What the hell?

continues to give the police cover and full authority over its citizens.

They only protect and serve the rich and businesses.

I am ashamed of and embarrassed by my country.

Are we a police state yet ???

Yes !!!!

It is illegal to sing.

It is illegal to dance.

It is illegal to sit or lie down.

It is illegal to protest unless moving at all times, or in a FREE SPEECH zone.

It is illegal to feed the homeless.

It sickens me to my very core.

I would like to know more about this story.

The American people have to put a stop to this brutality. We can't live in fear like this. People are more afraid of being harmed by the police than by a criminal.

Apparently he has done this before (the conversation between the videographer and someone else is interesting), and that area IS private property. I don't know if he will prevail if he's been told previously to not trespass in that area.

It didn't look like he touched anyone, he just pointed at the three--there was some conversation but I couldn't really hear it.

Maybe he shouldn't have been doing this, but the violence wasn't justified.

ill guy. They chuckled and laughed -- AT him, not with him -- and put him in a position where he got himself into hot water because his ability to discern was impaired.

It doesn't make what the cop did right--he could have removed him easily. Hell, those two security guards in the suits could have gotten on either side of the guy and walked him off their precious private property without too much fuss.

That is EXACTLY the way cops think.

We see it time and time again. When interviewed in shootings it's ALWAYS asking themselves if they are justified.

Ganged up on the poor guy.

Hope he returns the favor and teaches them a lesson in court.

My proposed rules:
If you want to stay a police officer, then you're personally responsible for any judgement resulting from your actions.
If your actions are cause you to have to pay out for your bad behavior, then you lose your job.

No, really. I actually was liking his singing...

I like how the people video taping said "Aw, debbie downer"

Maybe I have just gotten paranoid from watching 836,661 videos of police brutality, but any time I see a cop, I don't think "Aw, you're here to ruin my fun?"

Instead I think "I don't feel safe...", I get a knot in my stomach and I avoid making eye contact with the cop and distance myself as quickly as possible without raising suspicion. I try to look natural, hoping he won't notice me. If I were those people video taping, I would have seen this coming and I would have to weigh the importance of filming this VS the chance the cop might notice me next.

You know how "camera shy" they can be.

I don't know... Am I just being paranoid? Or do other people feel like this too?



Also, I was surprised at the lack of reaction when the guy got thrown to the ground. ...Not a gasp or anything.

Giving him an audience, in a somewhat mocking way. They don't seem to be laughing WITH him, but AT him. I don't think it's cool to make fun of people with mental health issues. Maybe I am reading it wrong, but that is how it came off to me.

If I had to guess, I'd say that poor man is not a free spirit, but medically non-compliant. His judgment is off.

Are those hospital slippers on his feet?

I feel sorry for him.

The security officers (that is apparently a real cop, because the link at YT says he was arrested and held, then released--the two suits look like security, or something--is this a hotel restaurant? ) certainly could have handled it better as well.

Putting an old guy down on the ground is just a stupid, bullying move. They didn't spend any time on "persuasion" -- they went straight to force. Now, unless there's a longstanding pattern of escalation and disruption leading to violence with this guy, (and I haven't seen anything that says that), I think they overstepped.

Are you saying that poor gent is being thrown to the lions for the amusement of spectators?

. . . I took his comment to mean that the mocking spectator who was filming the man, and who is probably not unlike many Americans, inding entertainment in the man's humiliation, is not unlike Roman audiences who took pleasure in watching people being killed by wild beasts.

I feel sorry for that guy--I don't think he's getting the help he needs.

they thought he was amusing. the woman calls the cop who shows up "Debbie Downer."

He was an object of mockery. No one was about to hire him to sing at their wedding.

Absolute bullshit is what!

You have the rich, the peasants and the guys who work for the rich to beat the crap out of the peasants.

We've beat it before.