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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFamily confirms California teen who was beaten by police was on his way to school, didn't jaywalk
Family confirms California teen who was beaten by police was on his way to school, didn't jaywalk
s name is Emilio Mayfield and we now know that moments before he was confronted, assaulted, and arrested by police on the morning of Wednesday, September 16, he was catching public transportation to his local school.
In his first interview after the brutal and excessive assault, Mayfield opened up about what happened on that Stockton, California street and how he sees himself in spite of it all.
I see myself as a great young man, successful in school. I feel traumatized. I was beaten and slammed on the floor."
Both Mayfield and the police also now confirm that he was not "jaywalking" as had been previously reported, but that he simply stepped into a lane adjacent to the sidewalk that was reserved for busses. No curb exists between the sidewalk and this lane and Emilio, according to eyewitnesses, stepped in the bus lane for about two seconds when he was confronted by an officer for doing so.
What's completely preposterous is attempting to rationalize how in the hell a 250-pound officer with his night stick drawn ended up on top a kid on his way to school because he stepped in the bus lane. This case is the epitome of excessive force and likely would not have happened to anyone other than a young black boy.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/22/1423731/-Family-confirms-California-teen-who-was-beaten-by-police-was-on-his-way-to-school-didn-t-jaywalk?detail=facebook
Archae
(46,345 posts)Local taxpayers will pay lots of money to the family, and nothing happens to the cop who brutalized the kid.
At most he'll "resign" and end up in some other Podunk police force.
marym625
(17,997 posts)erronis
(15,328 posts)It's a never-ending struggle to have humans treat each other with respect. South Africa and the USA have so many of the same failings.
marym625
(17,997 posts)I need to read it again myself. Been a long time
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)but will check it out.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)marym625
(17,997 posts)I need to read it again. Though I read the poem again this morning
procon
(15,805 posts)And here we are again --STILL, goddammit!!!-- almost 70 years later, swamped by our own secret sauce version of American apartheid.
marym625
(17,997 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)funding these out of control Police Militias.
The attitude that they are sacred and don't have to answer to anyone (the tax payers!) is such bullshit.
ghostsinthemachine
(3,569 posts)This kid is going to break the bank. Think of the hate mail he has received. Big time damages there. Stockton is already broke.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)Wtf is wrong with these cops?
tblue37
(65,487 posts)hfojvt
(37,573 posts)but it would be nice if we could report things honestly.
The officers ended up on top of the kid because he resisted arrest, and NOT because 'he stepped in the bus lane'.
Not sure what the officer's reasoning is for why he wanted to arrest the kid. Although our illustrious Supreme Court has ruled that we the people can be arrested for ANY infraction, no matter how minor.
Not sure what California law says.
gregcrawford
(2,382 posts)... and it's the default excuse when they get caught brutalizing someone. The Stockton police are notorious thugs, even among other cops (My son is a detective a little farther north). If the feds aren't looking into that department, they sure as hell should be.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)he definitely resisted arrest. That's where the 'brutalizing' came from. Instead of co-operating, he forced them to wrestle him to the ground so they could cuff him.
Although if resisting arrest is the only thing he is charged with, that begs the question - why was he being arrested in the first place?
progressoid
(49,999 posts)Well, he stepped into a lane adjacent to the sidewalk reserved for the buses. Seems like a good enough reason for nine officers to arrest him.
Aldo Leopold
(685 posts)How about stop fucking over reacting and eliciting instinctual, self-preservational reactions from the populace that pays your goddamned mortgage.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)that humans are capable of acting in ways that are NOT instinctive. "The cop scared me, so instinct made me fight him" is kind of a lame excuse for acting in a way that causes your own troubles.
The cop was yelling. My own feeling is that if he said calmly "Kid, I am going to put these cuffs on you. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way." that things might have been less violent, but the kid also should know better than to struggle with the police. I also do not have a lot of experience to know if my way is all that effective either.
GitRDun
(1,846 posts)Son, you realize you shouldn't be stepping into a bus lane?
Oh, sorry officer, was looking for my school bus.
Ok, well stay on the sidewalk while you do, have a good day...
To accept the premise that an officer has a right to jump to detention of a child for stepping into a bus lane is accepting the police state as reality for any group the police wants to single out.
That's not who we are...
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)The police need to develop a response to noncompliance that DOESN'T involve overwhelming violence.
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)That's what all that mess was. I, too, like to think that humans can act beyond their base animal instincts. However, the actions of a crying, frightened child are a hell of a lot more forgivable than a grown man who loses his shit over a child not showing the proper respect.
mythology
(9,527 posts)Then the cops caused the situation, above and beyond that he's a kid and they are "trained" officers of the peace. Yes in theory he shouldn't have resisted, he's a kid, not generally known for rational thought even when not being falsely detained.
You can't separate the cops illegally detaining him from the following action. Much like if I punch somebody, I can't then pretend to be innocent if he then punches me back.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)The media should be united against bad cops. But, some media actually promotes racism, like Fox "News".
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)knowing this dangerous man is off the street. Remember, stepping into a bus lane is dangerous. It was for his own good. That officer should get a medal.
Stepping into bus lanes are just a gateway crime... First you step in a bus lane, next you step over the yellow line on a train platform, then you murder seven children in a drive-by.
Scruffy1
(3,256 posts)This psychopath obviously enjoying the notoriety. Perhaps he got a message from the Big Pharma mob that he was was arousing too much public outrage and to desist a little. Even the mob has to retain a public image.
jeff47
(26,549 posts)Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)What part of that merits -- in law or in material necessity -- a beating.
Rex
(65,616 posts)They were busy saying how wrong he was to breathe air next to a cop.