Date: November 3, 2006 For Immediate Release: Police Brutality Caught on Video. SEE THE VIDEO AT www.copwatchla.org http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVW5_PJHzR4 http://www.copwatchla.org//newsaction.cgi?article=9999999841204.989531405783 Contact: Ø COPWACTH Los Angeles Voice Mail - (562) 252-8501; website - http://www.copwatchla.org Ø Youth Justice Coalition: http://www.myspace.com/freela freelanow@yahoo.com (323)235-4243 Ø October 22nd Coalition: http://www.myspace.com/october22nd_la Attorney B. Kwaku Duren (also Chair, New Black Panther Vanguard Movement) can be reached at kwaku@globalpanther.com or (323) 290-6146 [office] or (310) 780-6739 [cell phone] On August 11th, 2006, William Cardenas, 24 from Hollywood , California was arrested and brutally beaten by the Hollywood Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. The cops would have gotten away with the beating if it wasn’t for a neighbor who video-taped the beating on her camera. William Cardenas was still arrested and is still being charged with 2 counts of Penal Code 69, which is a felony “use of violence or threat of violence to prevent an officer from performing their duty.” The District Attorney’s Office is also adding a one year “gang” enhancement, alleging that his conduct was intended to benefit his alleged gang membership. However, William doesn't have a history of gang involvement until now, or since the LAPD put it on his record. In the video of the arrest, you can see two white cops, Patrick Farrell and Alexander Schlege, on top of William. Schlege held William down and held his hands while Farell choked William with his knee and punched him several times with a full fist into the side of his face. Throughout the police assault, you can clearly hear Cardenas struggling to get words out of his mouth that he was choking and couldn’t breathe yet the blows from Farrell continue. Joaquin Cienfuegos, an organizer with Cop Watch Los Angeles stated, “We feel that these are experiences that dehumanize people. They are taking away the human rights or William Cardenas, and therefore we do not see the police as ‘officers of the law’ or give them any respect – since this video supports the view that they are vicious animals who treat us as their prey.” For most young working class people of color this is not new. We get stopped, harassed, brutalized, and sometimes even killed by the police in our communities simply due to the color of our skin, where we live, or how we dress and look. We are stopped and humiliated for looking a certain way; they take pictures of us and we are added to the gang database; and baseless “gang enhancements” are charged by the District Attorney’s office. Most of the time, police actions do not get caught on camera, and are therefore hidden from the public. A member from Cop Watch Los Angeles who wishes to remain anonymous states, “We are building a movement, along with other community organizations to stop this brutality and murder - which is nothing more than neo-colonialism - a crime against humanity. We need to defend our communities and ourselves from these racist policies and what we see as an occupying army that is the LAPD who terrorize us and our communities on a daily basis. The police who patrol us do not even live in our communities, so they do not know how to relate to us, and don’t know how to deal with our specific problems that can be handled without the use of brutality and murder. The policing that occurs in no way serves or protects us.” Cop Watch Los Angeles empowers the community to patrol the police, to watch them, and take direct action to build liberated zones. We believe that communities can organize themselves. Through self-determination, we can deal with our own safety and defense through popular assemblies and direct-democratic community councils. We can build our own community defense and look after one another, so we won’t have police brutality. Cop Watch Los Angeles is supporting William Cardenas, who is still facing criminal charges. Action against the cops Pattrick Farell and Alexander Schlege will be taken as well. Williams is scheduled for another court hearing on November 9, 2006 in Department 115 at 8:30 a.m. William is being defended, pro bono, by private attorney B. Kwaku Duren. COPWATCH Los Angeles Office - c/o Chuco’s Justice Center 235 West Martin Luther King Blvd. , L.A. , CA 90037

error

no problem there, just tell the fool to put his hands behind his back.

Is this really the little stuff we are now worrying about? This is the best "abuse" you can find by the LAPD?? Hitting an uncooperative guy that won't be handcuffed three times in the face?

For all you critics invent the "magic wand" that gets people to jail with no force, and no risk of injury to anyone. Til then shut your traps!

Many police agencies have shown to be that they are actually the biggest gang that there is. These guys will get away with anything just like they always do, except every now and then when they throw the public a bone by giving up one of their own to take the attention off their department.

Who's to say that an incident like this couldn't couldn't happen to any citizen. We've all done something wrong in life, whether we are upper, middle or lower class and have gone to school or not. What if any of us were treated in an grusome manner by the police and when we complained about it the police department publically announced all the wrong things we have done in life to justify their reasons for their beligerant act towards us, taxpaying citizens.

Many police officers have climbed into a respectable position in society which discriminate against criminals. I say discriminate in that they go about doing whatever they want, not what is needed nor what is legal, to treat a criminal the way they feel one should be treated. They feel that they see these people everyday and know what the community needs, not what the law always says. This arrogance shown and talked about amongst other officers, family members, or even girlfriends of these officers is in part what drives them away from their proffesionalism taught in the academies.

They are trained to be proffessionals, and many of them truly are, but what happens when some let their adrenalene get in the way. It makes the whole department look bad when it sticks up for these officers commiting street fight acts against a detainee. It shows that these police departments condone physically handling a situation anyway they want and then using the law to back them up. If the department wouldn't tolerate these acts police officers would perform better in that recruits and even veterans would know the consequences for these acts are real and that they are not going to be tolerated. This would cause the community to be and feel a lot safer, which is the whole point these officers are even paid by taxpayers. This would build trust amongst the community and officers more. The police often talk about the unity they have amongst each other. What if they were to build a unity like that with the community? It would be different at first and take time, but all changes are and do..
People understand that police officers are human, but aren't we all, even the criminals? What happened to the days that there was a differance between subduing someone and striking someone. These guys are supposed to be proffessionals who maintain their police bearing. It is bad enough what the criminals do, but how much better are the cops that commit these brutal acts than organized crime figures that give big donations to the community?

They are human and do deal with many bad situations, but does that make it alright to take their uncontrolable anger out on people? It's not right for a parent to take their anger out on their children when they do something wrong is it? Actually it's against the law.

We are all human and we all make wrong choices in life. Whether we are criminals or police officers. The police departments should not be held responsible for officers personal actions in part because of all the proper training they give recruits. But once the police department backs up the police officer using brutal force or committing crimes against people of the community and does not charge and end the career of these curupt officers, it is then their personal responsibility and they should be held responsible as the criminal.

I am 63 years old and British. I have seen the odd case of police brutality here in the UK but in comparison to what I have witnessed not just in this case but also the ' Rodney King ' and others as well and all committed by the LAPD ..... disgusting, thuggish behaviour that should see the officers involved arrested, charged and brought to trial.

I have no doubt we shall see another cover up !!!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4324876.html

AP reports:

LOS ANGELES — The FBI opened an investigation Thursday into video footage of a police officer repeatedly striking a suspect in the face during a struggle on a Hollywood street.

The officer and his partner described repeated blows to the suspect's face in their written arrest report, as well as efforts by the man to resist and their concern that the man might grab one of their guns, according to the document obtained by The Associated Press.

Federal investigators initiated a civil rights inquiry after the video from the three-month-old incident came to the bureau's attention Thursday, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

The footage, shot by an area resident, shows two officers holding down William Cardenas, 24, on a sidewalk as one punches him several times in the face before they are able to handcuff him. The struggling suspect yells repeatedly, "I can't breathe!"

...see link for rest of story...

Reading some of these articles states that officers are allowed to deliver "distraction strikes" when they are having problems handcuffing a suspect.

Yessiree bob, the best way to get someone to relax is to hit them in the head a few times. This will entice them to relax, and realize they are not in control. What kind of malarky7 is that, anyway?

Of COURSE this will make the suspect "resist" even further. He is being beaten!

What kind of idiots run the government anyway? Oh. Never mnd.

Watch the moments up to the beating. Nobody's struggling, not the pigs, not the guy. Cop#1 is looking off to the side, catching his breath. Cop#2 is calling it in, until his pal goes ballistic. Maybe the guy says something. Cop#2 doesn't have his handcuffs out until after the guy's punched four times, so he wasn't resisting the handcuffs. The guy getting beaten doesn't even make an effort to get away or resist --watch his legs.

This isn't law enforcement, this is a flatout, brutal beating, retaliation, gang-style, it's what bullies do when they get you alone in an alley, only bullies are kids, not trained killers. The guy isn't a threat to anyone, the pigs are just pissed 'cause they had to run to catch him. Tough day in pigland, this poor sucker gets it in the face.

Appropriate punishment? Each pig gets pinned down and smashed in the face six times.

What will really happen? At best, they'll lose their jobs and end up as contractors in Iraq at $500/day or as pigs in Maywood.

CopWatch rocks!