Homelessness Police

Op-Ed: Homeless People Are Not Punching Bags

WLA Guest
Written by WLA Guest

By DeWitt Lacy

Homelessness isn’t a crime. It’s a condition, like coronavirus, that afflicts people of every age and ethnicity. People don’t choose to live on the streets; they typically end up there due to circumstances beyond their control. Homeless men and women have no fewer rights than those of us with roofs over our heads, but they are uniquely vulnerable to abuse, especially at the hands of law enforcement.

LA’s homelessness crisis is likely to worsen as people displaced by the pandemic-driven economic downturn continue to lose jobs and housing. In January, the city of Los Angeles had an estimated 36,000 homeless residents.

That same month, the Los Angeles Police Department reported that in the last quarter of 2019, more than one out of every three homeless people who had contact with the police were subjected to the use of force, a 26% increase over 2018. Five of the 217 reported incidents where force was used involved a “categorical use of force,” including instances where force resulted in a serious injury.

Since the LAPD issued its last report, not much seems to have changed. In the final week of April, an LAPD officer was caught on video repeatedly punching a man during an arrest. The victim was reportedly an unarmed homeless man who may have been trespassing. The officer had allegedly been involved in three on-duty shootings during his more than 20-year career, including one that sparked violent protests 10 years ago. This wasn’t an isolated incident.

My client, Laureen, recently became homeless after splitting up with her significant other. Without resources or family support, Laureen was a novice at living on the streets. She was desperate for a place to sleep. After hearing of an abandoned building where many who are homeless sheltered at night, she staked out a quiet corner of the building to lay down. Others were drinking and doing drugs, but Laureen was trying to sleep.

Law enforcement showed up that night. Officers began questioning other occupants of the building. When they moved to the doorway, they spotted Laureen curled up in her corner and released their police dog. While she attempted to protect herself, the dog attacked her, sinking its teeth into her arm and mauling her, as she cried out for the officers to call their dog back. Instead, Laureen said, they ordered her to let the animal drag her to them.

Laureen’s injuries were horrific and uncalled for. All she wanted was a place to lay her head. She was causing no trouble and, aside from a possible trespass, was committing no crime. She now faces criminal charges simply because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She is scarred and disfigured and will relive the nightmare of her attack for the rest of her life.

What is happening in our police departments? Violence against homeless people isn’t taught in police academies. It isn’t part of any state or federal policy. No legislature or government agency endorses it. But it happens with regularity. Unless the system fundamentally changes, homeless people will continue to be targeted and abused by the people whose job is to protect a society of which homeless people are an inconvenient part.

There is a difference between policy and practice. Officers learn policy in classrooms and behind computers. They learn practice in the field and on the street. That so many homeless individuals are victimized by police speaks to a troubling level of acceptance and complicity. The situation is further complicated by the fact that homeless victims have no resources or voice, police investigative bodies cannot help but be tilted in favor of law enforcement, and police unions can be powerful forces against reform.

Recommendations for change are only successful when they are adopted and implemented. A good model to follow may be San Francisco’s, in which an office separate from the police commission investigates officer-involved shootings. What will work for LA may be different, but it’s important to begin the analysis now.

A first step toward changing practices that terrorize and injure homeless people is to increase the influence of homeless advocates on police commissions. When homeless people have a real voice in how they are treated, those in power are obligated to listen.

There should also be financial costs for those who behave badly. If officers are suspended without pay or actually lose their jobs for acting like rogues, their colleagues may be more likely to embrace a different policing model.

Homeless people live difficult lives. How can we justify, in the name of law and order, making those lives worse?


DeWitt Lacy is a Los Angeles civil rights attorney at the John Burris Law Firm, and has practiced civil rights law for over a decade, with a focus on Section 1983 Civil Rights Litigation, employment discrimination, and personal injury. Lacy has successfully prosecuted wrongful death actions and civil rights violations against San Francisco, Vallejo, Santa Clara, and Hayward.

Image: Los Angeles Police Department video of Officer Frank Hernandez punching a homeless man on April 27, 2020, in Boyle Heights.

32 Comments

  • Oh God….

    I hope the Federal Judge sticks to his guns with respect to making the state move homeless people from around the freeways. It’s not just about them being homeless, but as Covid-19 has so vividly illustrated, a matter of public health and quality of life for all. Having an uncontrolled wild human population is the perfect breeding ground for plagues, diseases, crime, drug abuse, etc., etc.

    It’s a Federal Judge though, the so called politucal leaders of this state have a history of being scoflaws with respect to the authority of the Federal Government. The old mantra, “it’s not the job of state and local government to respect or enforce Federal Laws” comes to mind.

    Maybe the Federal Government will instead have to send in Federal Law Enforcement to “use homeless people for punching bags” as you say to enforce the ruling of a Federal Judge.

  • More often they’re victims of other homeless and gangsters and thugs who prey on them, not cops, what a bunch of nonsense this is. Cops released a dog on a sleeping woman for no reason, sure. Course being a Burris puppet it figures this is what you come out with, Johnny boy still in Pasadena?
    He’s really well loved by any cop who ever dealt with him, really.
    Now thanks to the City of L.A.’s policy of sending them out of town they’ve infested where I live and where we have our own issue with the homeless they’ve made it so much worse. Those that are violent and should be in lock down somewhere but aren’t are bad enough, but the mentally ill are a greater menace because one second they might be docile and the next they’re stabbing an officer with a pen or pencil, I know it happened here. Not that any SJW would give a damn or write about it, that will never happen. Because Social Justice types are the biggest hypocrites and bigots carrying around the most bias of any group in the country.

  • When I was a kid, these people were called “bums,” then it became “homeless,” and now, “those experiencing homelessness,” AND we learn from this writer that being a bum is like having Covid-19…..it’s something YOU had nothing to do with. You were just walking down the street one day and BAM….you caught “bums disease.”

    As usual WLA (and the LA Times) doesn’t quite give you the whole picture….context matters. The insults, the challenging, the threats, the resisting. Here’s a better idea of what happened:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8314243/LAPD-releases-bodycam-footage-cop-beating-homeless-man-head.html

    Would I have handled it like this officer did? No….which brings up another issue; he was basically working alone. The female officer was of NO help to him (as is often the case), other than to put the traffic out over the radio. You don’t confront and attempt to arrest a combative, resistive, aggressive thug on your own.

    Gee, amazing that a personal injury attorney would write a POS article like this painting cops as evil storm-troopers….what could he POSSIBLY have to gain?

    I think Lacy should consider representing cops (especially LAPD) who have to work in these conditions everyday, dealing with dangerous bums and thugs who hate you, dealing with the population who demand you do your job and yet are appalled when they see “the sausage being made” and who increasingly hate you.

  • This article suggests that law enforcement personnel in general are marauding beasts out to abuse homeless people. That is not true. I am not trying to excuse misconduct. No one wants to work with a loose cannon and it is a given that most, if not all, agencies have some problem employees that need to go. Contrary to the suggestion in this article however, people found guilty of serious policy violations are suspended without pay and people are terminated. These actions clearly do result in a financial penalty to the employee. Quarterly discipline reports are public information on the LASD web site; pages of suspensions and multiple terminations on each one.

    Homeless people absolutely lead difficult lives but let’s add some reality. Many have some extremely serious mental health and/or substance abuse problems that result in them behaving irrationally and at times, violently. Many are victimized on the streets by other homeless people. Cops encounter them and they are angry and out of touch with reality. As a result, there are logically more use of force incidents for this segment of the population. Homelessness is a sad, serious, multi-faceted societal problem. There would be real benefit in advocating for enhanced services for the homeless versus using a handful of incidents to suggest that law enforcement personnel are en masse abusing them.

  • This article which is written by DeWitt Lacy, should be DimWitt Lackey. Once again, another SJW who skirts the real issue behind homeless people, while portraying LEO’s as a band of marauding thugs.

    First of all DimWitt, some homeless people prefer and or choose to be homeless. Several years back there was a CEO of a corporation who made the conscientious decision to be homeless. Why? He got tired of the BS & responsibilities of daily life. Further, there was a recent article in the Lying A**Hole Times, of an individual with a Ph.d from a prestigious college, who chose to be homeless, while partaking of his self-prescribed medicine (Meth).

    Secondly, why has the homeless situation become a crisis? Could it be that the local and state politicians may have created this disaster, in the form of housing regulations, out of control rents, gentrification of neighborhoods and let’s not forget spending taxpayer money foolishly?

    Thirdly, a significant portion of these homeless people are in need of psychiatric care. When the state decided to shit can mental health facilities, where did all those patients go? Why can’t some of these local and state buildings which are under utilized or not utilized at all, be utilized for housing of homeless people?

    Fourthly, WTF is mamby pamby Garcetti & Newsom doing with our taxpayer money? Rather than use some of our taxpayer dollars to house and treat some of these homeless people, they divert the money to other BS programs (i.e., sanctuary city, legal defense fund for illegal aliens, reduce education budget ($19B) to pay illegal aliens ($75M) during COVID-19). Who does stupid shit like this?

    Fifthly, Mr. DimWitt Lackey, maybe you should be all up in the grill of the two POS so called leaders you elected and be asking the aforementioned questions and quit trying to blame the LEO’s who go out and try to do their job, while A-Holes like you, keep hamstringing them!

  • Let’s not ignore the fact the officer was called to do his job by someone did not appreciate sleeping in a tent on their property. Could this person have been violent…yes, could this person have been a threat to people coming to the church or children…you never no., could this person be mentally ill, a drub abuser, criminal….who knows. The fact is an individual was breaking the law and creating a quality of life issue that other folks should not just have to “deal with and accept”.

    Prison realignment, anti-jail/prison rhetoric in the time of Covid-19, zero bail for most offenses, rampant drug use and abuse, untreated mentally ill and DA’s and Judges with limited charge and sentencing options (which often result in time served) lead to emboldened criminals and greater likelihood a “low level” offense resulting in force being used by officers. I’m sure this officer did no come to work with the intention of fighting this individual over a trespassing violation.

    I myself have experience dealing with a homeless person at a business which quickly escalated to force when he refused to leave the business. The restaurant called because a homeless person came inside and was refusing to leave. The person was dirty, smelled, aggressive when asked to leave and talking to themselves which all made customers inside afraid and uneasy. The male of course was not eating or buying anything. How would you feel if you and your family where there? Anyhow, after arriving I tried talking to the male but had no luck getting through to him. Me and my partner then tried escorting the male out who proceeded to spit directly in my face. At this point we both grabbed him and struggled to put him on the floor. I got bit on the hand and my partner was kicked in the leg and scratched in the face. All this over a trespassing call. The person was arrested and charged with multiple counts of battery on a peace officer, resisting and obstruction and of course trespassing. In the end what did the person get, 45 days including time served and an early release due to jail overcrowding. Me and my partner definitely have a different perspective regarding the enforcement of public nuisance and “quality of life statutes”. It maybe our job to enforce the law but if I’ll definitely think twice about getting hurt…it’s just not worth it if the system doesn’t support me. Being spit on and injured…for what?

    The officer was put into a no-win situation as soon as he was called to the location to enforce a law involving someone who I’m sure has had previous contact with law enforcement, has no respect for the rules of civil society or law enforcement and nothing to lose as they say.

  • Everybody hates the homeless, doesn’t want to be around the homeless, and would love it if they could keep the homeless out of their neighborhoods and as far away as possible. But everybody kinda feels guilty about this so they pretend to care about the homeless in the usual lazy, virtue signaling, shallow ways. Like giving money to “homeless charities” (most of which are undoubtedly scams but who cares?), chattering about it with their friends at cocktail parties, or being “appalled” when they see the realities that come with living on the streets. Shocked by the violence, criminal behavior, and conflicts with the police that come with this existence.

    This guarantees nothing will change. Nothing real will be done about the homeless problem, but every now and then some controversy will erupt over the treatment of a homeless person. Great for lawyers, and the family of the “victim” (who ironically threw the homeless person out in the first place).

    People demand policing but love to see a cop prosecuted every now and then. In Ancient Rome when the population got too unruly, they use to throw some hapless soul to the mob. The mob ripped that person apart and was quelled for awhile, we’re more civilized now, but same idea.

  • Cop doesn’t appear to have any training. Why punch the guy and risk injuring yourself? Smash that dude to the ground then gain compliance through heavy pressure and control holds. Less violent appearance on camera and a thousand times more effective. Hear he’s been involved in a bunch of shootings…if I punched like that I’d probably shoot first too.

  • And nice assist “partner.”
    Female scared to death and damn near worthless. Sure there we be a cushy admin spot she can transfer to soon.

  • I agree but easier said than done when dealing with any suspect, great training video though.

  • The article starts out with a complete fallacy: “homelessness isn’t a crime…” Well, it becomes one when the poor afflicted individual, obviously through no fault of their own, decides to occupy somebody else’s property without permission. And let’s not even begin to discuss what they do to survive.

    From the moment the officers made contact with the hero of this story, he was belligerent, made threats, and showed no indication he would comply. He simply did what he knew would placate the officers – walk away from his little stash of property, knowing, and brazenly stating, he was just going to go right back.

    When the male officer made contact with him, he pushed back and resisted. When the officer re-approached him, he grabbed the officer’s hand. We know this from the officer making a comment about it immediately after the other male officers arrived and helped him, a skill the female officer should endeavor to learn.

    It’s also obvious the officer lost his shit, a reaction to the multiple threats our hero made, his physical resistance, the hand grab, and whatever additional factors he perceived. I make no excuse for his unnecessary (can we call it excessive since it was so darn ineffective?) force. His buttons were certainly pushed, as can be seen when he tore his sunglasses off of his head and threw them into the street.

    Whining about his past shootings just shows how liberals think. If they had been unlawful, the DA would have charged him. If they had been against policy, he would have been severely disciplined, probably fired. Get a grip. The guy works in one of the most violent places in America. Police shootings happen.

    Time will tell if this incident is worth him losing his job and/or getting criminally charged. I dare liberals, like the author of this hero’s article, to do a single shift in the inner city and not figure out who the bad guys are.

  • There you go again “Ownership” aka LOL. How many other screen names do you have?

    Why have a Police Academy when every applicant can consult you. S.W.A.T.? Not!

    Here’s a tip for you, when you change names you should differentiate your narrative and verbiage. LMAO again!

  • Many opinions, one screen name.

    The difference is my opinions and criticisms are supported by a background that gives them some validity.
    Anyone who bare knuckle punches another human deserves the broken bones.
    Anyone who resists a detention or arrests deserves to be manhandled.
    Anyone who can’t sack up and help their partner should be fired.

    She will fail again. She’s a coward and not because of gender. There’s plenty of female officers willing to throw down and plenty of males who are cowards.

    She is a coward and doesn’t deserve to wear that badge or represent law enforcement officers.

    Two cowards in that video. Fortunately the male officer is doing what needs to be done even if I disagree with his utilization of force options.

  • For the dense readers, the second coward is obviously the suspect but obvious should be pointed out for the crazy left nut jobs.

  • This is a longer video that about midway through shows the events leading up to the incident with the homeless man and the LAPD Officer. The video attached to this article suggests that the Officers first encountered this man on the sidewalk alongside the fence; not true. When you see the longer version, you hear the suspect being confrontational right from the start. After walking out to the sidewalk, he walked a ways, running his mouth all the while until he decided to turn around and walk back toward the Officers.
    In the interests of a fair public discussion, the fuller version of events should have been shared in this article rather than ignored.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woNsn5n5JZ8

  • ProJustice, thank you for posting the entire video. On second thought, I have to agree with my potbellied uniformed friends about the usefulness of the female officer. I thought you were overpaid, but this officer is basically a spectator – she neither helps her portly uniformed brethren nor does she try to stop him so the city will not get sued. I did not see the brother fighting at all, or doing anything but calling the portly officers a “f#@$% faggot,” which last I looked was not against the law.

    Something tells this this fat officer (why do you guys let yourself go after you leave the academy) would not had been the cowboy he was if it had been just him without a gun and badge and this Rams fan. He pummels the man and the man does not even move. Then, he/she defaults to “smart rogue officer” mode starts saying he/the Rams fan is “fighting him” when the man is not even moving.

    This is wrong on many levels. First, I find it offensive that we have to pay overweight officers. Second, what happened to professionalism. I thought you guys were professionals. Thirdly, he BEATS the man. Surely, event my potbellied cop defenders on this site will find fault with that. Fourth, we are paying for two officers when one will do – two security guards. Really, the second one is useless, except to call for others so she doesn’t break a nail. This should be embarrassing to her and you all.

    Something tells me this homeless man will be homeless no more. I would bet he will have a nicer house after the settlement than the portly officer has right now. And, if I were a betting man, I would say this fine specimen of professionalism will be greeting me at WalMart. Thank you, heroes.

    Dope of Reality, get off your high horse. Crime is down from the high of the 90s, 90s, not last year, not last decade, its fucking down. Its not that tough of a job. You are highly paid security guard, who, based on ProJustice’s video, can’t even act professional. Stop it already. Your job is not that tough, unless its tough to sit on your ass driving around for a few hours.

  • Cf, (Greg) you hate full time cops, blah blah blah, they wouldn’t let you into their club, boo hoo. Obviously you care as much about the homeless as I do. But isn’t that small potatoes compared to what’s going on in the racially apartheid country of Israel? What are you doing to support the Palestinians? BDS? Cf is a phony social justice warrior, he won’t answer this question.

  • @cf……..As I havbe stated previously in my other “posts,” you lack the educational background (Critical Thinking writing skills) when you post your ignorant, racist baiting, name calling rants. Obviously, you did not read and understand my post.

    Based on your posts, I would speculate that you are obviously an ignorant, uneducated, pitiful, introverted, low IQ individual.

    As far as your name calling to myself and others, I believe you may have a tainted, obscure, discriminatory outlook. First of all, you ASSume that I am retired. Secondly, you ASSume I am fat.

    Keep on dreaming shit for brains.

  • cf – I don’t know if that’s the entire video as it’s obviously been edited and some key moments appear missing. You’re right; calling a cop a name is not against the law and he insults the officer more than once. If you listen closely, you’ll also notice he threatened him more than once. The point is that he was not some homeless guy in the middle of a nap that got rousted on the sidewalk. He was antagonistic right from the gate. You’ll also see that after saying he was going to return to the site he was evicted from, that he did turn around and start walking back toward it and the officers.

    Kudos to the officer for not backing down from this guy who planned to defy him and the property owner. The guy did spread his legs a bit but he also initially grabbed the fence rather than put his hands behind his back. He ultimately did slowly comply but simultaneously is also threatening to beat the officer up. I couldn’t see if the guy grabbed the officer’s hand or not as the video I saw didn’t capture everything at that angle.

    Aside from perhaps one comment that stereotypes female officers, there have been no sexist comments posted. As with men, some women bring a lot to the job and are skilled under pressure and some aren’t. In the end, it appears to me that the officer lost it with this guy and if that’s true, he’ll pay the price – contrary to the suggestion of the post’s author.

    Please go on a ride-a-long out of a busy station some night. If you are able to be objective, you will learn that your perceptions about the nature of police work are wrong. Or, stay angry and stereotype people – whatever works.

  • Projustuce…

    CF, politicians and most social justice warrior types don’t want to know what goes on behind the curtain if you will. It’s far easier to Monday morning quarterback, critique and criticize those who have to do the real work of enforcing the laws, rules and policies created by those out of touch “theorists”, “academicians” and others far removed from reality who define the box in a vacuum of safety, comfort and stress free air conditioned safety. They have no stress, oh maybe meeting an imposed deadline by their supervisor…Ohh.

    If CF were to go on a ride along after being patted down and background checked (which I doubt he would pass), it would expose his cowardice, naivete and ignorance. Could you imagine having that juvenile on a call with you using words like “porcine” and commenting about an officers weight. The criminals would probably want the beat his a#$ for the nonense spewing out of its mouth.

    No, people like CF, politicians, ACLU lawyers and social justice warriors would never put themselves in a position to show their cowardice, ineptness and failure in dealing with high stress. I’m sure their bodies reaction would be in “flight mode” and on verdrive. There way smarter than that. It’s far easier to criticize the actions of others and throw a piece of low hanging fruit to the masses as a blood sacrifice to the masses to keep the politcal theater going.

  • Dose, Pro Justice, Conspiracy, GREAT points.

    Borrowed and amended from, “A few Good Men.”

    “Liberals, ACLU, BLM, WLA, we live in a world that has laws, and those laws have to be guarded by people with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? Police have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for criminals, and you curse officers. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know — that a criminal’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.

    I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to people who sleep under the blanket of the very protection that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said “thank you,” and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you spend 20 weeks in an Academy, 3 years in a jail surrounded by criminals and work patrol for a few years. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think!”

  • CF, you don’t understand me because you’re shallow and a liar. You get every word. All you do here is pretend. Afraid of some homeless person, sure. Only of what I might catch from them. CF=Can’t Function. You’re the biggest phony I’ve run against on any board. Your anonymity is your safety blanket. Keep yapping, it’s amusing little guy.

  • LASD Apostle…

    That is a great “re-casting” of a great exchange from a great movie and great actor. It succinctly and completely sums up the feelings most front-line enforcers, whether it be troops in the field or police on the street, have regarding their jobs.

    People always look at those instances when governments co-op civilian law enforcement to be their political muscle to enforce oppressive laws and violate the human rights of the people. I don’t think anyone would disagree that Communist Countries (the sick twin of Socialism) such as the former USSR, Russia, North Korea and Cuba have some of the most oppressive governments. So much for the “utopia” (listen Berny Sanders and AOC supporters) some believe it to be.

    The far-left perversion being espoused by many Democrsts though is even worse. It seeks to in essence “cut law enforcement” efforts off at the knees by stoking hate amongst the citizens, using media and propaganda to smear police and create new laws that condone, support and promote lawless behavior and make laws whose application and interpretation is so restrictive and convoluted, your average police officer is left to interprete it to mean “stand down”. Why enforce a law that you will be publicly demonized and vilified for enforcing?

    Not all police are bad as not all lawyers, journalist and doctors and politicians are good or have a halo of good intentions floating above their heads. However, California and New York have led the way in creating a pro-criminal, anti-law enforcement atmosphere of hate and disrespect amongst their residents and younger generations.

  • LAPD officer totally justified. He was called the fa**ot word. His lawyer needs to say he was gay. That is all that will take to win a NG verdict in LA if he gets charged. Hopefully he isn’t for doing what needed to be done (albeit probably could have been handled better).

  • Back in the day, the State Police (before merging with CHP) would put together impromptu task forces with their highway maintenance folks and some of us allied agencies, and we’d go clean up the homeless and their shit. Yes, they got a warning to leave before we took action. The ones who said F.U. were dealt with. We didn’t need any damn permission from robe-wearing elitists.

  • ProJustice, thanks but no thanks. I have no interest in going on a ride-along so that the cops can pretend they are on episode of Cops. Its a joke.

    Conspiracy, just because you patrol the streets does not mean you know the streets. Most of those homies you arrest would probably kick your ass if you showed up in the hood without a badge and gun. Hell, based on the video I would venture to say the homeless guy would have kicked Officer Tom’s ass had he not had the badge and gun. Of course I would not do your job, I have options. Contrary to Madame Kong’s comments, I don’t want or need that job. You do, by definition. Best pay and pension you can ever have.

    LASD Apostle, funny. What a talent. Can you also do the impressions.

    Sildasolis, Yes, I hope Officer Tom comes out. Then he will get it from both ends, no pun intended – from the lawsuit and from his homophobic potbellied uniformed brethren.

    Man, you guys are sooooo full of yourselves. Its just a job. You are not saving the world, you are not a heroes. Its just a job with nice pay and pension that others are willing to do because its sooooo cushy. Those that can do more, will leave and do more. You ladies can’t, so you are stuck with homeless people calling you “F-ing Faggots,” like this homeless person did.

    Now, let us move on to the latest black man killed by the police. Can’t wait for Celeste’s post on that one and your claims about how the guy purposely fell to the ground, grabbed the cops knee and put it on his back, just to be able to sue.

  • Silly CF….what are you rambling on about now. It always amazes me when you use terms like “hommie and hood”. It sounds so much like a middle aged suburban white woman trying to “be down” as you would say and use the “lingo of the street” they heard off some rap song or bad 1970’s cop show…”you dig”. You always sound so expertly condescendng, ignorant and disrespectful. It amazes me how the stupidity flows so easily out of your gruppy little hooves.

    I have no need to know the “hood” as you would call it or hang out there as you say. Why would I? I have a job that pays me well enough to live in a nice area with good schools to send my children to. I lived a clean enough live so that I could get hired by a police department and look forward to seeing a “fat retirement” you envy so much. Do I need to hang out and live in the area where I work to be effective…absolutely not. I’m not sure where you got that little pearl of ignorance from. All I need is common sense, how to dobmybjob and ability to treat people with respect and dignity. My only request and expectation is rhey extend the same courtesy to me whether they be black, brown, yellow or white. If you like hanging with the “hommies” in not so good areas maybes that’s the reason for your jealousy, envy and hate of the police. Do the right thing, live an honorable life and good things will come your way. Otherwise you got everything coming to you….misery.

    So stop drinking, vapping or injecting the stupid.

  • U.S. Citizen….

    I will bite. I’ve seen some of the video footage put out for our consumption so far. I’ll agree it does look bad, however most law enforcement officers will admit that any time police use tactics against someone who does not want to cooperate it does not look pretty. Whether it be pepper spray to the face, a punch in the head or being shot and struck by a bullet in the soft tissues of the body, it all looks horrible.

    Could the officer(s) have done better…probably yes. Where their actions willful and intentional to cause the suspect to die? Where their actions the direct cause of the suspects death? I don’t see how anyone can know that this soon. I know the term positional asphyxiation has been thrown around. I also remember cases of people dying while struggling or even being tased by police due to excited delirium. Until the autopsy and results of the investigation are in we really won’t know. Due process, innocent until to proven guilty…all that comes into play.

  • CF I’m waiting as well. They’ll have some excuse, some one posted that Arbery should have followed the commands and would be alive, if your black your dead either way……might as well die trying to stay alive.

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