The latest police beating to hit major headlines occured just a couple weeks ago in Troy, NY. Late on a Saturday night witnesses are saying police may have used overly excessive force when dealing with a "disorderly" suspect.
The altercation started after Troy policy noticed Luis M. Lluberes, a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, involved in a fight with several other men and atempted to break it up. According to the police Lluberes pushed one of the officers resulting in the scuffle and his arrest for disorderly conduct, harassment, and resisting arrest. The real news worthy portion of the story, in my opinion, comes next though. Video of the beating has made it's way to the internet via YouTube (link below) posting by another student at RPI, Nicholas Nigro. While filming the altercation one of the police officers on the scene approached Mr. Nigro and shut the door to prevent further recording. He was filming the scene from his own home.
Nigro was later ticketed and arrested for disorderly conduct and posession of an open container. Police Chief John Todesco later explained the "disorderly conduct" charge was for failure to disperse after an officer ordered him to say, "Get in your House." Lets all remember here Nigro was in his home filming, not on the street contributing to the disturbance. It was at this point the office issued his command and shut the door on Nigro to prevent him from capturing the beating on camera.
It would seem to me that this had less to do with Nigro adding to the severity of the scene, but the officer not wanting their actions recorded. The police chief also never goes into the issue of how the police officer had the right or authority to order him into his home when it is obvious from the YouTube clip that his is well away from where the action is taking place. Unfortunately, this seems to be becoming more and more common, with some states enacting privacy laws to make it where all parties being filmed in this type of situation must give consent to be filmed...
Doesn't sound so bad until you stop to think. Let's say just for arguement that Lluberes did nothing to provoke the officers to strike him repeatedly, and to be clear I am not saying that, this is just for arguement. If Lluberes did indeed do nothing to provoke the attack, but all the same the officers beat him and no one is allowed to record the incident to make sure the officer are held accountable for their action; cause after all, under a law as described above, what person would consent to proof they were acting outside the bounds of their authority? How can illegal actions of the police be proven? Let's face the facts, in court a jury is much more likely to believe the testimony of a cop (lying or not) over that of a college student.
It is vital that we, as responsible American citizens do not allow the passing of laws that strip away our right to obtain evidence to aid in our defense or the defense of another against corruption and misuse of power as is (at least to an arguable amount) taking place here. We can no longer afford to stand by because "it doesn't affect me" or what happens when it does?
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