DISGRACE: 75 year old man suffers serious head injury at hands of Buffalo police

[Will Never]

BREAKING NEWS: In a graphic and horrific video that was recorded, two police officers in Buffalo NY shove a 75 year old man to the ground for no discernible reason.  Blood immediately pooled beneath the man's head as officers continued to walk onward.  Seconds after the incident, another officer approaches the person recording the video, blocks them from taping the scene, and instructs them to relocate.

Initially, police lied about the incident in their report, stating that the man "tripped and fell."  However, the report was soon after "amended" when they realized that video evidence existed.

What a senseless, disgusting act of brutality.  The man is hospitalized and is in serious condition.

LINK TO THE VIDEO

[Tessera]

Yup... Martin Gugino. No relation to lovely Carla.

Lifelong activist involved in civil rights, anti-nukes, etc.

Latest victim of police brutality.

[Cylnar]

And then ALL the members of that unit resigned in solidarity with the suspended officers.

Not resigned from the police force, mind you, just from that particular special unit.

Cops just can't seem to resign themselves to the possibility that their reign of terror may be coming to an end...

[Tessera]

And then ALL the members of that unit resigned in solidarity with the suspended officers.

Let them resign. They brutalized an unarmed, non-aggressive old man. Good riddance.

The gradual militarization of the police was guaranteed to lead to what we're seeing now. Funding for police departments needs to be severely decreased. We already have an army... and we already have a National Guard. The cops don't need tanks and assault weapons. We could better spend that money on social programs, that help to uplift disadvantaged Americans and do away with ghettos.

[Cylnar]

Damn straight. Like in most other civilized countries, our cops need to be retrained to be CITIZEN PEACEKEEPERS who come from and look like the neighborhoods they police...not an occupying paramilitary force or latter-day slave patrol (which is indeed the origin of much of American police history and culture).

[StarWrecker]

The gradual militarization of the police was guaranteed to lead to what we're seeing now. Funding for police departments needs to be severely decreased. We already have an army... and we already have a National Guard. The cops don't need tanks and assault weapons. We could better spend that money on social programs, that help to uplift disadvantaged Americans and do away with ghettos.

One factor, not the be all end all.

I think the primary cause of this kind of shit is god-awful training. A bunch of incompetent Keystone Cops are going to be far more likely to be brutal because they don't know how to handle a hairy situation.

Don't just reduce funding, at the same time redirect the funding that is available towards training and away from toys. If the cops bitch, they should realize that training is far more likely to save their lives than having a MRAP with a "Police" sticker on the side. (Fucking twits, do they expect to encounter IEDs in suburban Bumfuck, South Dakota?)

Add in the militarization and it's a tragedy waiting to happen.

Personally I want to listen to "Fuck tha Police" on repeat for a while.

[Tessera]

Damn straight. Like in most other civilized countries, our cops need to be retrained to be CITIZEN PEACEKEEPERS who come from and look like the neighborhoods they police...not an occupying paramilitary force or latter-day slave patrol (which is indeed the origin of much of American police history and culture).

Well, the movement to de-fund the cops is well underway:  https://youtu.be/yoL_TUN330Y