I was walking in Center City, Philadelphia a few days ago, and a police officer in uniform approached me and wanted to know if I was the Field Negro. He had that look on his face that said: don't even try to deny it because I know you are, so I had to come clean."Yes, you got me, guilty as charged", I told him. "I knew it", he said. "Man I love your work. I look forward to reading your posts every night."
Dude seemed genuinely excited to meet me and it was flattering. I told him that it felt good to have a police officer approach me (in uniform no less) and tell me that he reads my blog and supports what I am doing. "How do you and your brothers in blue feel when I write posts that are critical of the police?" I really wanted to know. "Oh man, I personally don't mind at all. There are bad apples in every group, and they need to be exposed. "
I write about that experience with one of Philly's finest because I want to share yet another video of alleged police abuse with you.
"A video posted to YouTube on Wednesday shows a massive and violent police response to one black man, who is seen on the ground as he is punched, kicked, Tased, and cursed at by police officers.
The video, posted by Los Angeles blogger and journalist Jasmyne Cannick, reportedly documents the arrest of Tyree Carroll, a 22-year-old Philadelphian who the camerawoman and witness says was stopped while riding his bike.
It starts with the man being held down by four cops. He is struggling or writhing, screaming and calling out for his grandmother. A bicycle can be seen a few feet away. A cop punches him repeatedly. Then another police car pulls up and an officer gets out yelling, “I have a f*cking Taser, here I come! You’re getting the f*cking Taser!”
An officer can then be heard saying, “Tase that motherf*cker.”
Multiple officers can then be seen pummeling the man with fists, another screams, “you f*cking bit me you piece of sh*t!”
The woman holding the camera says to a companion that the man was Tased four of five times. By the end of the video, at least two dozen officers are on scene. The camerawoman counted 11 police cars and 26 officers – most of whom appeared to be white.
“Four cops had him, he wasn’t going no where,” the videographer says to her companion. “Thank God he lived — right now.”' [Video]
Now don't get it twisted, police officers in cities like Philadelphia have a tough job, and we have to tip our hats to the good cops who are holding down every day and doing the right thing.
But at the same time we have to call out the bad ones as well. It's hard enough controlling crime and maintaining law and order in poor urban areas without having to deal with incompetent and corrupt police officers contributing to the problem.
*Pic from bossip.com
