Don’t Trust the Police, by Arthur Tebbel & Chris Toia – Pop Art… and Chris #24
May 19, 2009 Arthur Tebbel & Chris Toia 8 Comments
Dear Art & Chris,
I’m a third grader in living in Southern California. All I’ve seen on the local news this week is coverage of El Monte Police Officer George Fierro kicking suspect Richard Rodriguez in the head. Rodriguez had just led police on a 40 minute chase and had surrendered and was lying on the ground with his hands flat on the ground above his head when the blow was delivered. This has made me distrust what I’ve been told in schools about having faith in the police. With incidents like this how can I still trust cops?
-Juliette Borghesan
Juliette,
You can not trust the police. The difference between a stranger and a police officer is that the police officer will always have a gun and never have candy. We’re not saying that all police want to kick you in the head. They do want to frame you for crimes, lock you up for non-violent drug offenses, and tear gas and club everyone at your peaceful protest. Of course after they do these things the blue wall of silence will protect them. Again, we’re not saying it’s bad to be a police officer we’re just saying that the kind of people attracted to such unchecked power tend to be little better than the criminals they lock up.
In the interest of fairness we do have the official statement from the lawyer provided to Officer Fierro by the Patrolman’s Benevolent Association. The attorney, Dieter Dammier, said that the blow was legally justified. He called it a “distraction blow” and contended that El Monte police are trained to deliver such blows. When he made this comment there were fewer than 500 uses of this term on a google search. I’m glad he’s got a defense with legal precedent. We’re not lawyers so we’re a little unclear, was the distraction blow the kick to the head or the high five he gave to his fellow officer immediately afterwards?
This weekend KNBC reported that Officer Fierro also owns a clothing company, Torcido Clothing, which specializes in “gang-life” clothing. You’re probably thinking that we’re going to point out the hypocrisy here; that it’s fucked up for a guy to sell clothes to gang-bangers and then beat on them. We’re not going to do that. Too bleeding obvious. We’re actually not surprised. This guy is clearly a scumbag; this is how scumbags act. We would not be surprised at all if next week we found out he was selling bongs and hypodermic needles.
When people get outraged over cases of police brutality a common refrain heard is that those of us who are outraged are “defending the criminals.” Rodriguez did lead the police on a high-speed chase and endangered numerous lives in the process. However, it is not the duty of the cops to dole out punishment in these situations; that’s why we have a justice system. As soon as Officer Fierro kicked Rodriguez in the head he became just as bad as him if not worse. We entrust a myriad of powers to our police and when they abuse them they should be punished. Rodriguez and Fierro can share a cell perhaps. I think the great poet O’Shea Jackson had it correct when he penned his famous verse: Fuck the Police.
Reg
May 19, 2009 - 9:05 am
I have friends in law enforcement, so I see and hear the other side.. trust..we absolutely need that blue line…but I definitely agree that the job has a tendency to attract borderline nutso’s or power freaks…
case in point… http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/05/18/nr.teen.police.beating.tape.cnn
Russ Rogers
May 19, 2009 - 10:43 am
Officer Fierro was wrong. And trying to sell his kicking a surrendering man in the head as a “distraction blow” is doubly WRONG. What does this tell criminals, that IF you peacefully surrender after a high speed chase, you should EXPECT to get kicked in the head? This poor treatment ensures that more High Speed Chases will go on longer at greater danger to the public.
Maybe this is a stretch, but I think there are parallels with Officer Fierro and our treatment of terrorist suspects and insurgents at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and the secret CIA black sites. If the US has a policy of torturing prisoners, what is the incentive for combatants to surrender peacefully? We not only endanger our soldiers by inflaming anti-American hatred. (And by justifying torture, we also open the door to other people torturing our soldiers.) But more enemy combatants will want to “fight to the death,” rather than surrender if they fear the possibility of being tortured.
Frankly, if Officer Fierro had apologized, just said, “I was part of a high speed chase that set my nerves on edge. I stepped over the line and I was wrong,” I would think that a temporary suspension and a reassignment to a desk job while Fierro completed anger management training might have been the ticket. Being a cop is a hard and sometimes thankless job. You literally put your life on the line, I can imagine that it would be hard to maintain a cool head at all times. Especially after a 40 minute “Holy Shit” Car Chase.
But you can’t argue that kicking a prone, defenseless man is justified. That argument is both ludicrous and dangerous. Fierro needs to be prosecuted, just to protect other Police Officers, to let the public know: “No, this is NOT the way Policemen behave!”
Vinnie Bartilucci
May 19, 2009 - 12:03 pm
“I think there are parallels with Officer Fierro and our treatment of terrorist suspects and insurgents at Guantanamo”
There are far better parallels with Rodney King. The only sign of progress is that this cop apparently only hit the perp once.
As is true of all (good) satire, this piece rides the ragged edge of truth expertly. There are far too many people in the country who don’t trust the police, or any authority figure, because of the assumption that acts like this are the norm. As much as one would like to remind people that the reason it’s on the news is because it’s the exception and not the rule, like bigots do with black criminals, people who hate and fear the police will be able to point at this and say “you see?”
If your opponent loses his temper and swears, or (if you’re lucky) uses a racial epithet, you instantly win the argument, as you can easily make the affront the new point of discussion. This is a tactic I use in debate all the time. This guy could have mowed down 10 people and a prize collie during the fight; thanks to this cop, the perp is now the “good guy” here, and he’s the villain. No matter how much he “deserved” to be hit, there’s no situation where it’s right.
I’ll lay odds that the PBA is spending massive research funds on a device that jams video cameras for a 50-yard radius.
Alan Coil
May 19, 2009 - 1:59 pm
Reg–
I live just up the road from Toledo, Ohio, where that video was taken. I just happened to record a couple newscasts last night, and watched them this morning. Nowhere in the newscasts was it suggested that the police officers acted inappropriately. According the their report, the suspect was partially cuffed and then struck one of the officers. They defended themselves, with the result that blood flowed. Doesn’t mean they abused him. Doesn’t mean they are innocent either.
It is my opinion that this was only made such a big deal because this is a sweeps month. And if the victim/suspect had been white, this would not be as big as it has become.
Toledo is an auto town. It has been in recession for years. It is now in depression. The Ford plant closed over a year ago. The GM plant has had massive layoffs in recent months. The Jeep plant is still going strong except for the forced shutdown during the bankruptcy. There are no jobs to be had. Unemployment is nearly 12%. A large number of cops just got laid off.
I am concerned that Toledo may be a powder keg ready to explode. It is feeling more each day like Detroit was portrayed in RoboCop.
Reg
May 19, 2009 - 10:19 pm
Alan said: “. According the their report, the suspect was partially cuffed and then struck one of the officers. They defended themselves, with the result that blood flowed.”
The other shoe droppeth…Thx for the post… I agree with Russ.. that Fiero’s assault actually adds to the public risk…but to quote Malone from the Untouchables…”…the first rule of law enforcement: make sure when your shift is over you go home alive. Here endeth the lesson. ”
The concern that I have with the Toledo incident is that although this young knucklehead paid for his turf bravado / stupidity by woofin’on two grown a$$ cops… some will look at the fact that those cops outweighed him by 4 to 1 and clearly could have responded with a tad bit more restraint…not considering the other fact that these cops can’t be considered to be soft in the areas they police. See first law.
A fine line.
M.O.T.U
May 22, 2009 - 6:15 am
A couple of weeks ago I was coming home from shooting (film not people) at 2 a.m. in the morning. I was beat, having been up for more than 48 hours. I was WIDE awake buzzed on coffee and Red Bull but was in full control of my motor skills.
ONE BLOCK from my house a patrol car stopped me. I was told I did not come to a complete stop at a stop sign. First, that was clearly bullshit because the LAST thing I ever do is screw around in my car where I live or ANYWHERE in L.A.. The ONLY black people ever seen on my block are me and my daughter and she’s damn white she’s so light skinned.
Trust me when I say I DID come to a full stop at the sign.
I know what this was; this was ‘the 2 a.m. WTF is this nigger doing in this neighborhood’ traffic stop.
I get it. I hate to say I’m used to it (another reason I don’t mess around) and unfortunately I EXPECT it.
So after they get me out of my car and do a DWI check ( my eyes were red as I had been up for a few days but there was really NO reason to have me get out of my car and ‘ follow the light using only your eyes without turning your head’ ) I’m let go to drive the BLOCK to my home…with them following.
So NO I do not trust the police.
BUT…
If I was a cop I would have kicked the shit out of that thug also. I H A T E criminals and like I’ve said before If there was video tape evidence of a violent crime I would forego a trial and just blow them away.
Yes, I know there are good cops, I have a dear friend who’s a cop. Yes I know that some people are wrongly accused. But ,MAN, do I hate criminals.
H A T E T H E M and want them to suffer or as Dean Martin put it; ‘Ain’t that a kick in the head?’
Vinnie Bartilucci
May 22, 2009 - 7:24 am
“I’m let go to drive the BLOCK to my home…with them following. ”
I’da tried to go in the window just to see their response.
Arthur Tebbel
May 24, 2009 - 8:17 pm
Vinnie – I think I know their response.