Topic: What it Actually Takes for a Brutal Cop to Be Indicted (Read 336 times)

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Assault and murder indictments and charges are far less common, though not impossible to attain.

ANTIMEDIA) No matter how one feels about police brutality, it is a fact that cops are rarely indicted when accused of murder and violence. This became crystal clear in the lack of indictments in the killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and John Crawford last year. Less than 2% of New York police officers are indicted for similar killings.

So what does it take for a brutal cop to actually earn an indictment (which does not even declare guilt)?

Enter New York Police Department Officer Joel Edouard.

He made headlines last summer (days after Eric Garner’s murder) for stomping on the head of 32-year-old Jahmiel Cuffee, who allegedly possessed a joint of marijuana. The video evidence clearly showed Edouard kicking the handcuffed Cuffee. After it went viral, Edouard was placed on desk duty and this week, he was indicted by a grand jury for his actions. He is charged with third-degree assault, third-degree attempted assault, and official misconduct. All three are misdemeanors.

Normally, such an act of violence would be dismissed by the justice system, but several factors likely contributed to Edouard’s indictment (bear in mind that there are undoubtedly other reasons, but the following are the most glaring):

First, the victim, Cuffee, was not guilty of the marijuana charge leveled against him by officers at the scene in Brooklyn. The justification for Edouard’s brutality was that Cuffee was spotted throwing away a joint, which was never found.

Unfortunately, the average American’s sense of justice has been diluted by the “good guy vs. bad guy” mentality that the government has propagandized both in law enforcement and foreign intervention. In the cases of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, cop apologists argued that the victims deserved what they got because they were breaking the law. As one popular cop-produced t-shirt said, “Breathe Easy, Don’t Break the Law.”

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