OK I’m just disgusted with the Oakland Police Department right now, so I’m going to attempt to unspin my head in this post. I live in the Bay Area and have been hearing about what happened Tuesday night.
I get that the conditions at Frank Ogawa Plaza were deteriorating rapidly and something needed to be done. They have been warned over the past week that the encampment would be cleared. And they did just that. But throwing flash-bang grenades at protesters? Are you frickin’ kidding me?
Scott Olsen, a member of Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War, got hit in the head with a police projectile. When other protesters came to help him, OPD threw a flash-bang grenade. Of course, they denied, denied, denied. Video doesn’t lie:
- Watch more videos at Vodpod.
They were just helping the guy. I don’t get it. They did get him to Highland Hospital. He’s in serious condition with a skull fracture and swelling in his brain. He’s sedated and waiting for an examination by a neurosurgeon.
Message to Scott: Thank you for your service. I’m sorry you came back from two tours in Iraq only to get injured by those sworn to protect and serve.
October 27th, 2011 at 12:16 AM
I was watching FOX yesterday, just to see their take on this….they called it a RIOT! I was not disappointed…..
October 27th, 2011 at 3:42 AM
Get the f*** outta here. Are you serious? They called it a riot? Wow. What surprises me is how blatant their bias is. Unreal.
October 27th, 2011 at 10:47 PM
Nice. I’ve seen what Oakland riots look like. They weren’t bashing in store fronts and jumping up and down on cop cars.
October 27th, 2011 at 4:27 AM
With Oakland and NYC seemingly at different ends of the spectrum, each city is handling Occupy differently. But, challenges seems to be at the same time. Coordinated?
October 27th, 2011 at 10:48 PM
Hmm I never thought about that. Possible. It’s interesting to see the way different cities are handling them, though.
October 27th, 2011 at 5:10 AM
I’m horrified by this, too. We’re a hypocritical nation to condemn others for their lack of freedoms and, yet, we’ve got this kind of thing going on. The police reaction was way out of line. Disgusting.
October 27th, 2011 at 10:49 PM
Way, way out of line. They could have just left them alone to help him. But no, they make it worse.
October 27th, 2011 at 7:13 AM
The Oakland Police have been beset with problems going all the way back to the days of the Black Panthers. What happened in Oakland the other night should never had happened, and the Fox News dim wits calling it a riot, well that’s par for the course for them.
October 27th, 2011 at 10:50 PM
A lot of problems. They’re not the enemy. A lot of protesters know that. Why are they treating protesters like the enemy?
October 28th, 2011 at 6:47 AM
To the cops any activity that threatens their internal hierarchy and their hierarchical thinking and view of the world is the activity of an enemy. Cops (and military and paramilitary) are trained to see/experience the world in terms of hierarchies. Conservatives maintain a similar worldview. That’s why they suck up to power and money and crap on poor people (that’s the simplest view – it gets more complicated). Cops are essentially conservative. They maintain. Progressives, dissenters, thinkers – they want to change what the cops must maintain. We’re not dealing with philosophers wearing badges. Cops individually – not too unlike the rest of the citizenry. Cops en masse facing dissenters – just another gang of thugs, albeit highly organized thugs. A mob is a mob, badge or no.
October 27th, 2011 at 12:21 PM
The police are quick to bash the heads of protesters whose civil protests get a bit messy, but where was the law ‘n’ order crowd when the suits were trashing the country and raping and pillaging the economy? Come to think of it, the LnO crowd still hasn’t done squat about the suits. Oh… wait… sorry, senior moment… I forgot the suits own the police, who apparently are well-trained to think that anybody who has more money than them and wears a tie and thousand dollar shoes is just naturally better than them and they better bow their fat donutty jowls to the ground if they want to keep their job beating up honest people.
October 27th, 2011 at 10:52 PM
I forgot the suits own the police, who apparently are well-trained to think that anybody who has more money than them and wears a tie and thousand dollar shoes is just naturally better than them
That about sums it up.
October 27th, 2011 at 7:09 PM
This whole deterioration of rights and safety is disheartening, but the story of Scott Olson is simply tragic.
If any other country acted this way – we’d be lobbying the President to send in troops and restore balance. But here, its just unbridled power and corruption with no review or accountability.
October 27th, 2011 at 10:53 PM
The OPD said they’ll be investigating this like they would if there was an officer involved shooting. I thought, “Yeah now. After it was caught on tape.”
October 27th, 2011 at 9:15 PM
i cut cops a lot of slack, and i think the vast majority of them do their jobs well and with honor and for all the right reasons. in this case, though, there is no defense. this was just disgusting. i don’t give a damn if they were just following orders. some orders should not be followed. as shamar thomas would day, there was no honor in this.
wishing scott olsen a swift and complete recovery.
October 27th, 2011 at 10:56 PM
Oh absolutely. Most really do try honor their vow to protect and serve – in some really crappy situations. It’s these bad apples are giving cops a bad name.
I hope he gets better soon, too.
October 27th, 2011 at 11:37 PM
that is some kind of bullshit. Too bad no one can see that officer’s face. He should fired.
October 30th, 2011 at 5:31 PM
Seriously! I don’t know if they can find out his identity, but I hope they can. They make cops look really bad.
November 22nd, 2011 at 6:48 PM
Tempers flare far too easily sometimes.
“Who Watches The Watchmen?” indeed.