Forum Post: "'LAPD too violent', some Occupy L.A. protesters allege [Updated]"
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 30, 2011, 7:08 p.m. EST by CrossingtheDivided
(357)
from Santa Ysabel, CA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
From L.A. Times today:
"Los Angeles police are being praised for their planning, outreach and judicious use of force in ousting the Occupy L.A. encampment Wednesday morning, but a few protesters are reporting more physical confrontations with some of the 1,400 officers.
In a KCAL 9 video, now posted on YouTube, Tyson Heder, 35, was taking pictures of the eviction, when a police officer shoved him away. The video showed Heder then standing up, yelling at the officer, then being forced to the ground by several policemen.
-{video here: http://eastcameronfolkcore.com/e/free-tyson-heder/
His sister, Christy Collins, said Heder was in custody Wednesday morning.
Collins, who lives in Albany, N.Y., said she got an emotional phone message from him some time after his arrest. He posted on Facebook, "They beat me and stole my camera." Collin said her brother had not been an Occupy participant previously and apparently went to the encampment Tuesday night just to take pictures.
"I do think it was horrible and excessive," Collins said after watching a video of the encounter. "But I have to say, I was relieved it wasn't worse once I saw it."
In response to complaints about police actions, Los Angeles Police Protective League President Paul M. Weber said in a statement:
"It is unfortunate that our society has come to the place where a lawful command from an officer goes ignored. Oftentimes, as was the case at the Occupy L.A. camp, this sets in motion a regrettable series of events. As the League has maintained, when a dangerous individual refuses police orders to end the threat they are posing to the safety of officers and the public, they subject themselves to the consequences of their actions. While some may complain about the LAPD tactics, Los Angeles business and political leaders are already commending the officers for effectively and efficiently ending Occupy L.A. at City Hall with minimum use of force.]"
Ruth Fowler, an Occupy protester, blogged that officers beat some protesters who were running away from them on Alameda Street between 1st and 2nd streets.
"The violence I witnessed was pretty intense," she wrote. Officers "wanted to hurt people. They were running and beating people who were simply RUNNING away, trying to escape!"
Still, most had praise for authorities, who arrested more than 200 protesters.
Pam Noles, an observer with the National Lawyers Guild, which has advised the protesters, gave high marks to police and protesters during the eviction.
"I would have to say honestly that the LAPD had their A game on," Noles said, adding that protesters should also be given credit for remaining nonviolent and not giving police any excuse to use force. "I was really proud of the occupiers who stood on message, stood on discipline and stood on faith. Both sides did what they had to do."
Overnight, more than 1,400 police swooped in to clear out the encampment. Police arrived in force and within minutes had encircled the park. Most protesters chose to leave on their own, but others remained behind.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa toured the park early Wednesday and praised Police Chief Charlie Beck and his officers.
"I said that here in L.A. we'd chart a different path, and we did," Villaraigosa said.
The mayor credited Beck's community-policing approach, noting that the chief and his officers had established a relationship with the Occupy protesters at the beginning of the encampment."
I can not find the KCAL 9 vido anywhere on youtube that shows what happened to Tyson Heder. Can anyone post a link?
Apparently, CBS took down the video that was posted on Youtube.
I did find this though, which includes the footage (via Photobucket, which isn't as censored I guess:)
http://eastcameronfolkcore.com/e/free-tyson-heder/
Tyson Zolton Heder is a good friend of ours from LA who has shot many videos for us ...
November 30, 2011 Tyson Zoltan Heder went out to shoot the occupy movement. As a credentialed journalist his rights to cover this piece of history is protected by the Freedom of the press laws as part of the first amendment. In Lovell v. City of Griffin, 303 U.S. 444 (1938), Chief Justice Hughes defined the press as, “every sort of publication which affords a vehicle of information and opinion. Freedom of the press, like freedom of speech, is subject to restrictions on bases such as defamation law.” However The LAPD clad in riot gear decided to knock him to the ground for no reason. When he questioned them they took his camera and beat him to the ground before arresting him. This is an injustice to journalists nationwide. If we let the Police stop us from recording history then what stops them from re-writing it? What stops them from saying it never happened? We have a right to cover what’s actually going on.
The last thing we heard form Tyson was in the form of a post on his Facebook saying the police beat him and stole his camera in the picture his face looks swollen and his hair tousled. Which raises another question of what happened to him between the time he was taken down by the police and the time he took that picture. In the video his hair was tied. We demand to know what happened to Tyson when he was out of camera’s view? What happened to our basic rights?"
"It is unfortunate that our society has come to the place where a lawful command from an officer goes ignored. " These are not lawful orders, and thugs dressed in pig suits are no longer police. "Oftentimes, as was the case at the Occupy L.A. camp, this sets in motion a regrettable series of events. " Excuses excuses. What happens is the pigs attack and beat people as soon as they know there are no cameras to catch them, or they attack people and destroy personal property (cameras) in order to get rid of evidence. That is THEFT, and the fact that it happens under color of law only makes it WORSE. "As the League has maintained, when a dangerous individual refuses police orders to end the threat they are posing to the safety of officers and the public," There is no threat, thus the excuse is invalid. protesters are not threatening anyone. Sorry. epic fail. " they subject themselves to the consequences of their actions. " In other words, "if you don't do what we say, we are forced to be violent" In essence the same claim of thugs, wife beaters, and fascists everywhere. "While some may complain about the LAPD tactics, Los Angeles business and political leaders are already commending the officers for effectively and efficiently ending Occupy L.A. at City Hall with minimum use of force.]"
Which is a patent lie. things did over all go very smoothly, but the simple fact is that there were incidents, and in the first place the very idea that the pigs had the legal authority to evict the protests is wrong.
The pigs are breaking the laws, and at the moment they do so they are no longer police- just thugs.
Look. I am not trying to be a naysayer here, but of course they think that. No matter what the LAPD would have done, they would claim it was police brutality.
I saw the live feed last night. No one was cooperating. People running back and forth antagonizing the police. The protesters were not these innocent little angels.
Not trying to piss on your post, but let's keep it real.
Yes, it's called peaceful civil disobedience. A properly trained and respectable officer knows how to deal with that without becoming violent.
And when a few "bad egg" officers do choose to be violent, and track down their unruly prey to inflict abuse upon, who are merely trying to leave the scene, that counts as excessive and unnecessary use of force.
Ridiculous. Neither here nor there.
If you want to 'keep it real' (brah) try to be even-handed about it. If you want to mention some specific examples where protesters looked like they were resisting arrest too forcefully, and deserved tighter restraints, or where their recording of the scene was endangering the welfare of the community or safety of the officers (and so it became 'acceptable' for the LAPD to steel their personal property/evidence) . . . . .then you go right ahead, Buddy.
But be aware this is never a black/white issue. There are at least as many rotten eggs on the dark blue side of the line most days, and their abuses are more noteworthy because they are there (supposedly) to uphold the Law, and are swore to protect the welfare of all people, not inflict punishment on them.
The simple fact remains that this "eviction" (re: raid and subsequent 200+ arrests,) like so many others, is unconstitutional and unnecessary.
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/14/constitutional_rights_lawyer_michael_ratner_failed