3 Dallas officers face charges after Thumping on a Non-Fighting Motorcyclist

[roo_ster]

The Skinny
Several DPD cops chase after a motorcyclist in a bad part of town.  Said motorcyclist doesn't seem to be particularly good with the MC operation and after going way too fast in residential parts of town, eventually screws the pooch, gets off his cycle, and gets the tar beat out of him despite not giving a fight.  This gets filmed on cop car cams.  A couple cops try to fiddle with the cameras. Later, an anonymous note appears on the desk fo someone in DPD leadership an investigation is started.

Chief fires the new cop on probation, places the others on suspension, has brought appropriate charges, and called the Feebs to see if they want a slice of the action.


The Links
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/crime/stories/DN-excessiveforce_16met.ART0.State.Edition2.357d104.html
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/crime/stories/091610dnmet_police_beating_motorcyclist_video.f82bf5ae.html
http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/09/police-officers.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Police_Department_%28Texas%29
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=malcom+x,+dallas,+texas&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=53.477264,102.919922&ie=UTF8&hq=malcom+x,&hnear=Dallas,+Texas&ll=32.769017,-96.768436&spn=0.00701,0.012563&t=h&z=17
(Oakland Ave has been renamed Malcom X and Forest Ave renamed MLK Jr and the old names sometimes show up in mapping tools)


My Take
I am in almost perfect agreement with this DMN commentator: http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/09/police-officers.html

Beating the stuffing out of a non-resisting suspect is bad.

Beating the stuffing out of a non-resisting suspect on multiple police cameras is bad and stupid.

Beating the stuffing out of a non-resisting suspect on multiple police cameras and then tampering with the cameras is bad and stupid and shows he knows he is Doing the Wrong Thing.

Some (anonymous) cop on DPD did The Right Thing.

I am willing to cut some slack to cops who are in the middle of a fight with a suspect who is fighting and maybe go too far (by my lights).  I thinka blow-by-blow critique of such fights while sipping Starbucks is not fair to a man or woman who is in the thick of it.  OTOH, if the POS never offers resistance, I am less understanding.

I think DPD Chief Brown has done most everything he could (after the incident).

There are some serious personnell & training issues at DPD, however, and will need to be addressed.


Some DPD & Dallas Background
* Worst-paying of the metro PDs--DPD gets the dregs, personnell-wise 
* Aggressive affirmative action program
* Lots of new hires
* History of hiring some real gems (not) with prior criminal/psych problems
* History of promoting "wine before its time" both as DPD Chief and lower ranks
* Chief David Brown is latest chief and comes from within DPD and is new to the job--no judgment yet
* DPD has had problems with internal sourcing of DPD chiefs
* Last DPD chief (Kunkle) was very good or at least a vast improment over his predecessor (Bolton)--and was found outside DPD
* Bolton was to DPD what Eric Holder is the the DOJ: a racialist sub-mediocrity of whom it was difficult to determine if he was stupider or whinier (Here is a link to how Bolton's new employers think of his job so far: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2009/02/terrell_bolton_back_in_dallas.php)
* Evey year for a while, some DPD officer would do something so outrageous, you wondered if he was both crazy AND stupid--like run over to the house of an 8YO child who was bullying his child waving a gun and collecting relatives along the way to beat the crap out of and maybe shoot the whole family
* MLK/Malcom X intersection is a Bad Neighborhood--a "Three CCW + long gun" neighborhood, IMO (prmary CCW, backup CCW, holdout, & shotgun/carbine in the auto)--Neighborhood also known as Fair Park.
* I have spent some time there helping build/imrpove a mission church and making sure all our Young (and naive) Adult church group got back intact--one gal grew up around there was a help, "If you hear gunfire, don't stand around try to figure out where it came from, just hit the ground."
* Dallas is a "Sancutary City" and brings some of its problems on itself, one of them being the crime rate.
* Dallas has a serious hispanic vs black race problem--the white folks in the north pay the bills.