The Impolite Realities of Observing Police Abuse

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NYT staff writer steps outside his office to get food and witnesses a pair of arrests:

Opinion | The Impolite Realities of Observing Police Abuse

When I asked a nearby police officer his name and what prompted the clamor, he threatened me with arrest for blocking the sidewalk, at which point I identified myself as a New York Times journalist just trying to observe.

The officers’ focus then turned toward the Latino man in the beanie, who continued to trade barbs with the five or so officers slowly surrounding him. He swiveled from side to side, waving his phone in a panoramic motion, its lens now serving as his shield.

I walked off toward the spot where the black man was detained to ask others if they’d seen what started the commotion. Within moments, I heard the clang of a body hitting the metal barricades behind me.

The Latino man in the beanie was pinned to the ground by four officers, one of them crushing the man’s neck and head into the concrete while another gave him quick blows to the side, as yet another cuffed him and a fourth twisted his leg.

 

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The man in the beanie was Jairo Tejada Espinosa. He was charged with obstructing government administration, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and assault on a police officer, which is a felony, among other charges.

The police also wrote in their official complaint that Mr. Espinosa, while in custody on the way to the hospital, “repeatedly kicked” an officer, hurting his hand. Mr. Espinosa is contesting all the charges and has declined to plead guilty to reduced non-felony charges.

And this is how police corruption works, charge a person exercising their constitutional rights with a felony and expect that person to plead guilty to lesser charges because a felony will prevent him from leading any semblance of a normal life. The next layer of corruption comes with the DA standing by charges and expecting a guilty plea to avoid felony charges. Criminal justice reform just passed, but there is a lot more reform that needs to occur with the police and the prosecutors that act with impunity.