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Can you believe this? This must be what cops do when their bored. Of course, two cops vs a 7 year old, they must have felt pretty threatened.
BALTIMORE - Police arrested a 7-year-old boy, handcuffed him and hauled him down to the station house on a charge of riding a motorized dirt bike on a sidewalk.
Then, according to his mother, Gerard Mungo Jr. was handcuffed to a bench and interrogated before being released to his parents.
"They scared me," Gerard told The Baltimore Examiner before breaking down in tears.
Mayor Sheila Dixon apologized Friday for the arrest, and police commissioner Leonard Hamm said it would be investigated internally.
The arrest came after an officer saw Gerard riding his dirt bike on the sidewalk in east Baltimore on Tuesday, police spokesman Matt Jablow said. Hamm, citing the internal probe, declined to discuss how the rest of the incident unfolded.
Lakisia Dinkins said her son was sitting on the bike with the motor off on the sidewalk when an officer grabbed him by the collar and pulled him off.
"I told them to let go of my baby," Dinkins said. "Since when do you pull a 7-year-old child by his neck and drag him?"
Dinkins said she called for a police supervisor to intervene, but the confrontation continued to escalate after the supervisor arrived.
"They started yelling at him, 'Do you know what you did wrong, son?'" Dinkins said. "He was so scared he ran upstairs."
Police arrested Gerard and confiscated the bike.
Dinkins said officers fingerprinted him and took his mug shot. Hamm could not confirm that and said those actions would not have been normal procedure in a non-felony case.
Dinkins said the arrest scarred her son. "This has changed his life," she said. "He'll never be the same."
The Police Department's zero-tolerance arrest policy — begun under former Mayor Martin O'Malley, who is now Maryland's governor — has drawn complaints that such arrests occur most often in poor, black neighborhoods. Gerard is black.
Hamm said the officer had the option of talking with a parent or confiscating the bike. He said that although the city is concerned about nuisance dirt bikes, the arrest "was not consistent with my philosophy of trying to solve problems in the neighborhoods."
The mayor, who appeared Friday with Hamm, said she also planned to look into the case.
"It is clear to me that the arrest was wrong, that the officers on the scene should not have arrested the child, and on behalf of the City of Baltimore I apologize to the boy and his parents," Dixon said.
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I have become so inured with the malefactions of those sworn to protect os from crime, of which this arrest of a child bearly wearing pants is but an example, that I no longer am angered. The anger has been replaced by shame, because we don't take measures to stop it, and being sickened, because we allow these social misfits to harm us and our society withtheir ego flaunting activities.
I've heard all the crap about most cops being loyal dedicated public servants, but that is a disgusting lie. Most cops know when their brethren are out of line and form a wall of secrecy to protect the trash. They took an oath to uphold the law, but instead, they protect their own. Upholding the law would mean they enforce it even if it is a fellow cop. They don't.
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I may be wrong but I believe it is all about the money. More arrests...leads to higher crime statistics...and more prisons (read, private prisons)and fines, LOTS AND LOTS OF FINES which means the need for more cops...means more money for cities, counties, and states from the feds. More arrests because of more cops...means even more prisons, fines...etc. ad nauseum.
They, meaning the cops, the courts, the municipalities, the lawyers, all collect money in some fashion from the accused and their families. We indeed allowed this to happen and I personnally dont know what to do about it. TMAN...
-------------------- In the end, trust only yourself when trading stocks.
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Always more to the story than the media prints... Not sure if that is the case here, but I've seen a few children younger than 12 running around downtown South Gate California that scared the crap out of me.
Also, a close friend works at a prison facility for the California Youth Authority. One walk through that place, and you will not look at children the same way again. You never know with kids these days...
Woman 'stabbed by neighbour's 7-year-old' (20 times)
I find it interesting that so many jump to conclusions right off the bat, and almost always blame the cop.. especially if the "victim" happens to be a minority.
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example.
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posted
My opinion is not based on race, religion, or creed. My opinion is based on the facts as they were reported. A seven year old child was grabbed by the neck, taken to a police station and treated as a criminal. If the child had a gun I could maybe understand the cops being afraid for their safety but I dont see that in the article. I know if that I had grabbed my own child by the neck and dragged him anywhere I would be facing charges of assault and endangerment to a child if I were seen doing that. OHHHHHH!!!! These were cops. They can do that stuff. NOT!!!
I do see the mayor jumping in on this and not sounding to happy. Maybe for political reasons or maybe because she is a Mom and doesnt like what she sees.
As far as the articles you posted regarding young children acting in unison in a gang situation or for using weapons to hurt someone, is really like placing apples and oranges side by side and saying lets do a comparison.
Things that make you go hmmmmm. TMAN...
-------------------- In the end, trust only yourself when trading stocks.
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Shoot...I wish I had a dime (inflation, doncha know...) for every time I was grabbed up by the neck or kicked swiftly in the back pockets...
lol, at 12 to 15, I was much scarier to society than I am now In fact, I distinctly remember my Daddy saying: "I have one responsibility to protect *you* from the world. I have another responsibility to protect the world from *you.* lol...talk about balance, he had it.
As teens, we beat the hell outta alot of older guys. That being said...they asked for it.
What we did NOT do was home invasion...rape...sell dope to kids...molest kids... well, you get the idea: the list is too long for things we did not do.
Basically, we were unattended and drifted into mischief. Bottle rockets, squealing tires, back-yard romances. Had we imagined a day when you could have a tree-house AND a cell-phone, we might have decided that civilization was headed for its pinnacle...
Little could we imagine things would get so mean...
-------------------- Nashoba Holba Chepulechi Adventures in microcapitalism...
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quote:Originally posted by tmanfromtexas: My opinion is not based on race, religion, or creed. My opinion is based on the facts as they were reported. A seven year old child was grabbed by the neck, taken to a police station and treated as a criminal. If the child had a gun I could maybe understand the cops being afraid for their safety but I don't see that in the article. I know if that I had grabbed my own child by the neck and dragged him anywhere I would be facing charges of assault and endangerment to a child if I were seen doing that. OHHHHHH!!!! These were cops. They can do that stuff. NOT!!!
I do see the mayor jumping in on this and not sounding to happy. Maybe for political reasons or maybe because she is a Mom and doesn't like what she sees.
As far as the articles you posted regarding young children acting in unison in a gang situation or for using weapons to hurt someone, is really like placing apples and oranges side by side and saying lets do a comparison.
Things that make you go hmmmmm. TMAN...
TMAN,
Did you notice that every side of the story, except that of the police officer was told?
There was no mention of the child's behaviour or actions from the police officers point of view. You do not know if the child had his hands in his pockets and refused to make them shown. You do not know if the child moved in a manner that made it appear he was attempting to get on the bike or run in order to flee the scene... The child did not have a gun, but hindsight is always 20/20 and you cannot expect the police officer to jeapordize his safety by assuming the child did not.
Anyone who knows a cop, or has been a cop, or even watched the TV show "COPS" should know the kind of crap police officers have to deal with day in and day out. In this day and age, it doesn't really matter if the "suspect" is 7 years old.
I suppose I could agree that children behave differently when in a group, but in the first article I posted, the child was acting alone and is a perfect example of the kinds of things today's youth are capable of. Police officers have to approach every situation with caution and suspicion.
Again, the whole story is not told here, and perhaps the police officer stepped out of line and acted in an inappropriate way, but that remains to be seen. If that is the case, he deserves to be punished.
What bothers me is that people are always so quick to blame the police, crying about corruption and power abuse, even thought it is obvious they haven't heard the whole story. IMO, most of the time this happens because those people have an axe to grind.
Perhaps this is not the case with you, but I wonder how you can conclude that the officers are 100% to blame when you have only heard 1/2 of the story, as told by media.
quote:The arrest came after an officer saw Gerard riding his dirt bike on the sidewalk in east Baltimore on Tuesday, police spokesman Matt Jablow said. Hamm, citing the internal probe, declined to discuss how the rest of the incident unfolded.
Things that make you go Hmmmmmm....
-------------------- One is never completely useless. One can always serve as a bad example.
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NR, I have read your post in this thread in detail.
When you state, "I find it interesting that so many jump to conclusions right off the bat..." I think you are forgetting to include yourself in that possibly errant category."
I have noted that whenever such a question appears here, without question and right off the bat and without any actual evidence, you choose to declare the cops, or the DA, or whatever person or group is officially involved, to be not only well within his rights, but also state that it is clear that individual not coordinated with them in the incident is clearly and obviously a career criminal at best.
Thereafter, if evidence is produced to indicate that the offiicial or officials involved were indeed at fault, you attack the messanger and what you claim to be "obvious bias" and insist the evidence be disgraced and discounted.
In this case, there is no evidence from the police reports or the cops that there was any reason to assume this child was anything but a normal 7 year old boy and there was no reason reason stated that he was dangerous to anyone.
So, why do you insert gratuitous assumptions of evil intenton the child's part?
"You do not know if the child had his hands in his pockets and refused to make them shown. You do not know if the child moved in a manner that made it appear he was attempting to get on the bike or run in order to flee the scene... The child did not have a gun, but hindsight is always 20/20 and you cannot expect the police officer to jeapordize his safety by assuming the child did not."
Why is it wrong, on the one hand, to make purely made up assumptions about imagined insinuating actions of the child and, yet, according to you, it is not appropriate to assume that a whole group of full grown men, supposedly fully matured mentally, who resorted to physical violence to subdue a single 7 year old boy may have been out of line?
Too, why is it appropriate to question the reasonableness of a rational person that can clearly understand that, when a whole group of full grown men that chose to resort to violence to twart a (claimed) "possible" misdemeanor traffic violatioon by a sub-teen child, resorts to the sort of treatement of that child that is best reserved for dangerous felons in immediate commission of a dangerous criminal act, when that rational person suggest that something is amiss.
You proport Tman is being biased and one sided. He clearly stated that if there was some, outside of this artical and unreported therein, facts showing a significan danger to the cops existed in the boy or his actions, he could see tha cops might have needed unusual methods. But you dismiss that so much as to act as if he had not stated it, implying that he did not and chastising him for that omission.
Then, you infer him wrong for a thing he never did, while mistateing the facts:
" I wonder how you can conclude that the officers are 100% to blame when you have only heard 1/2 of the story, as told by media.
He never assumed, claimed, or stated, that the officers were 100% wrong and you are ignoring facts when you assert that the side of the story he has heard is only "1/2 of the story, as told by media" (as if the media had a preferred side). The media reported both sides of the story, that from the cops and the police reports and that from the mother and the eye witnesses. Your bias is showing, NR.
"Things that make you go Hmmmmmm.."????
You mean that eye witnesses contradict the story told by the cops when the cops said he was riding the bike down the street? While no eye witnesses confirm the cops' version? And all eye witnesses contradict the cop's story? Are you claiming that eye witnesses that say he was only sitting on the stationary bike on the sidewalk when attacked by cops is false on its face? Why? Do you have more reliable sources or information that proves the eye witnesses were lying or wrong? I didn't think so.
And the cops refuse to be interviewed, I see.
But, now, I return to my biggest question:
Isn't the normal, standard, and appropriate response to a traffic violation a traffic ticket?
NR, I find it interesting that you jump to conclusions right off the bat.
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NR, When I was younger, much younger, I had the opportunity to be questioned by the cops, in my case Harris County Deputies and Texas State Troopers, when on the rare occassion I was in the "wrong place at the wrong time". Even though I was a teen, I was treated with respect and treated as innocent and due to their professionalism I was on my way in short order. Later as an adult I was able to assist some of these same officers while I was a firefighter. I saw the good the bad and the ugly while working in east Harris County, but my memory serves me well in remembering even when the shtf, these men and women did what was right in protecting the public and for that I applaud them.
HOWEVER, imo over a period of years the police are now way more agressive, I see them searching vehicles regularly, during the day and evening, I see them harrassing motorists for no other reason then to see if they can make some points and score a big bust for their resume, I see clips how they will use force and in some instances excessive force, when from the video and the audio it wasnt needed, Ive read articles and seen news stories from my area of Texas where the cops will seize persons property while driving because they are from a known drug area, that area being Houston, (of course they gave it back after the FBI became involved). I have listened to my own children tell me of how their car was searched by cops, because they had a break light out. So, in closing my opinion is simply we are all guilty in the eyes of law enforcement until we can prove innocence. It used to be the other way around. TMAN...
-------------------- In the end, trust only yourself when trading stocks.
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In fact, I distinctly remember my Daddy saying: "I have one responsibility to protect *you* from the world. I have another responsibility to protect the world from *you.* lol...talk about balance, he had it.
