Police Are Beating Up on the Helpless

I wish that I could say that I trusted the police. I know that there are supposed to be there for our assistance and protection in our community but too often these uniformed "upholders of the law" are getting out of control in their use of force and misuse of authority. Of course, I know that not all police officers are jerks, but as the age old adage goes, "a few bad apples can spoil the bunch."

I was watching the news and saw a story on how a police officer was videotaped assaulting a young 13 year old skateboarder. The officer was upset that the boy called him, "dude" and felt that was disrespectful. The fact of the matter is that while the boy may not have said "sir" to the officer, and the end did not justify the means. The officer held the boy in a choke hold and slammed him to the ground, yelling that he was not the boy's father and would not be disrespected. The police officer was even quoted as saying that he would "smack the boy upside the head."

Later on the same day I was no MSN news and saw a story on Good Morning America where a deputy at a police station dumped a quadriplegic man from his wheel chair because he refused to stand. Hmm... someone should have clarified for the officer that quadriplegics can't stand. So the officer was seen on the video footage literally dumping the man from his wheel chair and patting him down while other officers looked on. One of the officers actually helped.

Now in both of these instances the officers were suspended WITH pay. To me that just does not cut it. I understand that these officers are under a lot of stress but they are supposed to uphold the law, and should be held to a higher standard. This is unacceptable. So it seems like we all have to start carrying video cameras around just to be safe from all the criminals, especially those new criminals that walk around with blue uniforms and badges.

Thanks for reading.
-Live Intentionally, Die Empty

Check out these footages on police brutality:

Cop vs Skateboarder: http://youtube.com/watch?v=kBeB81PPlng

Cop vs Quadriplegic:
http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&vid=60da7875-79b4-4793-8705-485717b39cc1&playlist=videoByTag:tag:Msnbc%3AToday%20Show:ns:VC_Source:mk:us:sf:ActiveStartDate&from=MSNHP&tab=m138>1=10856

Police Officer Breaks Teen Girl's Wrist Because She Dropped Some Cake:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hFKxkeacLYs

Cop Manhandles a 15 Year Old Girl and Punches her in the face, then maces her:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oS2NY0M08zA&feature=related