Does anyone find this just a little disturbing ?
Arkansas Cop Attacks and Chokes Skaters
Last week, June 21st, we celebrated Go Skateboarding Day. In Hot Springs, Arkansas, a resort town, a group of friends were skateboarding through town, when an officer named Joey Williams attacked them. You can watch the whole video on YouTube - it's pretty shocking. The video shows everything in painful detail. A group of 5 or 7 skaters (one being a girl) are skateboarding along with a buddy filming them. It's against the rules in this part of town, but it's Go Skateboarding Day, so they were out. Officer Joey Williams tackles one guy, forces him to the ground and begins to handcuff him - for skateboarding. The same treatment you would get for assaulting someone, and the kid being handcuffed isn't even fighting back. But it doesn't end there - I wish it did. One of the skaters watching starts to walk away, when the officer chases him down and attacks him. The people watching (there are many of them) are yelling, and the officer grabs a girl and starts to choke her - then he grabs another kid and starts to choke him as well. It's ridiculous, shocking, and painful to see. This is the kind of stuff we hear about, but this time a video camera captures the whole thing (of course, the kid with the video camera gets forced to the ground as well). Another officer is involved - he doesn't choke any kids or anything, but he also doesn't stop officer Williams' vicious attacks.
So far, the mayor of Hot Springs, Mike Bush, has suspended officer Williams (with pay) while they look into what happened. The mayor does acknowledge that the footage shows everything. On the other hand, McCrary Means, a police spokesman, is still charging two of the skaters that were arrested with some pretty serious crimes, like McCormack who is being charged with misdemeanor battery. In the video, McCormack is the guy who pulls on Officer William's arm after the girl gets put into a choke hold. Yes, that's right. He pulled on the cop's arm, trying to defend a girl who was being choked, and he's now being charged with battery. Sound fair? HE is being charged with battery, not the cop who was chocking the girl. What ever happened to the police being there to serve and protect? I don't see either of these things happening in the town of Hot Springs, Arkansas.
So what can you do about this? Well, you shouldn't go out and take it out on the first cop you find. That won't help anything. There are good cops out there, who became police officers because they wanted to help people. On the other hand, there are cops out there like Joey Williams, who obviously has some power issues, and who doesn't understand the slightest part of what it means to serve and protect. One thing you can do is contact Bobby Southard, the Chief of Police for Hot Springs. You can e-mail him at bsouthard@cityhs.net, or write a letter to him at 641 Malvern Avenue Hot Springs, Arkansas 71901. I would like to encourage you to not write and tell him that he sucks, or write him threats, or anything like that. That sort of stuff won't help, and it will just make skaters look stupid. Instead, think through what you want to say, and say it passionately and politely. Another thing you can do, if you live in Arkansas, is contact Hot Springs city officials, and state officials. If you are a kid, then ask your parents to. This could have easily been you being attacked by a cop. Help the people in charge to understand that skaters aren't all criminals, that no one should be treated this way, and that police can't be allowed to get away with stuff like this without being charged themselves.
Arkansas Cop Attacks and Chokes Skaters
Last week, June 21st, we celebrated Go Skateboarding Day. In Hot Springs, Arkansas, a resort town, a group of friends were skateboarding through town, when an officer named Joey Williams attacked them. You can watch the whole video on YouTube - it's pretty shocking. The video shows everything in painful detail. A group of 5 or 7 skaters (one being a girl) are skateboarding along with a buddy filming them. It's against the rules in this part of town, but it's Go Skateboarding Day, so they were out. Officer Joey Williams tackles one guy, forces him to the ground and begins to handcuff him - for skateboarding. The same treatment you would get for assaulting someone, and the kid being handcuffed isn't even fighting back. But it doesn't end there - I wish it did. One of the skaters watching starts to walk away, when the officer chases him down and attacks him. The people watching (there are many of them) are yelling, and the officer grabs a girl and starts to choke her - then he grabs another kid and starts to choke him as well. It's ridiculous, shocking, and painful to see. This is the kind of stuff we hear about, but this time a video camera captures the whole thing (of course, the kid with the video camera gets forced to the ground as well). Another officer is involved - he doesn't choke any kids or anything, but he also doesn't stop officer Williams' vicious attacks.
So far, the mayor of Hot Springs, Mike Bush, has suspended officer Williams (with pay) while they look into what happened. The mayor does acknowledge that the footage shows everything. On the other hand, McCrary Means, a police spokesman, is still charging two of the skaters that were arrested with some pretty serious crimes, like McCormack who is being charged with misdemeanor battery. In the video, McCormack is the guy who pulls on Officer William's arm after the girl gets put into a choke hold. Yes, that's right. He pulled on the cop's arm, trying to defend a girl who was being choked, and he's now being charged with battery. Sound fair? HE is being charged with battery, not the cop who was chocking the girl. What ever happened to the police being there to serve and protect? I don't see either of these things happening in the town of Hot Springs, Arkansas.
So what can you do about this? Well, you shouldn't go out and take it out on the first cop you find. That won't help anything. There are good cops out there, who became police officers because they wanted to help people. On the other hand, there are cops out there like Joey Williams, who obviously has some power issues, and who doesn't understand the slightest part of what it means to serve and protect. One thing you can do is contact Bobby Southard, the Chief of Police for Hot Springs. You can e-mail him at bsouthard@cityhs.net, or write a letter to him at 641 Malvern Avenue Hot Springs, Arkansas 71901. I would like to encourage you to not write and tell him that he sucks, or write him threats, or anything like that. That sort of stuff won't help, and it will just make skaters look stupid. Instead, think through what you want to say, and say it passionately and politely. Another thing you can do, if you live in Arkansas, is contact Hot Springs city officials, and state officials. If you are a kid, then ask your parents to. This could have easily been you being attacked by a cop. Help the people in charge to understand that skaters aren't all criminals, that no one should be treated this way, and that police can't be allowed to get away with stuff like this without being charged themselves.
posted by Denny at 11:11 AM
6 Comments:
Talk about abuse of power, sheesh. Not only that, he didn't even read them their rights. And what were they, 13, 14. I would be the first to say that I don't think all cops are in the profession to serve and protect, and yes, there are some good ones out there. Oddly enough I've begun to feel happy when I see them in my neighborhood, but they don't pull shit like this either, they're more concerned with people getting shot and selling drugs. What a bunch of crap. I'd like to say that I wouldn't expect much more than this in Arkansas, sadly, an area where half the state is a dry county still.
the creed "To Serve And Protect" has been the subject of much discussion between some friends and I as of late and thats is the only reason this caught my eye I suppose. I have always been a supporter of police and really anyone who is a public sevant. However, that being said I can remember a few times that police had actually made me or other feel very uncomforatble and seem as though they could do anything they wanted to you and there wasnt a damn thing you could do about it. Scary stuff to me.
` Oh... my... God! I am disturbed, really! Happy Go Skateboard Day indeed!
` You know, in my part of town, the cops don't even care if you have marijuana because of all the meth and crack and whoring and shooting and vandalism and theft and break-ins (all of which have happened in my house while I've lived here), but when my boyfriend Lou Ryan rollerbladed down our street about seven blocks up, he got pulled over!
` Yes, pulled over while ROLLERBLADING! And then the cop started to yell at him and say things like "don't get nasty with me!" and he wasn't!!! He was just getting aggressive for no reason!
` Then a guy across the street yelled to Lou; "aw, don't mind him, he's just bored and wants drama" and the officer started screaming at him and just about exploded!
` Amazingly, Lou did not get a ticket. Really, I think that cop ought to come down the street a little ways and we'll see just how bored he gets!
` * house = apartment house.
FYI, here's a follow up from a local newspaper. I'm from Arkansas, so I've followed this story, too. Stuff like this happened when I was a teenager, and the city implemented a curfew for the under 18ers to give the cops an excuse to hassle you for doing nothing. From the Arkansas Times:
"We're trying to get the full written report to post, but the bottom line is that, what a shock, a police investigation has cleared Hot Springs cop Joey Williams in the great skateboarding bust made world-famous by YouTube. It was noted that he made a mistake by leaving a handcuffed suspect on the sidewalk while he chased down another miscreant.
UPDATE: Here's the full report. Pardon our guffaw at the police finding that this event was part of a "nationwide anti-authority demonstration." You could say the same about every day a teenager draws a breath.
The heavy physical force was fully justified, cops say.
Hot Springs City Manager Kent Myers said that he agrees with the findings of the police investigation into the incident, and doesn't think excessive force was used by bike patrol officer Joey Williams, "considering the environment he was dealing with." Myers said that an additional viewpoint provided by a store security camera shows more than the YouTube.com video of the incident. For instance, Myers said the still image from the beginning YouTube.com video — which appears to show Officer Williams choking a 13 year old skateboarder with one hand while the boy lays on his back on the sidewalk — was in fact Officer Williams' attempt to restrain the suspect before handcuffing him.
There's no sign that the city intends to ease off charging kids with a stack of violations in the Williams throw-down. A reasonable city official might take into consideration that it was precipitated by a rash decision by a cop on foot to chase down a bunch of kids for a minor offense and horse-collar them. But kids have no advocates. Merchants along Central Avenue think these anarchists got what they deserved and that's good enough.
Smart alecky talk and even illegal skateboarding do not justify excessive use of force by a police officer. Williams could have called in some other cops if the kids persisted in their flagrant skateboarding, rounded them up peacefully and ticketed them. Or he could have ordered them to get off their skateboards and move on. But he lost his cool. That's amply illustrated by his decision to abandon one suspect to charge after another and by the force used on kids who do not appear threatening.
Exoneration of the cop and maximum punishment of the kids will send a clear message. No doubt about that."
~Jade
thanks for the update Jade. When I first heard about this I wasnt all that shocked and horrified and the more I thought about this the more it kind of got to me. Now hearing that the cop has been cleared and the kids are going to get railroaded into some pretty serious charges it looks like Im even more worried about the state of things in our society as a whole when we can get people saying dumb things thrown off the radio or television and losing there livelyhood (sp) but cant control the people that took a so called oath to serve and protect us almost bring a little fear and definately some sadness to me.
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