Tweet
God dammit, WTF is wrong with people!? This is an outrage; what does it take to stop the madness of police brutality and abuse of the 50K volt Taser — now used as a compliance device instead of social skills and training? This case involved only a complaint of excessive noise that brought the police to a home. Again, the police violence occurred in a private residence in front of a yard full of children.
A Latino family in Manassas, Virginia, is celebrating the baptism of their two young boys, at a party held in their grandfather’s backyard. The police arrive in response to a noise complaint, and ask to see the grandfather’s ID. The family’s account says that he provided it, but the police report say that he refused; both accounts agree that the grandfather was then Tasered three times in rapid succession, on his own property, and then charged with ‘public intoxication.’ The pregnant mother of the two boys ran to help him as he lay on the ground — and was also Tasered, then charged with assaulting a police officer.
I’ll say it again — all parties agree that county police officers arrived at a children’s baptism party being held at a private residence, then Tasered a 55-year-old Bible study teacher three times and Tasered a pregnant woman once, in front of a yard full of kids, including her kids, and family members. Then they read rights. To the grandfather and the pregnant woman. For ‘public intoxication’ and ‘assaulting a police officer,’ respectively. As they lay temporarily paralyzed on the ground.
Can you imagine being one of those two boys, and watching as your own mother, pregnant with your sibling-to-be, is electrocuted by police officers and arrested, for rushing to the side of your grandfather as lay paralyzed on the ground? How would that make you feel about your relationship to the police, as a young Latino man about to grow up in the astonishingly xenophobic state of Virginia?
34 Comments
I’ve said it before…And I’ll say it again. When did it become OK for this nation to become a police state? I thought this was why we didn’t want to be part of the British Empire. Police have no Constitutional “duty” to be vice & virtue squads invading our own homes and abusing us repeatedly.
the new gangs on the streetsthe new gangs on the street are legally allow to carry guns,, they are call the POLICE, POLICE aka cops.. these are the new gangs on our streets
Manassas, VA – This is the same city that passed ordinances against having too many people in one house. The “old timers” who still live there are very anti-immigrant and the police are responding in kind. This is the same county where a building built by government funds to assist day laborers was shut down by the local community’s activism agains immigrants.
So there is more to this story than meets the eye in this one account.
GrrrrrrI hope this family sues the hell out of the city, and as part of the suit, forces the town to stop using tasers!
Anti-immigrant racism is epidemic in Prince William CountyThe background behind this has been the intense racist agitation against Latinos in Prince William County the past several years, and if you ask me that has everything to do with how this incident played out.
Starting to get scarySeems like the police keep seasoning more and more encounters with tasers. What’s more annoying is I can’t find this story without digging deep. The MSM has avoided this story in favor of Paula Abdul leaving American Idol.
There’s a sick state of ignorant comfort brewing..thanks for getting the information to us.
Where are the “pro-life” activists?They scream unceasingly that a fetus is a person. But then the cops taser a pregnant woman–an act which certainly must threaten the welfare of her “pre-born” child, and we hear…crickets.
If a fetus has a “right to life” it must also have a right not to be assaulted by the police. But where are the right-wingers when something like this happens? If the government and its enforcement agents don’t have to respect “the rights of the unborn,” why should anyone else?
Feelig a bit bitter….I know I’m going to get in trouble for saying this but what the hell, you only live once. I just feel like it is a shame that we consider ourselves so enlightened in this country on issues of race when in fact the truth is we may have dealt with our parent’s racism but we have yet to deal with our own. Which seems to be some sort of amalgamation of fear centered around people that represent cultural change.
Of course the racism of our parents is well documented and villainized enough in our history books for us to know that it is wrong and should is bad for the country. Only problem is we got our personal value system and our textbooks from the same source. A kind of “do as I say and not as I do” education if you will. So its hard not to believe that we haven’t inherited various strains of the same viral issues that have been so overly simplified and radically demonized in our textbooks that in many ways make me realize that we live in an era where we don’t even know we are being racist as a nation. Great example is that “birther” drama going on around the country. What up with the vast majority of believers being white southern and republican? But no its not a racial issue!
However, the example that seems to bother me most right now and I don’t want to diminish this story in anyway, is that had this been a black family there would be so many more people asking the question of what it was the family did wrong to “provoke” the police into doing what they did. Sometimes it just feels like other cultures are not held to that “strict scrutiny” background based on my observation of the myriad of responses I have seen on this article.
Now what I am not saying is that this family should be held to that standard. My point really is that all families should be held to the same standard–innocent until proven guilty is always a nice one. So I am certainly not saying that they deserve more scrutiny because of how the police reacted. I believe this family was discriminated against and were violated by the police who it seems is forgetting that the responsibility of deescalation lies with the officers, the guys with the training and experience and weapons to do that.
But I swear the next time a group of black school aged children get kicked out of a pool or one of the leading black educators in the country gets arrested on his own porch, If the first thing you think about is “well what did they do to provoke that?” Then I think maybe its time to recheck that value system you managed to smuggle into the 21st century. Black President or not.
If this specific story were not about LatinosI might agree with you.
Check out this story from Broward County, Florida. The DA is scapegoating Latino immigrants.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ne…
Can’t be too careful with those youth gangsThey’re recruiting them younger and younger all the time, you know.
one of the tv stations here ran a report on tasers last nightI think the cops have used them 44 times so far this year, the police rep said it was better/safer than getting into a physical alteration or pulling out the pistol.
I suppose that is a correct statement, but the larger issue is the training these cops get regarding when to use them as well as the general psychological profile of these officers. Some of them appear to be very trigger happy, and it seems that aspect of their personality isn’t discovered until it’s too late. Maybe it’s like the military where they don’t really care about your mental stability or background as long as you get the job done and do what you’re told.
They also showed a video of someone getting tasered by the cops, but he got back up and evaded them for several more minutes before being captured.
Come on, QScribeYou know “right to life” only applies to a white, middle-to-upper-class fetus. Bristol (white, upper-class christian) Palin was a hero who showed courage and devotion to Jesus by having her baby. Lakeisha and Rosa are just dirty (brown) immoral slut welfare queens who should have kept their legs closed and how dare they expect my tax dollars to help them raise their baby. Amirite?
/gag
AgreeThis is definitely race-related. If the family was white and speaking English with no accent (or preferably with a Southern accent), I’ve no doubt they would have been let off with no more than a warning (if even that much).
The NoVA suburbs are surprisingly hostile to minorities. A Chinese friend of mine once told me his neighbor declined a polite handshake, complaining that “Fairfax County is turning into a third-world country” (never mind that my friend is, no doubt, better educated than this racist jerk).
Sorry to put the damper on this line of thought for this victim, butit appears the woman is NOT pregnant.
I’m not saying police are lazy……but I’d bet they say it is “easier and safer” for them to just pull that taser and use it on someone who doesn’t comply immediately with their “orders”. After all, tasers don’t kill anyone; just ask the company that makes them. Why bother risk soiling my uniform in a fight when you can just taser someone?
Yeah, right. The company that makes them must have a legal staff that equals over half of their total employees, since they vigorously fight ANY attempt to prove a taser killed someone. Hello!!!! They are an electrical device and therefore can KILL. Under the right conditions, a 9 volt battery can kill you, and tasers are over 50,000 volts! CRT-equipped televsions sets have 50KV in them and can kill, so why not a taser? Yeah; “Don’t tase me, bro!”
The time WHEN (not if) this whole taser thing comes crashing down cannot happen soon enough for me. An event like this where the person dies will be just the fodder for a group of attorneys to shut this form of police brutality down for good.
… is also the home of Bob MarshallManassas is also the home base of Representative Robert G. “Bob” Marshall, who wrote and sponsored Virginia’s marriage discrimination amendment. Representative Marshall is well known for incendiary comments on the floor of the general assembly and for bringing a raft of anti-choice measures with him to Richmond every February. Best of luck to John Bell, who is challenging this embarrassment to humanity for his assembly seat.
My next question
I’d want to know what percentage of the police force used their taser once in that year? Twice? Three times? More than three times?
I’d be willing to bet that the majority of the taser incidents came from a minority of the force – the trigger-happy minority.
But remember, Bristol “chose…”Gov. Sarah bragged so about the fact that Bristol had chosen to have the baby. Of course choice is what they want to take away…unless you’re white upper-class.
Radley BalkoI may not agree with his libertarian views when it comes to things like the economy and the finance industries, but, he does a damn good job keeping track of police brutality, especially involving tasers and puppycide. Yes, puppycide, the numerous incidents of police officers killing the dogs of people they’re arresting or raiding who were not posing a threat.
Here’s the latest round-up of inappropriate tasings on his site from August 1st: http://www.theagitator.com/200…
Why do I get the feelingthat you’re not really “sorry” at all?
Word.
QFT
The political environment in Manassashas been open racism against Latinos. You can trace a pretty direct line from the racist politics to the police brutality.
I did find one news outlet carrying the story (ABC 7)As I should have predicted, some of the the user comments about the story are stomach-churning.
Take this gem, from “ccatdc”:
Or this one, from “trees”:
Some fine examples of humanity right there. Virginia is for
loversxenophobes!Ugh. I need a shower now.
and notethe story says nothing about being illegal.
These people will take the story any direction they see fit while ignoring the facts set forth in an article. bleh.
Why would you say such a thing?
ManassholeI am almost ashamed to say that I live in the Commonwealth (yeah right) or Virginia, and I’m in one of the three cities with sane progressive people (Arlington, City of Alexandria and Falls Church City). I grew up in DC and MD, and had no choice but to move to Virginia due to tech jobs. I was laid off in May, and wonder if I really want to stay here.
I lived in Manassas with an ex twenty years ago. The town was just starting to enjoy growth due to IBM’s new facility. But newcomers found themselves in a backwater racist town, with a literal railroad track demarcation. Manassas was so horrible, that after a year or so, I FLED. I had tired of ignorant racists attempts to exert their wrath.
Years later, Manassas has become more of a bedroom community of the DC metro area. It saddens me to see law enforcement and attitudes haven’t changed a bit.
Actually, the story they were commenting on doesThe story they were commenting on in includes this paragraph:
Still doesn’t excuse their stereotyping or their focus on her immigration status while ignoring rather than on the police brutality that was the subject of the story.
I wonder why heand the news report both stress the baptism and “Bible-study teacher” parts. In both cases, the implication seems to be that use of a taser is inherently less justified when it’s against a “good Christian”.
Probably because…Qscribe knows how quickly and completely you like to defend the actions of the police. Of course, I’m just guessing.
what does it take to stop the madness of police brutality and abuse of the 50K volt Taser Uh, Robocop?
(I’m only half joking here.)
One post by me about a reasonably important fact; two posts in return consisting solely of shots at me.
You boys come back sometime when you want to have a real discussion.
I doubt itRadley is an atheist. However, the post-baptism party is stressed because it’s not exactly a rip-roaring occasion like any random house party or yard party.
It’s the usual hypocrisyIf the brutality were against some white right wing Christian, they would be crying murder. As long as the brutality is used for them, or used against those they hate, they are fine with it.
To be fair, some liberals and some of the left have the same attitude.
Too many people have no problem with police brutality and governmental abuse of power, as long as that abuse is used for them. It is only when the abuse is against them that they start screaming,
You don’t have to accept that it is a correct statementOr, rather, it is correct that tasering someone is better FOR the cop.
The question that needs to be asked is why is the safety of the cop all that matters?
Furthermore, the police rep is deliberately presenting a false choice of tasers vs guns or physical altercations.