A woman in Florida says her 55-year-old “medically fragile” father was falsely accused of theft at a Florida grocery store last week and then seriously injured in a violent encounter with police. Now, she says, he is hospitalized and has lost the ability to speak.
This is Polk County, Florida, home of the cowboy sheriff Grady Judd who has never seen a camera and microphone he didn’t want to use to engrandize himself. Except for the body worn ones. Polk County residents are not the most enlightened of people. But, never discount there being two sides to every story.
What side of this story could justify beating up an old man until he can’t speak?
OP, answer this…curious what the other side might be 🙄
Cops only knew that there was a shoplifter threatening the employee, and they saw the daughter with the bat. So they rolled up and took care of it.
I really put almost all of this on the employee. Even in her own words, how do you follow someone out of the store screaming at them and threatening them, then say you’re afraid because the woman had a bat?
So the cops… See the woman with a bat and beat the shit out of the old man? Is this supposed to paint the cops in a better light or make them look less incompetent and stupid?
No, I don’t see how anyone could absolve the cops in this scenario. Incompetent, stupid, prone to violence, ready to violate human rights at the drop of a hat, are all fair descriptions here. Many of these police violence stories have in common that one officer crosses the line out of fear, but the others join in with some sort of mob mentality.
But cops were new arrivals who most likely didn’t know the context. Fault them for excessive violence, having to control the situation with fear, need to be obeyed, etc, but this is sort of like a “swatting”. The person calling with a presumably incomplete story is most at fault. That person should be in prison, but it doesn’t change that those officers shouldn’t be trusted with authority and there needs to be a fundamental change in policing
No answer to their question huh? I’d love to know what you think this old man could have done to justify putting him in the hospital like this. Go on. Tell us what other side to the story makes the end result ok.