Maryland Blogger alliance
The Maryland Blogger Alliance
Where do they get cops like this jerk?
Steve Fermier of WBAL radio reports thus:
A Baltimore police officer shown on a YouTube video berating and roughly handling a skateboarder at the Inner Harbor has been suspended.Mr. Blair is right, of course. What we see in the video is a policeman whose anger is disproportionate to the situation. He's dealing with a handful of pubsecent skateboarders, not a dangerous felon. So, why all the anger? You will note the Rivieri carefully avoids using profanity, so it is difficult to determine whether we are dealing with a man who is as out-of-control as he appears, or a carefully crafted act of bullying.Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department and the mayor's office, says the incident involving Officer Salvatore Rivieri, a 17-year-old veteran, is the subject of an internal affairs investigation.
The video, apparently shot last summer, shows Rivieri putting the youth, 14-year-old Eric Bush, into a headlock and pushing him to the ground.
Rivieri told The Sun on Sunday that he did not know that the incident had been recorded or posted on the Internet. He acknowledged having encounters with skateboarders at the Inner Harbor, where skateboarding is banned, last summer, and told a reporter that he would watch the video on YouTube.
After he was suspended yesterday Rivieri said he had no comment.
Paul Blair, head of the police union, had not seen the video but he warns that videos show only part of a story.
As a fairly conventional (albeit outspoken) 60-year-old, I am more than a bit frightened by armed people running around with this level of anger inside them. Even (or perhaps especially) if they are sworn peace officers.
Having a number of friends who are police, active and retired, I understand the difficulties of the job. This guy's anger seems far out of proportion to anything that might have preceded it in this incident, or anything muttered by the kids that was not picked up by the microphone.
Irrespective of this particular story, the city and counties need to do something about skaters. They are NOT going away, especially now that skateboarding has become an Olympic sport. It does absolutely no good to marginalize and verbally abuse young skating enthusiasts, simply because nobody will provide a place for them to pursue this athletic endeavor.
We have, on the one hand, public health mavens who complain about the so-called epidemic of obesity in the USA, especially among children. And on the other hand, we have people--property owners, politicians and others who complain about the children who are physically active. Watch these skaters, next time you see them somewhere. They display a great deal of focus, dedication and athletic (if not acrobatic) skill, beneath their often carefully-crafted offputting appearance.
Rarely do these (mostly) guys get any encouragement from adults. Is it any wonder they feel alienated and disaffected? I grant you, even I have found the skaters frustrating at times, but as adults, do we not bear some responsibility to guide and encourage the young, rather than simply condemn them?