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I am not quite sure what to make of the ruffled YouTube video that is now scouring the web out of Paterson, New Jersey. In the video, the woman filming, who mentions that her mother works in the sheriff's office, is taping a New Jersey police officer holding a black man to the ground. The man clearly has his hands behind his back and appears to be restrained.
As the woman videos the incident from a distance, the officer inexplicably grabs the man, turns him around and puts pepper spray in to his eyes. He appears to do it twice.
Noticing the woman in the background and people watching, the officer picks the defendant up off the ground and approaches the group using quite a bit of profane language. He also mentions something about whether or not the woman saw crack on the ground around the defendant. The video is certainly disturbing, and better video resolution might have been helpful to determine what was going on. All the while, you could clearly see some disturbing actions in the video, which might likely be a case of very serious police brutality.
While we should leave it to the court of law to decide exactly what happened in this incident, here are some quick thoughts that went through my mind:
1) (The obvious one) For what reason did the officer feel the need to put pepper spray into the eyes of a suspect who'd already been detained? If he is lying on the ground with his hands secured behind his back, it makes no sense to spray something in his eyes. This kind of cruel and unusual punishment is not justified just because the person is accused of committing a crime.
2) Why does the officer feel that it is acceptable or necessary to tell innocent bystanders to "get the f*ck out of here, unless you wanna go with him"? Sorry officer, but you must understand that your authority over the citizens of the community is not absolute. You have no right to use abusive and disrespectful language toward citizens, the same way they are not allowed to be disrespectful toward you. Secondly, the idea that the officer believes that he can threaten to take people to jail because they were observing and evaluating him conducting his duties is incredibly problematic.
3) How often does this happen in cases that go unreported? For every case in which someone happens to be standing around taping an incident, there are likely thousands of other cases we don't know about. If police officers wonder why the community has a difficult time trusting them, incidents like this are the reason why.
The bottom line is that part of the reason the relationship between police officers and the black community is so fractured (even worse in Paterson, N.J.) is because officers sometimes believe that it's OK to keep the entire community in a frightened police state. Officers, who are often unable to sort out the bad from the good, tear down the doors of innocent citizens in drug raids and don't even fix the damage that was done to the house (this happened to a friend of mine twice when she was a little girl). They stop black men and harass us without just cause for doing so. They sometimes even beat the heck out of 15-year-old kids.
Now, the most egregious behavior doesn't happen in every precinct and is not committed by every officer., but this video is a reminder that there must be a new paradigm of police interaction with the community. Officers must understand that they are positioned to work with the community and not against it. While it appears that the young man in this video may have done something wrong, the idea of spraying him, cursing at citizens and threatening to take them to jail just for watching is absolutely unacceptable. There needs to be an investigation.
The video is below if you'd like to watch:
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. 
Comments: (116)
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By: slites1 on 6/19/2010 8:08AM
These cops today are out of control. Only a few actually do their jobs while you have a bunch of them doing whatever they want. There is corruption and racism in all police departments and it's sad!
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By: Deut818 on 6/19/2010 2:33PM
Vote 11/02/2010.. I will be voting against politicians who endorse the tea party movement, who want to take this nation BACKWARDS, pre-civil rights movement.
I don't know WHY police think BLACKS are afraid of them, because WE aren't, and our ancestors WEREN'T either and was willing to FIGHT and DIE for the INJUSTICE the police commit against US.
A incident I experienced lately, a white BOY..who was a butt hole punk to me, and the first thing he said to me AFTER I put him in his PLACE, "you want me to call the police?" I didn't say a word back to the PUNK and took out my "BERRY" and called the police.. and this PUNK RAN away..like the punk he was..
@Bill Schier aka Bill-Script-A-Lie.. thanks for the information with regard to the Patterson, NJ(FOP)... you dumb-dumb.. I will write to Patterson, NJ(FOP)..my grandfather is a (FOP) member, and I can assure you the (FOP)is AGAINST such incidents depicted on the "said" video.. so I will be sending a letter to the Patterson, NJ (FOP) for the opposite reason you recommend, which will be "not" to tell them they are doing a good job with regard to this Patterson, NJ.- police brutality incident...and further letters will follow to the District Atty's Office, Patterson's Police Commissoner, NJ's House Rep & Senator's Office and also the Gov. of NJ., letterhead by my local (FOP)..
The police are to protect and serve..not to an example of abuse and profanity to the public-which is historic in black communities. This is clearly an example of police brutality, to spray pepper in the eyes of a physically restrained suspect, so the suspect will split out crack? To restrain a suspect and bind their hands and spray POISON in their eyes and mouth can kill a person, and plenty had died as result by the hands of the police committing such an brutal and un-necessary act.
See without the alleged crack..this thug-police-case-surely would be a profile case/w brutality.. and this thug-police's azz would be HAD and written up-added to his personnel jacket, he's probably been written up before for similar, that's probably why he wanted the crack to the extend of being brutal to create a legitimate court against the state of NJ, otherwise, the case would be THROWN out court, and he'll LOOK stupid and racist for profiling-with brutality added.
If you notice there were two policemen on the suspect NOT one, again a LIE and several thug-police cars were present also..so its a LIE to say only one police was present when this incident was taped by a bystander. And as BYSTANDERS.. when we see an incident like this.."CAN WE STOP saying "are you serious?"...yes these thug cops ARE..serious as a heart attack..if you want to do something..be PROACTIVE.. get on the Cell and video and get to know your community advocate's phone numbers- report the incident as witness..this is ONE way to help FIGHT against police brutality..witness-witness-witness..
If there was a reason to take down the suspect, the way it was done was below sub-standard, a brutality, thuggish and outlandish at best.
The policeman involved should be written up and put on probation-especially if he has similar reports filed against him..
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By: cranberrypriest4 on 6/19/2010 5:52PM
Oh I get it...just cause he's black that means it has to be racism. Give me a break!
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By: paul n on 6/19/2010 7:37PM
your children r not safe to walk down the street your grandmother arent safe b cause of drug addicts you blacks make me sick If you become part of the solution in your neighborhoods ie fathering your children ,working,not drug dealing then the police wouldnt treat you like animals that "thing" got pepper srayed for not opening his mouth to spit out the crack he had. put all the animals in cages
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By: sbemt on 7/10/2010 4:15AM
1) if you guys actually listen to the video you will hear the officers repeatedly telling the suspect to "spit it out" refering to the crack. in the world of emergency services we don't believe roughly 90% of what we are told, i know it sounds crazy but people actually do lie to try to get out of trouble but usually instead they just dig themselves into a deeper hole. just like the lady taping this is full of it saying that her mom was a sheriff "officer" because if her mom was really a cop than she would know that 1) it's Deputy Sheriff or Sheriff's Deputy not officer, 2) she'd know what the officers were doing, and 3) she'd know how to respect a cop.
2) let me tell y'all a little secret, swallowing crack cocaine will cause serious, permanent damage to internal organs if not kill the person. in the decade that i have been working in emergency medicine i have seen hundreds of people die from ingesting drugs, particularly cocaine, so that the cops wouldn't find it. so essentially what the officers were doing here like saving his life and preventing him from destroying evidence, which is a felony in many states.
3) believe it or not, just because someone is handcuffed does not make them less of a threat to the officer's safety, yes it does make it more difficult for the suspect but they can still kick, hit, head butt, bite or otherwise injure the officer. people before you set your mouths off educate yourself on police procedures and if you're not willing to learn than keep your trap shut.
look don't get me wrong, i ain't defending the officers actions there are other, more effective ways to get people to spit the drugs out. for example he could of shoved his nightstick (or flashlight) and hand into the suspects mouth to get the drugs out, this will generally dislocate the jaw and tear muscles and tendons in and around the mouth and jaw, which is quite painful and difficult to heal.
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