It's not just young men that have to worry.....

[gimmethesimplelife]

There's a story on yahoo.com news right now with video. Apparently in California an eight months pregnant African American woman was wrestled to the ground by police after a verbal dispute with another woman. The suspect, whose charges were later completely dropped, kept begging to be treated humanely as she was so obvious pregnant. Which of course was ignored by the cops involved.

Scary stuff. This scares me even more then the store umpteen stories of young men whose lives have been put in danger once detained by police. Here we have police cold bloodedly and blatantly disregarding how their actions may injure and who knows - disable(?) - an unborn life. I'm glad it was captured on smartphone video and the ACLU is involved so there will be publicity and of course the video has made it's way around the rest of the world so that the world learns more each day what America is truly about. So some good has taken place here - but did this have to happen to begin with? How does one live with and forgive America for such? Can this possibly even be changed or is this baked into life in America now? Rob

[bae]

1 - it'd be helpful if you provided a link to these stories that concern you
2 - upon finding the story, it seems you have several of your "facts" wrong
3 - the story/situation seems a bit more nuanced than you have related

[CathyA]

From the clip I saw on the news, the officer kept asking her for her name and she wouldn't give her last name. He put his arm on her's and she kept yelling "Don't touch me, Don't touch me!" and kept pulling away. Why couldn't she just have answered his question? The clip didn't show him "wrestling her to the ground" though. Just answer the police's damn question for pete's sake.

[Reyes]

What was the initial call about? Someone called the police I imagine. Do you know what the dispute with the other woman was about? Was it a physical altercation? Or words flying?

[jp1]

From the article I found on this:
https://news.vice.com/article/video-shows-california-police-tackling-pregnant-woman-to-the-ground-during-arrest

"After determining that a crime had not been committed, the cops spoke to the accused, Charlena Michelle Cooks. Cooks refused to provide her name to the officers, which resulted in her arrest."

"According to the ACLU, state law allows individuals to decline to identify themselves without facing arrest"

If the article is accurate then I guess she didn't give her name because she knows the state law better than the police officers. The thing that's not clear to me is why the cops were speaking to her AFTER they'd determined that a crime had not been committed.

[Packy]

I'm like I imagine those ghetto beat cops to be--pretty jaded. But I'm Jaded by "news" stories that omit important supporting facts, in order to create a really tellable "man-bites-dog" story. Because Crazy Stuff, told skillfully, generates maximum controversy & garners Boob--Toob viewership. It also instigates bankably newsworthy civil dee-sturbances in th' 'hood. See? After seeing the video, I don't wonder what else the Getto Mama was up to, just prior to her arrest--- that she apparently caused by giving a citizen and then two cops way too much guff. See--when she tried being cagey--showing SHE knew the law--playing the race card--then went into an emotional outburst & resisted being detained--it makes me less than sympathetic. The cops did not abuse her--she was acting academy-award-winning crazy, and needed to be restrained. It would be all their fault, if they had let her go, and she caused more problems. I'll bet she has been seeing dollar signs, ever since the incident.

[jp1]

Damn. If those ghetto beat cops cant't handle the stress in a city of only 22,000 people they really need to find a different line of work. NYC cops stop and frisk more people than that for no reason every freakin' day.

[Reyes]

Looks like this happened back in January. Wonder why it is just now hitting the news?

Had me curious as to the laws in Oregon. Per ACLU of Oregon:

It is not illegal in Oregon to refuse to identify yourself, but police may detain you until they establish your identity.

[Teacher Terry]

She was within her rights & knew the law. I would have given my name but i am a wuss. There was no reason to do what they did.

[gimmethesimplelife]

She was within her rights & knew the law. I would have given my name but i am a wuss. There was no reason to do what they did.Exactly. Thank You. Rob

[Reyes]

I think she was calling someone to see if she had to give her last name. This happened in January. I wonder why it is just now hitting the news?

[iris lilies]

People who don't want to give their names in these parts usually have outstanding warrants.

[gimmethesimplelife]

People who don't want to give their names in these parts usually have outstanding warrants.IL. funny that we are both in developing - is that a nice way to put it? neighborhoods but the neighborhoods are so different. I'll take your word for it that folks who don't want to give their name tend to have warrants out your way - here that is not the case all the time by any means. Refusal to reveal identity here has to do with fear of the police here for many - and if you are going to say why are you afraid of the police if you haven't done anything they can get you for - it just does not work that way here, IL. The police have set themselves up as something to be avoided at all costs but if they do swoop down on you, video for a higher chance of retaining basic human rights. It truly is that confrontational and horrible here. Be glad it's not like that out your way - I'm betting you would not be happy with things if they were like they are here.

Anyway, I think we both provide interesting perspectives on police behavior in developing neighborhoods, even if our experiences are pretty much 180 from each other. Rob

[iris lilies]

I don't want to give the wrong impression about my neighborhood. It is trendy and real estate prices are high. New houses (made to look old) are being built across the street from me in the $500,000 to $700,000 range.

But when we moved here 25 years ago our block had boarded up houses, a women's shelter where regular unsavory things took place, and high rise public housing projects a few blocks away. It's taken 25 years to our section to improve, but improve it has, and working hand in hand with the police department to keep residents safe has been key. Real estate professionals always say that "safety" is the #1 concern of people looking to buy into my area. My pocket is surrounded by sketchy places and remnant of public housing which generates much of the crime here.

The place where my flower garden sits is in a sketchy neighborhood where a fair number of people who live immediately around me would steal anything from me if they got the chance. A few weeks ago there was a drug raid at a house up the street where multiple generations live. People were hauled off to jail. Then the house was condemned to get the rest of the leeches out. This came about because my immediate neighbor rattled cages at city Hall to get police and "neighborhood stabilization" resources focused on this one problem property that had a least 8 adults living there, causing crime, shootings, and lesser public nuisance incidents daily.

Here citizens and politicians and city service people are as important as the police in keeping crime down. While I'm not saying anything new, I want to make it clear that our neighborhood, once struggling ( at least at my end) went "up" due to work with city departments. If we had taken a "hands off stay away role", we would have many more boarded up houses and more crime.

I wouldn't like to live in your neighborhood but not for the reasons you mention. It doesn't sound to me as though ti's going to develop. And that may be ok with you, perhaps you are fine with it as it is. nothing wrong with that.

But I want to live in a place where I can trust my neighbors to not steal from me.

[gimmethesimplelife]

I don't want to give the wrong impression about my neighborhood. It is trendy and real estate prices are high. New houses (made to look old) are being built across the street from me in the $500,000 to $700,000 range.

But when we moved here 25 years ago our block had boarded up houses, a women's shelter where regular unsavory things took place, and high rise public housing projects a few blocks away. It's taken 25 years to our section to improve, but improve it has, and working hand in hand with the police department to keep residents safe has been key. Real estate professionals always say that "safety" is the #1 concern of people looking to buy into my area. My pocket is surrounded by sketchy places and remnant of public housing which generates much of the crime here.

The place where my flower garden sits is in a sketchy neighborhood where a fair number of people who live immediately around me would steal anything from me if they got the chance. A few weeks ago there was a drug raid at a house up the street where multiple generations live. People were hauled off to jail. Then the house was condemned to get the rest of the leeches out. This came about because my immediate neighbor rattled cages at city Hall to get police and "neighborhood stabilization" resources focused on this one problem property that had a least 8 adults living there, causing crime, shootings, and lesser public nuisance incidents daily.

Here citizens and politicians and city service people are as important as the police in keeping crime down. While I'm not saying anything new, I want to make it clear that our neighborhood, once struggling ( at least at my end) went "up" due to work with city departments. If we had taken a "hands off stay away role", we would have many more boarded up houses and more crime.

I wouldn't like to live in your neighborhood but not for the reasons you mention. It doesn't sound to me as though ti's going to develop. And that may be ok with you, perhaps you are fine with it as it is. nothing wrong with that.

But I want to live in a place where I can trust my neighbors to not steal from me.My bad.....I had not grasped the trendy aspect of your neighborhood this whole time. My bad. To start off with here, I do trust my neighbors not to steal from me - I have wonderful neighbors and that's one reason I stay. Let's say I could afford to move to a more Causcasian area - I'd trust the neighbors overall less and I'd be on my guard more - just what life has taught me. For me it is wonderful living in a mostly Hispanic area though I will admit there are parts of that culture that don't work for me, either.

As to whether the neighborhood is going to develop - I'd be happy with it staying as it is right now though I supposed being close to downtown as we are there is some risk of gentrification.....the large Hispanic element once again comes to my rescue and makes this less likely, though. I remember when I first moved into the area - this was during the days of huge numbers of illegal immigrants and this neighborhood was like Mecca to them. I miss them, I really do - this neighborhood used to have so much light and life and activity - an example of something I miss is neighbors (long gone now) teaching kids in the neighborhood how to dance in their front yard - I remember working in my front yard once and seeing this going on down the street and being so grateful that I didn't live further North away from such. This area is not quite the lively place it once was but it is still very Hispanic and I don't see that changing and for me personally that very much works.

I don't know if I have made this clear but the immediate neighborhood I live in is not that bad with crime - however I am close to an area that is. Go further South to the neighborhood I speak of and you will much less cohesion and neighbors that don't know and trust one another - Thankfully where I live it's not quite like that. It's much more low income but yet decent struggling people and I very much respect most of them and they seem to respect me. Rob

[jp1]

I think she was calling someone to see if she had to give her last name. This happened in January. I wonder why it is just now hitting the news?

I think it's finally hitting the news because the ACLU finally succeeded in forcing them to release the body cam video that clearly shows the cop telling the first lady "there's no crime here" before he goes to the other lady and tackles and arrests her for the non-crime of refusing to tell him her name. Even though in California a cop can only force you to provide your name if you 1) are believed to have committed a crime, 2) are in the middle of committing a crime, or 3) are believed to be planning a crime.

[Tammy]

Here's an insiders view of policing:

http://www.vox.com/2015/5/28/8661977/race-police-officer