BART police are at it again

When you consider the problems that BART officers are prone to create you have to wonder what they are being instructed to do. In yet another case of overreaction, a BART officer goes to the extreme.



Now while excessive force in any police department is something to take notice of, I want to point out the differences in this case compared to the murder of Oscar Grant on New Year's Day 2009.

In the Oscar Grant case there were multiple videos showing that Grant and the other men being questioned by police were not resisting. In this case there were 6 - 7 officers present. In this case Oscar Grant was unarmed, possible handcuffed behind his back, definitely laying on the ground with an officer on his back. Oscar Grant was shot in the back and killed, I believe on purpose.

This recent situation deals with a drunk White male (reportedly Michael Gibson, 37, of San Leandro). The White male is belligerent and seeking to endanger the people on the train. The officer acts quickly, and excessively, to place the suspect out of the reach of other passengers. Though slamming the drunk into a plate glass window with enough force to break the window is extreme, there was no need for deadly force. Additional officers were not brought to the scene.

In addition, notice that the officer was also cut by the breaking glass. Several people approach the officer, and in fact one seems to be helping to hold down the suspect. Which compares to BART officers earlier this year, who were aggressive to passengers that were only videotaping the altercation with Oscar Grant, and keeping a distance from officers.

Was the recent action of the BART officer extreme? Yes, though the intent seems to have been to remove any threat and potential escalation as quickly as possible. But there was a definite limit to what the officer was willing to do. Which is not the same thing that routinely happens when the suspect is Black, Hispanic, or any other person of color. It is a fact that police across the country have been repeatedly found to act more aggressively and violently with a person of color than any other person, even when not in a potentially violent situation.

I saw all this because it is likely that this recent BART case will likely provide the drunk with a get out of jail free card. Because the drunk will likely be paid a huge settlement. Because this case with the White drunk IS getting national attention. But at this time the Oscar Grant case has not resulted in these same things. In fact, it is highly likely that ex-officer Johannes Mehserle will be able to get away with what he did.

The Oscar Grant case has been delayed, the venue moved out of Oakland to a "neutral" place (think Rodney King), and the media has avoided the case in extreme. The city, as last I am aware, is unwilling to make any payment or accept any blame and wrong-doing.

I want justice, for ANYONE that is a victim of true police violence. Not the get rich quick schemes that some cases create. Not the sensationalized media-driven cases. Not the questionable cases of shootouts and violence initiated by a suspect. But covering for police is not the answer or justice.

Oscar Grant and his family have been victims of Johannes Mehserle, Oakland, BART, and the media. This is a reflection of a systemic flaw in our law enforcement system. And this flaw is now becoming an issue even White Americans are being affected by. But I don't want to wait until there is an epidemic - like how crack was ok until White Senators kids got addicted, then it was a problem - because it is too late by then.

Justice for Oscar Grant is justice for all of Oakland. It is an indication that across the country at least some attempt is being made to stem a virus that is growing, not by the year, but by the week. Anything less is just an excuse for the racial bias that is a reality in our law enforcement and legal system.

Treat her Black, pay $10 million

The police are insane. The TSA has lost control over its employees. The only way to reign in these blatant abuses of our rights is to sue. And the spin goes on and on.

You might have heard of this news story. If you haven’t here it is



This event takes place at Regan National Airport. It happened in February 2007.

Now I’ve seen a couple of versions of this story. The AP story is not the least biased, and I think it represents the general medias feelings best.

Now this is not about a question of rights. It’s not about government intrusion in public places while dealing with public safety. It’s about the media.

Robin Kassner describes the event as “flying”. She compares it to being “beaten up” without knowing why or by whom. The video shows her reaching for something in the bag being searched, and then the cop reacting. They “twisted my arm around, if felt like it was breaking”. “They threw me against the metal table… they took a forearm to my head, they pounded my head into the metal table.”

Listen as the reporter tells how Kassner received a concussion and permanent brain damage.

“Kassner says that doesn’t justify the brutality, … suing for $10 million dollars.”

All in all I have heard several news organizations all tell this story, over a year old, all from the point of view of Kassner. She is the presumed victim. She is the one that was hurt. She deserves (some in the media have stated) to win her case for some if not all the money. I have not seen any single media coverage that does not implicitly side with Kassner and blame the authorities for overreacting.

So why is this a big deal? Because the media is outraged when a White person is treated as if they were Black or in this case Muslim. How dare this be allowed to happen. But what happens when the media reports on a situation that is similar to this one when Blacks are involved?

May 5, 2008 - WTXF news helicopter - Philadelphia

“Like Rodney King, the men once pulled out of the car, are assaulted with extreme prejudice. Not one man in this video is shown resisting.”

Each man in the video is Black, kicked and punched. Each was assaulted by multiple officer after being on the ground. They might have permanent injuries, but you never heard about that in the media. They had their arms twisted, their head beat. They were beaten up en masse.

But where is the media calling for the police department getting sued? Where was the media saying that out of 19 officers on the scene no more than 4 needed to be punished (I do not feel a demotion – 1 - nor temporary suspension – 3 - are penalties) is inexcusable? Where is the indignation, the outrage, the calls for change?

Robin Kussner might have been a terrorist. Thats why she was pulled to have extra screening done at the airport. Alerts at the time stated that terrorists were trying to use liquid explosives, and she was reaching into a bag that was being checked. It could have been a bomb she wanted to set off. The officer was acting to protect all the people in the airport from a possible threat. But the media paints a sympathetic picture for Kassner. She is White after all.

But when Black men are involved sympathy is unnecessary from the media. Any excuse from the police – who ADMITTED this was unnecessary force – is acceptable. No matter how many times this kind of case happens the media fails to connect the dots, though there is no lack in connecting dots to any Republican that has not acted in a liberal manner or for a liberal cause. And there is no timeframe that stops when sympathy should be given to a White that is treated in such a manner.

I don’t care about the legal issue. I do care about the media portrayal and emphasis. But now thay you can see and read the comparison, what will you do? How do you feel?

Philadelphia: Justice for 1 in 5 fair for police

So here is a key thing to consider when it comes to how law enforcement in America reacts to a blatant and violent reaction caught on tape. In Philadelphia there were 19 police officers involved in an attack against 3 Black men. I spoke about this here Police overkill: not a movie, Philadelphia

Now I have long said that this is more than an isolated event. I have mentioned that this is a national policy, in at least that under duress the rules are bendable. And I noted that the offenders tend to be forgiven or barely touched by their actions. That is exactly what I perceive to be happening now.

Of all the officers involved, 4 will get fired. Additionally 1 will be demoted and 3 will be suspended. That’s it.

Look at the video in my previous post. Of all the officers involved I see none that are trying to stop any of the police brutality that occurred. Not a single police officer is being stopped as they kick and beat on the 3 men lying on the ground and surrounded by multiple officers each. In what way are they not complicit?

If I were to stand by and watch several African Americans beat a White American and it was video taped, I would be charged with conspiracy to commit a crime. I would be attacked by the media for not doing something to stop the obvious violence and overkill occurring. Yet officers of the law are not held to that same standard. Why?

But there is something else that is happening, and it is as critical as the actions of the police. It’s the reporting and words’ being used to describe what has happened.

On Yahoo you can read this statement right now

“The beating occurred at the same time police were conducting an intense manhunt for a suspect in the slaying two days earlier of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, but Ramsey said Monday that there was no indication that any of the officers thought the suspect was among the three men in the car.”

That sentence, the last in the article, is powerful. It implies that the manhunt for the criminal that killed an officer involved these men. That their actions were motivated by the belief these men were involved in that shooting in some way. That is the only purpose of this sentence. Especially since earlier in the article is clearly states that the police alleged these men were suspects in an unrelated shooting, which occurred the same night as the video.

That last statement, that I have heard cable news reporter repeat in some form, is the beginning of a defense of any potential charges on the officers. It is the seed of a subliminal excuse for all that read this. And it will become more prominent as the case moves forward. This always happens.

Is it a big deal? Yes, because a potential jury will hear this defense of the officers perhaps dozens of times. The fact that credible authorities, major media of multiple formats, have said this over and over means it must be true. Because anything the media says is thought to always be true. And this is the thought process being embedded. This is one reason that a jury could find Rodney King’s assailants innocent of any charge. It’s why the Sean Bell murderers were found innocent, thought the official police story on events changed dramatically.

Add to that the fact that the major media is trying very hard to prevent the average person from connecting how law enforcement acts on a regular basis. At least once every year the national media reports on an event where police officers use unwarranted extreme violence against African Americans – usually males. That’s at least once a year for probably decades now. But they are unconnected. And it’s never racial.

I feel that is a lie. It’s racial because it’s something that happens to only people of color. You have never heard of, nor has it ever happened that, a White male was shot 20, 30, 40, 50+ times in front of their home. You have never heard, or seen 5 or 10 or 15 officers beating on subdued White suspects. Because of this it is racial. And it’s connected.

We need to break this mindset in the law enforcement of this nation. We need to remove the permissive environment that exists allowing people of color to be victims of acts that would never be tolerated if done to White Americans. The statue of Justice is said to be blindfolded because Justice has no bias, But the more I pay attention I tend to believe she is blindfolded to not see the abuse and injustice being enacted in this nation – just as she remained blind to slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, and the various disparities found in inner cities as opposed to everywhere else.

Police overkill: not a movie, Philadelphia

On Monday night, WTXF news helicopter took video images of 15 police officers.



Those swarming individuals weren’t gang members, though at a glance you would assume they were.

What happened?

According to police they witnessed the car in question pull up and a man stepped out shooting at an individual. The man with the gun then ran away on foot. The car with 3 Black men seen in the video was followed and the video tells the rest of the story.

We have yet to hear the version of events from the African Americans that were in the car, though they all have been charged with attempted murder.

Facts so far?

Beyond the video there are none yet. There is nothing to back up the police allegation that there was a shooting. There is no information about a 4th man. There is no information about all the police involved chasing after the man that had the gun and was on foot. The 4th man is at large according to all news on the event so far.

Does all this sound familiar? The name you may be recalling is Sean Bell.

Like in the Sean Bell case we have police keeping surveillance of a crime area. Again an alleged 4th individual is supposed to have had a gun. Yet again the person with the gun is gone like mist in the sunlight. And again police officers (in this case a multitude of them) are incapable of capturing the most dangerous of the alleged criminals.

Like Rodney King, the men once pulled out of the car, are assaulted with extreme prejudice. Not one man in this video is shown resisting. As if they could considering the numbers involved.

Like Sean Bell the officers involved are in the process of being removed from duty on the street. Note that they are not being suspended, or fired, or not working. They just are being reassigned (which could mean that they are still on the streets, just in a different area).

Also, if this had not been caught on tape by a news helicopter, would any of this made the news? Would anyone have believed the men if there was no tape of the events? What is more believable, police officers or alleged murderers, without video?

How many students in San Diego were beaten by multiple officers when they were arrested? 0 out of 100. How many police abused the 2 blonde bank robbers in Atlanta? None, especially since they found the girls while they were casually getting their hair done and discussing the robbery. [The women got 1 yr probation; the Black men got 10 years in jail.] How many officers assaulted, en masse, a White alleged criminal – not putting up a fight – in numbers approaching 5-1, in the past year? 5 years? 10?

When I hear people say that this is not a Black and White issue I have to ask, How is it not? When I hear people say that law enforcement is fair, I have to ask Where are the Whites being treated in the same manner? When I hear people say this is not systemic I have to ask, What part of the nation has not had a similar type of event in the past year or 2?

I spoke about the problem that exists in America I said

“Black men assaulted by the police, with extreme and unjustifiable force, with officers that walked away from the incidents (crimes) without penalty. Nothing like the even hand of justice in America.”

And then I asked in another post

“What did we do after the Rodney King trial and riots? What did we do after Amidou Diallo was murdered. What have we done after the media circus that was the coverage of Wesley Snipes vs the IRS (which he basically won – though you probably never heard the major news media mention that part)? What has happened after the rape torture and kidnapping of Megan Williams? What have we done about Congress (Democrat and Republican led) and the Presidency’s inaction in Darfur?”

I still have the same insights, and the same questions. What will it take to change either thought I have?

We have different laws down here

**This post and others can be found at All American Blog, where I am a contributing author.**

As I post various thoughts over the last several years I’ve come to a couple of understandings. One of the most prominent is the fact that there is a huge disparity between what African Americans and Whites think of the legal system. While both respect the police, there is also an obvious distrust of them among Blacks. And few Whites truly understand the reason why, in my experience.

Don’t get me wrong. I think the police are in general good people, doing a difficult job, with the best intentions. But as the quote goes

The path to hell is pave with good intentions.

I say that because I’ve lived through too many situations were officers have approached me, with little or no cause, with guns drawn. I have watched as officers have allowed crack houses to exist without interruption. I have seen the use of violence in response to legitimate questions of what officers are doing. And I am not nearly alone in this.

But perhaps the difference in how officers react when they are not dealing with a White person is the experience that Mr. Solomon Moore recently had. His article was reported in the New York Times on Sep 30, 2007. The experience came to him in a small town Salisbury, N.C.

Mr. Moore is a reporter for the NY Times, 37, drives a Volvo station wagon, and has 2 children in soccer leagues. Perhaps the one element that makes Mr. Moore appear like a gang member is the fact that he is Black. That is, looking like a gang member to police officers. The actual gang members thought he was a cop.

What happened is directly connected to the fact that a gang member might wear a T-shirt and jeans, but it is just as likely a Black guy in a shirt that is blue, is not because he’s a member of the Crips, but because he’s a Dodgers fan.

Mr. Moore was investigating anti-gang measures being taken in the nation. As a reporter he went to speak with actual gang members in North Carolina since it had instituted strong anti-gang laws. He met the gang members at night, when they are out in the open, and where they were actively selling drugs. He observed the drug sales prior to speaking with them. It was that obvious.

The next thing that happens is not what you might expect. The police arrived as this reporter was trying to convince the youths he was not a cop. In his own words

“Without so much as a question, the officer shoved my face down on the sheet metal and cuffed me so tightly that my fingertips tingled.

“They’re on too tight!” I protested.

“They’re not meant for comfort,” he replied.“

This minor experience is nothing new. I’ve had similar experiences as have my brother, friends, and often most African Americans I’ve spoken to since I was a teenager. But when I speak to my White friends, regardless of age, they stand amazed. Even worse are the one or 2 times that I was treated in a similar manner in front of my White friends, because I was deemed a threat to them by police officers of their own volition. They were stupefied to imagine that people can be treated in such a manner. And I honestly was annoyed at their naïveté.

Of course cases like Rodney King, or Amidou Diallo, or Sean Bell garner some news. But many feel those are extreme situations. Unique things that sometimes happen in big cities. Mr. Moore, who was released without an apology or explanation, was in a town of 30,000. No one was arrested. The police just went away. And the gang members stated

“Man, you know what would have happened to one of us if we talked to them that way?” said one disbelieving man as he walked away from me and my blank notebook. “We’d be in jail right now.”

We need to realize that this is not unique. It happens often, daily. It happens in big communities and small ones. It happens near your front door as much as it happens in Los Angeles and Chicago. And it adds to the problem, not resolves it.

As long as the following kind of conversation can occur there will be inequality in America.

“This is America,” I said angrily, in that moment supremely unconcerned about whether this was standard police procedure or a useful law enforcement tool or whatever anybody else wanted to call it. “I have a right to talk to anyone I like, wherever I like.”

The female officer trumped my naïve soliloquy, though: “Sir, this is the South. We have different laws down here.”

That benefits no one. But now that you know, what will you do?