Former Tennis star tackled by NYPD without provocation.

[welshdean]

It appears that Blake is using his celebrity intelligently. He basically said the hilited part in an interview. He's making noises of a suit, but he said he'd rather see any money go to police re-education/training on community service issues.

And, yes... "Officer Krupke" was an allusion to West Side Story. I generally insert "generic cop name X" rather than checking on the actual name if it's not significant. X can equal Officer Krupke, Clyde Crashcop, Tootie and Muldoon, etc... (If I could remember Shatner's beat cop name, I'd probably use that. We loves us some Shatner on these forums.)

Wasn't he T.J. Hooker?

 

[quadraginta]

<snip>

And, yes... "Officer Krupke" was an allusion to West Side Story. I generally insert "generic cop name X" rather than checking on the actual name if it's not significant. X can equal Officer Krupke, Clyde Crashcop, Tootie and Muldoon, etc... (If I could remember Shatner's beat cop name, I'd probably use that. We loves us some Shatner on these forums.)

Not to mention Officer Obie, who has the distinction of being a real life person, and to his credit, one who actually can take a joke.

He played himself in the 1969 movie of the same name,[1] telling Newsweek magazine (September 29, 1969, where his photo appears) that making himself look like a fool was preferable to having somebody else make him look like a fool.

I suspect that some of these references may date us. Probably as late as the 1980s a reference to Officer Krupke would have been instantly recognizable to most people.

Now? Not so much.

 

[newyorkguy]

The problem with disciplining New York City police officers is that there is a legal process that has to be followed. The officer involved has rights. The officer has a presumption of innocence. Usually what happens is, the officer denies the allegations (as Frascatore has done) and is supported in his version by the other officers who were present. In the Blake incident that wasn't going to work; there was video that clearly showed the officer failed to follow mandated procedures (he never identified himself) and used excessive force; in the other cases there probably wasn't any conclusive evidence.

The police department hearing officer can't just reject the statements of police and accept the account given by citizens. His finding has to be based on tangible evidence. Often there isn't any. Just conflicting statements.

 

[ponderingturtle]

The problem with disciplining New York City police officers is that there is a legal process that has to be followed. The officer involved has rights. The officer has a presumption of innocence. Usually what happens is, the officer denies the allegations (as Frascatore has done) and is supported in his version by the other officers who were present

And that is how we know they are stand up guys and not rats. I wonder if they will get any punishment?

 

[Mumbles]

And if he had gotten shot out of hand for doing that our local cop groupies would have said exactly the same thing.

Half of them don't even require a cop to celebrate it, just a black person being killed (se: Zimmerman, George). They aren't my concern here.

The issue here is the idea that people, regardless of circumstances, should automatically recognize police and comply instantly in the same way that a fully informed person would after careful deliberation. This is how we end up with situations that only serve to increase danger for everyone involved - not merely ones where police rush up and start attacking people, and then arrest them for "resisting arrest", but also situations such as when Baltimore responded to an internet rumor of high school kids planning to rampage through a mall, by forcing high-school kids to get off of busses at that mall. Or, no-knock nighttime raids for minor offenses or warrants. Or issuing speeding tickets by having a cop *walk out into the highway to flag down drivers*. Whether it's bad individual judgement, or bad policies from higher-ups, the end result is to put everyone in more danger rather than less.

(and that Benevolence Society in NYC isn't helping matters by throwing tantrums and making absurd statements, either.)