[EMAIL PROTECTED] (William J. Foristal) writes:
HI Sue,
And King was not armed. Glad to hear they used the tape to show what NOT
to do. It certainly is a good example of it. The sad part is that the
female CHP officer had the situation well in hand before the LAPD showed
up and decided to have a beating party. It seems obvious that this sort
of behavior was common practice for some cops and had it not been for the
video tape they would have gotten away with this one too. I bet the good
and honest cops are glad those rogue cops are finished in law
enforcement.
Bill
On Mon, 27 Apr 1998 12:23:12 -0700 Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
>Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
>
>Hi Bill:
>
>They use the Rodney King tape as a training tool to show what not to
>do
>now. So that in itself tells me that the cops didn't handle the
>situation right.
>
>At the beginning of the tape it shows King on the ground a few times,
>and getting up. But it also show about 8 or more cops standing
>around.
>Seems like there were more than enough cops there to subdue him
>without
>beating him. In fact one of the cops actually is shown with his foot
>on
>Kings neck, and still hitting him with a stick. Then the one with the
>foot on the neck, kicked him.
>
>Sue
>> HI Sue,
>>
>> I agree with you and Kathy on this one, to a certain extent. I
>doubt if
>> the LAPD training taught cops to continue to beat a perp once he was
>> subdued and posed no threat to them or anyone else. And certainly
>Rodney
>> King was to blame for much of what happened. He failed to stop when
>> ordered to do so and failed to follow instructions initially when he
>> finally got out of the car. He was under the influence of alcohol.
>>
>> However, in no way can we as a society choose to ignore the blame of
>the
>> police officers in this incident. I'm the first to admit that these
>cops
>> have an extremely difficult job to do. That is why they get such
>> intensive and ongoing training in how to handle the situations they
>are
>> likely to encounter. It is essential that they maintain control of
>their
>> behavior 100% of the time. This is a tough task for situations
>where
>> they may have seen a scumbag gun down one of their friends and then
>drop
>> his weapon and raise his hands. The tempation to blow him away must
>be a
>> tremendous one to resist. However, resist it they must. Just as
>they
>> must resist the urge to beat the hell out of a guy who is subdued
>and
>> helpless. Cops who choose not to resist this temptation make it so
>much
>> more difficult for the majority of cops who do resist it.
>>
>> IMO, it doesn't matter what King was doing prior to the time he was
>> subdued and helpless lying on the ground. (And let's not try to kid
>> ourselves. The tape we saw showed clearly and undeniably that he
>WAS
>> subdued and helpless). The choice those cops made to continue to
>beat
>> the hell out of King, and to give in to their frustrations and
>anger, was
>> a choice that was wrong and that demanded a response of punishment
>under
>> the same law these guys were sworn to uphold. Anything less than
>this
>> would create a society that admits that some people are above the
>law and
>> that crime is defined not by what is done but also by who does it.
>>
>> It is ironic, IMO, that law and order people who talk long and loud
>about
>> people being responsible for their actions and paying the price for
>their
>> actions when they are against the law would be so quick to try to
>defend
>> the cops in this situation and say that they were merely doing their
>> jobs. These cops lost their careers and had their lives ruined
>because
>> of THEIR actions and THEIR choices. Just like a drug user loses a
>career
>> and ruins his life because of HIS choices. To condemn the druggie
>and
>> support the cops is the height of hypocrisy, IMO.
>>
>> Bill
>
>--
>Two rules in life:
>
>1. Don't tell people everything you know.
>2.
>
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