In a series of posts over at The Agitator, Radley Balko chronicles the experience of his reader, Josh Wexler, with a New Orleans police officer, William Torres. Wexler watched from his car as Torres ran a stop sign and then struck a pedestrian.
[Wexler] saw a New Orleans police officer run a stop sign and strike a pedestrian with his car in the French Quarter at 12:45 p.m. Jan. 29.
When the pedestrian raised his hands as if to say, “What are you doing?” the officer rushed out of his vehicle and “angrily” grabbed the startled man, Wexler said.
The officer in question, William Torres, reportedly forced the pedestrian to place his hands on the hood of his squad car and reached for his handcuffs as if to arrest him.
This is the natural sequence of events, ambulance optional. Josh Wexler, being of the sort who would read Balko, chose not to close his eyes and run away, but rather intervene.
He got out of his vehicle and told the officer he saw him run the stop sign and hit the pedestrian. Wexler told Torres he had no right to arrest the man.
At this point, Torres reportedly allowed the pedestrian to go free, directed his attention to Wexler and asked, “Do you want a ticket?”
“A ticket for what?” Wexler said. “I didn’t do anything.”
“It’s a simple question. Yes or no. Do you want a ticket?” Torres reportedly responded.
This again is the natural sequence of events. Radley’s readers overwhelming praised Wexler’s testicular fortitude. I join them, though I wonder whether it would have been more effective to call his local news desk and take some video rather than test the good will of William Torres. As my But For Video posts have sought to make clear, no cop does wrong if there’s no video. We have yet to move to the place where the word of a citizen prevails in a pissing match with a cop.
The sequence of events is important, because it appears over and over again. Challenge a police officer and he arrests you, thereby removing your credibility and reducing your complaint to a challenge of his cause for arrest. It’s taught in cop school. It’s so basic that even the dumbest cop around knows how to do it. Plus, it’s fun. At least for them. As Jeff Gamso notes, did you think the cop was going to admit his fault?
Over at Popehat, Ken was reminded by Wexler’s effort of a news shows effort to find out what would happen if a regular person walked into a police station and asked how to complain about a cop. The dialogue is hysterical in its absurdity. The reason it’s so funny is that we know that the “citizen” is an undercover news guy and that the encounter is being recorded. If it was real, it wouldn’t be nearly as funny.
The real life follies between cops and citizens is the worst kept secret around. We all know about it. We’ve all seen the videos. And yet, it’s as if no one in a position to do anything about it is aware of it at all. Ask and you’ll get this blank stare and the distinct impression that they are unfamiliar with the concept. Ken, former prosecutor that he is, says:
The truth isn’t that everyone in power doesn’t know this open secret, but that the rationale is false. As the dirty little secret becomes increasingly undeniable, and it is by dint of videos, blawgs and the efforts of people like Josh Wexler, trust and confidence in the police is increasingly undermined and the tide will change. When no one can plausibly deny the problem, there will be a shift that compels any credible person in power to confront it. We may not be there yet, but it will come if we keep the pressure on.
Josh Wexler is a good Samaritan. William Torres is a mutt. Thankfully, the mutt didn’t just beat the good Samaritan to a pulp to shut him down.
The sequence of events is important, because it appears over and over again. Challenge a police officer and he arrests you, thereby removing your credibility and reducing your complaint to a challenge of his cause for arrest. It’s taught in cop school. It’s so basic that even the dumbest cop around knows how to do it. Plus, it’s fun. At least for them. As Jeff Gamso notes, did you think the cop was going to admit his fault?
Over at Popehat, Ken was reminded by Wexler’s effort of a news shows effort to find out what would happen if a regular person walked into a police station and asked how to complain about a cop. The dialogue is hysterical in its absurdity. The reason it’s so funny is that we know that the “citizen” is an undercover news guy and that the encounter is being recorded. If it was real, it wouldn’t be nearly as funny.
The real life follies between cops and citizens is the worst kept secret around. We all know about it. We’ve all seen the videos. And yet, it’s as if no one in a position to do anything about it is aware of it at all. Ask and you’ll get this blank stare and the distinct impression that they are unfamiliar with the concept. Ken, former prosecutor that he is, says:
You’re free to assume — as unqualified supporters of cop culture tend to — that these are outliers and extreme cases and incongruities and that in most cases cops are perfectly professional when you try to file a complaint. With that level of credulity, you’ll probably wind up as one of my clients.Within the onion, however, there is recognition of the truth. as well as the need to deny that this is how things work. If there was acknowledgment that the police have been playing this scam, institutionally, the belief is that it would undermine public trust and support of the police, which would undermine their ability to perform their function, which would render the nation unsafe. As cops like to say, if you don’t like them, call a criminal the next time you need help. Of course, that might in fact be good advice.
The truth isn’t that everyone in power doesn’t know this open secret, but that the rationale is false. As the dirty little secret becomes increasingly undeniable, and it is by dint of videos, blawgs and the efforts of people like Josh Wexler, trust and confidence in the police is increasingly undermined and the tide will change. When no one can plausibly deny the problem, there will be a shift that compels any credible person in power to confront it. We may not be there yet, but it will come if we keep the pressure on.
Josh Wexler is a good Samaritan. William Torres is a mutt. Thankfully, the mutt didn’t just beat the good Samaritan to a pulp to shut him down.
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Because of the effect, large or small, that the existence of comments to a post increases their reading, let me say “thanks for the post”.
I appreciate that. My primary motivation for writing about this is to make sure that William Torres’ name is perpetually linked to this incident on search engines, so every little bit helps.
And yet, it’s as if no one in a position to do anything about it is aware of it at all.
I’m not a lawyer, but I do read the papers, and I can see this sort of denial goes all the way to the top. Witness Scalia and his notion of a “new professionalism” in law enforcement. Good post, by the way.