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Mother of Roxbury Community College kid still stunned, but says she forgives police
By adamg on Wed, 09/21/2011 - 8:05pm
At a press conference at Roxbury Community College, the unidentified mother of the teen shown in a video last fall being subdued by Boston Police talked about the arrest. Last Friday, Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said a review by both his office and an outside consultant found no excessive force used in arresting what they said was an out of control teen.
But speakers at today's press conference, organized by Roxbury activist Jamarhl Crawford and including a lawyer from the ACLU and the lawyer for David Woodman, said the video clearly showed excessive force. The student who took the video also spoke:
Minester Rodney Muhammad of the Nation of Islam called on "cowards" in the Boston Police Department to turn in their badges:
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Comments
Bottom line here..
someone's looking to get paid.
so that is why I see Glenn
so that is why I see Glenn Beck's stupid face all over this page?
say what
say what
one of the rotating ads on
one of the rotating ads on the site is for some Glenn Beck thing. When I was reading this it was both the header at the top and the ad under the breaking news on the right.
I hope it's a short lived ad, it's not something i want to subject myself to, and I'd rather skip local news for a day than to be reminded of Beck
No big surprise that this
No big surprise that this mother's son was picked up again on more drug charges since this arrest.
If you don't stand up for something, you'll fall for anything.
The only question the DA answered is whether a suspect resisting arrest can be battered. The law says he can.
What the DA did not answer is whether the beating this kid took is the way Boston residents want Boston citizens to be treated, even if they're resisting arrest. I don't, and I can see the people in these videos don't.
You want to know who else took a beating? A kid named Woodman. His crime was carrying an open container and having a smart comment that got caught, like a hair across the ass of Officer McManus. Woodman ended up in Beth Israel the night he was beaten for resisting arrest, in a coma with cuts on his face. BPD threatened to arrest McManus friends if they stayed and watched. They were on public streets for chrisake. McManus treatment of Woodman cost the City of Boston $3 million. Something tells me, regardless of what DA Conley says, McManus isn't doing it right.
Conley: negligent in collecting adequate community data
"DA Conley is going to keep getting ripped for the so-called investigation he conducted, which, according to several folks who spoke today, was not only negligent in collecting adequate community data, but was also done in a manner that made potential witnesses feel intimidated by law enforcement."
"Potential Witnesses"
Funny how RCC gave these guys a platform but refused to provide the video from their own cameras, wouldn't send an email to its own students asking witnesses to contact IAD, and wouldn't let investigators hand out flyers with IAD's number on its own campus.
Who's fooling who?
Woodman also resisted arrest
Which is also a crime. And we will never know if he would have gone to the hospital if he didn't have a heart condition. The doctors seem to think he may not have. And for the millionth time.....the City didn't pay Woodman because of excessive force. The city paid Woodman because the officers didn't get Woodman medical treatment when he needed it.
Punching the kid in the RCC case may have been excessive since the kid didn't have a weapon on him. What if he did though? Would it be a beating then?
Mother Please....
...save us the theatrics. Your wanted by police, pos, drug dealing kid caused this. No one else, well, except maybe you. Didn't you ever teach your son to stop for the police when asked or better yet not to escape detention facilities or sell drugs. I guess not since he tried to run and resisted arrest. I am so sorry that were so traumatized by all of this. Maybe now you can help the little animal clear up his warrants and become a law abiding citizen. I won't hold my breath though. Personally, I am glad that we have the BPD standing between the rest of us and garbage like your son.
He wouldn't have needed
He wouldn't have needed medical treatment if Officer McManus' hadn't beaten him.
That Woodman was resisting arrest is a matter of dispute.
It could be a matter of dispute for you and me
Since we weren't there.
So all we have to go on are eye witness accounts and police accounts right? And that is what the investigation did.
Great Question
Invading Iraq may have been excessive since the dictator didn't have wmds on him. What if he did though? Would it be a pointless war then?
It may have been.
Was the information bogus and did the US government know about it and went forward with it anyway knowing it was a lie? That would be excessive force.
Or was it solid information that the US had to act on in order to protect innocent people that may have been harmed by the WMDs? That probably would not have been excessive force.
I realize that this is a metaphorical conversation
But if your "scenario 1" is correct, such an action would go way beyond "excessive force", into the arena of mass murder and war crimes.
metaphor metastasis
I never metaphor I didn't like, but in this case I think you should drop it. Why use a contentious, never-ending debate to explain a contentious, mine-field argument? I mean you might as well compare it to capital punishment, abortion and gun control for good measure.
Woodman also resisted arrest
Woodman also resisted arrest which is also a crime.
Not one that carries the death penalty, in case you forgot.
And we will never know if he would have gone to the hospital if he didn't have a heart condition. The doctors seem to think he may not have.
That's not a legitimate defense: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Egg...
If you run around beating the stuffing out of kids for having an open container, you accept the risk that one of them might have a heart condition and not take to it so well.
"This rule holds one liable for all consequences resulting from his or her tortious (usually negligent) activities leading to an injury to another person, even if the victim suffers an unusually high level of damage (e.g. due to a pre-existing vulnerability or medical condition)."
Protecting yourself at the expense of the public is not a legitimate excuse, either (ie, the "we thought he had a gun underneath him!" bullshit excuse.) It's not a particularly dangerous job - it's not even in the top ten, and police have a murder rate that is one quarter the general US population.
Time after time after time, Boston Police will literally go miles out of their way to kill suspects. How many bodybags do we need before we start holding them more accountable for their simple inability to restrain or capture someone without killing them?
Another anon that doesn't get it.
It doesn't matter what Woodman did. He could have robbed a bank or raped a woman. The arrest process is the same, and the medical care should be the same.
The Boston Police did not get him the medical care according to policy and training. If Woodman raped a woman and died, the Boston Police would still be responsible for what happened.
And did you forget that independent witnesses had the same story as the police had? And that Woodman's friends had a different story?
We "forget", because you're almost the only source of that claim
This has come up before in UHub - you keep talking about 'independent' witnesses that corroborate the arresting officers stories, but as far as I can tell, these individuals have never been identified or interviewed by the press. Nor are they mentioned in the Stern report (which is one of the most amazinging fatuous apologia I've ever read, btw - and whose authors certainly would have jumped on the opportunity to highlight differences in witness testimony, if any such had been present or significant).
***
Also, your claim that the BPD will have the same exact response to anyone they arrest, regardless of the severity of the perceived offence or the behaviour of the suspect, and that this response would be similar to the bogglingly unprofessional and ultimately tragic methods used with Mr. Woodman, is a sad commentary on the defensiveness and tone-deafness of the BPD and it's allies.
No I'm not
I'ts in there. Go look for it.
I never said that. I said they would have the same response for any one who resists arrest. And the behavior of the suspect has everything to do with it, and I did not say anywhere that the behavior did not matter.
Time After Time After Time
"Tortious (Usually Negligent)"
That phrase does not apply to police officers conducting a lawful arrest within the course of their assigned duties. There is a little bit more to the law then you'll find on Wikipedia.
"Beating the stuffing out of kids for having an open container"
That phrase does not describe Woodman's arrest. Not even his family's lawyer claims they beat him. If they had, he'd have said so yesterday.
"Bullshit excuse"
The idea that a person reaching for his waist might actually have something at his waist doesn't strike me as a bullshit excuse to keep his hands away from his waist.
Horrified
Yes, if it were my son, I would be horrified too--at the fact that he was walking the streets with a warrant out for his arrest and failed to submit to police officers when detained. I'm confused by her statement--she talks about reconciliation, but then references a "plague" that started in NYC and is now here (and Connecticut?) I'm not sure what she is referring to, but the plague that is killing people in Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester is drug- and gang- and beef-related violence, and it needs to be stopped. I hate excesive use of force as much as the next guy, but it's far from my main concern.
the DA's own track record will be brought into question
"DA says victim shot self in head during police shootout"
The witness is quoted as
The witness is quoted as saying "Even my 2 year old said Mommy is he getting beat down?" I have kids, and my 2 year old would never say that! Nice work with parenting! Can't wait until your kid is out terrorizing the streets of Boston. As for the Reverend: the man is clearly racist. Look, I'm against police brutality as much as the next person but for all of them to go on and on about the community working with the PO-lice is hilarious. If the community of Roxbury worked with the PO-lice then maybe they wouldn't have so much crime? But, that's just a thought!~
Minister Don
That's not Minister Don Muhammad. That's Rodney Muhammad. Minister Don cut Rodney loose because of his remarks at this appearance.
Corrected
Thanks.
In the words of Fletcher Reede...
"Quit breaking the law a$$hole!"
Lawrence O'Donnell's take
Lawrence O'Donnell's take (of Dorchester) on when police break the law and their sworn duty to protect.
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