A Big Problem in New Orleans Right Now

At the moment there is a HUGE problem brewing in New Orleans: the people trying to justify the horrible beating this past weekend of 64-YEAR OLD Robert Davis.

At first we had the "President of the Police Association" dude (don't know his name, don't care to look it up) telling the world on CNN Monday and early Tuesday morning that "the officers don't see where they did anything wrong" and he made it clear that neither did he. Great. Funny thing was, by Tuesday afternoon he had changed his tune quite a bit. Now he was telling the world on CNN something along the lines of, "Yeah, the tape is very gruesome, but these officers DO deserve a fair trial." Fair enough, everyone does, including Robert Davis.

By the way, no, I don't have links to these things because I watched them with my own two eyes on CNN and I'm not going to go to all the trouble to get transcripts. Don't believe me? Tough. Get off my blog. (Phew, this hurricane aftermath has made me MEAN. I never was before...)

Anyway, at least the Prez of the Police Association (I think that's their union, but could be wrong) has backed down a little, even if it's only in public. Who knows. But the lawyer for the officers charged goes a little too far with his excuses and blame-the-victim routine.

The lawyer for three police officers arrested and suspended from the force after a taped incident on Bourbon Street says the men have been ‘tried and convicted’ by the media and that the facts will show that ‘reasonable’ force was used. He said ‘politics’ was the reason that Mayor Nagin and other city officials had quickly condemned the actions.

Umm, whatever. Any reasonable person can tell you that that was beyond excessive force used, and that it was unneccessary and criminal. One, and at most two, punches would have rendered a 64-YEAR-OLD MAN totally passive, but there were waaaaaay more than two hard sucker punches thrown (and remember, each time Davis' head was bouncing against a BRICK WALL.) THAT's most likely why the American population is disgusted and that city officials acted so quicky, not because we're all so fickle and ignorant like he's making us out to be.

Attorney Frank DeSalvo said the bloody mess that was on the ground and the blood streaming from Davis’ face came as a result of his face hitting the ground as a federal agent wrestled him to the floor.

Okay, that's just bullshit. Get a doctor to testify, and let's bring it on. You'll lose this battle, DeSalvo.

He said that one of Davis’ hands were cuffed but that the attempt to cuff the other necessitated the blows seen on the video.

No, it didn't, and you're a sick fuck for suggesting that anything warranted a beating THAT brutal against a 64-YEAR OLD MAN.

He contends that none of the blows struck Mr. Davis in the head.

Oh, that makes it okay? Remember the Hockey Dad case and trial? That victim was sucker-punched once, JUST ONCE, behind the ear at the back of his head (where it is obvious that 64-YEAR OLD ROBERT DAVIS was hit), and was killed because guess what? We have lots of really big, life-sustaining arteries back there. It's one of the most dangerous places to punch anyone, and police and health experts from across the country are saying that's against policy and seriously dangerous to hit anyone there. If you're right in that this is common police procedure in New Orleans, that still doesn't make it right-- it just means the police department itself will be facing a huge civil trial too.

Now look, from Day 1 of this beating tragedy, I have been saying that stress played a huge part in this. Most of NOLA cops have lost everything, their families are scattered to the four corners of the earth, and due to employee shortages because of the rat bastard cops who bailed on the force after the hurricane, they're having to work 12 hour days, five days a week. Nagin wants to hire more police, but FEMA still hasn't brought in enough temp housing for them to do so, and there's so little available housing in the city that they can't hire anyone until FEMA coughs up some temp housing. (Thanks FEMA, you've been doing a swell job fucking things up left and right. Make sure you keep doing that.)

So while that in no way whatsoever excuses what those policemen did, I think it helps explain some of it, and if the defense attorney wanted to take that road, I wouldn't be so pissed. But New Orleans has already been getting so much bad press lately-- the beating alone was another nail in the coffin for New Orleans, but we sure as HELL don't need people getting on national TV excusing it and blaming the victim. That won't do our city one bit of good.

Edited to add: DAMN, that fucking attorney is still at it even today! Jesus H. Christ, what an asshole he is. To people across the country, this jackass attorney and what these cops did in no way whatsoever represents what New Orleans is about or what most of the people here feel. We are just as disgusted as y'all, and this guy making excuses and outright lying just makes me sick.