You Can't Always Trust Men in Uniform

When you hear the word, "police", what comes to mind? Someone pulling you over giving you a ticket because you broke the law, donuts and coffee, a law abiding citizen who is more or less a hero in disguise? To be honest, I have never been a fond of police officers but that's just because of my previous experience with them, or better said lack of of experience with them. It seemed to me they were never around when I needed them earlier in life, instead they came around well as an inconvenience to my life. I came across this article from Los Angeles' Times that truly touched me, "Video portrays violent death of Kelly Thomas" by Richard Winton. Finding this article may add to my bias about my feeling towards cops, yet the evidence presented are facts followed by my feelings on those facts about an incident that took place almost a year ago in Fullerton, California. I warn you in advance that the videos I have included a link to are violently graphic.

A mentally ill homeless man named Kelly Thomas was brutally beaten to death by two police officers, Michael Ramos and Joseph Wolfe. The two men are being charged, Ramos with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, and Wolfe with involuntary manslaughter and excessive force in connection with the July 5 2011 beating of Thomas, who died five days later. The defense attorneys where claiming, to portray Thomas' medical treatment as the reason for Thomas' death rather than the officers' actions. I was appalled by this argument. Its unbelievable that even with evidence through witnesses and videos of the excessive use of force on Thomas, the officers are not taking accountability for their actions instead they blame the medical team. It's unfortunate that behavior from police officers like these cause such distrust for police officers among our communities.

I will follow up with this case and see what the outcome of the two officers are. If the jury isn't touched by  Thomas father stating, "The hardest part of the video and audio "is the sounds of my son calling out," or by the numerous evidence provided in court thanks to today's technology everywhere, I 'm not sure what will convince the jury to allow the defendants to pay the consequences. While watching the videos I did not see an uncooperative man trying to cause harm to the police officers or anyone else for that matter. I saw a young man calling for help. It was evident to me this man needed psychological help. How do you feel about this case? Do you think police officers are unethical due to their power? I can see the connection to today's class topic in reference to "control" and "power" from higher authorities for our own safety but just like I shared in class, I think sometimes people manipulate the situation and take advantage when they can. When someone's life is taken it is no loger a question of whether it was ethical for police officers to react the way they  did, instead it is a matter of the criminal law.