Those that oppose the Occupy movement got some level of vindication a few days ago when news broke that four police officers were hospitalized for possible injuries after having some sort of "acidic liquid" thrown at them by Occupy protestors in New York.
The outrage is justified. And though my sympathies ultimately rest with the protesters, I'm not going to sit here and pretend throwing acid at people is ever OK – it's not.
But you know what else isn't OK? The fact that the Occupy protesters have been pepper sprayed, tear gassed, beaten, and generally obstructed from exercising their Constitutional right to peaceful assembly since day one.
And sure, you can make the argument that the protesters aren't entirely peaceful anymore, especially now, but can you really blame them? Again, I'm not here to justify or defend civilian violence, but I'm not going to condone excessive or unwarranted police force, either.
And if you're of the opinion that the isolated actions of a handful of people can condemn a whole movement or discredit an entire institution, then why do you still trust or respect any police officer, anywhere? If you held the "brave," "selfless" police to the same standards that you expect the "grubby," "deadbeat" Occupiers to meet, then the police are worthy of twice your scorn.
Last week, Dorli Rainey, an 84-year-old Occupy protester, had her face drenched with pepper spray by Seattle police.
Now, you can rationalize and defend the questionable use of police force all you want (especially if it's against those lazy, good-for-nothing young people), but this sort of thing is totally inexcusable. When, in the entire f***ing history of humanity, has an unarmed 84-year-old woman posed a physical threat to anyone, ever, let alone a well-armed and physically-fit police officer? Unless the individual on the other side of that pepper spray can was a 94-year-old who felt particularly intimidated by Rainey's imposing 5-foot-3-inch frame, there is absolutely no reason for things like this to occur.
Yet Rainey's case is hardly an isolated incident.
Just ask students of UC Davis, some of whom were pepper sprayed at point-blank range for being audacious enough to sit down in front of police and stay there. Or Kayvan Sabehgi, a veteran of Iraq, who received severe bruising and a lacerated spleen for the unforgivable crime of standing in front of a group of advancing police officers and slightly hindering their advance. Or the anonymous man who received a bloodied face in Zuccotti Park for the egregious crime of – according to multiple corroborating eyewitnesses – "tipping a police officer's hat."
(There are video recordings of all these events, by the way, in case you for whatever reason doubt me.)
What's especially frustrating is that the police, on the departmental level, aren't exactly cracking down (pardon the pun you could possibly construe) on these incidents. When hacker extraordinaires Anonymous began releasing the badge numbers and personal information of officers that were caught on camera using excessive force, police departments around the nation did exactly the thing one would expect from organizations with nothing to hide or explain or justify: they started having their officers wear black tape over their badge numbers, with the confiscation or destruction of video recording devices being stepped up for good measure. Who watches the watchmen, indeed.
Now, before I start rubbing anyone the wrong way, just let me say that my grievance isn't with police officers in general: for every officer who even thinks of using excessive force there are dozens, if not hundreds, who bravely serve their communities every single day, and I have nothing but respect for those men and women.
However, police officers the nation over, let me make one thing clear, and in the voice of South Park's Eric Cartman: I will not respect your bru-tal-uh-tah (however rare it might be).
And if, for whatever reason, you take offense to me even slightly questioning/insulting/criticizing/whatever police officers on any level at all, save it – your ire should be directed at the handful of scumbags who give an otherwise noble profession a bad name, not me.
Email: eabenoit@buffalo.edu
