absolutely no one Commisioner Ray Kelly applauds the work of his officers, being quoted as saying the officers had:

"a gun right in their face" and "responded quickly, and they responded appropriately."

As well as:

"These officers, having looked at the tape myself, had absolutely no choice,"

Once again as proven time and time again, if you're wearing a badge it is legal to shoot and maim just about anyone for any reason.  If you don't have that badge though expect to be murdered in cold blood for all to see.  Instilling that fear in the populace so we all know, don't mess with the police!

As always this blog is skewed towards putting a negative spin on police actions.  I was not there and have read the same news as many other people around the nation have.  I am sure that these officers did what it took to protect their lives and in the moment what they thought they needed to do to protect bystanders.

It is just very sad that those bystanders ended up being the victims of sixteen rounds shot at a perpetrator in an extremely robust section of New York City.