I Love This Woman -- She Is An Example We All Should Follow
She identified herself as Sara Bostonia to the cops -- one of whom threatened to arrest her for being "loud and boisterous" as she videotaped the police brutalizing a man.
Dominic Kelly writes at Opposing Views (where there are photos of the man's injuries):
Police in West Virginia arrested a man who was walking his children to the park because they thought he appeared intoxicated, but unbeknownst to them, he was reportedly merely showing symptoms of his terminal illness.Reports say that 39-year-old Jeffrey Banes was allegedly approached and brutally arrested while walking his kids to the park because the officers thought he was under the influence of a substance. Banes, however, suffers from Huntington's Disease, which characteristically makes a person look intoxicated due to lost motor function over time.
The incident, which took place on September 6, was caught on camera, and while officers pinned him down after using pepper spray on him, Banes choked on his own blood and cried for help. Banes was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, obstructing an officer, and battery on an officer.
"Assuming because of his appearance he was high on narcotics with out reason they began to subdue him, macing and beating him in the head as he fell to his face were he was -- then held with a great amount of force by two officers double his size as a third one landed on his torso," said Banes' nephew Josh to The Free Thought Project.
"officers arrived at the scene because they were told that Banes was roughly handling his children and that he was under the influence of drugs"
Virginia appears to be one of those lovely states where being visibly intoxicated is illegal, even if you are not bothering anyone. Evidence of intoxication: impaired speech or impaired movement. Just exactly how is an intoxicated person supposed to get home - say, from a bar - without ever going through a public space? Damned puritan laws...
The guy is out shopping with two very small kids. Cops come up and tell him they're going to arrest him for public intoxication. Most likely the guy told the cops they were idiots - fair enough, seeing as they were, in fact, idiots.
So they took him down for the well-known crime "contempt of cop".
a_random_guy at September 15, 2014 12:33 AM
a_random_guy,
I think it says West Virginia, not Virginia.
Shannon Howell at September 15, 2014 7:01 AM
Interesting. The Granville, WV police dept. website is offline this morning.
Canvasback at September 15, 2014 7:20 AM
This is what lawyers are for. It's good to read that Banes' nephew Josh is talking to The Free Thought Project. I hope the family gets professional advice on how to unleash the power of the advocacy groups. For the police chief's office and for the chief's political masters, there's no pain like the pain of publicity.
Lastango at September 15, 2014 11:00 AM
Seems like cops all over the country are trying desperately to outdo each other in demonstrating that they are strutting idiots and fools. Citizens with video cameras are making it so much easier for them to do so.
Ken R at September 15, 2014 12:24 PM
> Citizens with video cameras are
> making it so much easier for them
> to do so.
That is a really, really important point.
Let me say that again, so that you don't have to.
> Citizens with video cameras are
> making it so much easier for them
> to do so.
Amy's blog posts can be sorted 3 ways.
They can be sorted a hunnert ways if you want, but work with me.... I'm being rhetorical, and there's a freaking heat wave happening in SoCal, with record-setting pressure on the grid, and we might lose electricity at any moment. (While my towels are in the dryer.) (Kidding!) Three ways.
First are the descriptions of indisputable failure by authorities and by everyday personages around the world... Tales of venality and cowardice and stupidity about which we can only express amazement, with no improvement to come from our anecdotes and personal expertise.
Second are the incidents where talking about the events or trends can improve our response, or at least sharpen our understanding.
Third is the Drudge/tabloid category, where there's not really anything interesting to think about or helpful to say or useful to learn.
This one might be category three.
I'd bet that over the last 50 years, in most every county of every state, there's been a power-mad, son-of-an-alcoholic cop, a violent asshole who tormented ill people and left them with no recourse.
Nowadays, it's possible that everyone reading these words is carrying a high-resolution video camera in his pocket. So we're seeing these things, because we can prove that these atrocities aren't just lies from troublemakers.
Consider the Ray Rice story: We already knew that he'd punched his wife to unconsciousness in an elevator. But now that the public has video to stoke outrage, the scandal is ten times as large.
(I still haven't seen it. I don't want to. I knew this was a horrible thing as it was described verbally.)
It's yerown beeswax. You can be as pissed as you want about whatever you want. Yes, the provision of military equipment to mundane constabularies is a new and reprehensible pattern.
But "bad cops" per se? If you call it a trend, I'm going to want more evidence than video before I believe you. Video is new in all contexts.
(Did you see that one clip of the hot actress fucking her brains out with that one guy? Wasn't that remarkable? Yes, that was really something... Y'know, gorgeous young theater people never used to do that kind of thing.)
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at September 15, 2014 4:40 PM
A random guy - "contempt of cop."
Yup, that sounds about right.
Charles at September 15, 2014 5:09 PM
"I'm not drunk I have Huntington's disease!"
What is the appropriate police response to this statement? I am assuming that he said it at least once.
Assholio at September 15, 2014 7:59 PM
You KNOW he said it more then once. I would have, wouldn't you?
Assholio at September 15, 2014 8:09 PM
Leave a comment