May 31, 2013

Watch those "dehumanizing stares," folks

apparently "dehumanizing stares" at police officers is now an offense that will get you taken down, choked, arrested...and charged with assualting a police officer. just when you think you've heard it all, but then again, any excuse will do. staring while black is apparently a crime too.

New cell phone footage shows Miami-Dade Police officers aggressively pinning an unarmed teen to the ground while choking him. His alleged crime: giving the officers “dehumanizing stares” and “clenching his fists.”

Fourteen-year-old Tremaine McMillan says he was feeding his puppy and playing on the beach with some friends when cops riding ATVs approached him and asked what he was doing. The “peacekeeping” officers say they saw McMillan roughhousing with another teenager, told him it was “unacceptable behavior,” and asked where his mother was. When McMillan walked away, they chased him on ATVs, jumped out, pinned him to the ground and arrested him. According to police reports, McMillan “attempted to pull his arm away, stating, ‘Man, don’t touch me like I did something.’” See footage of the incident, captured by McMillan’s mother:

McMillan says he obeyed orders, and was leading the officers towards his mother when they jumped him. The teen adds that he was holding and feeding his puppy at the time, who got injured during the encounter.

http://www.salon.com/2013/05/30/miami_olice_choke_and_tackle_black_teen_for_dehumanizing_stare/