News Nov 25, 2010 at 4:00 am

ACLU Asks the Feds to Do Something About the SPD's Violent, Ask-Questions-Later Approach to Minorities

Comments

1
police should be held accountable for their actions - seriously - an officer who kill someone and then is later found to be using excessive force? - charge them (with manslaughter/murder, none of this disciplinary bullshit) ditto if excessive force is used like in the most recent case. if it looks like assault, - charge them with assault.
being a police officer is *NOT* a free pass to be a jackass.
2
"We can't have that for a functioning city," says Licata. "It makes city government look like we don't know what we're doing."

...

I disagree. I think it makes it seem like the SPD knows exactly what it is doing. They just were caught doing it.
3
Normally, a man holding a gun that had shot someone would be in a King County correctional facility or jail, awaiting trial regarding murder charges. This does not hold true for SPD; you would get paid administrative leave (i.e. sit at home, watch HBO and get paid by the taxpayers.)
4
I think it damages your case that you bring the jaywalking incident into it. The rest are absurd, stupid, knuckle-dragger, power-trip bullshit and should be punished. They deserve every bit the ACLU can throw at them. Too bad taxpayers eventually pay out the damages that should and will be awarded (in the form of more expensive insurance against civil findings).

But the jaywalking thing? Did I get some bad coverage? Because I thought the girl who got punched was trying to hit/push/grab the officer. You try to hit a cop... shit, you try to hit me or anyone else, and you invite getting justifiably hit yourself.
5
The City of Seattle currently does not have a citizens’ review board. There is a citizen review board for the OPA (Office of Professional Accountability) but these members are not allowed to look at open cases. They are also not allowed to review a specific case, they are only supposed to look at general trends and make comments on how policy should be changed. Other than a recommendation, they have very little power to influence. OPA Review Board members are trying to do community outreach. As important as that is, what change can they affect if they only allow 5 minutes of their total meeting time for community comment? How are they able to help the SPD correct itself if they are only allowed to review closed and de-identified cases? Shouldn’t we have a more active citizen component present to help hold the SPD accountable?
6
the only thing hippies , and thugs understand is a good whop up side the head . enough whop's up side the head you get your shit together , or you die . no one will miss a worthless child molester , rapist , crack dealer , etc. except the bleeding heart liberals who run industries (re hab's ,half way houses etc. )that profit from "treating them" you all-way's wanna feel bad for the criminal you lib's until they rape you ,kill you , invade your home and do both of those thing's . then you yell "where are the cop's when you need them !" well they are in court dealing with your bullshit ! we don't need 2 million dollars worth of camera's , we need a hundred grand worth of billy club's up side dirt bag's head's !
7
Harrell should stop being a lesser seattle pantywaist and back up the ACLU's call for a justice department investigation in light of past unpunished abuse by the SPD. I can see the cops turning off body cameras and giving the excuse that they were broken at the time of a particular incident of abuse, etc.

Burgess's support of status quo internal investigations of the SPD without further action should make him an excellent candidate for a progressive reform opponent to run against in the next election.
8
Eric; I's it the liberal's fault's you dont' know how to use's apostrophe's?
9
So these brown-nosed cop's pets that we keep hearing from every time the Stranger puts up an article about police brutality... I wonder if they were all teacher's pets growing up, too.

"If Billy didn't want to get beaten by Mrs. Petterman, he shouldn't have been chewing gum in class! Those are the RULES! Right, Mrs. Petterman?"

Looks about the same to me, at least.
10
@ # THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY ?
11
I keep running into your comments, cartman, and they all have an amazing similarity: your grammar is always pitiful, your punctuation is always 'idiosyncratic' (to say it kindly), your spelling is always imaginary and your rhetoric is always vitriolic and hateful. But I think you've managed to top yourself in the obvious brainlessness department by failing to actually indicate who your comment is directed to - apparently, you can't even complete a single sentence coherently.

So here's your free grammar lesson for today: a sentence consists of a subject and a verb. Everything else is embellishment. In verbal exchanges the subject can be implied by body language and/or context, but in written communication the subject is required. Required. See? Two examples of incomplete sentences, which I can get away with because I don't expect them to stand alone. Instead, they function as emphasis and commentary on the _actual_ sentences that surround them. "That's all you have to say?" without any indication of who "you" is has no subject.

If you would like a further lesson in sentence construction, or, say, the use of apostrophes, just say so. I won't tackle logic for you, though, since it would take waaaay too much effort to help understand even a conditional demand; something which most three-year-old's can manage if you make it worth their while.
12
lol! you guy's take things waaaaay to seriously. by the way the "@#" you are referring to was kind of a blanket thing.the thing i have a problem with here is this "ACLU Asks the Feds to Do Something About the SPD's Violent, Ask-Questions-Later Approach to Minorities" why just the minorities? are they really minority's anymore? don't you care about the abuse of white people? don't the white people have rights to protection from abuse as well? what's your experience in the streets with minority crime? in short what the fuck do you know about it other than what the strangler writes? if any thing tell us. so again "@#? is that all you have to say?" as for punctuation , english class was a long time ago and i don't give a shit. finally yes whop them up side the head enough and just maybe they might learn that this shit is not acceptable , and if they don't fucking waste them. the day of ass kissing the career felon must end sometime.
13
Eww, Mr. Cartman was better in character... I'm all for 'whopin' Hippies...but now you seem like a racist who is afraid of our nation's future demographic shift toward a more swarthy complexion. ("Are they really minority's anymore?")

Don't be afraid...our dicks will get bigger and our dancing will be better.

14
i knew some one would say that but aren't you being a racist by denying a white mans rights? equal rights means they are for every body. you need to get over this media driven p.c. bullshit of white guilt folks. why does this have to be about minority only rights ? white guy's get thumped and kicked too ,don't they deserve the same protections?
15
@Cartman. Yes they do. However, recent SPD "events" have only involved minorities. So when one needs to cite examples of bad SPD behavior, one can, currently, only point to the events involving minorities.

The question then becomes, is the SPD beating everybody down regardless of their race? Maybe. However recent events definitely shows a bias towards beating down minorities.

As for whether "they" are really minorities anymore. That's a numbers game. When looked at from the standpoint of the whole of Washington, yes, they are. When looked at from the standpoint of, say, a very specific neighborhood within the greater Seattle area, maybe not. At the end of the day, does it matter? Would it make you feel better if people said "non-Caucasian"? It covers the same group and only very passively implies "minorities".
16
o.k. thats a response from some one with a brain !it's just that i'm not sure that its only minorities that are getting whomped ,just that they are the only ones getting talked about. now the wood carver guy ,that was just plain fucked up. the teen black girl,i saw the video like every one else. she got out of place , and she knows it. she's a victim of this attitude among blacks thats like , we got obama now we black folks can do what ever the fuck we want! well they can't.as for the teenage kid and i quote "The teenage suspect has been charged with attempted robbery in connection with a botched undercover drug bust that occurred in the Belltown area that night" you don't know what went down that night but i bet it was fucked up , and you don't know how many others have been terrorized by this worthless punk and his friends. from what we know , he just may have deserved a kick in the nuts. you don't know what he does to his victims when he's robbing them now do you. it's easy to judge from your couch ,how many of you have been on the recieving end of "minority thug violence?" probobly none or you would probobly have a different attitude. as for the mexican piss case , I don't know anything about it so I got got nothing to say about it and no one else should either unless they have some facts. so as for the trend of growing abuse of said minorities ,well maybe they are getting increasingly out of pocket? ! I have an idea for you hippies, why don't you take a ride a long with an spd officer some busy saturday night in a minority neighborhood and get an idea of what really goes down?
17
The shots were to John's RIGHT side, not left.
18
I have been on the receiving side of minority abuse. I have been raped,robbed and beaten by minorties when I was younger.With that said,I still grew up understanding the realities of the sometimes insurmountable struggles that minorities must deal with on a daily basis.For you to say the things you say just shows how little you understand history,human psychology and current events.P.S. If you don;t know about the mexican piss story,mabybe you shoud educate you;re self.
19
I have been on the receiving side of minority abuse. I have been raped,robbed and beaten by minorties when I was younger.With that said,I still grew up understanding the realities of the sometimes insurmountable struggles that minorities must deal with on a daily basis.For you to say the things you say just shows how little you understand history,human psychology and current events.P.S. If you don;t know about the mexican piss story,mabybe you shoud educate you;re self.
20
so after being raped , robbed and beaten by them you still support them and by the struggle story as an excuse for the behavior then you need mental help / therapy big big time. quit giving losers an excuse for fucked up behavior ,it makes you no different than a beaten woman making excuses for her partners abuse. i dunno maybe you had it coming and its your fault? no i don't think so , never let some one make you think that.
21
some times i wonder about you people , do you really believe this shit or are you just stupid trolls trying to start a flame war? both? you all need a real sense of what goes on in the real world , don't take my word or any one else's . go see it for your self ,take my ride along challenge and then get back to me. if all else fails maybe you will save some poor struggling minority from being beaten for nothing. wouldn't that be worth it to you?
22
I personally have had my rights violated, many times,including being assaulted to where I am now disabled from it. $20,000 in attorney fees just to have the county cops admit they had lied on their complaint against me.

This is only new due to the personal cameras, and lots of 24 hour news.

People still believe if a cop is involved, that who ever is on the wrong end "MUST BE GUILTY"
23
We had an Everett cop empty his gun in the back of a drunk driver that was parked... reason the cops life was endangered, cop was found not guilty.

The guy having a Corvette have anything to do with that shooting??
24
Minority shminority... This is about police brutality, not race. Because of coverage like this many other cases in this marshal law country never even surface. Lets try to concentrate, it's 2010, police brutality is getting out of control because they know they can get away with it... Not because a white skinned officer has a conflict with anyone from the outdated affirmative action template. Racism is individual problem in 2010. We are not in 1950's. In reality the police brutality problem is the system that allows illegal behaviors like racism to occur. The protections that American cops have are enormous. They have more rights than the president. America is probably the greatest hypocracy that this civilization will ever know.
Here is a recent arrest of a reporter in GA that went underreported.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XwES7Dwi…

Where is the freedom of speech? freedom of press?! Why don't we just throw the constitution in the garbage then and tell the world who we really are. A black or Hispanic or female officer are the same scum as any white officer out there, because they all belong to the same gang (police union) and know that they have extra rights and will get away with almost anything today. This has to end. it starts to look like a civil war between civilians and the police.

25
It's just as bad here in Canada.
in 2008 in Ottawa, a Black girl is arrested for having an open beer in the bar district. It is taken away from her, her name is run, and she is released. She takes two steps, turns around and asks 'Why did you arrest me?'. SHe is re-arrested for being disorderly, strip searched, brutalized, and has her shirt and bra cut off with scissors. The police sat on the tape for two years.

"A Toronto police officer inexplicably floors his gas pedal, speeds into an illegal right turn and runs down a grandmother, severing her brain stem and killing her instantly.

An OPP constable wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a baton and pepper spray shoots and kills an intellectually challenged 59-year-old man holding a small pocket knife.

During a traffic stop near Canada's Wonderland, York Region officers rough up a small, 50-year-old accountant, breaking his arm and leaving him roadside.

A Peel Region police officer sucker-punches a handcuffed prisoner and breaks his jaw in two places.

Two teens chatting on the grass in a public park are run over by a Durham Region squad car, suffering extensive injuries."

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/8821…
26
I have noticed from my time living in Seattle that the SPD ONLY, ONLY, ONLY cares about drugs.

Drugs are/used to be a "free pass" excuse for the cop to do anything. Seems like it's still true.

Drug use didn't seem like that big a problem when I lived there and it looks like it still isn't a problem.
27
bad boy's bad boy's what ya gonna do . watcha gonna do when they come for you. just to clarify, i think most cop's are assholes too. i have been locked up ,and roughed up for some non existant shit as well.most of them are the punks in school you took milk money from and shoved in lockers , or pantsed in front of girls , and yes they are taking some revenge out. on the other hand crime is waayyyy outta pocket in hard times , and coddling violent felons because of skin color is bullshit too. if you look at the over all stats of arrests v.s. abuse the ratio is tiny at best. some guys are assholes youd kick in the nut's too. if 5,000 people a month are arrested and 1 every two months is wrongfully abused... meh i can deal with that ratio as long as the job's getting done. i've lived on the street in my past and i'm here to tell you theres some serious scum bags out there that need a good whopin upside the head.
28
It's not just minorities. Remember the guy who got slammed against the Cinerama wall head first and is comatose. He was innocent and in a defenseless position. And what's up with all these violent cops with the name Ian?
29
Wow.
I agree with Mikey in that this is not an issue of minority as it is police brutality.
Aka “ an abuse of power” This kind of brutality is certainly not isolated to minorities but I have no hesitation when I say that they have suffered the first of it.
Cartman is a great example of the type of people who perpetuate this kind of publicly acceptable or (currently tolerated) bigotry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigotry (And it makes you sound so Powerful) Jk
Even people who were born and raised (or in Cartmans case abused) ccLcycle of abuse) in the U.S have mild to serious problems with the government and current social systems. (groupthink)
I’m not talking about people who commit a crime and are slapped with a bad name the rest of there life.
I am talking about the people who went to WARCraft thinking that would change things for the better.
Is having a pseudo war inside the country based on illegitimate police shootings, baseless harassments and mandatory strip downs any more crazy than to support of bunch of undeveloped country kids manipulated desire to be successful, drafted into becoming a order to shoot u.s /world representative.
Not to jump off subject but if this type of thing happens here can you imagine the unsupervised insanity that is justified by wearing a suit in another part of the world. If people who live in the this area of the world, PNW supposedly one of the more progressive ( notice liberal &progressive not interchangeable) regions of this country allow our safety to be compromised by the very people who were supposedly there to guard it, we have a ripe example of imbalance of power. But until we take responsibility for our mildly to completely contradictory often institutionalized way of thinking we will never be able to surmount the atrocity. Better to take the chance to think aside the pack than be a hypocrite within it.
Do us all a favor cartman and get some help for your PTSD, the GI bill should cover some of that. Oh, and if its not in the between the fine lines just talk to a native to compare notes on government promises. Give us a little asterisk whine.
While cartmans posting no real intellectual threat to us further sharing notes on current events his Edge might be better received at the kyle Huff Memorial page.
In conclusion maybe as people we could try and do a better job just governing ourselves, examining our farther reaching attitudes to stabilize a more harmonious world for ourselves and others* around us.
Something, something, that “one person” M. Mead quote. I think you get the point
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bip4IsUyK… If you want sonic enhancement.

p.s
I don’t think I will be able to impress (Alison circus) with my semantics, yet the content might be a little more easy to digest. Like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PXNUXtak…
Now that is real working wisdom



30
"most of them are the punks in school you took milk money from and shoved in lockers , or pantsed in front of girls , and yes they are taking some revenge out".

Thanks for admitting you were a bully in school, Cartman. Explains a lot. And your daddy probably TAUGHT you that the violent, the spiteful and the aggressive were the ones that would win...he most likely taught you that every time he beat you...

Get therapy, dude.
31
Bruce Harrell are the only ones on the Council who are calling for police accountability and asking questions. None of the others are saying anything. Burgess need to quit it with the cop-backing and question SPD's actions.
32
Meant to add Nick Licata's name in there.
33
i love it ! you peep's are some of the most psycho troll's out side of the seattle weakly ! you will latch onto anything the fuck with some body won't you ? I gotta ask, in 29's rant wtf does war craft have to do with it? as for allisoncircus well.. she loves me and stalks me constantly , i wish she'd read the restraining order 500 FEET LADY ! theres no reasoning with her. why don't you take your huggy, kissy ,liberal/commie agendas over to the weakly , or the huffy post , they would love you little wonders of the net there .
34
almost forgot ! my daddy never beat me as you say , and I don't need therapy . yes the tough guy's make the rules , get the girls , and become winners in the real world . then theres you guy's , a buncha vegan wimps who front about lovin the brown folks , but you know dam well if you ever went breeder you'd never tolerate a brown grandchild so really just shove the holier than thou attitude right up yer arses , that is if they ever become vacant of your heads .
36
Cartman, I'd take some of your points more seriously if you didn't spew insults and trivial bullshit...

It's an understood fact that the police have leeway when it comes to brutality, and it can get to their heads, but I'm sick of hearing stories of people like Oscar Grant and John Williams. The question is what the solution is to help keep police from losing their shit. More police officers, harsher punishment for brutality, cameras? It might be good to ask the officers themselves.
37
I have a grandchild who is part Yupik(that's Eskimo to people down there in the Lower 48).

Fuck you, Cartman. Fuck you and the turd of hate you feed on.

The old white world you identify with is dying, and the Rainbow Future will be as beautiful as you are vile.

You'll soon be part of the past, and the global majority is thankful for that.
38
"a buncha vegan wimps who front about lovin the brown folks , but you know dam well if you ever went breeder you'd never tolerate a brown grandchild so really just shove the holier than thou attitude right up yer arses"

1)Some of us ARE "breeders". You don't have to be gay to be anti-hate. You just have to have a soul. And you can be against hate and still eat meat(I used to and I was against hate THEN).

2)My grand-daughter is part Yupik(they're one of the groups that use to be considered "Eskimo", but that word isn't used anymore). I have a newborn baby grand-niece who's half-Arab. Don't tell me who I would and wouldn't tolerate, asshole.

3)You're part of the old, rigid, uptight "white" world that's dying, and Thank God it IS dying(I say that as a person with white skin, btw). The future is going to be Rainbow. Deal with it. There's nothing you can do about it.
The way to get rid of the hard times is to get rid of the rich and then come together and run the world for the good of all.

4)As Robin Williams said at the end of GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM, "You're in more dire need of a blowjob than any white man in history".

39
Didn't mean to repeat those posts. I thought post #37 hadn't worked. Sorry for the duplication of the ideas.
40
don't feed the troll. Eric Cartman is a four hundred pound Person of Walmart, who's three hundred pound girlfriend was stolen from him by a black dude, and it's made him a hateful internet troll witb zero else to do.

Go ahead, post nine bigoted responses. I wont be here to see, cos I've got school and work to go to :)
41
could the shoe incident be considered part of the string of incidents? was that included?
42
eric cartman = troll
43
Back in the 60's, I believe, two cops were accused of having a habit of beating teen boys on the streets. So many complaints came in, they were put on paid vacation, the numerous complaints 'unfounded', and the cops put back on patrol in another area (West Seattle, I believe). The very first night back on patrol, they beat a kid so bad he died from his injuries!!!! AFTER the SPD 'investigated' and found them INNOCENT.
44
So... as others have asked has the SPD just gone out of control lately, or has this been going on for an extended time? Either way something needs to be done, and clearly the whole "policing themselves" idea isn't working out.

However the situation is dealt wit I personally think that cops (or any authority figure, in fact)should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us non-badged types. Lead by example, and all.
45
Typical.. I dont live in Seattle Anymore and It's a shame. There are at least twenty incidents that I can name that Included me that I would call excessive and Racist. 5 tickets in 10 mins, car towed because it looked wrong then was lost in the system till it had 1000 dollars in storage fees. Hahahaha. Good times, good times. But here is the most telling thing. In the 80s after one of my run in with the man I was leaving the Cherry Street station. I used the Bathroom. There on the wall large enough to be seen from the door written in ornate letters was "The Knights of The Klu KLux Klan.." And some Shit about the Brother hood of the Blue Cross. Look I don't care what some Quisling Negro Is going to say about t his latest incident. Believe me, as it get closer and more Public they'll trot him out every body's favorite Colored cop Joe or Pete or what ever. But Fuck them.They basically ran me out of town and scare the shit out of me when I am in town. They can do or say anything they want. I say it at least Once a year. Seattle enjoys the reputation of being a progressive city. But if you you look close you'll see that it is in reality a somewhat tolerant conservative city. With a police force that makes the LAPD look like Boy scouts..Here let me sign this. Cause I would hate for them to think I am one of those guys throws rocks and then runs to the back of the crowed. CARL ROLLE
46
It appears that Eric's fund of knowledge is critically low.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.