Pepper-Spray by a Cruel and Cowardly NYC Cop

[peach174]

No Mani
I'm saying there is a right way to protest and then there is a wrong way to protest.
The Wall St. protestors did it wrong.
When I protest with the left I always make sure to protect my self. I know it will turn violent, that is the way they protest, they always end up breaking the law and destroying things.
It always end up violent with the left so I make sure to get the hell out of there,when it starts up.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

You know what's sad, Quantum? Instead of watching available clips that show EVERYTHING that happened and not just the police making arrests, you've chosen to watch MSNBC's heavily edited piece. Why would you do that?

You see if you watched the entire film footage you'd know that the people being arrested had all run out onto the street from the side walk more than one time. The first time the police let them slide...the moment they went again they got arrested. That "Keith Olbermann wannabe" Lawrence O'Donnell's rant about the guy getting assaulted because he had a camera and the police singled him out because they are afraid of cameras since Rodney King? What a LOAD of crap. Look at the footage from that protest and COUNT the number of cell phone cameras that are being used by the protesters to record the event. It was a veritable WALL of video recording devices. The police didn't single him out because he had a camera. They arrested him because he'd already been warned to stay on the sidewalk and he came back out onto the street for the second time. He was arrested after first being warned not to be there just as numerous OTHER people were arrested for doing the same thing. The whole REASON for that protest was to capture on video that media outlets like MSNBC would play. Otherwise you've got a protest of about a hundred and fifty people in a city of millions. It wouldn't get any attention at all. You'd get a bigger crowd from one subway car emptying out at rush hour.

I'm embarrassed for you that you fall for this pr stunt.

I posted 3 clips. I know some protestors were being snarky with the police. That does not give them the right to start bouncing cameramen off the hoods of cars, nor does it give them license to pepper spray people on the sidewalk.

Don't be embarrassed for me, go hide your head in the sand.

"Snarky"? The protesters deliberately provoked arrests. They deliberately broke through police barricades. If you watch the police they totally ignored "snarky". That fat, foul mouthed girl in black whose arrest sparked the pepper spraying totally went off on a policewoman and the policewoman didn't even bat an eye.

What the police did not ignore were repeated attempts by protesters to cross that street. It's quite obvious that the police gave each protester one warning when they attempted to cross the barricade and when they left the sidewalk the second time they were immediately arrested even if they tried to run away.

So now the police "bounced" camera guy off the hood of a car? You're becoming amusing at this point.

So what? Unless that are physically assaulting police, or threatening someone else, the police are not supposed to respond with force. The only thing that is obvious here is you think the NYPD cannot possibly be wrong, even when they clearly violate department policy.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I disagree. I watched the 9 minute video. It is pretty clear what went on. At first, the crowd is relatively orderly and restrained and the police are reacting accordingly, i.e., not doing too much - merely establishing a presence.

But as time passes, the crowd gets more unruly and more aggressive. It is obvious at this point, that several members of the crowd are now intent on provoking some kind of physical incident with the police. Now, the police begin to try and tighten things up a bit. The crowd reacts with predictable actions to resist police attempts to restrict them.

By the time the pepper spray was used, the police had a potentially bad situation on their hands. Now, whether they used the pepper spray against the members of the crowd who should have had it used against them is another matter. I didn't see the "sprayees" really doing anything that deserved being sprayed. But that's not the point, and police cannot be called upon to pick and choose when they have a potential riot on their hands.

You want to belly up to the front line of a confrontation like this, you should be ready to accept the consequences. I'm sorry - I call this one for the cops.

And that is really rare for me. Many of you know what I do for a living and how I feel about police in general.

Excuse me? Why should anyone have to expect treatment like this just because they choose to exercise their rights? I honestly do not care if 99% of the protestors there were actually attacking the police, there was no reason for anyone to use pepper spray on peaceful protestors. There is no way I will accept that.

So let me see if I've got how this works... If 99% of the protesters were attacking the police and 1% of them were standing there peacefully...you'd find the police at fault for using pepper spray on the crowd as a whole? Are you serious with that?

I've got a little experience with protests, having grown up in the sixties. If you're just standing in a crowd of people breaking the law and the police show up? You'd best get your "innocent" little ass out of there or you WILL be going to jail.

Tell you what, show me where 99% of the crowd was being violent and we will discuss the right of the police to indiscriminately use force on a large group of people. The fact is that 99% of the crowd was being peaceful and following the instructions of the police, and one or two police officers crossed a clear line by retaliating against anyone they could. That makes them wrong.

Period.

Only an idiot would categorically defend bad cops when they are wrong.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

except one problem we aren't fighting a foreign country that is controlling our government..the government is the one we elected and the constitution is what we live by...don't like the rules or leaders vote them out and change them....

this is another picture from that same protest earlier..

At the time england wasn't a foreign country, we were subjects of the crown we were governed by engliush rule and laws.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Here's a protest

The Boston Massacre (the killing of five men by British soldiers on March 5, 1770) was the culmination of civilian-military tensions that had been growing since royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768. The soldiers were in Boston to keep order in face of the growing discontent with the heavy taxation imposed by the Townshend acts. But townspeople viewed them not as order keepers but as oppressors and threats to independence. Brawls became common.
Boston Massacre Historical Society

The authorities had the laws on their side

So now you're equating this protest with The Boston Massacre? That's quite the stretch.

Wasn't it a protest against the powers that be? Didn't thew powers that be use the force at hand to deal with the protest and disent of the subjects of the crown?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

All of these people broke the law and you lefties side with them?
Unbelievable.
1st - they had a permit to protest over the weekend. They had no permit to protest on Monday.
That was the first law they broke.
2nd - they obstructed pedestrian traffic.
That was the 2nd law the broke.
3rd - they obstructed vehicle traffic.
That was the 3rd law they broke.
All of those protesters broke 3 laws and you lefties side with them?
Most of them are brainwashed college students who are believing the lies that their Progressive College Professors are feeding to them.
Yes they have to exercise their rights but they don't have the right to break the law.

Glad to know I am a lefty.

Anyway, I am pretty sure all the things you just cited are misdemeanors. How does someone jaywalking justify a police officer grabbing a reporter and bouncing his head off of a parked car?

 

[Xchel]

except one problem we aren't fighting a foreign country that is controlling our government..the government is the one we elected and the constitution is what we live by...don't like the rules or leaders vote them out and change them....

this is another picture from that same protest earlier..

At the time england wasn't a foreign country, we were subjects of the crown we were governed by engliush rule and laws.

they were still a foreign country...the USA was not named the English states now was it?

 

[bigrebnc1775]

All of these people broke the law and you lefties side with them?
Unbelievable.
1st - they had a permit to protest over the weekend. They had no permit to protest on Monday.
That was the first law they broke.
2nd - they obstructed pedestrian traffic.
That was the 2nd law the broke.
3rd - they obstructed vehicle traffic.
That was the 3rd law they broke.
All of those protesters broke 3 laws and you lefties side with them?
Most of them are brainwashed college students who are believing the lies that their Progressive College Professors are feeding to them.
Yes they have to exercise their rights but they don't have the right to break the law.

I'm a lefty are you for real?

 

[bigrebnc1775]

except one problem we aren't fighting a foreign country that is controlling our government..the government is the one we elected and the constitution is what we live by...don't like the rules or leaders vote them out and change them....

this is another picture from that same protest earlier..

At the time england wasn't a foreign country, we were subjects of the crown we were governed by engliush rule and laws.

they were still a foreign country...the USA was not named the English states now was it?

no they were not they were subjects of the crown.The Boston massacure happened before the Revelutionary war.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I watched the videos and the crowd was out of control. The key is I watched the unedited version of the videos. If they got sprayed for being in that crowd it is their fault. I have pictures and memories to tell you what an out of control protest can come to be like...if you had been here where I am at after June 2009 you would understand how quickly a situation can become explosive and deadly in a protest.

They did not get sprayed for being in any crowd, they got sprayed for standing behind a barrier and wondering where they should go.

 

[Xchel]

I watched the videos and the crowd was out of control. The key is I watched the unedited version of the videos. If they got sprayed for being in that crowd it is their fault. I have pictures and memories to tell you what an out of control protest can come to be like...if you had been here where I am at after June 2009 you would understand how quickly a situation can become explosive and deadly in a protest.

They did not get sprayed for being in any crowd, they got sprayed for standing behind a barrier and wondering where they should go.

Wrong, they pulled themselves to the front of the barrier and yelled at cops...not for wanting to know where to go but for protesting another woman being arrested for breaking through the barrier..if the cops tell you to move on that is what you need to do.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Police State?
The traffic in the streets don't have rights?
Why didn't they stay on the sidewalks where it was leagal?

You might consider watching the video lest you continue to make an ignorant ass of yourself.

The girls that were sprayed were on the sidewalk and complying with the police. One was even politely asking the officer standing there where he wanted them to go.

Actually "you" might want to go back and watch the video again, Manifold. If you watch the long version you'll see the point where the protestors initially break through police barricades...you'll see the point where an older woman with short blonde hair politely asks an officer where he wants them to go...an important question because the protesters have just been told by the police that they have to leave that area...you'll see the point where the young girls who end up getting pepper sprayed are screaming at the police calling them fascists and telling a policewoman that she's a disgrace to her gender...you'll see the point where the police start arresting anyone who attempts to cross that street after being warned once not to do so...including the man with the video camera that Lawrence O'Donnell made such a big deal about.

Bottom line is this...those protesters did not have a permit for what they did...they pushed their way through police barricades not once but several times and they refused to disperse when asked by the police. This was a protest by a small group of activists whose only purpose was to create a conflict with police so their arrests could be recorded and used to gain coverage of a march so small that it didn't warrant coverage at all. Anyone that can't see that...displays a level of gullibility that is scary.

I watched that long video, and the people that actually broke through the barricade were all outside the barricade, and the police then moved the barricade back around the people who did not break through. At that point Bologna walked up and sprayed tow women who were obviously not part of the crowd you are talking about because they were inside the barricade.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I watched the videos and the crowd was out of control. The key is I watched the unedited version of the videos. If they got sprayed for being in that crowd it is their fault. I have pictures and memories to tell you what an out of control protest can come to be like...if you had been here where I am at after June 2009 you would understand how quickly a situation can become explosive and deadly in a protest.

What "the crowd" was doing is irrelevant. What were the girls who were sprayed doing? That cop clearly walked over to them from some distance away, sprayed them, then walked away.

They had just been asked to leave that area by the police. Instead of doing so, the three girls who ended up getting pepper sprayed stayed and screamed their heads off as another girl is getting arrested. You're right about the cop walking over from some distance and spraying them...but he was doing so because they were being so disruptive.

Screaming is disruptive?

How?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

It sounds reasonable.

This is the official NYPD version of the story.



Here are a few more videos of what happened.

(Videos clipped for sake of brevity)

Doesn't seem so reasonable when you get a better view.

I disagree. I watched the 9 minute video. It is pretty clear what went on. At first, the crowd is relatively orderly and restrained and the police are reacting accordingly, i.e., not doing too much - merely establishing a presence.

But as time passes, the crowd gets more unruly and more aggressive. It is obvious at this point, that several members of the crowd are now intent on provoking some kind of physical incident with the police. Now, the police begin to try and tighten things up a bit. The crowd reacts with predictable actions to resist police attempts to restrict them.

By the time the pepper spray was used, the police had a potentially bad situation on their hands. Now, whether they used the pepper spray against the members of the crowd who should have had it used against them is another matter. I didn't see the "sprayees" really doing anything that deserved being sprayed. But that's not the point, and police cannot be called upon to pick and choose when they have a potential riot on their hands.

You want to belly up to the front line of a confrontation like this, you should be ready to accept the consequences. I'm sorry - I call this one for the cops.

And that is really rare for me. Many of you know what I do for a living and how I feel about police in general.

Let me clarify one aspect of this post of mine . . .

I say that if you want to belly up to the front line of a confrontation like this, you should be ready to accept the consequences. While that is true in general, I have to qualify it in one respect. You should be ready to accept the consequences of REASONABLE and PROFESSIONALLY ADMINISTERED police action.

When the police beat the hell out of a no longer resisting suspect or pound a guy to death at the end of a car chase, we are no longer dealing with reasonable or professional police conduct. There are those who feel that if you run from the police, you deserve whatever you get when they catch you. I am definitely not one of those people. If you run from the cops, you should anticipate being taken into custody, cuffed and booked, once they catch you; you should not have to anticipate being beaten to a pulp provided you do not resist once they ultimately catch you.

In this particular case, I think the police conduct WAS reasonable and WAS professionally administered. Hence, it falls into the type of conduct you SHOULD be required to anticipate once you decide to "step to the front" of a demonstration such as this.

In my experience police, when they are being professional, do not endanger other police. Bologna clearly not only did not warn the protestors, he did not even warn his fellow officers who were manning the barricade. I have not been on the receiving end of pepper spray, but I have been in the vicinity of it when it was sprayed. It is not a pleasant experience.

If the spraying had actually been professionally administered he would have made sure every officer in the vicinity had ample warning. What I say was the officers reacting to the spraying after it started, not before.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

except one problem we aren't fighting a foreign country that is controlling our government..the government is the one we elected and the constitution is what we live by...don't like the rules or leaders vote them out and change them....

this is another picture from that same protest earlier..

Believe it or not, elections do not take away rights. We still have a right to protest.

 

[Oldstyle]

Excuse me? Why should anyone have to expect treatment like this just because they choose to exercise their rights? I honestly do not care if 99% of the protestors there were actually attacking the police, there was no reason for anyone to use pepper spray on peaceful protestors. There is no way I will accept that.

So let me see if I've got how this works... If 99% of the protesters were attacking the police and 1% of them were standing there peacefully...you'd find the police at fault for using pepper spray on the crowd as a whole? Are you serious with that?

I've got a little experience with protests, having grown up in the sixties. If you're just standing in a crowd of people breaking the law and the police show up? You'd best get your "innocent" little ass out of there or you WILL be going to jail.

Tell you what, show me where 99% of the crowd was being violent and we will discuss the right of the police to indiscriminately use force on a large group of people. The fact is that 99% of the crowd was being peaceful and following the instructions of the police, and one or two police officers crossed a clear line by retaliating against anyone they could. That makes them wrong.

Period.

Only an idiot would categorically defend bad cops when they are wrong.

Ah, "you" are the one who said you didn't CARE if 99% of the crowd was being violent...I called you on the stupidity of such a statement...and then you ask me to SHOW you where 99% of the crowd was being violent? I NEVER SAID THEY WERE!

What makes the NYPD "bad cops"? They handled the situation remarkably well. The police had a small group of protesters that escalated the situation until they had to be arrested and when that needed to be done the NYPD handled it quickly and efficiently. What's amusing is all the talk about police "brutality". You'd get hurt worse in your average mosh pit than you would have getting arrested by those police.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I watched the videos and the crowd was out of control. The key is I watched the unedited version of the videos. If they got sprayed for being in that crowd it is their fault. I have pictures and memories to tell you what an out of control protest can come to be like...if you had been here where I am at after June 2009 you would understand how quickly a situation can become explosive and deadly in a protest.

They did not get sprayed for being in any crowd, they got sprayed for standing behind a barrier and wondering where they should go.

Wrong, they pulled themselves to the front of the barrier and yelled at cops...not for wanting to know where to go but for protesting another woman being arrested for breaking through the barrier..if the cops tell you to move on that is what you need to do.

There were less than 10 people inside that barrier, and it covered a substantial area of the sidewalk. They didn't have to pull themselves anywhere, and they were not in physical contact with the barrier, or any officer.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

So let me see if I've got how this works... If 99% of the protesters were attacking the police and 1% of them were standing there peacefully...you'd find the police at fault for using pepper spray on the crowd as a whole? Are you serious with that?

I've got a little experience with protests, having grown up in the sixties. If you're just standing in a crowd of people breaking the law and the police show up? You'd best get your "innocent" little ass out of there or you WILL be going to jail.

Tell you what, show me where 99% of the crowd was being violent and we will discuss the right of the police to indiscriminately use force on a large group of people. The fact is that 99% of the crowd was being peaceful and following the instructions of the police, and one or two police officers crossed a clear line by retaliating against anyone they could. That makes them wrong.

Period.

Only an idiot would categorically defend bad cops when they are wrong.

Ah, "you" are the one who said you didn't CARE if 99% of the crowd was being violent...I called you on the stupidity of such a statement...and then you ask me to SHOW you where 99% of the crowd was being violent? I NEVER SAID THEY WERE!

What makes the NYPD "bad cops"? They handled the situation remarkably well. The police had a small group of protesters that escalated the situation until they had to be arrested and when that needed to be done the NYPD handled it quickly and efficiently. What's amusing is all the talk about police "brutality". You'd get hurt worse in your average mosh pit than you would have getting arrested by those police.

I don't care, but it is a separate discussion. For the record though, if a crowd is being disruptive the police do not have the power to use force indiscriminately.

If you actually read my posts you will see I am focusing on a couple of incidents involving two individual police officers. I am pointing out how Bologna and another officer whose name I do not know violated NYPD policy. I am not attacking NYPD, I am attacking two bad cops.

I think most of the police there acted responsibly and professionally. It is possible there are other incidents that need to be examined, but I am unaware of them. You respond by defending them without a thought, and justifying their actions by pointing out other protestors were wrong. That means you are doing what you are accusing me of doing, saying everyone is guilty because someone else did something wrong.

 

[Oldstyle]

What "the crowd" was doing is irrelevant. What were the girls who were sprayed doing? That cop clearly walked over to them from some distance away, sprayed them, then walked away.

They had just been asked to leave that area by the police. Instead of doing so, the three girls who ended up getting pepper sprayed stayed and screamed their heads off as another girl is getting arrested. You're right about the cop walking over from some distance and spraying them...but he was doing so because they were being so disruptive.

Screaming is disruptive?

How?

Every time someone was arrested by the police those three idiots started screaming trying to make it out to be brutal treatment. It wasn't and their whole "act" was nothing more than an attempt to get good video footage. Just as the Rand Paul supporter stepping on the activist's shoulder was EXACTLY what they went there looking for, this officer using pepper spray was EXACTLY what these protesters were looking for. A one second blast of pepper spray and our three little drama queens were all vying for Academy Awards. It's the tactic of the far Left now. Cause a confrontation. Get it on video. Scream about police brutality and the suppression of your First Amendment rights. The activist at the Rand Paul rally claimed to have a concussion which was quite amazing seeing how the guy stepped on her shoulder and neck. It's all theater.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

They had just been asked to leave that area by the police. Instead of doing so, the three girls who ended up getting pepper sprayed stayed and screamed their heads off as another girl is getting arrested. You're right about the cop walking over from some distance and spraying them...but he was doing so because they were being so disruptive.

Screaming is disruptive?

How?

Every time someone was arrested by the police those three idiots started screaming trying to make it out to be brutal treatment. It wasn't and their whole "act" was nothing more than an attempt to get good video footage. Just as the Rand Paul supporter stepping on the activist's shoulder was EXACTLY what they went there looking for, this officer using pepper spray was EXACTLY what these protesters were looking for. A one second blast of pepper spray and our three little drama queens were all vying for Academy Awards. It's the tactic of the far Left now. Cause a confrontation. Get it on video. Scream about police brutality and the suppression of your First Amendment rights. The activist at the Rand Paul rally claimed to have a concussion which was quite amazing seeing how the guy stepped on her shoulder and neck. It's all theater.

So what. Police should respond professionally to things like that, not by proving them right and banging reporters heads off a parked car.