29 thoughts on “Respect Mah Authoritah”

  2. Sam Thornton

    Big cop in a tiny car on park patrol. What does this tell us? A) He wasn’t suitable for regular patrol duties; B) He lacked either the desire or ability to be promoted to more responsible duties; or C) He was so stressed out by his previous duties or personal situation that this kind of duty was considered a good place to ‘park’ him.

    On the other hand, there may be a perfectly reasonable and exculpatory explanation as to why a man of Officer Rivieri’s age and girth was assigned by his superiors to troop around in public in a colorful, matching shirt ‘n shorts outfit.

    More facts are required. Inquiring minds want to know.

  3. watchdog

    This incident sounds alarmingly like the 2002 incident, where a LEO (“law enforcement officer”) ASSAULTED a black teen:

    http://revcom.us/a/1266/donovan-jackson-chavis-verdict.htm
    http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/07/12/police.beating.officer/index.html
    http://www.knbc.com/video/1547338/index.html

    The first frames of the video show a skinny young kid lying face down on the asphalt, handcuffed, utterly still. Four beefy cops surround him. They yank his limp body off the pavement by grabbing the silver chain around his neck. He is choked unconscious. They slam him hard face-first onto the trunk of the black-and-white. The blow jolts him awake. The camcorder zooms in on his face: His mouth is red-wet, and the blood smears across his cheek. His jaw is slack and his eyes can’t focus. He tries to lift his head, but it falls back down. The four cops are close around him, an unforgiving wall. Officer Jeremy Morse, on the Inglewood force for three years, grabs the back of the kid’s head and turns it to the right, spending a few seconds to position it just so. He smashes his clenched fist into the youth’s face, then wraps his hands around his throat. On the video, you can see Morse’s face clearly: contorted by a grimace, teeth bared in a snarl, he truly does look like a beast.

    The LEO in question was found to have had a history of abuse (at least 2 cases, see above article where one of his victims was in a coma for 5 days).

    The below comments from a news bbs summarizes it best:

    T*O*P*I*C Discussion Started: 07-10-2002, 2:54 PM
    Attorneys for a teen who was videotaped while an Inglewood police
    officer slammed him onto a squad car plan to file a lawsuit over the
    incident as public pressure mounts and various law enforcement agencies
    launch separate investigations. Meanwhile another man claims he too was
    beaten by Inglewood police officers. What do you think about the police
    brutality situation in Inglewood? Elsewhere? What, if anything, do you
    think the videotape proves?

    don87654 07-16-2002, 3:27 PM
    Southern California cops are just plain crooked, period! I was once a
    State of California Correctional Peace Officer at the California
    Institute for Women at Frontera. We were taught in the Academy at Galt
    how to formulate evidence to make ourselves look good and victims to
    look bad.     I refused to cater to this treatment and was fired by an
    abusive Lieutenant that was in charge of Internal Affairs at the time.
    Later because of my outspoken stances on this, charges were levied
    against me involving vehicle tampering and simple assault and I was
    convicted of this by what appeared to be paid police witnesses. My
    attorney at the time, one of the best criminal lawyers in southern
    California, told me to pack my bags and leave town, which I did. It took
    him 8 long years to get my conviction erased from court records and to
    get the warrant for my arrest dropped by the court so I was no longer
    “wanted”. It does not matter where they are at….these California cops
    that completed the Academy in Los Angeles, or for the State, are just
    plain crooked–they are taught to be that way

    Jbp912 07-10-2002, 6:21 PM
    I am a disabled military veteran. I am in my senior years and I have
    become cynical of police officers and the entire judicial system. There
    has been too much lying, cover-ups, and irresponsible behavior by law
    enforcement persons. It seems there is a lack of proper training, poor
    recruitment, and too much hubris. The bottom line is bad management and
    no accountability, but we live in an age of extreme mediocrity.
    Thank you, JBP

    Patriottoo 07-10-2002, 4:20 PM
    This is a clear cut case of a rabid, over zealous, adreinaline pumped,
    and I’m suprised his eyes weren’t bulging out of his head cop! The teen
    was OBVIOUSLY in custody when he was BRUTILIZED with the UNNECESSARY
    FORCE of SLAMMING his head on the trunk lid of the police car and then
    PUNCHING him FIST CLOSED in the face, by the this cop. I don’t care who
    a person is, or what they have done, NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY deserves
    to be treated in that manner.     Once the ‘cuffs’ are on, all force that
    was necessary to place a suspect in custody MUST STOP! I hope this
    maniac of a police officer is prosecuted to the fullest extent that the
    law allows, and receives the maxium penalty for his crimes! Only when
    the courts get serious and start holding those in the police agencies
    around the country who would engage in this type of brutality, fully
    responsible for thier crimes will we see an end to it!
    Patriot Too

    I find it OUTRAGEOUS that the so called LEOs (“to protect & serve” emblazened on their patrol cars) are actually the criminals. America sounds like a 3rd world country.

    There was the famous case of Frank Serpico, who exposed massive corruption in NYPD:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Serpico

    “10% of the cops are corrupt, 10% of them are honest..the other 80% WISH THEY WERE HONEST”
    ..was his testimony to Congress

    Connect the dots. Los Angeles, NY, Baltimore. The renowned “Code of Silence” (a “closed system” which doesn’t allow corrective feedback) allows the crap to happen.

    I remember the commission report on the 1968 Democratic Convention:

    “It was a police riot”

    The famous video of a cop striking a guy (college student) full face with a baton, & the student striking back.

    “You don’t need a lawyer..JUST GOTO THE MEDIA”

    ..my lawyer friend told me. Youtube is an extension of the Freedom of the Press (a sacrament in American Constitution) for citizen journalists, which can be the negative reinforcement against bad cops.

    Everyone, carry your camera cellphone (w/video capability) to protect yourself.

    In retrospect, those kids were pretty smart, their technology savviness beat that dump cop. Cops have police unions and lawyers to back them up, which explains the outrageous end game of the Morse-Jackson/Inglewood case: Morse gets 1.6 million settlement for racial discrimination (!?). The cellphone video/Youtube effect is a powerful tool for justice: the Court of Public Opinion.

  4. Josh

    This officer was suspended with pay — placed on administrative leave — pending further investigation (link). There are several videos surfacing regarding his behavior. I agree with previous posts regarding the use of YouTube and other video sites by journalists and watch dog groups to advance the role of “citizen oversight” in certain cases. Another unintended use for online media…

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