Thursday, July 28, 2011

Police brutality in Jackson Heights?


From CNN iReport:

Hundreds of Uruguayans took to the streets in celebration of thier championship victory in Copa America at 5:00pm Eastern Time. What was supposed to be chants of pride and joy quickly turned into a scene of police brutality. Fifteen minutes into the celebration, an army of police from the 115th precinct bombarded the area to clear the streets using unneccessary force injuring inncocent people. The footage captures one man being repeatedly kicked and beaten with battons and nightsticks by several police officers while other officers held him face down. More officers realized people taking footage and tried to shield view of onlookers as well as knocking cameras and phones out of peoples hands. The chaos the police created forced people to run into local shops for safety. One bakery called the "Grand Uruguaya" has survaillence videos that captured a large group of police officers, who entered without any provocation and began flipping tables, kicking chairs and hitting people with nightsticks; ultimately ripping a Uruguayan flag adding insult to injury. Police brutality and abuse of authority is becoming a huge concern for us all.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fuck cnn.....innocent,yeah.Gotta love the limo libs.Live here for 2 months and then give an honest assessment......it won't be positive......

Anonymous said...

You can't block traffic and drink alcohol in the streets? I thought this was a free country? Only medical care, rent assistance schooling and food cards are.

Anonymous said...

Oh boy, the cop lover are out already.

Look this isn't Haiti. The NYPD is not supposed to be the Ton-ton Makud.

Clearing the street can be done professionally -without violence- and without the now inevitable lawsuits.

Mayoral candidate Thompson had proposed that lawsuit judgments be deducted from the NYPD's budget.

The practicalities of implementing this would have to be worked out -BUT the threat of less O.T. for the Boys from Suffolk (and Putnam) might inspire more professionalism.

Anonymous said...

I see no brutality there. I see someone resisting arrest, and a bunch of moneys interfering with an arrest while their fellow low class monkeys block the streets and sidewalks.

Anonymous said...

The practicalities of implementing this would have to be worked out -BUT the threat of less O.T. for the Boys from Suffolk (and Putnam) might inspire more professionalism.

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The biggest mistake was allowing NYPD/FDNY to live outside the city.

Anonymous said...

I honestly didn't see anyone being kicked and beaten on that video. It did look like one officer was prodding the man on the ground with his baton but I wouldn't call it beating. There did seem to be an excessive number of police officers around him, but we don't see the part before he ended up on the ground.

That said, I think it's a great development that people can videotape stuff like this, because it DOES help deter police brutality and it does help punish those who are brutal.

Still, can't really see much on this video. Your description makes it sound much more dramatic.

Anonymous said...

But I will say, if what the description says happened in other videos, particularly the surveillance videos, did happen, of course the police should be punished.

Anonymous said...

The CNN report was posted by an individual with a camcorder.

Since there wasn't any major coverage on the networks or in the papers or on NY1, I doubt the story was accurate. Probably someone just trying to stir the pot.

Anonymous said...

Just watched the video four times. So, what's the problem? Sounds like the crowd was behaving like little children throwing a tantrum because they were being told that they couldn't run around the house.
Next time, the cops should just stand on the sidewalk handing out flowers while the crowd runs into the street, disrupting traffic, maybe causing accidents. Maybe after a little while, after the crowd whips themselves into a frenzy, the cops can just stand by and not disrupt the crowd's celebration as they break windows, start fires, flip over cars and crush dozens of passersby in stampedes. The next day, the survivors can blame the NYPD for NOT stopping their stupidity.

Anonymous said...

These are tweeders. Having a near riot stopping traffic over some obscure sporting event is part of the unique charm to our forward thinking borough. Just look at all those votes!

If you really want to see people treated brutally

- have City Planning pull the wool over their eyes on a zoning issue,

- put up some hi rise buildings in their back yard or bulldoze some local landmark,

- have some two-bit thug designated as their 'official' community spokesman to bully everyone else and recieve the ice cream money that the powers that be tell themsleves that salves injured souls (and if the 'right' people get it you can be assured that is the case,

- have their elected officals bullshit them (if they deign to even notice)

- and have them ignored in the press

- and belittled when they go to the community board.

Stomach churning. I have seen it many times.

Joe said...

I see no police brutality also.
The cops likely did try to clear the street nicely & professionally but these people were all fired up and not having it

All I do see and hear is a bunch of drunken disorderly slobs who think they OWN the street egging on the police.

For starters:
Public intox
Illegal assembly
Obstruction of traffic
Littering
Interfering with the duty's of a police.
Trespassing (1/2 must be illegals)

If they don't like our laws they need to GTF out catch the next banana boat back to that shithole called Uruguay

Anonymous said...

Oh boy, the cop lover are out already.
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SO what,only cop HATERS are allowed to voice their opinions? Welcome to the 21st century my friend.

Anonymous said...

If you see the videos on Youtube at:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aivalabocha&aq=f

you get a MUCH clearer picture of how everything went down. Yes, the police showed up 15 minutes into the celebration, and told people to get on the sidewalks, and if you know anyone that speaks spanish, they can tell you the HORRENDOUS things they were yelling at the police. When the police start arresting people who refuse to listen to the "stay on the sidewalks" request, the reaction from the crowd gets worse. At that point the police decide to start taking down the blue cloths strung between the trees (NOT the flags), and the crowd starts attacking the police, specifically the guy who you later see on the floor with the 10 police officers on top of him. In my opinion, you throw a punch at an officer, you can damn well expect that reaction from the rest of the cops there. Even after they arrest them, the crowd refuses to disperse, they're still hanging around yelling at the police.
As a matter of fact on the above video link, if you look at video 4 of 5, at 1:37 the jackass actually says (in spanish, so here's a translation) "If we were in Uruguay we would have beat the shit out of them" and his friend responds, "of course, of course"

The worst thing is, while these idiots are causing a ruckus, (and now they have the GALL to sue the NYPD for brutality), you also see several others trying as hard as they can, alongside the police to get the situation under control. Unfortunately, the Uruguayan community overall now gets a bad rep beacuse of the behavior of a few morons.

Anonymous said...

1. wow. . . "low class monkeys"? what a civilized discussion!
2. Please give me the law where it says it is illegal to talk back to police or say mean things to them.
3. Why did this get the attention of the police when other spontaneous celebrations don't?
4. Do you really need about 10 cops to arrest one guy? I'm not arguing that the guy shouldn't have gotten arrested... but so many cops? why do they get all excited about the arrest and pile over.. Is this something that is taught at the academy?

Anonymous said...

If the U.S. Women's Soccer Team Had won the cup would the police have responded the same way? I suspect that they would have joined in on the celebration, but since it was Uruguay...

Anonymous said...

3. Why did this get the attention of the police when other spontaneous celebrations don't?
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Such as......?
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Do you really need about 10 cops to arrest one guy?
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This isn't a boxing match. The cops aren't there to determine who the best fighter is. The guy was fighting them, and the more cops available to assist in keeping the guy from kicking and swinging until he is cuffed and calm, the better.

Anonymous said...

If the U.S. Women's Soccer Team Had won the cup would the police have responded the same way? I suspect that they would have joined in on the celebration, but since it was Uruguay...
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If a mob of a few hundred women decided totake their celebration into a busy commercial street and disrupt traffic, there is no way the cops wouldn't have responded just as quickly. And if that mob acted the same way this one did towards the cops, then their recation would have been exactly the same. Why do you think it wouldn't?

georgetheatheist said...

"If a mob of a few hundred women decided totake[sic] their celebration into a busy commercial street and disrupt traffic, there is no way the cops wouldn't have responded just as quickly. And if that mob acted the same way this one did towards the cops, then their recation[sic] would have been exactly the same. Why do you think it wouldn't?"
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NYC Police permit celebrating soccer fans to unofficially close down Steinway Street at 30th Avenue in Astoria after Italy wins World Soccer Cup on July 9, 2006 and no one gets arrested.

Anonymous said...

Sorry George, there were at least four arrests that day and at least a dozen summonses issued. Furthermore, there was a boro meeting prior to that gathering on 30 Ave with Chief Pizzutti and the CO of the 114 (I believe it was Vorbeck. Specific instructions were given, flags were removed from cars and on several occasions, the crowd was directed back onto the street, same as the Uruguyan celebration.

georgetheatheist said...

Vas you dere, Anonymous Sharlie? When I was there? (Approximately 45 minutes.) Look at the big photo. The car is festooned with Italian flags and no traffic moved for about 15 minutes on Steinway between 30th Avenue and 28th avenue.

Anonymous said...

The police did everything they could to get the situation under control! The animals in the street need to learn how to behave as civilized human beings and not idiots! The reason this doesnt happen in other celebrations is because, for the most part, there is no chaos and loss of civil control. I look at Uraguay in a whole new light after this incident.. Savages! The police were professional as they could have been in this situation.. The people on the the street didn't give them much choice on the way the situation went down. There most certainly was not any signs of police brutality!! Anyone who may think that is a complete moron! The police were doing their job and trying their best to keep the peace.

Anonymous said...

. The car is festooned with Italian flags and no traffic moved for about 15 minutes on Steinway between 30th Avenue and 28th avenue.
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Aside from the nationality of the flag, how is that different from any other day on Steinway Street? Traffic didn't move for ONLY 15 minutes from 30 to 28? If only it were so free flowing EVERY day!

Anonymous said...

The people in the streets were acting like maniacs. They obviously have NO respect for their community and the decent people living in it. I was at this particular incident and just so happened to observe everything that went down. The police did nothing wrong and everything was handled in a professional and effective manner the way it needed to be. Whoever wrote the article on this incident as being filled with "police brutality" is a complete idiot. They have no concept whatsoever on the distinction between brutality and professionalism in keeping public order.

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