‘I’m scared’: AP obtains video of deadly arrest of Black man

[FollowTheWay]

'I'm scared': AP obtains video of deadly arrest of Black man (apnews.com)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana state troopers were captured on body camera video stunning, punching and dragging a Black man as he apologized for leading them on a high-speed chase -- footage of the man’s last moments alive that The Associated Press obtained after authorities refused to release it for two years.

Louisiana officials have rebuffed repeated calls to release footage and details about what caused the 49-year-old’s death. Troopers initially told Greene’s family he died on impact after crashing into a tree during the chase. Later, State Police released a one-page statement acknowledging only that Greene struggled with troopers and died on his way to the hospital.

Only now in the footage obtained by the AP from one trooper’s body camera can the public see for the first time some of what happened during the arrest.

The 46-minute clip shows one trooper wrestling Greene to the ground, putting him in a chokehold and punching him in the face while another can be heard calling him a “stupid motherf---—.”

Greene wails “I’m sorry!” as another trooper delivers another stun gun shock to his backside and warns, “Look, you’re going to get it again if you don’t put your f---—- hands behind your back!” Another trooper can be seen briefly dragging the man facedown after his legs had been shackled and his hands cuffed behind him.

Instead of rendering aid, the troopers leave the heavyset man unattended, facedown and moaning for more than nine minutes, as they use sanitizer wipes to wash blood off their hands and faces.

An attorney for Greene’s family, Lee Merritt, said the footage “has some of the same hallmarks of the George Floyd video, the length of it, the sheer brutality of it.”

“He apologized in an attempt to surrender,” Merritt said.

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Anybody support this kind of unwarranted treatment of someone in custody and handcuffed. Then the
Louisiana State Police try to cover it up. Is this equal justice for all? How would you react if this was done to your son or brother?

 

[FollowTheWay]

 

[FollowTheWay]

 

[Yeshua1]

'I'm scared': AP obtains video of deadly arrest of Black man (apnews.com)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana state troopers were captured on body camera video stunning, punching and dragging a Black man as he apologized for leading them on a high-speed chase -- footage of the man’s last moments alive that The Associated Press obtained after authorities refused to release it for two years.

Louisiana officials have rebuffed repeated calls to release footage and details about what caused the 49-year-old’s death. Troopers initially told Greene’s family he died on impact after crashing into a tree during the chase. Later, State Police released a one-page statement acknowledging only that Greene struggled with troopers and died on his way to the hospital.

Only now in the footage obtained by the AP from one trooper’s body camera can the public see for the first time some of what happened during the arrest.

The 46-minute clip shows one trooper wrestling Greene to the ground, putting him in a chokehold and punching him in the face while another can be heard calling him a “stupid motherf---—.”

Greene wails “I’m sorry!” as another trooper delivers another stun gun shock to his backside and warns, “Look, you’re going to get it again if you don’t put your f---—- hands behind your back!” Another trooper can be seen briefly dragging the man facedown after his legs had been shackled and his hands cuffed behind him.

Instead of rendering aid, the troopers leave the heavyset man unattended, facedown and moaning for more than nine minutes, as they use sanitizer wipes to wash blood off their hands and faces.

An attorney for Greene’s family, Lee Merritt, said the footage “has some of the same hallmarks of the George Floyd video, the length of it, the sheer brutality of it.”

“He apologized in an attempt to surrender,” Merritt said.

************************************************************************************************
Anybody support this kind of unwarranted treatment of someone in custody and handcuffed. Then the
Louisiana State Police try to cover it up. Is this equal justice for all? How would you react if this was done to your son or brother?

Do you have the very same concern for the hundreds of Blacks that have been gunned down by black gangs in Chicago just this year alone?

 

[Baptist Believer]

Do you have the very same concern for the hundreds of Blacks that have been gunned down by black gangs in Chicago just this year alone?

So we should expect the same behavior from law enforcement that we do from gangs?

That's a very low view of the police.

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

Sounds like they won’t have to bother trying one officer: "Hollingsworth later died in a single-vehicle highway crash that happened hours after he learned he would be fired for his role in the Greene case."

 

[Reynolds]

So we should expect the same behavior from law enforcement that we do from gangs?

That's a very low view of the police.

Police are not perfect.
No one is perfect. Incidents that are statistically miniscule are being treated as the norm.
How many people do Doctors kill per day? Truck Drivers? We gonna abolish Doctors and park all the trucks? Deal with the abuses, but stop acting like it's the norm. It's not the norm, its the very rare exception.

 

[Yeshua1]

Police are not perfect.
No one is perfect. Incidents that are statistically miniscule are being treated as the norm.
How many people do Doctors kill per day? Truck Drivers? We gonna abolish Doctors and park all the trucks? Deal with the abuses, but stop acting like it's the norm. It's not the norm, its the very rare exception.

Greta point, as how many Blacks died at the hands of white cops per entire year, maybe 20? How many babies died in Infanticide mills loudly supported by same crowd chanting BLM?

 

[Yeshua1]

So we should expect the same behavior from law enforcement that we do from gangs?

That's a very low view of the police.

How many babies died in the murder mills loudly supported by those chanting BLM just today?

 

[just-want-peace]

So we should expect the same behavior from law enforcement that we do from gangs?

That's a very low view of the police.

As one of those who claim to be a Christian (this is correct, is it not?), I would love to hear/read your explanation for the answer you gave above to the question from Yeshua1 - "Do you have the very same concern for the hundreds of Blacks that have been gunned down by black gangs in Chicago just this year alone?'"!
In my mind, a Christian answer WOULD NOT attempt to shift the focus - like the question was irrelevant, and try to get a "GOTCHA" rather than a sound answer!!

 

[JonC]

So we should expect the same behavior from law enforcement that we do from gangs?

That's a very low view of the police.

Exactly!

It is sad, but I suspect this will be redefined as racism rather than police brutality. Brutality is for some reason overlooked when it is against white people (more white men are killed by police annually than any other race, and one that I know of died in much the same way as Mr. Floyd).

These days political agendas seem to hijack events if they can use them as political capital. There are a lot of issues involved (and some involving race), but until we get to the point of one human being with power misusing that power to kill another human being we will never get to the heart of the issue.

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

So we should expect the same behavior from law enforcement that we do from gangs?

That's a very low view of the police.

That does raise an intriguing specter. The way some subcultures seem to glorify “gangstas” perhaps these cops should be similarly revered by the same.

‘Twas not so long ago, after a 7-year-old girl was shot dead outside a McDonalds, one recrimination aimed at the culprits was, “It don’t make you a man or a gangster. Something is wrong with you.”

Yes, something is wrong with the murderers. But that formulation indicates there is also something very wrong with the wider community.

...
Jaslyn was shot six times, according to community activist Andrew Holmes. He held a press conference shortly after the shooting, urging anyone with information to contact the authorities.

“If you have any kids, have you ever taken your kids to McDonald’s to eat? You pumped six bullets into that baby,” he said. “It don’t make you a man or a gangster. Something is wrong with you.”
...

7-year-old girl killed, father shot while sitting at McDonald’s drive-thru on West Side | WGN-TV​

 

[FollowTheWay]

Police are not perfect.
No one is perfect. Incidents that are statistically miniscule are being treated as the norm.
How many people do Doctors kill per day? Truck Drivers? We gonna abolish Doctors and park all the trucks? Deal with the abuses, but stop acting like it's the norm. It's not the norm, its the very rare exception.

I said nothing about abolishing the police. I just expect them to treat people equally under the law. Saying truck drivers kill people doesn't make it right for the police. They should be held to a higher standard because of the power they weild. I'd a policeman did this to your son or brother would that be OK with you?

 

[Baptist Believer]

Police are not perfect.
No one is perfect. Incidents that are statistically miniscule are being treated as the norm.
How many people do Doctors kill per day? Truck Drivers? We gonna abolish Doctors and park all the trucks? Deal with the abuses, but stop acting like it's the norm. It's not the norm, its the very rare exception.

I agree. That's why I was shocked by Yeshua1 comparing police officers to gang members.

 

[Baptist Believer]

As one of those who claim to be a Christian (this is correct, is it not?), I would love to hear/read your explanation for the answer you gave above to the question from Yeshua1 - "Do you have the very same concern for the hundreds of Blacks that have been gunned down by black gangs in Chicago just this year alone?'"!

I am concerned by gang violence anywhere. I was very nearly a victim of gang violence last summer, when a gang invaded the home next door and murdered a person. On the way into the home, they fired automatic weapons at the car in the driveway to destroy it, with our master bedroom only about 20 feet downrange. Any bullet that missed would have penetrated our bedroom wall where my wife and I had been sleeping. We found out later that a gang member was hiding out in the home next door (an AirBNB) and the rival gang found out about it.

In my mind, a Christian answer WOULD NOT attempt to shift the focus,,,

I agree. Yeshua1 shifted the focus to gang shootings in Chicago, and you are trying to shift it there as well.

...Iike the question was irrelevant...

Yeshua1 DID ask an irrelevant question. The topic was a particular incident that clearly looks like police brutality (we'll see), and suddenly he's trying to shift the focus and portray FollowTheWay's concern as hypocritical.

...and try to get a "GOTCHA" rather than a sound answer!!

Yep. I agree with you. Yeshua1 is way out of bounds.

 

[Reynolds]

I said nothing about abolishing the police. I just expect them to treat people equally under the law. Saying truck drivers kill people doesn't make it right for the police. They should be held to a higher standard because of the power they weild. I'd a policeman did this to your son or brother would that be OK with you?

It's a crime. Handle the crime. It's not a widespread police epidemic.

 

[JonC]

I said nothing about abolishing the police. I just expect them to treat people equally under the law.

Unfortunately that is not the only issue.

Here is part of the problem- An officer is more than 70% more likely to be killed by a black man than by a white man. Black men commit over 50% of the violent crimes in the US.

What we are asking the police to do is ignore the data. In a way, they should. But I am not sure (black or white) they can.

If I were a black man it would not be fair for an officer to treat me like a criminal (supposing I am not one). I may be speeding and an argument escalate to the point I am unjustly killed. This is a legitimate problem.

But if I were an officer (regardless of race), I do not know that I would be sane to ignore demographics (even if they are not fair to the individual).

How do we fix the problem?

We can't say just ignore the facts. We have to find a way to change those facts.

Part of this is police encounters. Black people represent about 13 4 %of the population. But 54% of homicides are committed by black people.

It is not getting better. Black youths make up 16% of the youth population and account for 58.5% of the homicides, 67% of robberies, and 52% of other violent crimes.

Why?

Part of this is culture. But why? History and disenfranchisement plays a role. So does a lack of positive role models and responsibility.

But other issues come into ay (like automatic suspicion against people because of the cor of their skin).

We, as a nation, have simplified this to race on the part of the non-black person. The reason, I believe, is do both sides can ignore the legitimately of social issues in favor of political ammunition.

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

It's a crime. Handle the crime. It's not a widespread police epidemic.

Agreed. The OP is one incident. A single data point represents only itself. Stats don't bear out citing this as typical. Not even close. Has race been established as a deciding factor here?

A far greater problem is black-on-black violence. Post #12 cites a prime example. The outrage was over collateral damage, the little girl, not over the entire incident.

Until there is outrage over the latter, and widespread self-recrimination for tolerating it, enough to correct cultural behavior, the former will be a regular occurrence. And police will necessarily take note.

"Sow, meet Reap."