Police brutality after a chuch service

[RosyDaisy]

http://www.waff.com/story/23807884/video-incident-outside-church-surfaces-online?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=buffer1d906&utm_medium=facebook

This link was sent to my SO and I today. I'm not breaking the link because it's a news channel site. It's a case of police brutality happening outside First Baptist Church in Huntsville, AL. Apparently the guy being arrested, his brother, and a few others came into the church halfway through Sunday morning service. Hell, one of them was even asked to come in and join the service. Anyway, hey took out their cells phones and began taking pictures and recording video and talking during the service. According to the church, at no time did anyone ask them to leave. But, once the service was over the Huntsville police (who by the way are ALWAYS there during services supposedly to control traffic) were alerted to the presence these "guests"

Some people believe this is was a stunt meant to call out Huntsville police for acts of brutality committed when they arrest people. That is plausible, because Huntsville police doesn't have a good reputation in many parts of the city. This is a known fact that many citizens in the area have witnessed and can attest to...even the law-abiding never been in trouble type. My beef is with the whole arrest itself. As I said they were not asked to leave, and one was even asked to join. Also, FBC Huntsville is a more mainstream (mega) church, probably close to fundie-lite on the fundie scale depending on how you define fundie and fundie-lite.

There is no footage of what happened inside the church or the actions by the police before the video starts that I have found. The man who shot the video was the brother of the man being arrested. So, why didn't he post all of the footage he had? Apparently his cell phone or camera wasn't confiscated, as the video was posted to YouTube within 30 minutes of the arrest. If this was indeed a stunt as I pointed out above, why a church of all places? :think: Also, my senses are telling me this may have been racially motivated, since the church is predominately white.

The church's website is fbchsv.org. And, another news source can be found here: http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/10/huntsville_police_say_someone.html. I'm not breaking the link because it's a news site.

[Joan of Snarc]

Ah, First Baptist. Best be careful or the FSM will smite you!

[coexist]

Wow, I kinda figured my first post would be Duggar-related, but I had to chime in when someone on FJ posts a LOCAL story that I heard nothing about until logging in here! Craaazy. I even searched the website of the only local station I like but didn't find the story. (Found it eventually at one of the others.)

I watched all of the YouTube clips of the arrest and to be honest, I think it's clear the men were hoping to start SOMETHING- not quite sure if it was racially motivated or simply to draw attention to Huntsville's police brutality in general. (A white woman was, um, unnecessarily "arrested with force" a couple of years ago, so it's not always a black or Latino thing.) Clearly they were up to something, because who marches down the center aisle 40min late, sits in the first pew, and proceeds to talk loudly and take pictures/video for an "independent film"? Riiight.

Random side note: my SO's brother has a friend who graduated from the police academy this past March (after failing the psychological exam TWICE). He specifically requested to work the precinct in a particular part of town, in the hopes of being able to rough up blacks for fun. Yeah.

Good ol' Bama, where my interracial relationship was still illegal 14 years ago.

(Back into the shadows I go!)

Oh, here's a broken link to the story I referenced earlier: youtube.com/watch?v=tCCyy8ZJxa0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[RosyDaisy]

Personally, I think it was a stunt, and it will probably backfire because they chose a church. I also think the level of force used was racially motivated. Granted the guy didn't get the shit beat of him like Rodney King, but the force used was excessive. If the arrest wasn't being recorded, I have a feeling the guy being arrested would have gotten worse.

[coexist]

There's an African American octogenarian here who filed a hefty lawsuit a few years ago for the injuries he sustained during a traffic stop. Mr. Frazier WAS driving without a license and under the influence, so he definitely needed to be pulled over but not yanked out of the car and beaten! Pic below.

There are enough actual stories here without those guys needing to create one. Jackasses. I'm not even sure I'd call what was on those videos "brutality"... Excessive force sure, but had there been actual brutality those cell phones would've been confiscated. Instead the cops allowed the filming to continue, even chatting up the third guy and waving into the camera.

Edit-- I meant to say that if they were trying to bring attention to racially motivated brutality (or frankly, HPD brutality in general) there are enough cases to draw from instead of pulling that kind of stunt.

[RosyDaisy]

I remember the Frazier case. That was awful. Here's the thing though, there are a lot of people in Huntsville who sing the praises of the HPD. If somebody is arrested for a crime and HPD beats the shit out of them, a lot of people will say they got what they deserved. That attitude has got to change. Not just in Huntsville, AL, but everywhere.

[coexist]

Completely agree!