By Madison Ruppert: Police in Anaheim, California have a lot of explaining to do after
attempting to buy the videos captured by witnesses after shooting people
with rubber bullets and releasing an attack dog on a crowd including a
mother and her child.
Usually, we see people get arrested, brutally beaten, or labeled “professional agitators” for legally
filming police activities. Trying to actually buy the video from the
witnesses is, at least in my opinion, a novel tactic in the ongoing war
on accountability.
The video (at the bottom of the post) is nothing short of disturbing
as it shows police shooting seemingly wildly into a crowd which includes
young children and, most troubling of all, it even shows police
releasing a dog which heads straight for a mother and her child.
The mother was able to react quickly enough to get her child out of
harm’s way but a bystander wasn’t so lucky. We see the dog clamp down on
his arm in the video as he is struggling to break free from the jaws of
the police attack dog while officers try to separate them.
The individuals gathered in order to protest the shooting – which
they maintain was unjustified – of a young man at the hands of police.
The shooting occurred on Saturday around 4 PM in front of an
apartment complex after a foot chase, according to Orange County
Sergeant Bob Dunn, quoted by the Associated Press.
Dunn refused to even say why exactly they shot the man, instead
opting to say that the details of the incident are currently under
investigation by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
While the family of the man shot by police as well as neighbors all
identified him as Manuel Diaz, Dunn could not initially confirm the
individual’s name.
However, later the above linked story was updated in order to reflect
that24-year-old Manuel Diaz was identified although there is still an
investigation into what actually led the police to kill him.
The 16-year-old nice of Diaz, Daisy Gonzalez, informed the Orange
County Register that her uncle probably fled because he had previous
negative experiences with law enforcement.
“an angry group of people began yelling and throwing bottles at them.”
While the people did not look all too aggressive, they were referred
to as “an unruly crowd” and the scene was described as “a near riot.”
From the clips
published from eyewitness video, we cannot see anything of the sort. We
only see cops shooting rubber bullets left and right at women and
children, releasing an attack dog and families fleeing the chaos.
One person interviewed by KCAL 9 mentioned that they saw a water
bottle go flying before the attack began, indicating that the throwing
of a water bottle might have been what sparked the police action.
Indeed, the Associated Press reports that Dunn stated that the entire
encounter began when “an angry group of people began yelling and
throwing bottles at them.”
In an attempt to explain away the attack dog getting out and heading
straight for a mother and her child in a stroller before attacking a
man’s arm, Dunn claimed that the dog was “deployed accidentally.”
UPDATE: Several hours after the original publishing,
the Associated Press story above was changed significantly. It had
previously been at least twice as long as it is now, and the mention of
just bottles being thrown at police has changed.
Now they report that the killing of Diaz, “sparked a melee in the
neighborhood as some threw rocks and bottles at police. Officers fired
rubber bullets and pepper spray to suppress the crowd.”
The mention of the video, the mention of the attack dog, etc. are all
mysteriously gone although they added that five people were arrested
during the incident.
Personally, I see this type of response as indefensible from law
enforcement. Police officers should in no way be justified in firing
upon women and children with highly dangerous weaponry because people
are throwing bottles and now supposedly rocks as well.
Whatever the rationale might be, when you see this response on video
it becomes very clear that it is in no way warranted and just goes to
show how far gone some members of our law enforcement community already
are.
Thankfully there are still some good police officers out there.
Unfortunately, since they seem to be getting increasingly rare, we’re
seeing these heroes become targets for harassment or in one case even a detainee in a psychiatric ward.
If we don’t do something to show just how reprehensible and
unacceptable this behavior truly is, we can only expect police insanity.
If we do nothing, all we can do is hope that it’s only people getting arrested for dancing.
Shocking video has emerged which depicts police officers firing rubber
bullets into a rioting crowd which includes women and children.
The footage also shows a police dog rushing in to the fray and nearly knocking over a mother who was pushing her baby in a stroller.
The violent scenes came in the wake of an incident where a 24-year-old man was shot dead after running away from police, two of whom have now been suspended. Source
The footage also shows a police dog rushing in to the fray and nearly knocking over a mother who was pushing her baby in a stroller.
The violent scenes came in the wake of an incident where a 24-year-old man was shot dead after running away from police, two of whom have now been suspended. Source
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