I think I’m beginning to understand this whole second amendment fetish much better now. Here’s the abridged version: Plain-clothes cops look for White prostitutes. Cops try to arrest 12-year-old Black girl instead. Girl resists strange men. 12-year-old arrested for assaulting police officers.
From the Hair Balls blog of the Houston Press:
[A] blue van drove up and three men jumped out rushing toward [12-year-old Dymond Milburn]. One of them grabbed her saying, “You’re a prostitute. You’re coming with me.”
Dymond grabbed onto a tree and started screaming, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.” One of the men covered her mouth. Two of the men beat her about the face and throat.
As it turned out, the three men were plain-clothed Galveston police officers who had been called to the area regarding three white prostitutes soliciting a white man and a black drug dealer.
All this is according to a lawsuit filed in Galveston federal court by Milburn against the officers. The lawsuit alleges that the officers thought Dymond, an African-American, was a hooker due to the “tight shorts” she was wearing, despite not fitting the racial description of any of the female suspects. The police went to the wrong house, two blocks away from the area of the reported illegal activity, Milburn’s attorney, Anthony Griffin, tells Hair Balls.
After the incident, Dymond was hospitalized and suffered black eyes as well as throat and ear drum injuries.
Three weeks later, according to the lawsuit, police went to Dymond’s school, where she was an honor student, and arrested her for assaulting a public servant.
According to this document, this incident occurred in 2006 and the case was filed in August of 2008. This story’s nation-wide attention comes two weeks after the NYPD allegedly saw fit to sodomize a 24-year-old man.
Is this America or Iraq?
The story about the guy being assaulted after he was restrained was terrible. The story describes what appears to be a very rigorous and transparent criminal complaint against the three police officers. It looks like they are moving forward with a strong prosecution and I’m sure a civil action will follow. Sounds like the system is working.
<
p>I am more confused about why the police officers tried to arrest a black girl when they were looking for a white girl. If they were looking for a black girl and then this happened to the wrong black girl then that would be more disturbing. I’ll pull a classic move by many whom I’ve argued with and say”… I’d like to hear the other side of the argument…”. The first few dozen hits I found on this were all useless blog sites and other “biased” sources. I would hope the outcome would involve an independent investigation and a determination of something illegal happened, something totally unavoidable or simple mistake.
The system makes up for not working through civil action.
<
p>It’s not a quibble, this shouldn’t happen.
<
p>I know someone who served in Kuwait in the National Guard. He was given preference in being hired for the Springfield police department, and was given experience-type credit for his military service (i.e. he started at a higher grade).
<
p>I don’t know if it is common practice for ex-military to join police forces, but it might explain a few things, particularly when those military were involved in police-style urban patrolling.
<
p>I would posit that this is a bad thing for ordinary citizens, because I believe the military is trained to interact a certain way (emotionless) with the people they are patrolling — since anyone could be a threat to their lives, even a young boy or girl. I can’t imagine such training is easy to unravel, and this training is far from the “officer as your friend and helper” image that police used to be known for.
<
p>I know that times have changed, but when military training is seen as a credential for being a police officer, I get worried.
though it showed utter carelessness/incompetence on the part of the cops, who either misunderstood the description or can’t see very well. But the later arrest was pure vindictiveness- best I can tell.
Not to mention excessive force- three grown men beating on a 12 year old girl. What a bunch of dirty scumbags (alleged).
If found to be innocent, then I hope they get their names and reputations back.