St. Paul cop tazes black man for sitting on bench. (video) "I'm not your brother."

[zonkers]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=867_1409254807

Dont know if this has been posted but the "I AM NOT YOUR BROTHER" remark about sums it all up. If this victim's story is on the level... and it sure feels like it is, I hope he gets justice.

[logosoco]

1. This is just f'ed up.

I have known most of my life that this stuff goes on . I came upon the cops at the end of them beating my neighbor (they stopped because we came out of our house), so I am not naive, but it is the seeing it on all these real life in the moment videos that gets me even more.

I remember the Rodney King video, and that was pretty, well, let's say "low production value". But the cameras and recorders of today are really showing this in living color.


This stuff has got to stop.

[zonkers]

3. There is something so sad and cruel yet honest about hearing that cop say " I AM NOT YOUR BROTHER".

We are all brothers... and sisters!!!!

[logosoco]

6. We all came from the same place, we all live in the same place,

we are all made with the same stuff. Too many people have forgotten. Especially those "in power".

[Kalidurga]

2. I live in the Twin Cities

this goes on everyday all day long. It usually ends up in just a frisking though and the police send the "suspect" along their merry way you know after asking a bunch of questions and roughing them up.

[Jenoch]

12. Why didn't we see/hear about this last winter?

I too live in the Twin Cities. I don't know how often the roughing up happens, but I would rather these stories came out right when they happen.

[Kalidurga]

14. I just read this in another thread on the issue

his phone was confisticated.

I also thought about things I have seen and this is always coming in on the action in the middle or near the tail end, but I have seen things I question to myself at least. I think I might have to start recording some of this BS I see.

[Jenoch]

17. I'm in the suburbs and don't see a lot of

cops as they interact with the public. If you see cops doing something that you think is wrong I think you should video record it with your phone (or camera).

I think the only time it is wrong to video record cops in a public place is a medical call. Of course that might be difficult to define.

The guy in this situation certainly seemed to be police behaving badly. He was simply waiting for his kids and chose not to talk to the police. Of course, if he gave them his name and told them hexwas waiting for his kids to get out of school, this entire episode may not have happened. Personally, I would have identified myself to the cops even if the law says I don't need to. Of course, I'm a middle aged white guy who has relatives who are LEO.

[Kalidurga]

20. They weren't interested in his identity

they just wanted to hassle him pure and simple. If that is what they wanted they would have charged him with something. They didn't and the cops are clearly in the wrong. They do not have the right to harrass people just because. They just don't.

[Jenoch]

29. Of course they didn't have the right to hassle him.

I wonder what is going to happen now. I have seen this story on KARE 11.

I don't know if he was in a public area orcan employees only area, this shpild not have happened. I'm not a black man that has been harrassed, but I would have told the cops my name and that I was waiting for my children to be let out of school.

[riverwalker]

28. 2 police shootings in 24 hours today

I get Mpls Star Trib twitter feeds, the police shot two people in separate incidents, one for "throwing rocks".

[Jenoch]

30. I'm not going to judge the cops in either of these

situations until I gave more information. I don't automatically defend cops, but I don't automatically condemn them either.

[TheKentuckian]

45. What is it that you think you need to know? Just hunting for any lame ass excuse to give a pass.

At no time did the fucking pigs remotely articulate any suspicion of a crime.

[Jenoch]

47. You are confused.

My comments were about two cop shootings that happened the other day in tge Twij Cities. I don't have many details of either incident.

[Jenoch]

32. I just looked up these two police shootings.

The Anoka County situation seemed like a good shoot. If aomebody shoots at LEO, they can certainly shoot back. I don't know enough about the St. Paul situation.

[libdem4life]

4. Even with video and audio evidence...what are the chances. I have faith. The more

it happens and gets out, I hope.

[silverweb]

5. Utterly shameful!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

7. K&R

[salin]

8. I am horrified listening to this.

He is reasonable. He is in discussion. And suddenly - the two officers escalate it into something unnecessary. Am I correct that this happened today?

That is the ONLY hopeful thing - that it is posted on the same day and getting coverage on the net and social media. I hope that it gets pushed into the mainstream media.

This is powerful. Though I missed the part where he got tazed.

He is reasonable in his discussion - even after the escalation and his discussion turns into pleading "I didn't do anything wrong?" "I have to pick my kids up at 10" (all while being arrested with NO explanation of charges that I could discern.)

This needs to be broadly redistributed IMO.

[zonkers]

10. Follow up on story.... It happened in July. Victim identified. Charges were dropped.... more....

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2014/08/28/st-paul-man-cellphone-assault-video-identified-claims-charges-dropped

Here's the dude and his baby.

[salin]

15. Thanks for the follow up.

and what a great picture.

Still think the video needs wide distribution. Add the follow up - it doesn't lessen the power of the video, but gives more humanity to the victim.

(and what an adorable childe!)

[kelliekat44]

38. I agree. It may be dated but it needs to be seen and heard widely. We need to keep calling this

crap every chance we get. If police jobs are dangerous, now you know why. They make more enemies than admirers except for bigots like themselves.

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. and charges filed against the cop???

[Mariana]

22. You're joking, right? nt.

[Liberal_in_LA]

24. no. just hoping

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. The incident happened in January (you can see the snow in some of the video),

but the charges weren't dropped until July.

[salin]

39. ridiculous! That info should be included

when distributing the video. 6 months to clear up? Outrageous.

Thanks for the additional info.

[Aerows]

9. The poor man is practically crying

because he's afraid he's going to lose his job. That's horrible.

If we don't rein in the police in this country, we, as citizens, are all doomed.

[lunasun]

11. +1

[SammyWinstonJack]

16. cops.

[Ed Suspicious]

18. What do these thugs want? Is it simply unquestioned acquiescence?

[ancianita]

21. Gratuitous assault is a crime. The cop should be fired. "Not your brother" crosses a hate line.

[delta17]

23. That was a straight up power trip.

I think this is one of those two Americas things. I am a middle class white guy, and this stuff just doesn't happen to me. I have been arrested twice, and both times the police were pretty cool with me about it. I have been pulled over plenty, I finally got over my lead foot. I got a few tickets, but also got my share of warnings. This video is the exact opposite of my experience with the police.

One time I had to go to my local police station to show my proof of insurance. I was on the way to a construction job. I realized right before the metal detectors that I had a pocketknife on me. The security guy just said "No problem, pick it up on the way out."

[Soylent Brice]

25. I got nauseous at the thought

of what it would actually feel like to have to live under these type of circumstances. My white privilege keeps me ignorant and insulated to the deepest, harshest realities, no matter how much I realize what is going on, and what is happening to people of color in this country. And it terrifies me. And it sickens me.

[BlindTiresias]

26. Ugh

What the hell is the problem with cops?

[bonniebgood]

34. BlindTiresias, It's because we have a Black Man in the White House. I have been

saying this since Jan, 9 2009, when the police shot that young man in the back at a Los Angles train stop. When these cops, doctors, lawyers, bosses etc. see a black man or black person, especially a Black Man, they visualize President Obama's face and the hatred takes over and escalates from there. I will never believe that the 14 year old girl that went in for a tonsil removed ends up brain dead. I believe the visualization was the Presidents daughter. IMO.

[DrewFlorida]

31. This is disgusting, I'm sick and tired of police officers acting like the Gestapo.

I'm tired of police taking the law into their own hands and trampling people's civil rights. I'm tired of watching people with dark skin be abused and treated like second class citizens. I'm tired of watching those who are supposed to protect all citizens, instead behave like the worst criminals in our society! I'm tired of watching people like Cliven Bundy and his band of felons walk free, while law abiding citizens minding their own business are brutalized and murdered by military minded police.

I wish we had someone like Dr Martin Luther King to lead a peaceful civil disobedience movement.

[pansypoo53219]

33. who would jesus taze?

[IrishAyes]

35. Get the ACLU smartphone app

that feeds directly to their secure servers. Then if the cops destroy your video, there's still a record.

[reflection]

43. Good advice. Qik is useful also,

as is Bambuser, to a lesser extent. I can hit record on my phone, lock it, and it will record and live upload until the battery dies or the phone is destroyed.

[IrishAyes]

50. Unfortunately I'm reading that Apple

is working on an app that allows cops to make their area a dead zone that kills recorders.

Of course if they get away with THAT, someone will come up with an app to override it.

Boycott Apple.

[MrScorpio]

36. The most endangered thing to be is a Black Man living in America. nt

[Generic Brad]

37. I've been stopped by St Paul Police before

There are signs all over the skyway system that say "No Loitering". If you loiter, they will come and talk to you - regardless of your age or race. And as a longtime downtown resident I have no problem with that. There are drug dealers sporadically setting up shop in the skyway very near major bus stops (this gentleman was sitting in one of those spots) and an occasional shooting on the street level. I don't want that in my neighborhood. Would you like to take a stroll and have to stumble over heroin addicts of all ages, genders, and races passed out in doorways with a needle hanging out of their arm? Would you like to have dealers setting up shop right in a narrow path that you cannot avoid? That's what many loiterers eventually do here when they think the coast is clear. If police ask for my name, I politely give it to them because I understand they are protecting the people who live and work here.

Years ago when my daughter was in a downtown St Paul daycare I was stopped by police and asked for my ID a few times while I was bringing her home in her stroller. My daughter is bi-racial and does not look like me even though I am definitely her father. At no time did I take offense and I patiently and respectfully answered all of their questions - by telling them my name and telling them where I lived when asked.

This guy walked two blocks through the skyway and did not address their question. It may be your constitutional right, but would you blow off a police officer and walk away from him for two blocks and expect nothing to happen? They initially questioned him in an area that overlooks two major bus stops which sometime serve as a drug dealing hub. If he was waiting for his daughter at the New Horizons Daycare, then he was doing it in the wrong building. When he did get tased he said something about his kids being right there - let me be clear: they would not have witnessed it. The New Horizon Daycare is one floor below where he was tased.

I live here. I understand this neighborhood. I am giving the St Paul Police a pass on this one.

[zonkers]

42. Is this Bizarro World? How is "picking up your kid" loitering?

How is stopping folks that "look like druggies" not profiling?

And just because you, personally are willing to submit to a random I.D check by police, should those who don't share your sentiments be forced to and then harmed if they fail to comply?. What if this victim had hit his head and died? What if he had a weak heart? This story could easily have ended up a total tragedy.

I am glad you want to give SPP a pass on this one. Let's see what the judge in the civil suit says. Hitting 'em in the pocket book is all they will ever understand.

[Generic Brad]

49. I am not an apologist

The spot where he initially was questioned is also a quarter block from a bank which has been robbed begore.

I also of not appreciate your unwarranted hostility. I expressed my viewpoint respectfully. You did not.

[Enthusiast]

40. This is just sickening.

There is no justification for this behavior by the cops. They are harassing the guy because he is black, pure and simple.

[Taitertots]

41. ACAB. All the so-called "good cops" is St. Paul are just...

The people that make this fascism possible by actively defending/protecting this Officer

[hifiguy]

44. Absolutely sickening.

I hope that poor guy is OK and that he brings a massive suit against the city.

[NickB79]

48. Next door in Minneapolis, the cops wear body cameras

I'd say this is something we should be rolling out nationwide at this point. Police thuggery is out of hand.