Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they chokehold you?

That seems to be the theme for the NYPD. For whatever reason, they cannot seem to stop beating the ever living shit out of people. The real question:

Does the NYPD have a serious issue with power of abuse OR are they trying to subdue unruly criminals?

Let’s explore two recent cases.

NYPD vs Man Rolling Joint

The first one involves the NYPD and a man rolling a joint. Long story short, some idiot decided to roll a joint in broad daylight and in public. The cops noticed and approached him. From there, the only details we know are from what you see in the video, which basically entails a boot to the head after resisting arrest.

First of all, whether you like it or not, smoking pot is illegal. Therefore, rolling a joint in a public area where cops are known to not screw around is insanely stupid. There is no question that the “victim” is guilty of committing a crime. We don’t know exactly how hard he resisted arrest before someone hit record, but one can reasonably assume he didn’t say, “Oh, you got me,” then proceeded to comply with officers.

With that said, a head stomp is pretty damn excessive. Yes, that officer should be suspended for that move. Other than that, this is a case involving a criminal who refused to surrender. If you commit a crime, you’re best choice is to do whatever the policeman tells you. Let the courts decide who is right and wrong (don’t worry, we’ll discuss that aspect later).

 

NYPD vs Pregnant, Grilling Lady

This next case is a little weird, which involves the NYPD and a pregnant lady illegally grilling. Yes, grilling is illegal in some places in New York City. Again, they call themselves the Greatest City on Earth, lol. NYPD officers approached a seven-months-pregnant lady for grilling on a public sidewalk, which is illegal. Again, the lady did not go gentle into that good night, so the police had to use force.

Let’s set aside how completely asinine it is to have a law banning grilling. Yes, it is dumb to grill on a public sidewalk. People, including children and pets, use the sidewalk. You should not grill on a sidewalk. Burning calories to pass legislation to ban the act and heavily enforcing it is a major waste of resources. We all agree with that.

But the law is the law, and this lady broke one of the rules. Like the man who lit a joint in public, we do not have any context beyond 1) “victim” broke the law, cut to 2) cellphone footage of alleged abuse by law enforcement. Despite how fucking crazy it is to get arrested for something like this, the worst thing you can do is resist arrest when you did in fact break the law.

Most articles showed the image of the officer putting the lady in the chokehold, but they did not feature the picture of her smiling. If you read about these stories at Huffington Post or Gawker, the narrative is somewhere along the lines of “NYPD beats innocent black person again.” Is it really that cut and dry?

Questioning Authority

Whenever someone brings up the argument “This is what happens when you resist arrest,” hundreds of vultures come in for the kill and will quickly point out a variety of incidents throughout world history where questioning and resisting authority led to progress. Unfortunately for people making that counterargument, most of those situations involved serious oppression and crimes against humanity, not drug use and grilling on a public sidewalk.

Most of us believe that marijuana should be legal, but banning marijuana is not a crime against humanity. In fact, we’re getting closer and closer to legalizing it with several states already taking the initiative. Resisting arrest for illegally getting high isn’t exactly choosing your battles wisely. Resisting arrest for getting gay married or having an abortion is a bit more worthy. Although both have made progress, they (unlike marijuana) also include the oppression of someone’s basic human rights.

No, getting high is not a basic human right. It should be a right, but it’s not high on the hierarchy of basic human needs and wants.

There is a difference between resisting authority because of oppression/dictatorship/totalitarian rule/etc. and resisting authority because you don’t want to be punished for a crime you committed. Because of left-wing radicals, we have convinced many people that getting arrested for ANYTHING is an attack on your freedoms and rights rather than punishment for wrongdoing.

Everyone is a victim. No one is guilty.

If you feel as if you are being arrested for something unfair, take it to the courts. If you believe the court system is corrupt, take it to the press. If you think the press is also against you, take it to social media…hell, social media has been more effective than the press lately. And if you think social media is no good, then maybe you should reevaluate whether or not you are in the right. With Internet vigilante justice and access to BILLIONS of people via social media, there is less reason to literally fight the law. We can now alert the masses of any injustice.

Lastly, I am not defending the NYPD’s excessive actions. At least in the last story, a simple “Just don’t do it again” would have sufficed (given the limited info we have, anyway). If the alleged criminal is not inflicting bodily harm, than neither should officers when enforcing the broken law.

Some call this victim blaming. Others will call it someone with white privilege ignoring blatant racism. Call it what you want to call it, but I’m basing my opinions on the extremely limited facts made available rather than from jumping to conclusions based off of assumptions. Try it some time.