Posted on 06/06/2009 7:06:37 PM PDT by Coleus
Demonstrators call for firing of officer videotaped striking mentally disabled man
More than 100 people gathered today outside Passaic City Hall to demand that the Police Department fire an officer who was videotaped striking a mentally disabled man repeatedly with a baton and his fists. Ronnie Holloway, the man beaten in the May 29 incident, and his mother, Betty, attended the peaceful demonstration, which was organized by various community leaders. “This man should never have gone through what he did,” said Zachary McDaniel, pastor of the Second Timothy Baptist Church in Passaic. “Cops are here to protect us. How can they be protecting us when they beat us?”
Protesters carried placards that read, “Stop police brutality,” “Stop the madness”and, “No justice no peace.” Many also held signs that read, “Fire Rios,” referring to the police officer, Joseph J. Rios III. Holloway spoke to reporters about how he had always respected police officers and had not had a problem with them until the altercation with Rios. He said he was taking his nightly walk when Rios and at least one other officer passed by him in their cruiser and asked him to zip his sweatshirt, which he said he had unzipped because he felt warm. He maintained that had begun to comply when Rios exited the cruiser and threw him against the car hood and then threw him to the pavement.
“I remember him saying ‘Get down’ and swinging,” Holloway said. “I didn’t think I’d see tomorrow.” The incident was recorded via a nearby security camera. The recording shows Holloway standing on a street corner when it began. Nancy E. Lucianna, Holloway’s attorney, said Rios should be “removed from the force immediately.” She blasted as “baseless” charges brought against Holloway that accuse him of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and wandering with the intent to purchase narcotics.
“They’re baseless charges that were just brought to justify the beating that he got,” Lucianna said, adding that she probably would file a lawsuit as a result of the incident. Lucianna said Holloway had never had a problem with police. Among the demonstrators calling for Rios’s removal from the force was Shawanna Barksdale, a Passaic woman who alleges that Rios used excessive force on her last year after demanding that she get out her car. Barksdale said that after pulling over, she asked Rios why he wanted her to get out the car. She said he reached across her, put the car in park, removed her seatbelt and removed her from the car “by my hair.”
She said that after arresting her on what she asserted were bogus charges of assaulting an officer, he took her to police headquarters, where he slammed her head against a concrete wall. Barksdale said the charges against her were dismissed, and that her complaints against Rios, alleging that he used excessive force, resulted in no disciplinary action against him. “When I heard his name and saw this, ‘I thought Oh my God, it’s him again.’ This time it’s on videotape,” she said. Lucianna said she wanted to get the details of Barksdale’s allegations and would look into them.
Is there now a law against unzipped sweatshirts?
Aside from whether the guy deserved the beat-down or not, or was actually beaten or not, the video does show some interesting interactions:
1.) Rios’ partner doesn’t think the incident is out of the ordinary
2.) The woman with the baby carriage who walks by doesn’t think the incident is out of the ordinary
3.) The arrival of the other cop car has an effect.
Apparently. And the penalty is a beatdown.
I wish there was more to the story. Unzipped sweatshirt doesn't compute.
“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government
has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t
enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a
crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws.”
— Ayn Rand, “Atlas Shrugged”
Beat us? If it was up to the liberals, he'd be put to sleep.
Justice delayed is not justice denied. This unglued police officer needs to lose his job.
I'm glad the lady spoke up and maybe there will be some justice for her too.
Nothing new here just you everyday run of the mill cop being a thug, happens every day somewheres.
the cop doing the beating should not only be discharged from his position and lose his benefits, he should also have his hands pulverized with a sledge hammer. the cop is a thug.
A little too rough for an unzipped jacket....When will they make wearing shorts and sandals against law?
Sorry, but this doesn't sound like someone who is mentally disabled. I don't know who was right or wrong here, but my BS/spinmeter is pinging right about now....
Obviously the partner didn’t seem to think this situation required the level of force the officer was using because she(?) didn’t help out her partner against a pretty big guy. I don’t know about this local force, but federal policy doesn’t allow use of a baton against a passively resistant subject. It is supposed to be used as a defensive weapon against a combative subject that isn’t using a weapon. This officer was using his baton as a compliance tool.
Is there now a law against unzipped sweatshirts? >>
and how about all the gang bangers who can walk around with their baggy pants half-way down to their knees exposing everything. That’s OK?
...”With the law books filled with a great assortment of crimes, a prosecutor stands a fair chance of finding at least a technical violation of some act on the part of almost anyone. In such a case, it is not a question of discovering the commission of a crime and then looking for the man who has committed it, it is a question of picking the man and then searching the law books, or putting investigators to work, to pin some offense on him....”
Robert H. Jackson
Attorney General of the United States
April 1, 1940
Ahhhh a little more info.
I'm wondering what the police report says? something happen to cause the officer to jump out of the car and go postal on the guy???? Did he think he saw drugs? A gun? Did he hear the "F" word? Something happened. I don't buy the sweatshirt story. What does the police report say?
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