re: UMD Student “Beaten” by Prince George’s County Police
One month ago, the University of Maryland basketball team beat Duke in a regular season game. Nothing special about it all. What do the students do? They celebrate. They take it to the streets, blocking US route 1 through College Park, starting fires, and uprooting street signs. Oh yeah, all the while, they’re pelting police officers there to keep the peace (in riot gear, because, alas this HAS happened before) with snowballs, large chunks of ice, and rocks. Some people get hurt, some people get arrested.
Flash forward to a day or two ago, and a video is released (see it here) that shows a drunk 21year old, skipping or running through a small crowd toward the mounted police. He doesn’t stop till he’s just a foot or so away from the horses. Then three police officers run up with batons drawn and hit him several times.
I won’t pretend to know their use of force, or what exactly was said, or done (it looks like maybe the the 21 year old did or said something to the horses, or the mounted police), but I wouldn’t just presume that the police did something wrong. I’m all for an investigation if something looks *off* but let’s do that before passing judgement, eh?
A LOT of people seem to have jumped to the conclusion that this guy’s rights have been violated, that the police officers beat him unprovoked, etc. They’ve gone so far as to call them thugs, jokes, whatever..
Maybe he should have considered the consequences before getting drunk and participating in a RIOT. Before acting a fool and running up to the mounted police officers.
For all those doing the name calling and what not, why not post your full names and addresses in every local police station? Why not stop hiding behind the internet, because when you need help, who are you going to call? That’s right. You’re going to call the police. And even if they know what you’ve said about them, they will still risk their lives to help you. Why? Because it’s their job, and what they’ve sworn to do.
How’s that for a thankless job?
