Slog

News & Arts

The Stranger Suggests

Critics' Best Bets
Music Arts & Food


Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

Friday, October 14, 2011

NY Cop Might Live to Regret Bloodying Occupy Wall Street Protester

Posted by on Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 1:39 PM

Occupy Wall Street protester Felix Rivera-Pitre admits he "shot the cop a look," but I'm wondering under what legal system that justifies the cop punching him in the face:

"The cop just lunged at me full throttle and hit me on the left side of my face. It tore my earring out. I remember seeing my earring on the ground next to me and it was full of blood. I was completely dumbstruck."

Yeah, that cop likely feels he got the best of Rivera-Pitre, as cops usually do. But, you know, maybe not:

"I'm HIV positive and that cop should get tested."

 

Comments (17) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
Cato the Younger Younger 1
But remember kiddies..the cops are part of the 99% and your special friends. LOL!!!
Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on October 14, 2011 at 1:43 PM
gloomy gus 2
What a terrible attack by the brass. But this notion about such a thing leading to HIV transmission is one some of us have been debunking for literally decades, so caveat worth updating your post with, if you would.
Posted by gloomy gus on October 14, 2011 at 1:47 PM
3
from the looks of the video, the punch was definitely uncalled for, but i'm almost certain there's VERY little chance that cop could have been contracted HIV from that.
Posted by narmic on October 14, 2011 at 1:50 PM
Tingleyfeeln 4
Shhh! Let's hope that cop is ignorant enough to be scared for a little bit!
Posted by Tingleyfeeln on October 14, 2011 at 1:52 PM
5
Oh you can pretty much bet he is. In my experience there are few things that cops are more afraid of. The "oooh you'll get HIV" panic spread like wildfire among cops and has burned at a steady rate ever since. They freak if you spit.
Posted by gnossos on October 14, 2011 at 2:00 PM
6
Of course I doubt the cop could contract HIV from this episode but at the least the dickwad cop will have to put up with a month's worth of the side effects from profilactic HAART treatment which are pretty awful.
Posted by Jersey on October 14, 2011 at 2:09 PM
MacCrocodile 7
The survival rate for violent cops is much higher than it used to be. Punching a protester in the head isn't the death sentence it once was.
Posted by MacCrocodile http://maccrocodile.com/ on October 14, 2011 at 2:14 PM
8
if by some exceptionally unlikely occurrence that cop was to contract hiv, i would not be shocked if that kid got hit w/ an assault w/ a deadly weapon charge.... for aggressively putting his face in the way of that cop's fist. they are the cops & this is america, after all.
Posted by philosophy school dropout on October 14, 2011 at 2:17 PM
9
this proves that people with AIDS should be quarantined.
Posted by an earring, Felix? the cop did you a favor... on October 14, 2011 at 2:18 PM
gloomy gus 10
@7, awe.some.
Posted by gloomy gus on October 14, 2011 at 2:18 PM
Zebes 11
Because what we need right now isn't aggressive cops pounding on protesters, but aggressive cops pounding on protesters while wearing creepy biologically isolated full-body suits.
Posted by Zebes http://www.badrap.org/rescue/index.html on October 14, 2011 at 2:40 PM
12
Almost all the scenes of police brutality I've seen in NY have been the white-shirts. I'm not from NY, so correct me if I'm wrong, but the blue-shirts are more junior officers, and the white-shirts are more senior, supervisors, and tend to be older as well. I think the old guys have the old-school "don't fuck with us" attitude, are of a more bigoted generation, and they lose their shit a lot more often than the younger guys. Totally anecdotal, of course.
Posted by ohthetrees on October 14, 2011 at 3:09 PM
hans millionaire 13
if everyone who carried a camera was carrying A gun i bet the police would not punch people in the face so much...
Posted by hans millionaire on October 14, 2011 at 3:22 PM
Zebes 14
@13

Nope. They'd be shooting people in the face instead.
Posted by Zebes http://www.badrap.org/rescue/index.html on October 14, 2011 at 3:48 PM
15
Way to assume the cop was HIV negative to begin with, gang.

No need to comment at all on Goldy's "I never said I hope the cops get AIDS, I'm just bringing it up as a possibility."
Posted by robotslave on October 14, 2011 at 4:36 PM
16
Not to be repetitive, but this bears repeating as it's current with what's taking place there:

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/152727/for…

As corrupt as this practice is, testimony from Stephen Anderson, a former NYPD narcotics detective, shows it's just the tip of the iceberg.

According to Anderson, who testified at trial Wednesday, New York City police regularly planted drugs on innocent people to meet quotas. Anderson should know. He was arrested in 2008 for planting cocaine on four men in a bar in Queens. His statements are the first glimpse into a culture of set-ups at the Brooklyn South and Queens Narc squads where eight corrupt cops were arrested.

Next, we learn -- thanks to the ever wonderful Wall Street investigative guru, Pam Martens, of those nicely ongoing payments to Big Apple's Finest:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/10/10/f…

Corporate media are reporting that these white shirts are police supervisors as opposed to rank and file. Recently discovered documents suggest something else may be at work.

If you’re a Wall Street behemoth, there are endless opportunities to privatize profits and socialize losses beyond collecting trillions of dollars in bailouts from taxpayers. One of the ingenious methods that has remained below the public’s radar was started by the Rudy Giuliani administration in New York City in 1998. It’s called the Paid Detail Unit and it allows the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street corporations, including those repeatedly charged with crimes, to order up a flank of New York’s finest with the ease of dialing the deli for a pastrami on rye.

The corporations pay an average of $37 an hour (no medical, no pension benefit, no overtime pay) for a member of the NYPD, with gun, handcuffs and the ability to arrest. The officer is indemnified by the taxpayer, not the corporation.

New York City gets a 10 percent administrative fee on top of the $37 per hour paid to the police. The City’s 2011 budget called for $1,184,000 in Paid Detail fees, meaning private corporations were paying wages of $11.8 million to police participating in the Paid Detail Unit. The program has more than doubled in revenue to the city since 2002.

The taxpayer has paid for the training of the rent-a-cop, his uniform and gun, and will pick up the legal tab for lawsuits stemming from the police personnel following illegal instructions from its corporate master. Lawsuits have already sprung up from the program.

When the program was first rolled out, one insightful member of the NYPD posted the following on a forum: “… regarding the officer working for, and being paid by, some of the richest people and organizations in the City, if not the world, enforcing the mandates of the private employer, and in effect, allowing the officer to become the Praetorian Guard of the elite of the City. And now corruption is no longer a problem. Who are they kidding?”

Just this year, the Department of Justice revealed serious problems with the Paid Detail unit of the New Orleans Police Department. Now corruption probes are snowballing at NOPD, revealing cash payments to police in the Paid Detail and members of the department setting up limited liability corporations to run upwards of $250,000 in Paid Detail work billed to the city.

As we found out a few days back, JP Morgan Chase essentially bought off the NYPD with a $4.6 million contribution to their Police Foundation:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/02…

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6231/6238…
More...
Posted by sgt_doom on October 14, 2011 at 4:44 PM
Nelson Bradley 17
White shirts = Brownshirts.
Posted by Nelson Bradley on October 15, 2011 at 2:49 PM

Add a comment

Advertisement
 

Want great deals and a chance to win tickets to the best shows in Seattle? Join The Stranger Presents email list!


All contents © Index Newspapers, LLC
1535 11th Ave (Third Floor), Seattle, WA 98122
Contact Info | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Takedown Policy