Hellfire and Carnations

cognitivedissonance:

The call came on Monday night, and it made mention of a man who had fallen off his bicycle and injured himself in a parking lot. So Officer Turner pulled up to the scene, and found Roger Anthony — a local fixture who people call “Rabbit” because he had big ears — rolling down the street on his bicycle. Turner followed Anthony in his patrol vehicle, sirens blaring, and ordered him to pull over. Anthony didn’t respond.

Williams said Turner then saw Anthony take something out his pocket and put it into his mouth. At that time, Turner got out of the car and yelled for Anthony to stop. When Anthony didn’t stop, the officer used a stun gun on him, causing him to fall off of his bike.

I’ve seen folks defending the use of pepper spray, batons, and stun guns on protesters. How about a deaf, disabled, bicycling senior citizen who couldn’t hear the officer? What kind of threat did he pose?

And from late last night:

Grandpa Arrested After Black Friday Brawl: Witnesses - Officer shattered man’s face on floor

Of course, police say the grandpa in question was trying to steal a video game. Witnesses say that when people began rushing a box of video games, the man stuck a game in the front of his waistband and tried to get his three-year-old grandson out of the way, who was also trampled in the melee. His grandson is reportedly okay, but he was booked for shoplifting and resisting arrest. He also had roughly $600 worth of merchandise in his cart he was planning to purchase.

Instead of protecting the people, the police had to make sure this one man wasn’t stealing a game by face-planting him to the floor.

With these incidents of brutality, it’s fair to ask who the police really are protecting and serving, isn’t it?

so, so many of these popping up on my dash these days.  scary as hell.