Cincinnati Police Tase Man for Flipping Them Off During Protest (VIDEOS)

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Cincinnati Police Tase Man for Flipping Them Off During Protest (VIDEOS)

September 21st, 2015

Awake Goy

Yesterday Brian and I decided to get out of MAC for the day to attend a march in Cincinnati setup to honor and remember those who’ve been killed by the police. The event primarily focused on Samuel Dubose, Tamir Rice, and John Crawford – all of whom were killed by police in Ohio – but also touched on several others from across the country. The planned march was going just fine until police decided, without warning, that marching in the street was no longer allowed. Forget that silly little document, I think statist call it the Constitution, that claims to make such actions perfectly legal.

Picture taken by Freshour just before his arrest.

Even with such a great document allowing freedoms, by the time the sun had set on the day four protesters were in handcuffs. Even though none of them harmed another person or destroyed any property. I didn’t witness the arrest of Jordan Freshour or Talis Gage but it’s my understanding that they were arrested for standing the in street, filming the police, or swearing at cops. Of course the police called this obstruction of government business and/or some sort of pedestrian in the road violation but that’s merely how they justify it.

What might be harder for the Cincinnati Police to justify is the arrest of Dan Joseph. Not only did Brian and I both catch the excessive use of a taser on Joseph but we also believe we caught the reason for his arrest on video, too. As you can see in my raw footage (video below) at 0:33 Joseph gives the finger to a motorcycle cop but isn’t arrested, let alone tased, for it. Shortly thereafter Joseph is seen, via Brian’s raw footage (video below) at 0:18, nearly being hit by an unmarked cruiser. Which we believed to be occupied by two high ranking Cincinnati police officers. You can tell Joseph says something to the men in costumes and that he most likely flipped them off.

After that, from both sides of the street, Brian and I catch another officer all together (after being ordered by the high ranking cops in the unmarked car) chase Joseph – who was running away – and taze him. Joseph falls to the ground and the crowd began to swarm in around him, curious as to why their friend was tased or even arrested, since he didn’t do anything illegal. That’s when several heavy-handed, aggressive cops came and started using excessive force.

While some will watch these videos, or read about this story, and think that protesters should have stayed on the sidewalk, refrained from swearing at police, or so on, the real truth shown in these videos is the escalation of force that is so common of the police today, as well as, the disconnect the police have when folks are literally begging the police to end their violent ways.

Instead of simply letting the protesters walk in the street, as they did earlier by leapfrogging ahead to shut down intersections, the police decided to escalate the situation by making demands and tazing people for freedom of speech. You know, one of those rights the police claim to fight for! On top of that the march most likely would have ended around sunset but, thanks to the heavy-handed Cincinnati police officers on duty yesterday, it went on late into the evening. Many protesters gathered outside the Justice Center and waited for their friends to be released.

It’s unfortunate that the Cincinnati police department has no empathy for the Dubose Family or other victims of police abuse. Which brings up my final point. As you can see in the raw videos below, after the arrest of the protesters dozens of cops came on scene (they were following the march all day), but not a single one of them was a good cop because not a single one of them questioned their actions, sought reasoning or justification for what they were asked to do either. They simply came in a started pushing people, who’ve already been abused by the police, around and initiating more force.

What kind of world do we live in where the police can murder, stalk (or claim to be there for your protection!) the events of those upset by such murder and arrest people who are trying to raise awareness of these murders? That’s like having a loved one murdered and having the murder’s co-workers show up at the funeral packing guns! That’s what the police do when you try to call them out of the KILLER COPS they are!

Kelly Patterson, founder of Nevada CopBlock, also covered the arrest of this protest in real-time with updates and a timeline of events here.