Cop Says (Code Pink) Protester Grabbed His Baton (Dem Convention Incident)

[Hissyspit]

Source: Denver Post

Cop says protester grabbed his baton
The Code Pink woman seen shoved on video claims the police officer was at fault.
By Christopher N. Osher
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 09/02/2008 11:03:36 PM MDT

A police report states that the Code Pink war protester shoved to the ground by a police officer during the Democratic National Convention grabbed the officer's riot baton first in a scene not part of the now-famous video. But Alicia Forrest, 24, says that the officer was the aggressor and that she never "pushed and pulled" Officer Scott Stewart's baton as he claimed in his report. She is one of the 154 people arrested during last week's convention here, 28 of whom pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning.

Forrest's case is still being investigated by the Denver Police Department's internal affairs department and reviewed by independent monitor Richard Rosenthal, who oversees allegations of police misconduct. The video of the altercation, shot by a Rocky Mountain News photographer, became an instant YouTube hit. Forrest is seen on the video, which does not capture the entire interaction, shouting at the officer, who responds by knocking her to the ground, saying, "Back it up, b----."

His police report makes no comment on the knockdown but states he "disengaged" from her while forming an arrest team for crowd control. Forrest, who is back in Los Angeles, said she plans to take her charge of interference to trial. A court date is scheduled for Sept. 19. She said the incident occurred while she was taking photographs of the arrest of Carlo Garcia, a leader of Recreate 68, another protest group. She said the officer kept prodding her with his baton as she backed up while taking photos. She said she then raised her hands and told the officer to stop. She said the officer then pushed hard with the baton. She challenged him to do it again, and he shoved her hard across the chest, knocking her to the ground, the video shows.

- snip -

Sonny Jackson, a spokesman for the Police Department, said Tuesday that during the convention, officers confiscated bricks, sticks and rocks. The seizures might have prevented protests from turning violent, he said, declining to specify where the items had been found. "We found something of everything," he said. "Some of the stuff was disgusting, but I'm not going to get into specifics." Denver City Attorney David Fine said in a prepared statement that the 154 arrests logged in Denver compared pretty favorably with the 1,800 arrests in New York City during the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10365460

[Az]

1. Here's the video... decide for yourselves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfISlq1gzK8

[Az]

2. Uncut version of the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzrBYF99QKI&watch_response

[DRoseDARs]

5. Unfortunately, even that video doesn't show what precipitated the officer to attack.

Surely someone out there has another view of the incident from an angle placing these two (the officer and the woman) between the camera and the police golf cart the black gentleman was being loaded onto. This video we have has the two off-camera to the right, right up until a second or so before the officer strikes the woman. It only shows he may have used excessive force (you're in court, "may have used" is what you're going to hear, deal with it), not whether it was an unprovoked attack or if he had cause.

[Zuiderelle]

10. That's horrifying! Especially the bit with her being swept away at the end.

WTF? That's really horrifying. First, it was VERY clear that that was undue force with which that officer pushed her to the ground. Fuck... using his baton like a gladiator or something. Then she's innocently about to speak to this guy on camera, and like a horror movie, in swoops the giant man-eating hawk, er, the policeman, to whisk her away and back into a circle of cops, I ask again, WTF?

On what possible grounds do they grab her and drag her hostilely by her arm after having thrown her to the ground and possibly having hurt her already, risking hurting her more? And knowing they are being taped? WTF?

[dipsydoodle]

3. Grabbed his baton

was that a euphemism ? His balls might have been more appropriate.

[Nambe]

4. A few bad police and a few bad protesters, march on.

Protests are almost always a good way to spend a day in the US. It is not so true in Mexico.

[natrat]

7. yes but as the constitution dies so does protest

[Bob Dobbs]

6. The poiceman is a liar.

The eye witnesses I spoke to refute that claim.

[slampoet]

8. Why was the Baton OUT THERE TO GRAB?

[rasputin1952]

9. At the end of the video, there is another individual knocked down as well...

From what I could see, there was no cause for any action, there was no violence, not was there an apparent threat to either the officers or the peace in the area.

The man being arrested was compliant, the protestors were well within the confines of Constitutionally protected speech.

[CRF450]

11. self delete

[CRF450]

12. I heard "fucking do it again" assuming the woman shouted that out.

And then BAM, he just knocks her onto the ground yelling "back up!!". Maybe she provoked the officer to do so? Still, its totally uncalled for.

[Rebellious Republican]

13. It looks like she reached out with her right hand and placed it on

where he was holding onto the baton with his left. She did not appear to "grab" so to speak. The response by the officer was definitely uncalled for and excessive.

[booley]

14. The truly sad part is

there's lot of reason to suspect that the police officer is lying even without the video.

The police have done lied and abused their power too many times. The idea that they would lie and act criminally is not unthinkable nowadays (if it ever was)

[countryjake]

15. It's always been that way.

sad but true.

[DiverDave]

16. "Found" sticks and rocks?

I call bullshit on that, just another liar covering for thug cops.
Oh, and "disgusting stuff?", a BIG bs on that.