Excessive force by police no new thing

Photo shows pepper-sprayed prisoner: MyFoxTAMPABAY.com

This year Americans have been inundated with photos and videos of police brutality since Occupy Wall Street announced one of its purposes was to expose the increasingly militarized police force. Despite the failures of the movement in many ways it did succeed in its mission to show the abuse of authority that is seemingly rampant in American police forces. Now that people are more aware and demanding information about these unconstitutional actions the media is responding with more incidents from days past that make the infamous "pepper spray cop" look tame. In the above video a local Fox news station out of Tampa, Florida shows a horrendous event where one man is pepper sprayed to death. 62-year-old and native Ohioan Nick Christie's death was ruled a homicide yet to this day there has been no form of disciplinary action at the Florida police station that is clearly guilty of excessive force.

Nick Christie died of heart failure after being stripped naked, gagged, tied up, and pepper sprayed over 10 times by officers, but he is not the only one to die at the hands of police officers using excessive force and coincidentally pepper spray. Earlier this year Jennifer Fox was accosted by police at an Occupy Seattle protest. Fox claims to have been kicked in the stomach, had a bike rammed into her stomach, and pepper sprayed by police as she tried to leave the protest area while yelling "I'm Pregnant! I'm Pregnant!" She later miscarried. There has been no further action due to apparent inconsistencies in her story.  If her allegations are proven to be true then an innocent and young life was ended unnecessarily. The young and the elderly alike have been on the wrong side of a cop with pepper spray finger. 84-year-old Dorli Rainey was pepper sprayed while at a protest as were young students by the infamous "pepper spray cop" that inspired a slew of popular memes.

Years of police abuse have been recorded but they hardly make a blip on the international or national media outlets. Now more people are looking into past events and wondering how they let all of these slip by unprotested. What could these revelations mean to an American already on the edge of a cultural and political civil war? Certainly fear of authority figures does nothing to further trust and peace in a land rife with suspicion of the government and its representatives.

Alleged police brutality in racial incident in Orange County

[caption id="attachment_13658" align="alignleft" width="120"] Police logo against police brutality[/caption]

Be Our Guest --Malik King - On March 9, 2011 several police brutally ordered a K-9 to attack an unarmed, California Registered (RN). The California Highway Patrol (CHP) in Orange County then attempted to cover up the incident.

Malik King, a reportedly Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) since nineteen and RN since twenty three, is said to have initially attempted to steal a car. Later, it was found he was the owner of that Mercedes. What ensued next on the part of several officers goes well beyond the bounds of simply trying to subdue their suspect.

The several police officers ordered a police K-9 to attack him while he was still fastened in his seat-belt; tasered multiple times while the K-9 attacked for over one minute and thirty seconds, then hand cuffed, slammed to the concrete, hog tied, beat and kicked in the head until unconscious. He was then taken to jail, accused of multiple felonies, and had to pay $50,000 for bail.

Despite witnesses and the clear brutality of the beating, kicking, tasering, and ordered K-9 attack, California Highway Patrol allowed several officers to remain active and attempted a cover-up.

Violations of federal law occur when it can be shown that the force used was willfully “unreasonable” or “excessive”. By signing this petition you agree that “unreasonable” or “excessive force” was used on Malik A. King on March 9, 2011 in Orange County, California.

The beating of Mr. King is sickening and disturbing. The police involved in the beating and cover up must be brought to justice. Tell Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas to thoroughly investigate and prosecute the officers involved in the brutality of Malik A. King,LVN,RN.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/196/722/705/

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This is part of our "Be Our Guest" feature in an effort for citizens to expose what they consider incidents and events contrary to humanitarian principles.  These articles are the opinions and ideas of the writers and not necessarily of this publication.