Protester arrested at "Stand Tall" raid at Celebrity Centre, Aug. 6, 2011

How might you justify the officer's decision to grab the protester's camera in a manner that caused the protester some pain? I saw no provocative behavior from the protester prior to that moment.

Oh I didn't mean dicks. I mean "wait, remind me whose cops are supposedly corrupt and in the pocket of the cult again?"

Like I said before, we did the research on this back after 'Spy vs Sci'. The permit here says right on it....

Now when we did the research last time, in the controlling muni-codes, it clearly stated that you cannot "close the sidewalk" to public pedestrian traffic -- that is why you see other citizens using the sidewalk.

We made several phone calls and we couldn't get an answer how the cult was able obtain permits from the city council when the muni-codes clarified that you can't close the sidewalk to the general public.

Seems this permit has been cut off from the one I got on the website.

*surprised*

The cop's reaction was disproportionate. Saying Fuck You, while a profanity is covered by the freedom of speech and did not put the cop in any physical danger that would have justified his reaction. The cop was not acting in self defence. He was just being violent and dangerously shoved the protester into the traffic. I'd totally file a suit against that cop and LAPD. And guess what? Moxon cannot represent LAPD. Totaly conflict of interests.

Yeah, shove 'em into oncoming traffic. Glad you never picked up a badge.

I got a ticket years ago for telling a cop to "fuck-off" and giving him the bird. It's a California code, I don't remember the exact charge, but it was only an infraction (a ticket). I paid like $45.

Verbal assault?

That officer looks kinda like this guy:



Found the pic on a Flickr stream while googling about the LAPD film unit.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13873511@N06/4737176157/in/set-72157624241236681/

The Flickr guy looks important, with all those stripes on his arm.

I found lots of srs business politics around who gets to do those sweet Hollywood security gigs, which is kinda interesting. Has that power struggle been settled?

Anyone know the protester who was arrested? Cocks if this has been covered already.

First remix, also s-l-o-w-e-d the frame rate down (0:37). Wish I had a better enhancer.

Lawdocs or STFU.

probably not, ear lobe different

It's all scrotum and absolutely no penis.

To risk pointing out the obvious, badge number may be readable in the original if res is high enough.

That officer might be in bigger trouble than it seems, depending on how a judge sees it. The protester was shoved into the direction of moving traffic.

Possibly a bulky diaper.

dont be jelly baby
you're still the president of my heart.

Well Nick, Fuck You! let's see how this plays out.

You really are a stupid fuck.

and lol, no I ain't mad bro.

Even if Fuck You is a verbal assualt, the LAPD must have rules of ethics and rules of engagement as to when they are justified in using physical force.
Obvisouly, it's not an equal comparison here, but the LAPD does have a record of beating people up because the CAN, i.e. like Rodney King.

That's as relevant as me saying I'm at risk of sexual assault from the cops in my area cuz 1 cop sexually assaulted someone once quite a while ago.
He's still in jail btw.

But is swearing/"verbal assault" cause for arrest? I guess i'll eventually find out what officer shove em charged him with.

The law for this is something to do with "disrespect of an officer" 'er something like that. again, 30 years ago is just and infraction, ....a ticket.

Are the rules for cops different in LA to DC? At 2:00 in this Sparrow vid cop seems to be saying he can't react to verbals!

C

Hey, we don't pretend LAPD isn't "under the influence." I'm not in LA, so I can bitch about LAPD and CWPD. San Diego doesn't have that problem. Nobody has ever been arrested at the cult's behest here, but not for lack of effort on their part.

AnonDur got thrown up on the hood and cuffed, because somebody mistook his Pakistani ass for a Mexican quickymart robber. And he never raided IRL again.

That's a pretty fucking stupid question.

Yes, and some of the laws are different.

Why?

That's a pretty fucking stupid comment.

You really have to be careful trying to discuss this situation in absolute terms - nothing here is as black/white as it might seem. Lots of gray (or grey, or gay for that matter) here, lots of missing information. My initial reaction is to be supportive of the protester, angry with the cop and suspicious of OSA. That's normal given my perspective as an "activist" opposing Scientology.

But too many questions remain unanswered to validate my "first glance" review of this scenario.

Supportive of the protester - Is this a regular Chanology veteran or a newb? (NOT asking for dox). That makes a difference in this situation. Newb looses his cool, learns a lesson, becomes better...I'm okay with that. Some newb looking for a confrontation with a cop (cancer/witp), then that's a concern. Veteran should know better and be held to a higher standard. Regardless, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know not to say FU to a cop, I did that once in my day. DID. NOT. END. WELL.

Angry with the Cop - The second, big push of the protester appears way over the line. What other interaction was there between this cop and this protester during the raid? Is this the culmination of the cop's frustration of prior "over the top behavior" or an overreaction? Or both. The interaction with Caetano (sp?) smells bad, but is this guy in their "pocket," simply being manipulated or "just doing his job" as he sees it? No way to know as of now.

I would like to think we could all agree that saying "fuck you" to a cop at a protest makes you vulnerable. Even if it is your free speech to do so, it puts you in a position to get led away in handcuffs. #notproductive

thx bb

This is why.

Related:

March 2011, Scientology LRH 100th B-Day Los Angeles Shrine, negotiating sidewalk turf with LAPD 2/3


July 2010, Grand Opening, Pasadena Ideal Org, Part 4
(from about 3m:33s)

Lol @ smurf getting his panties in a bunch over the cop, but it does show how a cop should react to verbals, i.e. don't react.

btw, I'm not saying that the protester (in blue hooded top in first video and holding the sign-on-a-long-stick in the second video) is the same guy that was arrested yesterday. I'll let the arrested guy speak for himself.

What puzzles me about the whole situation is the fact that the cops, who get very low salaries from the state, are allowed to moonlight as security officers on Scientology payroll. That puts the cops in a very clear conflict of interest when a protest against Scientology is taking place. In this situation the cops their loayalty clearly lies with the body that pays their salary - Scientology, but they are fulfilling Scientology requests while wearing their tax-payers gear and using the authority given to them by the state. I think this whole arrangement is illegal and unconstitutional. Whoever is in LA - ask Graham Berry if he'll take this whole cozy arrangment to court [do you have administrative courts?] and have it declared illegal.
Tikk - can you give us a perspective of an American lawyer?

LAPD cops are paid by LA City note the state. Are their salaries "very low"?

(video@15 fps/sans audio) SloMo AVI clip if anybody needs it:

It's an extremely common practice all over the country. Taking that to court is a non starter. Graham Berry is probably insane enough to do it, but that doesn't mean much. And I'm not a lawyer but I don't think cops are allowed to act under color of law in the interest of private citizens, like Scientology. However, that's not what the cops were doing in this situation. They were enforcing the terms of the permit (issued by the State) and keeping the peace. I think the way most of these things usually work is that Scientology, or whoever, pays the cost that the State would have incurred to devote police resources to covering the event. Basically, ok you can have cops there if you pay the cost of putting them there. I dunno though, I'd imagine all the policies on that vary from place to place.

As for the incident in question, yelling fuck you at the cop was incredibly stupid, but (based only on what I've seen thus far) the reaction of the cop seems to be disproportionate- especially considering he was in uniform and wearing his badge, thus representing the department and the City. Gotta keep a cooler head.

I agree about the conflict of interest, but it's been going on for a long time

As for pay, starting pay is $45K-60K, depending on experience, with high school being the minimum education needed. Plus they get great benefits by free market standards.

http://per.lacity.org/exams/exam2214.htm

Thanks, I hope the protester is not still in jail.

^^^ Does not look good for the policemen. He instigated the confrontation, pushed the protester first, and then came back after the fuck you and violently shoved the protester. I totally would take it to court.