Police Brutality at Pittsburgh Pride (Bloomfield: 2013, rentals, houses)

[norcider]

Pittsburgh cops have lied so often to cover their asses that I almost immediately don't trust their version of events. Recently cops were busted on film fabricating a story of a supposed drug deal at a North Side car wash. The straight up MADE UP the story the guy was at the wash selling drugs. Only the security video exonerated the victim, lucky for him.

[norcider]

Regardless of whether or not this girl attacked the cop, he is a professional trained in the use of restraint and punching her like he's in street fight makes him look at best like an a-hole and at worst like an incompetent thug. Nineteen year old girl, probably about 110 pounds and he's wailing on her like that. Way to go macho man.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by norcider

Pittsburgh cops have lied so often to cover their asses that I almost immediately don't trust their version of events. Recently cops were busted on film fabricating a story of a supposed drug deal at a North Side car wash. The straight up MADE UP the story the guy was at the wash selling drugs. Only the security video exonerated the victim, lucky for him.

Wow, do you have a link to that story?

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by norcider

Regardless of whether or not this girl attacked the cop, he is a professional trained in the use of restraint and punching her like he's in street fight makes him look at best like an a-hole and at worst like an incompetent thug. Nineteen year old girl, probably about 110 pounds and he's wailing on her like that. Way to go macho man.

Yeah, he's not the beefiest looking cop in the world, but (even presuming for one second his story was true) he's clearly strong enough to subdue a woman of that size merely by grabbing and holding her arms down until handcuffed.

[norcider]

Looking for news article but found this right away:


US PA: 2 Pittsburgh Officers Accused of Illegal Arrests

PPG story here:

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/ci...s/201011130141

Don't forget the chief of police, Harper and his scandal. It's from the top down with the Pittsburgh police force.

[Buckeye Burgher]

I recently had some dealings with the Pittsburgh cops. The guy at the desk sat and played with his smart phone for about ten minutes before he even acknowledged my presence. The other guy got hung-up on some small piece of trivia and did not even want to look at the evidence I gave him of something pretty serious going on.

I walked away thinking "Are these the cops from The Simpsons? Seriously??"

Quite sad as in general I have great respect for the men and women in law enforcement who do their
jobs well. For sure I could never do their job.

[youngabe]

I normally side with the cops. I don't deny that simple altercations on a daily basis could easily turn into life threatening situations.

In this case, I think there is no denying that this officer was out of line and should be held accountable. Even if Ms. Lawther did hit the officer, multiple punches and hair pulling are NOT proper protocol for restraining an individual. If she needed restrained--go for it, but taking your frustration out on her is not appropriate. In the videos that have surfaced, there isn't one bit of evidence so far that backs the officer's claims, hence why I'm siding with Ms. Lawther at this point. In this case, there IS video. Video doesn't lie. Video shows what happened, as it happened. No one can argue that while the officer is punching Lawther and roughing her up in general, her actions don't even show that she was even attempting to physically resist. Get her on the ground with one move, throw cuffs on her--do NOT punch, pull, etc. Unless video comes out which supports the officer's story, my opinion is that the officer was out of line and should be removed from public service.

Once again, people (cops are included in this blanket) lie, video does not. This is coming from someone who 9 times out of 10 will side with law enforcement and even I can't buy the officer's story at this point.

I do think it's important for me to add that the majority of the officers at Pride were friendly. I watched an officer take a few people's picture for them under the "Be Brave" banner. Other people have said that officers they encountered were generally friendly and helpful. It's a shame this incident majorly overshadowed that.

[jay5835]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

I think you probably heard wrong. The Kansas based GHF group is pretty tiny, they can't be more than 1 place at a time.

Don't be so literal. I just heard on the radio from an eyewitness that the "protestors" were yelling "f-a-g-s" at the marchers. That's Westboro Baptistesque enough for me.

[sealie]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Someone bookmark this page for later reference because this is likely how it will go down.

Throw this video onto the pile of videos for:

- The South Side St. Patty's day beating
- The Station Square St. Patty's day beating
- The PNC Park nightstick headshots to a man standing still
- Arresting a teacher for standing in a street
- Shooting into a car on a crowded Carson Street
- Countless G20 videos of tear gassing/LRAD/beating etc.

That's just the stuff caught on film.

I'm surprised you left out Jordan Miles, but that may not have been caught on film. When arresting the teacher, if we're talking about the same incident, they yelled at the guy filming it. It shows a lot of courage for anyone to film this stuff where the cops can see them doing it, a lot more than it takes to hide behind a badge and a gun for sure.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by sealie

I'm surprised you left out Jordan Miles, but that may not have been caught on film. When arresting the teacher, if we're talking about the same incident, they yelled at the guy filming it. It shows a lot of courage for anyone to film this stuff where the cops can see them doing it, a lot more than it takes to hide behind a badge and a gun for sure.

Yeah, I left out anything that wasn't filmed. If I included that it would be:

- Nate Harper's scandal
- Jordan Miles case
- Excessive tazer use and subsequent investigation
- Overuse of SWAT
- Retaliatory SWAT raid of house of woman whose husband got into a bar fight with cop
- Off duty cop involved in fatal shooting with person in a bar fight
- Ticketing of people in their driveways
- Woman whose arm had to be amputated because of neglect in jail
- Officer driving to work while drunk

Pretty dark and depressing list, and none of that stuff is going back that far. Ugh.