This time they got a Ranger, Kayvan Sabeghi.
Now, the spin the officials are going to put on it is "he was violent and resisting arrest and thus had to be subdued by force." At which point I ask: Where are the bodies?
Uhm, bodies, you ask? Yes, bodies. If a U.S. Army Ranger is violent, people die. That's sorta the whole point of being a U.S. Army Ranger. And lest you say, "but he was unarmed and the policemen were armed!", dude. That doesn't matter. Not at all. If you're close enough to a Ranger to put your billy club on him, if he wants you dead, you are *DEAD*. Period.
Those cops are damned lucky that Sabeghi was *not* violent, or there would be a *lot* of funerals today. One of them undoubtedly Sabeghi's, but probably five or six cops woulda ended up dead too before they got him down. So keep that in mind as the officials spin and spin and spin. Rangers are hardcases. If a Ranger decides on a course of violence, there *will* be bodies. There are no bodies here. Draw your own conclusion.
-- Badtux the Military Penguin
Update: Aside from being a former U.S. Army Ranger, Kayvan is a small businessman who co-owns a popular brew pub and was walking towards his home when he was accosted by the police. So we ain't exactly talkin' about no dirty fuckin' hippy here, we're talkin' about the Oakland PD did the beat-down not only on a war hero, but on a genu-wine JOB CREATOR. Yay Oakland. If you was tryin' to solidify your claim as the hellhole of California, u're doin' it rite.
I was born there but I am DAMN glad I don't live there.
ReplyDeleteOakland has been fucked up for a long time and has only gotten worse.
He wasn't part of Occupy Oakland, he wasn't violent. He was walking home and he was alone. He must be black. What else could provoke that kind of response from a group of brave police officers?
ReplyDeleteI've decided that I don't give a crap who kills who, to many monkeys on this rock anyway.
ReplyDeleteWorse, Montag. He's an Arab-American. And yes, he *was* part of the Occupy Oakland events that day as a IVAW member (Iraq Veterans Against War), who were placed in the front lines of the march from downtown to the port, but he was going home and not participating in any OO event at the time the cops accosted him.
ReplyDeleteAnd like I said, those cops should be counting their blessings that Kayvan chose to be non-violent...
Busted, Oakland sure is going out of their way to look bad, eh? Oakland actually isn't as bad as it used to be... but the OPD has been under court supervision for the past ten years for a repeated pattern of police brutality, and this likely ain't gonna please the judge in that case much. Just sayin'.
- Badtux the Justice Penguin
Oops. Iranian-American. And clearly *NOT* a Muslim, since he co-owns a brew pub :).
ReplyDelete- Badtux the Self-correcting Penguin
There's new fotage out of Oakland's "finest" apparently firing a "non lethal" round at a a guy filming them. Sounds like it's a force that does not need reform but an Augean Stables-style cleaning
ReplyDeleteThe guy filming them was yelling insults at them in the hour before they shot him, but still. Cops are supposed to be professionals. Shooting a guy 'cause you don't like what he's yelling at you is about as professional as, well, spitting in the coffee you're serving a buncha inbred redneck white trash cretins. Just sayin'. Not to mention being a violation of the dude's Constitutional right to due process, since cops under the Constitution do *not* get the right to serve as judge, jury, and (potentially) executioner, they're supposed to arrest folks and hand'em over to the courts for that.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, if Oakland is trying to prove that they're the hellhole of the West Coast, they're doin' it right. The Chamber of Commerce is right to be concerned that these protests are giving Oakland a black eye. Unfortunately the Chamber's preferred solution -- just arrest everybody and keep'em in a football field for a few weeks so they can't protest -- wouldn't exactly make Oakland look like a shining exemplar by the sea either.
- Badtux the Constitutional Penguin