Discussion for article #227068
Can you (literally) say, “Smoking gun”?
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All the actions signal a culture of occupation. It is the kind of stuff you would expect from occupation troops in a war zone, not what you would expect from a civilian police department.
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The sad thing is, I expect all these fuckers to walk when they should be doing serious jail time.
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Well thank goodness this seems to be a problem localized to a single small town with a power structure that looks more like something from South Africa in the 70’s than modern America. Because I’d hate to think that this represented some kind of national problem. Thank you WaPo, thank you, for putting this into proper perspective as a micro rather than macro problem. For a while there I was very much afraid that I might have to engage in some unwelcome introspection and examine deeply internalized beliefs and attitudes about race.
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“In a 2012 lawsuit, a Ferguson officer allegedly hog-tied and choked a 12-year-old boy in the driveway of his home as he was checking the mail. The lawsuit accuses two officers of using “unreasonable and excessive” force.”
Mmmm. Okay. What would be reasonable and un-excessive force to use on a 12 year old checking their mail ?
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For starters, a simple question like, “Where is your guardian?”
Not that they shouldn’t go forward but won’t the cost of these lawsuits ultimately fall on the taxpayers, not the officers? It isn’t like they will get a haircut on their pensions to pay for the awards.
It’s the taxpayers who are turning a blind eye and have allowed this kind of institutional racism to exist for so long. As long as we’re willing to put up with this and pretend it isn’t happening, we’re the ones who should be paying.
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Justin Cosma was one of two Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies who in June 2010 came upon a shirtless 12-year-old boy who was checking the family mailbox. The deputies asked him what he was doing, knocked him down, and hogtied him, and the boy was choked and beaten, the lawsuit claims. The officers and the boy are white.
When asked about the accusations, Cosma’s attorney, Jason Retter, said he does not comment on pending cases.
Cosma was one of the officers who arrested reporters, including a Washington Post journalist, covering the protests in Ferguson over the killing of Michael Brown.
In the Jefferson County incident, Cosma filed a report that the 12-year-old assaulted him and his partner and was “resisting/interfering with arrest, detention or stop.” The local prosecutor refused to bring charges against the juvenile.
“They were talking to him and the next thing that happens is they are restraining him,” said the attorney for the boy’s family, Richard Lozano. “Because he was shirtless, he was grabbed around the neck. He had choke marks. They tied his hands and feet behind his back, and hogtied him — all on his property, all while his mother was inside the house.”
See, these thugs are totally not racist; they do it to white kids too! And the guy who pistol-whipped 12-year-olds four times was a black officer doing it to black kids. So all you race hustlers can just shut up now and go back home!
Seriously, WTF is wrong with these people???
This is how you change the culture: sue the City for big bucks…get your dough and see if the City chooses to change that culture…
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Phew, Steve. You’re right. We can all breathe easier, carry on with our lives, and wonder why “minorities” are so grumpy about these things.
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“a Ferguson officer allegedly hog-tied and choked a 12-year-old boy in the driveway of his home as he was checking the mail.”
I really don’t have anything to add to this.
At least 6 but possibly the whole friggin’ squad is implicated.
This department is awful and needs a head to toe renovation. These are bad cops that play bad cop-way worse cop.
It’s obvious, at least to me, that the police chief should be fired or “retire” and someone with a new attitude appointed to change the culture of the Ferguson police force.
Wouldn’t it be nice if they could get someone like that Captain Johnson?