Video: Madison,Wisconsin Pigs beat,taze & suffocate a black teenager girl during mall arrest...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wzzZg7eP9Qhttp://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime-and-courts/outrage-grows-over-arrest-of-black-woman-madison-police-reviewing/article_08dfc5de-1fd6-543e-b8e5-020e35c487c4.html
Outrage grows over arrest of black woman; Madison police reviewing incident
Community leaders and elected officials are expressing outrage and concern over the arrest of young black woman at East Towne Mall on Tuesday, calling the use of force by officers excessive and barbaric.
Genele Laird, 18, was arrested on the sidewalk outside the mall after she allegedly displayed a knife and threatened to ? security staff after she said her cellphone had been stolen.
A video taken by a person outside the mall showed Laird resisting police as they tried to handcuff her. Two officers then forcefully take her to the ground, where she continues to struggle and kick her legs and allegedly spits in an officer’s face. The officer strikes her several times with his knee and his fist before using a Taser to get her to comply with demands to put her hands behind her back.
"I am outraged to my core," Ruben Anthony, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Madison, said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The abuse this young woman faced at the hands of these police was savage and excessive," Anthony said. "As a community, we must make it clear that we will not tolerate this type of barbarism."
Police Chief Mike Koval ordered an internal review of arrest to evaluate whether polices, procedures and professional standards were followed during Laird's apprehension. Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney has agreed to have his department oversee the internal investigation, Koval said.
At a late-morning news conference Wednesday, Koval said he met with Laird's family Tuesday night and said they were "moved to tears, to anger" by what he acknowledged "looks like a very one-sided transaction." But he defended his officers' actions, saying one bystander's short video can't capture the context of the "15-minute narrative" of alleged threats by Laird that led to police being called.
"At the end of the day when called to deal with a behavior ... it is our obligation to restore order. That's what we do," Koval said. "When you ... spit in the eye of a police officer, that's a felony. When you resist arrest and you cause soft tissue injury to any officer, that's a felony."
Koval declined to immediately name the officers involved, saying the 911 center had received death threats against them. They will be named, he said, but for the moment he said he wanted to provide them with "sanctuary and a bit of a cooling off period."
The 80-second video, which had hundreds of thousands views by late morning Thursday, showed one officer holding Laird on a sidewalk shortly after the incident inside the mall. A second officer approached Laird in an attempt to get Laird's hands behind her back for cuffing, at which point Laird yells out that the officers were being "so (expletive) forceful, for no (expletive) reason."
A struggle ensued as at least one officer yelled commands to "get on the ground" repeatedly. One of officers struck Laird several times with a knee to the abdomen before all three fell to the sidewalk with Laird's hands behind her back.
The struggled continued on the ground with one officer yelling at Laird, "Stop kicking me," while the delivered three more knees and a punch to the abdomen.
Laird then rolled onto her back as one of the officers continues to try to restrain her hands. The other officer then removes a Taser from his belt and delivers at least one shock to Laird's abdomen. He holds the device to her left leg, but it's unclear if it continued to fire.
At Wednesday's news conference, Madison police officer Chris Masterson explained that Tasers only work when two darts make contact with the skin, completing a circuit and creating an electric shock. In Tuesday's arrest, Masterson said, only one of the darts hit Laird, which is why the officer was seen pressing the device against her leg in order to complete the circuit.
With one officer holding one of Laird's hands behind her back and struggles to pull her other hand behind her, she can be heard shrieking as the other officer repeatedly yells, "Put your hand behind your back. Do it now." Laird's struggle stops briefly as she is handcuffed by the other officer."
Asked what Laird, who was prone and being kneeled on, could have done differently to comply with officer's demands, Koval said: "Stop resisting."
Laird briefly pops up again, at which point the officer with the Taser pushes her head back down to the pavement and yells, "Keep your face down. Don't spit at me again."
Laird responded to the officer, "I will bite you. I will (expletive) bite you." The officer threatened to use the Taser again if she bit him, and Laird responded, "Let me go. I can't (expletive) breathe."
Police then put a "spit hood" over Laird's face, which Koval said consists of a loose, breathable material, and carry her to a squad car.
Koval and a group of local leaders and elected officials met with Laird's family Tuesday night to discuss the altercation. Ald. Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, District 5, described the meeting as "very emotional" for the family and applauded the chief for agreeing to meet with them.
But many questions about the incident remained, she said.
"The chief really spoke about the need for him to have more information, get the report from the officers, interview witnesses, and the potential professional standards investigation," Bidar-Sielaff said. "So, there weren't really a lot of concrete answers."
The incident comes on the heels of a high-profile feud between Koval and the local elected officials over the City Council's decision to spend an additional $350,000 to hire an expert to help a city committee review the operations of the police department. The committee had already received $50,000 for the review and Koval challenged the need for the study in a blog post laced with sarcasm and frustration.
Bidar-Sielaff said the incident deserves scrutiny and confirmed her belief that the money was well-spent.
"I don't think there is a way of seeing this video and not feeling disturbed," she said. "My reaction is that the community deserves a full investigation and an explanation of the level of force used that we can see in the video. It also speaks to the need for leadership in looking at our policies and practices for the Madison Police Department."
State Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, was also at the meeting and issued a statement Wednesday, calling for a review of why the level of force was used.
"Ms. Laird's family, friends, and our community are deeply upset about the brutal treatment of Ms. Laird depicted in the video, which seems extremely disproportionate to any threat posed," Taylor said. "As our country has experienced, too often videos like this one have exposed violent mistreatment of people of color at the hands of the police. We deserve a full and impartial investigation of what occurred."
The incident will be reviewed by Madison police, said spokesman Joel DeSpain.
"The Professional Standards division will do a thorough review of all that took place," DeSpain said Wednesday.
Comments
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Didn't a white man reach for a cops gun and try to ? a presidential candidate without dying? Yet they damn near decapitate this woman smh
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What police supposed to do when someone resist arrest?
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What police supposed to do when someone resist arrest?
I spoke too soon, watched the whole video, and seen that cop kneeing, and punching her in the kidneys.
WTF. -
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime-and-courts/video-of-genele-laird-arrest-divides-opinions-often-along-racial/article_c1d30faf-0cee-5869-a98d-4a9d49904139.htmlVideo of Genele Laird arrest divides opinions, often along racial lines
Claudia Jackson said she cried when she watched the video of 18-year-old Genele Laird’s arrest at East Towne Mall on Tuesday.
The blows from a Madison police officer’s knee strikes, the punch into Laird’s abdomen, the use of a Taser while Laird was on the ground with two policemen trying to handcuff her — that force was unnecessary, said Jackson, who is black.
“Whatever she did at the mall,” Jackson said, “it didn’t have to result in … that.”
Seeing the video for the first time Wednesday, Richard Reynolds said he couldn’t be sure exactly what it showed.
“I’m certainly not going to judge her or the police,” said Reynolds, who is white. “There’s a lot you can’t see and can’t tell.”
While hundreds of thousands of people have viewed the same footage of officers arresting Laird, they have drawn vastly different conclusions from it, with responses often — though not always — varying depending on the race or political views of the viewer.
In interviews in Madison Wednesday, some saw shades of gray. But a wave of commenters on social media were not so reserved. They criticized Laird for resisting arrest and allegedly spitting at an officer, noted that police said she displayed a knife inside the mall and concluded the officers acted appropriately.
“She deserved everything she got,” Elizabeth Morgan wrote on Facebook.
Others saw a police force run amok as yet another encounter between officers and an African-American suspect ended with a controversial use of force, captured by a bystander in a video that rocketed across the internet.
The liberal website U.S. Uncut posted about Laird’s arrest under the headline, “Police Savagely Punch and Tase Black Girl — Then Put a Bag Over Her Head,” referencing the use of a “spit hood” by police. The conservative Daily Caller titled its post, “Protesters Demand Release Of Woman Who Threatened Police With Knife, Spit In Their Eyes,” although police never said she threatened officers with the knife.
The video is Madison’s contribution to a growing online library of footage showing controversial police conduct shot by amateur videographers across the country, joining nationally known videos such as those of Eric Garner’s fatal arrest on a street in Staten Island, New York, and a gun-wielding officer’s response to a pool party in McKinney, Texas.
Those videos, combined with high-profile police shootings of African-Americans nationwide and in Madison, have contributed to growing public scrutiny of law enforcement tactics and police departments’ relationships with black residents.
Laird was arrested after police said she threatened an employee in the mall’s food court. While she was being handcuffed, Laird struggled with officers and spat in the face of one of them, Police Chief Mike Koval said. Koval said two officers needed medical attention for injuries they sustained in the arrest.
The department has launched an internal investigation of the officers’ use of force.While some whites who viewed the video of Laird’s arrest sided with police, others faulted the officers.
Lue Lueck, a Downtown barber who is white, said he was bothered by the amount of force that was used and thought the encounter demonstrated larger problems with the way police are trained.
“They could have handled that much better,” Lueck said. “There’s never a need to be that violent with someone.”
Talking with several other women about the video outside an East Side beauty shop Wednesday, Cherie Grant, who is black, saw fault on both sides.
“She argued with the people,” Grant said. “She could’ve avoided that.”
Several people interviewed by the Wisconsin State Journal on Wednesday said they could understand police using some force to arrest Laird. But striking the teenager that many times and using a Taser was too much, Grant said.
“It was a lot of force,” she said. “They did go overboard.” -
You can tell they enjoy their jobs
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Have any of those white feminist that black women love so much came out and condemned this?
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http://host.madison.com/wsj/opinion/mailbag/police-would-rather-not-use-force----zach/article_f2e642cd-187a-566b-a867-7f19f2541af8.html
Police would rather not use force -- Zach Thennes
I don't understand.
When a person makes choices and then the consequences of those choices are forced upon them, it is suddenly not their fault?
Genele Laird, who was arrested at East Towne Mall, made very poor choices with a number of people. Police were called to restore order, which they did, and now it is their fault?
I guarantee the police would have rather shown up, listened to the young woman, calmed her down, and diffused the situation. Instead, they were cursed at, spit at, struck and kicked. I don't want my police force to take that abuse. I want them to subdue the suspect whether the suspect is an 80-pound nanny, or a 300-pound bully.
I feel the "leaders" speaking out for her are on the wrong side of this issue. Laird was the root cause of every disturbing action. To put the blame anywhere else would be showing the face of true racism: That black people should be given a pass due to their skin color.
I don't want knife-wielding people threatening murder regardless of the color of their skin. That doesn't seem like too much to ask.
-- Zach Thennes, Madison
Pig apologist says the pigs did nothing wrong.. And if you think the pigs did do something your the real racist... -
If They Say -
Why, Why, Tell 'Em That Is Human Nature
Why, Why, Does He Do Me That Way
If They Say -
Why, Why, Tell 'Em That Is Human Nature
Why, Why, Does He Do Me That Way -
I have no issue with he 1st cop. The 2nd cop needs to be fired. Once again they supposed to trained to handle this. Instead of trying to calm her down or just move her over to the car. He comes in legs sweeps the girl while kneeing her and then punches her. He escalates the whole situation trying to be Robo Mall Cop
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That was excessive but females need to quit thinking they can go around threatening people and still be treated like a princess.
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The definition of insanity is doing the exact same thing again and again expecting different results
If a cop is telling you to put your hands behind your back then the game is already over. Resisting will always only make it worse, 100% of the time -
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime-and-courts/genele-laird-won-t-be-charged-referred-to-alternative-restorative/article_0ec93e2b-4e04-5fe7-9d33-ab05ed0f9ae4.htmlGenele Laird won't be charged; referred to alternative Restorative Justice program
Genele Laird, whose forcible arrest outside East Towne Mall on Tuesday was caught on a video that went viral, will be referred to an alternative restorative justice program and will not face criminal charges if she completes the program, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Friday.
"Her victims each made the decision that restorative justice makes sense in this case," Ozanne said at a news conference Friday, a day after Laird's release from the Dane County Jail.
Ozanne, Madison Police Chief Mike Koval and others spoke at the news conference but did not take questions from reporters, citing the ongoing investigations in both a potential criminal case against Laird and a disciplinary case against the officers involved in the incident.
Those officers also were not named, Koval said, because of threats made against them.
Laird, 18, of Madison, will be enrolled in Dane County's pilot Community Restorative Court program, which seeks to hold certain young offenders accountable for misdemeanor-level crimes outside of the formal court system. If she fails to complete the program, Ozanne said he has already written a criminal complaint that would charge her with a mix of felonies and misdemeanors, including discharging ? fluids at a police officer, battery to a police officer, resisting an officer causing soft-tissue injury, obstructing an officer, disorderly conduct while armed and disorderly conduct.
The program requires buy-in from victims, police and prosecutors. In this case, Ozanne said, Laird's alleged victims and the police officers she struggled with as they attempted to arrest her all agreed with the disposition. Ozanne also said that although the Community Restorative Court is reserved for 17- to 25-year-olds from South Madison facing misdemeanor charges, he made an exception to allow Laird into the program.
"I think it is especially necessary in light of the community interest and attention which has surrounded this matter," Ozanne said.
The program, which has operated on South Park Street for about a year, is open to low-level first-time offenders ages 17 to 25 and is designed to help them avoid being tagged with a criminal record that could be detrimental to job or educational opportunities.
Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said he and others in the department were convinced the court was an appropriate outcome in this case and was not "a euphemism for 'Get out of jail free.'"
Koval said the officers' consent to try the restorative justice court had nothing to do with the bystander's video of the arrest, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, but a sincere belief that it was the most just response in a city that values community policing.
Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association and legal counsel for the two officers involved, said the officers wrestled with the decision because they didn't want to do anything that might compromise the safety of fellow officers. But he said they were persuaded by Ozanne's commitment to prosecute those who assault officers or resist arrest.
While Koval and Palmer defended the officers' use of force in getting Laird to comply with their demands to put her hands behind and back and stop resisting arrest, Palmer said they appreciate that others view the video differently, their views "shaped through personal experiences that are very real."
Laird's arrest led to protests that started Tuesday night and continued into Thursday, when family and friends gathered for an initial court appearance that never happened.
Instead, Laird was released from jail Thursday night on Ozanne's order.
On Tuesday, police were responding to allegations that Laird threatened an East Towne Mall employee with a knife. A video taken by a bystander showed two police officers struggling with Laird to put her hands behind her back. One of the officers knees her several times, causing the three to tumble to the pavement, where one of the officers continued to knee and hit her then stun her with a Taser before she's taken into custody.
Ozanne said a 911 call reported that Laird was "out of control" and making threats. As an officer spoke with mall security, Laird approached and said she wanted to leave her name, then to leave the mall. She was told she needed to stay, Ozanne, said, but she insisted that she had to leave. The officer decided to take her into custody to stop her from leaving.
"Wisconsin law and the state and federal constitutions allow an officer to temporarily detain a person while investigating a crime," Ozanne said.
Laird resisted when an officer tried to grab her, Ozanne said. A second officer arrived and used physical force, seen on the cellphone video. Ozanne said that fire department paramedics were called when Laird said she couldn't breathe. She was evaluated in an ambulance, then taken for further evaluation at a hospital. She was then taken to jail.
Police found a knife in Laird's backpack, and witnesses told police that Laird had used the knife to threaten others at the mall, Ozanne said.
After speaking with Laird's attorneys, Ozanne said, he believes that she accepts responsibility for what happened, "that it was her conduct toward fellow community members, including officers involved, that caused this incident." He said she's shown maturity by acknowledging that her conduct at the mall was wrong.
Laird's lawyer, Syovata Edari, could not be reached for comment after the press conference.
Laird's sister, Deirdre Thompson, who had come to court on successive days hoping to see Laird released from custody, said her family would have no further comment on the incident.
"Since we've gotten the resolution that the family wants, we're not going to be making any more press statements," Thompson said.
Others who protested Laird's treatment by police were not satisfied with the resolution.
"We think it was awful and disrespectful," said M. Adams, of the Young Gifted and Black Coalition and Freedom Inc. "It's completely disrespectful to what restorative justice practices actually are. Genele was clearly a victim, and there's no sort of restorative justice practice for the trauma that she's experienced, for the amount of violence, for the amount of harm done to her, and it looks like people who are supposed to be in service to us are acting with little to no accountability to us." -
Will the police be punished for this? Probably not.
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That was excessive but females need to quit thinking they can go around threatening people and still be treated like a princess.
Excessive force is the issue here not what treatment each gender expects
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4joQV8AMV4
