Police Beating of Schizophrenic Caught on Tape

[Judi Lynn]

Source: ABC News

Police Beating of Schizophrenic Caught on Tape
Bar Video for Criminal Activity Catches Alleged Police Brutality
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
June 6, 2009

Ronnie Holloway's eyes were still black and blue one week after he was allegedly beaten by a Passaic, N.J., police officer -- an attack that was inadvertently caught on a video surveillance camera.

Holloway, who is on medication for schizophrenia, joined more than 80 others outside that community's city hall Saturday to demand that Officer Joseph R. Rios III be fired.

The tape shows Holloway, 49, waiting outside Lawrence's Grill and Bar restaurant in Passaic when a police cruiser pulled up and a female officer asked him to zip up his sweatshirt. Holloway appears to comply, but Rios jumps out and begins hitting him with his fists and a baton.

The scene shows baby strollers and other pedestrians walk by in the downtown retail section of this community of immigrants and working poor.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=7773867&page=1

[MadBadger]

1. Just saw this on ABC New York's local news. The Cop is still on active duty.

He needs to be suspended immediately. Hopefully this guy will be out of the force and be facing charges instead.

[Suji to Seoul]

33. Cue the brainless, cop sniffing badge lickers in 3. . .2. . .1

"They aren't all bad!!!"

"One bad apple!!!"

Sounds like his officer TORTURED this person to me!!!

[BlooInBloo]

2. Sigh. The state-sponsored domestic terrorists got another one.

[47of74]

3. He should not have a badge

This pig makes all the honorable and decent cops look bad through his misdeeds.

[Mythsaje]

4. Okay... what I don't get is why she asked him to "zip up his sweatshirt."

WTF is THAT about?

[DeepBlueC]

5. maybe his tee shirt offended her patriotism

[Judi Lynn]

6. I wondered, too. I've never heard of that one, the crime of not zipping a sweatshirt! n/t

[MadBadger]

7. He wasnt wearing a shirt underneath I believe. Maybe thats the reason

[Mythsaje]

10. So? What would she have done if he'd not been wearing a shirt at all?

That makes no sense.

[Ken Burch]

15. Is it against the law in Passaic for a guy to not wear a shirt?

N/t.

And he zipped the jacket up. Why couldn't they leave it at that?

[MadBadger]

19. Because the Cop is fucked in the head?

I was just responding to why the female cop might have wanted him to zip his sweatshirt up.

[Ken Burch]

22. I actually posted before reading your post.

Probably the cop is cerebrally copulated as you say.

[Algorem]

9. fashion police

[Seldona]

11. I agree. I just don't see any logic at all here.

I fail to see what a police officer has to do with the status of a man's sweatshirt, let alone how compliance with such a ridiculous order results in a beating. It makes no sense.

If so I wonder how the hell this cop ever passed the psych exam, let alone function as a cop. Still on the streets as well? WTF is up lately?

[smalll]

39. It is weird. I think perhaps Mr. Holloway was sporting egregious man-boobage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqVU8aGg7J0

This may be what caused the officer to ask him to zip up.

[Ken Burch]

40. Still, I've never seen cops beat down on a guy just for being shirtless

And he ZIPPED UP THE FREAKING JACKET!

Question remains...why couldn't they let it go at that?

The man hadn't actually committed a crime.

[Liberal_in_LA]

41. possibly

[awoke_in_2003]

44. What is really sad...

is even before I clicked that link I thought "the guy that got beat was African American". Some may think cops don't single out minorities- they would be wrong.

[Wednesdays]

8. K&R

:kick:

[MadMaddie]

12. I hope a really good lawyer takes this case and does it for

free. The officer claimed the man resisted arrested and it's clear that he did not. Once they get those charges dropped they need to get charges of assault filed against the officer and then sue the department for keeping an out of control officer on the streets.

The female officer should be suspened without pay for not intervening.

[doodadem]

43. I posted about this happening to me a few years ago.

I couldn't get an attorney to take the case. Finally, the two year statute of limitations passed.

This was part of the neighbor dispute I've posted about previously. I'm out mowing grass in my own yard, and come around the corner to find the neighbors trespassing in front of my house. I tell them to leave or I'll call the cops, per the restraining order. They refuse, so that's what I do. The Fresno Co. sheriff's deputy that shows up is one we'd had trouble with previously. As usual, he stops to talk to the neighbors first, even though I'm the one that called. Then he comes over to me and wants to see my driver's license and the restraining order. I said they're in the house, of course (I'm home by myself).

This guy comes in my gate to the yard, and the little Miniature Dachshund pup we had at the time, starts running around him and barking. I explain, this was a special needs pup (he'd been abused) that we'd adopted from the ASPCA, and he's terrified/aggressive with strangers. The deputy keeps coming without allowing me to grab the pup, and the dog runs in and grabs his pants leg. The guy kicks him ten feet, pup yelping. This guy is every bit of 6'7" and 250 lbs.+, kicking a 10 lb. pup across the yard. I rounded on him, and said, what the hell's wrong with you?! He gets all red and starts sputtering. Then insists on coming in the house with me.

I produce the license and order. He asks, are you going back outside? I ask, what do you mean? He asks, are you going back out there while the neighbors are out there? I said, well, they are trespassing, which is why I called you, and I need to finish cutting my grass. They need to go home (quarter mile away).

This guy grabs me by the right arm, and wrenches it around behind my back, saying that the neighbors told him they want me arrested for "threatening them with the lawnmower". I was completely dumbfounded. If he had been listening, he would have heard my shoulder and arm doing all kinds of crunching from an old injury. Shoulder and arm have had multiple breaks, and I have limited mobility in both. There are certain positions my body will not do, and having my hands cuffed behind me is apparently one of them.

So he's hustling me out to his car, neighbors still at my front gate on my property in defiance of the restraining order, and now, cheering. I'm practically in tears from pain. The guy finally looks at my face, and decides to move the cuffs to the front of my body.

He drives to a secondary station so some other cop can take me on down town. In the mean time, he and several other cops are standing around his car, smoking like fiends because they're not allowed to smoke in the cruisers. The windows/doors are open, me in the back seat. I am coughing and gagging to the point of not being able to breathe, because I have asthma, and chronic bronchitis. Again, one of them finally takes notice, and goes and gets me a glass of water.

The cop driving me downtown puts rap music on the radio, and plays it at full blast. I loathe and detest rap music. I ask him to turn it down. He does for about 10 seconds, then turns it back up again--the whole 30 mile drive to Fresno.

The rest of the evening pretty much followed the same course, until my attorney and husband showed up to spring me. The one other atty we had at the time is also a part time sheriff's deputy. He told us this first deputy has a reputation for being a bad ass and messing up the populace. He pretty much made mincemeat of him in court, showing a photo of our little pup, looking adorable, and asking, "Is this the dog that made you fear for your life"? The deputy turned red, and sullenly replied, "I should have shot him".

When we finally got a copy of the police report, there was very little in it that contained the facts. The deputy claimed I was screaming and resisting arrest......I'm home alone, no witnesses. I filed an official complaint with the sheriff's dept., and they did come out to investigate. But it turns out this same atty, although he got the charges dropped against me, did not do me any favor by bargaining away my complaint to do so--without asking me.

I have permanent nerve damage in my right shoulder now as a result. It's painful, and my hand and arm go numb all the time. And believe it or not, the sheriff's dept has continued to send that same deputy to our home every time they are called, even though we've asked them not to--"he's the officer assigned". I make sure I always have someone else around now if we have to call them.

[MadMaddie]

48. I am sorry that you have to live with the bullshit.

Did the puppy survive?

Bad cops only become worse and they are only removed when there is a public outcry.

[Downtown Hound]

13. Videos like these always make me wonder

How many people have had their lives ruined because a cop arrested them for something they didn't do, and it wasn't caught on tape like this incident was? Resisting arrest huh? I want to write LOL, but it's really not funny, just sad. And scary.

[Liberal_in_LA]

28. Yup, scary and sad. Glad cameras everywhere these days.

[Ken Burch]

14. In New Jersey, the cops can beat you up for zipping up your jacket when they tell you to?

:wtf:

Why would a cop order you to zip up your jacket in the first place?

Sounds like those two were a bust short on their monthly quota and the free donuts were slipping out of their grasps.

[Iggo]

16. Thank god the only time cops ever beat someone...

...is when it's being recorded.

Otherwise, sheesh, ya know?

[awoke_in_2003]

45. That is what is scary...

how much don't we see?

[trek]

17. when I read things like this I think about the last line of "animal farm

"and they looked at the men, and looked at the pigs and none could tell the difference". a lot of cops are worse that the people they arrest

[PJPhreak]

18. My Mom is a Schizophrenic....

A very classic and severe Schizophrenic.Her disorder was first diagnosed in 1967 when i was 11 years old.
Abuse of the mentally ill is an ALL too common happening...Oh Crap,the stories she could tell,The problem is one of belief...

Without Video Who is one gonna believe,,,The Cop or the "Wingnut Baglady"?

This Cop should be not only charged,he should be locked away for MANY years...Because he will do this again I promise!!!!!

[junior college]

20. possibly a dirty cop trick

Partner asks victim to zip up his jacket and then both cops claim he was reaching for a gun

[safeinOhio]

23. And who are you going to believe?

2 cops or your lying eyes.

[my2sense]

21. I wonder what

offended the officer to the point that she COMMANDED he zip up his sweat shirt. This looks like pure and simple harassment.

[Ignis]

24. "Just a few bad apples."

:thumbsdown:

[DRoseDARs]

25. New Rule: You are not allowed to use the phrase "allegedly beaten" when it's fucking CAUGHT ON TAPE.

Under penalty of severe beating. With a video camera.

[tomm2thumbs]

26. Congratulations - you are now officially rich - your tax dollars make Police overreaction possible

Thank god for cameras

[LostInAnomie]

27. It just doesn't make sense.

I don't get the reason for the over-reaction. The guy wasn't making any aggressive actions that I could see. The officer just started attacking.

I'd like to hear what justification the officer could possibly come up with to try to justify the action.

[awoke_in_2003]

46. My sister is a cop...

let's just say the MLB doesn't have as big a problem with steroids as our police forces do.

[farmboxer]

29. This kind of police brutality happens too much!

This kind of crap happening was too much. Police gone wild. They love beat beat up people like the SS in Nazi Germany used to do.

[norepubsin08]

34. That kind of shit happens all the time

fucking cops have been glorified on tv, it is popular for cop shows to villify and dehumanize suspects..also part of the problem is that most cops are a bunch power hungry, ego driven social misfits..that's why they become fucking pigs in the first place!!!

[HEyHEY]

30. I'm so sick of the mentally ill being abused by our so-called "civilized" society

It makes me fucking furious.

[MisterK]

31. Pardon me but arent police officers becoming more like Gestapo?

Wow. Everyday someone else is getting the sht kicked out of him by cops.
Its bad enough when they do it to Joe Averageguy but when they start beating the sht out of people with mental disorders .......

[Iggo]

32. It's always happened.

There's just more video cameras now.

[tblue37]

35. Read the whole article. A woman tells about being attacked

by the same cop for no reason at all as she pulled over to help her niece who was parked by the side of the road. Then she was charged, though the charges were then dropped.

This cop has a history of unprovoked attacks on citizens, yet nothing has been done and he hasn't even been taken off the streets for this atatck. In fact, the video tape was ignored when i ws sent to the police department by the store owner, and only after it was made public by the store owner was an investigation begun.

[Liberal_in_LA]

36. poster on another site says that Rios is politically connected, his dad may be a big wig.

More research needed.

[Liberal_in_LA]

37. 'tape, according to Holloway's lawyer, was sent 2 the Passaic Police Dept, "who did nothing about it

The tape, according to Holloway's lawyer, was sent to the Passaic Police Department, "who did nothing about it."

So not only do you need a video to prove police abuse, you have to send it to the media. Otherwise the cops ignore it.

[Iggo]

38. Good cops cover for bad cops...

...making them all bad cops.

[ccvirgo911]

47. So True

And even then it's hard to get people to pay attention. I have been trying for months to get the national media to put the spotlight on what happened to my son. I have written to NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC and gotten no reply. Maybe it's just me, but I happen to believe that the way the cops treated my son is criminal. I know if this happened to a child that was not my own, I would be outraged.

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - The City of Independence, its police department, and a major ambulance provider in the metro face a lawsuit. They're accused of allowing a teenager, hit by a suspect fleeing police, to bleed to death.

Maybe most disturbing is the comment an officer made on tape.

"They're like roaches, man," said the unidentified Independence police officer. "They don't die."

That comment is at the heart of a new lawsuit filed Monday.
snippet

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/news/local/story/EXCLUSIVE-Suit-Accuses-Police-of-Negligence/4YdEX1FjBUurZu75TFiKDg.cspx

The officers involved in this incident were never disciplined, never reprimanded, and are still employed with the Independence Police Department.

[Ken Burch]

53. Thank God the lawyer didn't send them the only copy.

n/t.

[mrbarber]

42. I think crooked cops hate camera's....

more than the criminals do.

[democrat2thecore]

49. Disgusting

This goes on all the time with the mentally ill. So few cops understand the diffeence between thugs with a mouth and mental illness. The cop in this video should be fired immediately; maybe both of them, she didn't do a damn thing while he beat the guy. I'm so sick of this crap and glad cameras sometimes catch the bastards.

[awoke_in_2003]

50. I am sure it does

but it shouldn't matter what the person was saying, no matter how insulting it might have been. Cops are paid to be professional, and it is not professional to fly off the handle because someone says something they don't like. Power hungry egoists that is probably suffering from 'roid rage.

[democrat2thecore]

51. Oh, I agree! 100% -nt

[KamaAina]

52. If this had happened because of race instead of disability, there'd be riots in the streets

maybe next time... :grr: :banghead:

from one who just got harassed at an airport because of another psychiatric disability