By Carlos Miller
Is it just Youtube or are cops just more cruel today?
It seems like videos are popping up once a week showing downright sadistic and cruel law enforcement officials abusing, bullying and berating citizens.
This month we’ve not only seen the Stark County Sheriff’s Department ripping the clothes off a woman in a jail cell in Ohio, but a Hillsborough County detention officer dumping a quadriplegic man on the floor from his wheelchair in Florida.
Last week, a Baltimore police officer was suspended after a video surfaced on the Internet, showing him grabbing a 14-year-old boy in a headlock and slamming him to the ground.
Officer Salvatore Rivieri, who outweighed the boy by at least 150 pounds, spent several minutes berating and threatening the boy. He also confiscated his skateboard. The boy’s crime: he was skateboarding in the wrong area.
We’re not talking violent criminals here.
In the case of Steffey Hope, the woman who had her clothes ripped off, she was actually the victim in an assault case, but ended up getting arrested on disorderly conduct charges.
Perhaps she was distraught when the deputy arrived, but considering she just had a patch of her hair ripped out by her cousin, who could really blame her?
And in the case of Brian Sterner, the quadriplegic, detention officer Charlette Marshall-Jones ended up spending one night in jail on a felony count of abuse of a disabled person.
But even then, the circumstances of his arrest are extremely questionable. I have yet to read an article that fully addressed the actual arrest, even though there are currently more than a thousand articles on the Internet of the incident (no, I did not read them all but most are AP wire stories).
Tampa police arrested him on Jan. 29th on a warrant for fleeing an officer. But that warrant stems from an incident on Oct. 25 where police actually stopped Sterner and wrote him a citation. They even went as far as testing his blood for drugs.
The following is from the St. Petersburg Times:
His Jan. 29 arrest was on a charge of fleeing and attempting to elude law enforcement officers, which apparently stemmed from a traffic stop three months earlier.
Sterner was driving a 2005 silver Mini Cooper fitted with hand pedals Oct. 25 when Tampa police officers on patrol in Ybor City saw him waving his arms and shaking his head from side to side as if dancing, police say.
He had been driving 5 mph in a 30 mph zone. But police lost sight of him until another officer spotted him at Florida Avenue and Columbus Drive. Their reports noted that he made “foolish” statements.
“Although I did not detect an odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from Sterner’s breath, based on his irrational behavior, I suspected the possibility he was under the influence of some type of illegal substance,” wrote Tampa police Officer Peter Charbonneau.
Sterner allowed police to take a blood sample. No illegal drugs were found, police reported. But he was still arrested on a charge of fleeing law enforcement officers.
Unfortunately, the reporters (there are actually four reporters that contributed to this article) fail to report what were the officer’s definition of “foolish” statements. As far as I can see, foolish statements are protected under the First Amendment.
The article states that Sterner allowed the officers to take a blood sample, but of course it doesn’t say whether this was done at the site of the traffic stop or did Sterner have to accompany the cops to another location.
And it doesn’t explain why cops waited three months to issue a warrant for fleeing an officer. At 5 mph.
And the other thing that strikes me is that although police spotted him in Ybor City driving 5 pm in a 30 mph zone, waving his arms and shaking his head as if he were dancing (as if you’ve never done that before), there is no clear indication that they actually ordered him to stop.
So here we have a disabled man getting arrested under questionable circumstances three months after it actually happened, only to have a detention officer dump him from his wheelchair.
Her defense? She thought he was faking not being able to walk. Never mind the fact that the car in which he allegedly fled from officers - at 5 mph - was specially equipped with hand controls.
Thankfully, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee had the common sense to condemn the action and publicly apologize to Sterner.
Unfortunately, Stark County Sheriff Timothy Swanson doesn’t have that much sense. He keeps claiming that his deputies are innocent, even though departmental policy forbids male deputies from strip searching female inmates.
His defense? It wasn’t a strip search.
He’s actually right. It was more of a rape. A “rape without penetration” as Hope’s husband put it.
The Baltimore Police Commissioner is reportedly “disappointed” in officer Rivieri, the 17-year veteran who body slammed a 14-year-old boy for illegal skateboarding. But Riveiri’s lawyer said he had every right to abuse the boy.
“Police officers have a hard job. in this particular video, you don’t see what happened before the officer took the boy down to the ground,” Henry Belsky said. “Until you see the totality of what happened, one really does not know what really happened down there.”
Yes, Belsky, but we’ve seen enough of what actually happened, thanks to a video camera that one of the boy’s friends was carrying.
These incidents were only exposed because they were caught on video. Imagine how police are acting when the cameras are not rolling?
Here are some headlines that ran last week that do not involve a Youtube video:
Trooper who arrested journalist was subject of previous complaints
I blogged about this trooper when he first arrested an Arkansas photojournalist in December. Charges against the journalist were immediately dropped and the trooper was moved to a desk job. It turns out, Arkansas State Trooper Thomas Weindruch had nine citizen complaints against him since 2004, when he became a trooper.Witnesses: Shackled man hit with taser
Lauderhill police encountered a mentally ill man drinking from a puddle. There was a struggle. Police handcuffed him. They shackled his feet. Officer Joseph Yasko continued using his taser gun on the suspect. Witnesses were shocked, no pun intended, as they heard the mentally ill man scream in pain.Ex-Miami cop heads to jail for ten years in rapes
Michael Ragusa was a Miami police officer and in uniform when he raped two women and attempted to rape a third.
If this is not an alarming trend, then that means this has been going on forever and it is only now that it is beginning to surface, thanks to websites like Youtube and the Internet itself, which allow us to read news from other communities that would never make our newspapers or local news. The Internet also allows us to share news and research past articles that would otherwise wind up in a newspaper morgue.
Case in point, the video tape of deputies ripping the clothes off Hope has only been broadcast on one network news station. But it has been seen all over the world because of the Internet.
One of the misfortunes that arises from these continual videos and articles is that the law-abiding public develops a general mistrust of police.
But from the years I covered law enforcement for newspapers in Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico, I know that most cops are just working-class people who look forward to a few beers on their own time.
Perhaps there needs to be better training. Or more emphasis on reducing stress among officers. Or maybe just better pay and benefits.
The fact is, many police agencies across the country have been forced to lower their standards because they have had trouble recruiting new officers.
Traditionally, police departments were able to recruit military veterans but today, many veterans have received computer training in the military, which enable them to expand their employment horizons for better paying, not to mention safer, jobs.
So police departments are forced to recruit people who once did not qualify.
Perhaps these are people who are unable to handle stress well. Or people who are unable to cordially deal with the general public. Or even people who were bullies in school.
Which is even more reason why we need to protect our right to photograph and videotape police in the line of duty.
Which is even more reason why we need to police the police.
Popularity: 19% [?]
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18 responses so far ↓
1 Rick // Feb 18, 2008 at 7:30 am
I’m not sure there’s any data to suggest that police are lowering their standards, Carlos, but if there is some, please share it with us. Perhaps part of the reason police departments are having such trouble finding recruits is because they do maintain such high standards, standards that much of the population can’t meet.
As long as society employs humans as police officers, there will be instances of abuse. Human weakness and lapses in judgment are part of being human. All we’re witnessing today is technology exposing what has, unfortunately, always gone on. As technology advances, we’ll probably have more instances of police misconduct captured on various types of media.
Police corruption and police misconduct go back to the beginning of time, Carlos. It isn’t an “alarming trend, ” nor should these instances of abuse be framed in the sensationalistic terms you seem to gravitate to here. It’s just that technology is allowing the public to document it more often.
.
2 Carlos Miller // Feb 18, 2008 at 9:26 am
Rick,
There have been a few stories on police departments lowering their standards, mostly focusing on past drug use.
I remember this happened in Phoenix a few years ago when I lived there. With a bustling population, they were desperate for new cops.
And considering so many people experiment with drugs in high school and in college — and it doesn’t necessarily make them a sociopath — I think this is the right move.
Just last month, A story aired in Dallas about the DPD doing the same thing.
But lowering the standards for drug use is only one aspect and it is one that is easy to report in the media.
But I wonder about the other, more subtle aspects. Like psychological profiling or whatever to determine the recruit’s mental stability, ability to handle stress, ability to control their temper and social functioning.
These are all very important criteria for an officer.
Perhaps cops nowadays are under much more stress, like most people are nowadays. It’s no secret that the cost of living has affected them greatly where they can’t even afford to live in the city they patrol in many cases.
With an ever increasing rate of violence against cops, this also adds to that stress.
And, of course, like we both mentioned; the continual advancement of technology allows us to see police abusive behavior where before we might have been shielded.
This started with Rodney King, which allowed white Americans to witness something most black Americans knew was happening in their neighborhoods on a daily basis.
Whether police abuse and misconduct is rising because of lower standards or increased stress, or if it’s just being more exposed because of technology advancements, it really confirms the reality that we can’t trust an officer simply because he or she is wearing a badge.
That sucks because most cops are good cops. But the bad ones ruin it for the rest of them. Like the damned Cuban exile situation. It’s takes a handful to caricature the entire Cuban community for the rest of the country.
And the answers to why some officers succumb to misconduct and abuse is probably more complex than anything I’ve mentioned.
But it does stress the necessity to be able to document police behavior with a camera.
3 Ms Calabaza // Feb 18, 2008 at 9:58 am
I see another factor here and that is law enforcement’s frustration with the criminal justice system. How many times does it take for a bad guy to receive justice? They do the foot work and many times risk their own lives only to see their collars go free or receive very lenient sentences. Just a thought.
4 Carlos Miller // Feb 18, 2008 at 10:06 am
Ms C,
Perhaps that is a factor that contributes to the stress and frustration of being a cop.
But my question is, what is it that ultimately forces them to vent their frustrations on regular, law-abiding citizens?
In the cases I mentioned above, it was clear that none were your typical criminal who was part of the revolving door of the legal system that you mention.
5 enhager // Feb 18, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Is it just Youtube or are cops just a lot more crueler today? That is a great question that I have not seen explored.
While we all know there’s police corruption, police brutality and dirty cops to varying degrees - from Serpico to American Gangster (both true stories) and from Rodney King to Rampart - (also true stories) the extent of the abuse passed around and captured because of YouTube appears shocking. These problems are not just in extreme situations involving millions of dollars and drug rings or a rogue of racists or even macho cops - but these problems are also in seemingly non-threatening routine situations - that likely never would have been reported, or prosecuted, because it’s nearly impossible to win in a he-said-she-said against an officer of the law.
Except now there’s you tube - we’re all watching.
Rick while I do agree we can’t jump to conclusions because of these video, I would disagree that seeing what’s going on all over the country isn’t alarming. Even if this was always happening - it’s still awful and shouldn’t have been happening. Now that’s there’s hard proof it should be stopped.
This was in last week’s LA Times - “Los Angeles Police Department investigators routinely fail to fully investigate citizens’ complaints against allegedly abusive officers, often omitting or altering crucial information in ways that help exonerate the officers, according to a report” by the Police Commission’s inspector general.
Stunning.
6 Carlos Miller // Feb 18, 2008 at 1:55 pm
enhager,
One of the reasons why I never filed a complaint against those cops in Pasadena was because I knew it would result in nothing.
I filed a complaint with internal affairs against the Miami officers who arrested me for photographing them against their wishes, but I will be shocked if they find any wrong-doing on the officers’ part.
After I was arrested, I talked to a prominent Miami lawyer who urged me to strike a plea deal because he asked, “who is going to believe you over five cops?”.
Before the Internet, I would frequently hear about police corruption because I was living in Miami at a time when we had the most corrupt cops in the nation, which was a result of Miami PD lowering their standards after the Mariel boatlift when we had a drastic surge in crime.
Then after I became a reporter, I would frequently receive tips on corruption. Some of them panned out into a story and others went nowhere because I really had nothing solid to go on, not that there wasn’t anything there.
But with these Youtube videos, it is just spontaneous acts of cruelness in non-crucial situations that are visible for the world to see.
In the videos I mentioned, we have a 125-pound woman, a man in a wheelchair and a 14-year-old kid.
At least Rodney King was a felon, even though he did not deserve the beating he received.
And in cases of corruption, you can see the motive was monetary.
But the motives in these videos are nothing else but cruel bullying on weaker victims. Like kicking the dog when you boss yells at you.
Cops are supposed to protect us from the bullies. They’re not supposed to be the bullies.
And what really gets me is how the other cops react in these situations. In the video where the guy is getting dumped from his wheelchair, they just continue their normal procedure as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
You would hope somebody would yell at her right there, but that was not the case.
In the case of the Ohio woman, you have male and females ripping her clothes off and nobody is stopping to ask, what the fuck are we doing?
And after they left her in the cell naked for six hours, you wonder did any of other guards or deputies stop to think that perhaps this was a violation of human rights?
It’s disgusting.
7 genewitch // Feb 18, 2008 at 2:53 pm
this “cops can’t afford” crap is BS. I have a few friends that are Police officers, and they all pull over 70 thousand a year. 1 of them is a SCHOOL COP. (he claimed over 85 thousand 2 years ago, he likes to brag).
If you’re getting paid double what a grade school teacher is, and you’re carrying a gun, taser, nightstick, handcuffs, etc…
Be responsible, you freaking jerks.
I think the problem is that sadism is very hard to detect on someone who is also a sociopath. Someone who can lie to your face with a smile on theirs… and then trounce innocent people (innocent until proven guilty) with clubs and tasers in PUBLIC venues… it’s like they’re ASKING for the attention.
Those people on the internet that say “well we didn’t see the whole story” and “tase them more if they won’t cooperate” are obviously not watching the same videos i am. It honestly, and i do mean this literally, turns my stomach to watch the tasing videos. I don’t know why, but the “what did i do, why are you doing this, i can’t move because you tased me!” just makes me physically ill. because i imagine myself in that position someday, perhaps?
Blah.
8 Carlos Miller // Feb 18, 2008 at 2:57 pm
genewitch,
One of the things that is often overlooked is that many police officers work overtime and “off-duty”, which is what is called “freelancing” in my industry.
They can almost double their salaries that way.
9 enhager // Feb 18, 2008 at 3:27 pm
The big scam in California is a policeman or fireman working for one city for 20 years to qualify for a pension that equals your salary that you make at the time.
So as soon as they are promoted to Captain or even Chief, they work a year, make $100K+ and retire at full pay.
They then go to work for a neighboring city on a different retirement plan, as a captain or even a chief, and make $100K+ for a total of $200K+.
It’s kind of illegal but there are loopholes, you are considered a part-time employee, or you have a 2-year contract. But it’s gaming the system, and crippling the pension systems of San Diego and a ton of other Calif. cities.
10 Ms Calabaza // Feb 18, 2008 at 7:28 pm
“In the cases I mentioned above, it was clear that none were your typical criminal who was part of the revolving door of the legal system that you mention.” ~ You’re right about that but sometimes its the non-deserving who get the wrath. I agree that financially, cops are not in the same position as say teachers in that they can supplement their pay with OT, and freelancing. So, I don’t think their main frustration is financial. I just think the police culture has become cynical because our society has become increasingly more difficult to control. They are a reflection of our society. I see that in families that have to deal with their own children’s threats to call authorities on them.
Parents tell me they feel like they have “your hands tied behind your back” and this breeds contempt.
11 Carlos Miller // Feb 18, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Then what happens is that those same kids whose parents are unable to control …
become cops.
12 Ms Calabaza // Feb 19, 2008 at 7:14 am
good point.
13 FerfelaBat // Feb 19, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I think it has always been thus, but is finally getting addressed. There have always been and will always be a bad cross section in every sector of law enforcement (and every other job that conveys power over others by definition). I kind of doubt that it’s happening more often. it sucks that it happens at all.
Don’t dump all of law enforcement into one bucket, though. That’s profiling.
14 Ms Calabaza // Feb 19, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Ferfelabat,
that goes without saying. I’m talking about that 1% of power-hungry misfits that manage to get into uniform.
On another note, no news from Carlos today ~ wonder if he’s in Versailles today? Hopefully, he will stay safe and bring us more video and pics.
15 Carlos Miller // Feb 19, 2008 at 6:22 pm
FerfelaBat,
I wasn’t trying to dump all law enforcement in the same category. I hope it didn’t come across that way.
I like to expose the bad cops because I know the good cops are even more bothered than I am about them.
16 Carlos Miller // Feb 19, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Ms C,
I went out to Versailles and it was a media field day. I live only a mile from there. I’ll be posting video, photos and commentary later tonight.
17 Damien V. Cross // Feb 26, 2008 at 12:31 am
Carlos,
As a corrections officer here in Louisiana (moonlighting as an Internet Radio Host and writer on my off-time…it really helps to reduce the stress greatly) I have to thank you…primarily for not throwing out the Baby with the Bathwater so to speak. You don’t know how many of those types I find myself pitted against. Hopefully, within the year, I’ll be in another line of work…perhaps a comic book shop. I love comics.
18 van // Mar 12, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I don’t think the military is a very good recruiting ground for police anyway. They’re supposed to serve and protect, and military tactics don’t serve the goal of a department aimed at being an integral part of the community. Our police’s militarization is damaging them psychologically and is directly aiding the “us vs them” and stop snitchin’ attitudes that the general public now holds.
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