Over the past couple weeks, we have tried to show that the plague of police brutality is not only an existential threat to Black and Brown Americans but that under a culture of “Comply or Die” coupled with aggressive over-policing, nobody is safe. True, Black and Native Americans are at least 21 times more at risk to be shot and killed by overzealous Law Enforcement Officers, but white people are at risk, too. We need White people of good conscience to join the fight against police cruelty and unlawful behavior. We need cops of good conscience to join the fight against their murderous brethren. Let’s not wait until you or your family members are the victims before you join the fight. It just may be too late.
Let’s take a look at the case of Bryce Masters, an 18-year-old white teen and the son of a Missouri cop.
After excessively tazing a fellow cop’s underage son during a traffic stop and slamming the handcuffed teen face-first onto the street, an overzealous officer was recently sentenced to four years in prison for violating the minor’s civil rights. As the boy went into cardiac arrest and technically died before paramedics resuscitated him, the aggressive cop was captured on video manhandling and stepping on the dying teen’s motionless body. Read more at thefreethoughtproject.com/...
The video showing what Officer Timothy Runnels did to the teenager is almost unwatchable. How he dragged the near-unconscious boy away from the dashcam and then callously dropped him so that his face hit the concrete sidewalk is sickening. If you can watch, see for yourself:
According to reports, Bryce Masters actually died from his injuries and was lucky that unlike those who responded to Eric Garner, his paramedics came prepared to do their jobs.
From an eyewitness:
Bryce in the hospital
“The cop was like, ‘You want to mess with me,’ and pulled out his Taser and tased him,” witness Michelle Baker recalled after recording a cell phone video shortly after the incident. “I thought he shot him. Then he pulled him out of the car, handcuffed him, and drug him around the car. It looked like he hit his head on the concrete. You could see blood coming out of his mouth. The cop put his foot on his back and moved it back and forth like he was putting a cigarette out and asked him, ‘Are you ready to get up now?’ You could tell the kid was going into convulsions.” Read more at thefreethoughtproject.com/...
Officer Runnels will pay a price for his murderous actions. He was arrested and charged. He pled guilty to one charge and was sentenced.
Former Independence, Mo., police officer Timothy Runnels was sentenced Wednesday to 4 years in prison for violating the constitutional rights of a minor who was in his custody.
A measure of justice for Bryce. Of course, no such luck for Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Brown...(a pause to catch my breath). It is my considered opinion that had this been a black Bryce, he would be dead right now. Funnels would have shot him outright and or the response team may not have been as thorough. Long ago history and recent events inform my opinion.
Of all those involved in this case, I was most interested in the reaction of Bryce’s dad who is himself a cop. From The Intercept :
“I still get what cops go through, the decision-making process, the damned if you do, damned if you don’t process,” Matt said. It was easier for him to view Runnels’s actions as an error of judgment exacerbated by ignorance. “It goes back to the way he was trained. Because you’re only as good as the training.”
The father attributes his fellow officer’s brutalization of his son to lack of training. Lack of training? See, I was somewhere around 8 or 9 years old when I saw my brother abusing one of our dogs. Needle caught anything and everything thrown at him. My beloved, trifling older brother cooked baby potatoes and while they were still hot he threw them one at a time at Needle who’d catch them, spit them out and go on to catch the next. My brother is 8 years older. I didn’t need training to know that what he was doing was very, very wrong. And it sure wasn’t lack of training that made D commit such a cruel and dangerous act against a loving, loyal, and protective dog. It was the first and only time that I ever tattled on any of my siblings. I cackled with malicious glee — as only children can — as I watched my grandma attempt to whup him for his transgression.
Does one have to be trained to know that you do not hurt a living breathing animal or person unless your life is in imminent danger? Lack of training does not lead to intentional cruelty; lack of a functioning heart does. Lack of human empathy does.
After misdiagnosing the cause of the problem, Matt Masters shared some more with us:
After almost 20 years as a cop, it had become easy for Matt to split the world into good guys and bad guys. Today, he sees law enforcement through the eyes of a victim. While he still values the profession, his newfound empathy made him more aware of the real damage some officers inflict. “Cops do fuck up. Cops do make bad decisions. And, when they do, there’s someone on the receiving end of that.”
When asked if he still has faith in the system, considering that Runnels is one of the rare officers to face criminal punishment for using excessive force, Matt shakes his head no. He knows there are many deserving cases, especially involving minority victims, that never see the inside of a courtroom. “I get a lot of sympathy from my black cop friends, like, ‘this is what we’ve been saying about cops for a long, long time.'”
I have to admit that I teared up at the part about “minority victims, that never see the inside of a courtroom.” Eric Garner was killed right in front of our eyes and yet no one was held responsible. We saw that Tamir’s murderer drove up on him and two seconds later the boy was taking his last breaths. We saw as the officers dragged Freddie into the paddywagon, but yet no one will be held responsible for his death. It is well nigh impossible to prove that a black person’s civil rights has been violated.
The truth is, Funnels should have been charged with attempted murder. Four years is not nearly enough for condemning this young man to a lifetime of pain and suffering, but it is so much more justice than so many others got. The lesson, Matt, is that it shouldn’t have to take the near killing of your loved one for you to acknowledge the pain and suffering of your fellow man.
Young Bryce Masters is still recovering from the injuries he sustained at the hands of Timothy Funnels. He suffered brain damage and the road ahead will not be easy for him. Our thoughts and prayers are with him.
We are rapidly approaching the signature collection phase of our campaign to get the Over-Policed Rights Act on the California ballot. We will be needing your help.
This is a screengrab of the Summary and Title of the Ballot Initiative sent to us by the California Department of Justice:
Our Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act as seen through the eyes of the California Justice Dept
We await word from the Secretary of State who will be sending us a schedule with the maximum filing deadline and the certification deadline.
More awesome news! Our law has been submitted as a Resolution to the NAACP. That august body will now discuss and then vote on whether to adopt The Michael Brown Over-Police Rights Act (MBOPRA) at the Legislative Session of the NAACP’s Annual Convention.
Served nine years in prison for murders he didn’t commit
State police reinvestigated the case and found that a deputy who originally gave sworn testimony that Sanford drew an accurate diagram of the crime scene, later contradicted that testimony, the prosecutor’s office’s statement said.
It really should be that if someone with the power to deprive others of life, liberty, and freedom is found to have falsified evidence that resulted in a conviction, then they themselves should be sentenced to the full term that the charge carries. It is only fair. Then and only then we’ll see an end to this crap.
Former Deputy Chief James Tolbert testified that Sanford drew the crime scene of the home for him on a blank piece of paper during his investigation, and the picture included the locations where the bodies were found. But in more recent comments to a state investigator, Tolbert said that he drew the crime scene — and Sanford only drew the bodies.
The commutation comes after Morgan, a former Chicago police officer who was working as a railroad detective, was arrested in 2005 following a traffic violation for driving the wrong way on a one-way street near his home, the report says. A scuffle ensued and Morgan was surrounded by four officers, who began firing when they spotted his service weapon. Police said Morgan was belligerent and fired first, while Morgan said police started firing as soon as they saw his gun, and denied firing a shot, the report notes. He was shot 21 times in the back and seven times about the body.
A model cop. A decent man. A beautiful human being.
Lonnie Ali at her husband’s funeral: “America must never forget that when police and young black boys speak, great things can happen.”
At the age of 12, Ali discovered his talent for boxing through an odd twist of fate. His bike was stolen, and Ali told a police officer, Joe Martin, that he wanted to beat up the thief. "Well, you better learn how to fight before you start challenging people," Martin reportedly told him at the time. In addition to being a police officer, Martin also trained young boxers at a local gym.
Rest in peace, Muhammad Ali. You were are the greatest.
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About Support the Dream Defenders
(Wordcloud composed of Support the Dream Defenders, Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act, Expand Medicaid, Freedom of Information Act Project, Combat Racism, Demand Equality.)
Members of the Daily Kos group Support the Dream Defenders launched four ongoing projects:
1. We came together to support the Dream Defenders in Florida and their mission, our first project and the origin of our name. The Dream Defendersdefend the Dream of Martin Luther King Jr. by "develop[ing] the next generation of radical leaders to realize and exercise our independent collective power; building alternative systems and organizing to disrupt the structures that oppress our communities." Please donate here.
2. Our Michael Brown Over-Policed Rights Act, crowd-sourced at Daily Kos in the fall of 2014 after the death of Michael Brown. Our bill quickly earned endorsements from the NAACP and the ACLU. The NAACP forwarded our bill to members of Congress, and we distributed it to members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other progressive members of Congress. President Obama signed into a law a small piece of our bill in December 2014. The Department of Justice included parts of our law in their reports on Ferguson, Missouri, in 2015. Our state version of the MBOPRA is currently in committee in the Kansas legislature.
3. Our Freedom of Information Act project. Nineteen Republican governors chose to kill poor people by not expanding Medicaid. Ebola has killed about 9000 people in total; Republican governors kill 23,000 people PER YEAR by refusing federal support for Medicaid, a story ignored by traditional media. Our project forces those governors to out themselves, clapping them in a Catch 22. With the support of readers, we publicize our results through letters to the editor, press releases, and petitions.
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