Grace Gatpandan – Melanoid Nation Foundation https://www.melanoidnation.org Mon, 28 Sep 2015 20:03:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 One-Legged Homeless Black Man Brutalized By San Francisco Police https://www.melanoidnation.org/one-legged-homeless-black-man-brutalized-by-san-francisco-police/ https://www.melanoidnation.org/one-legged-homeless-black-man-brutalized-by-san-francisco-police/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2015 19:57:49 +0000 http://melanoidnation.org/?p=2584 It took 14 San Francisco Police Department officers to take down and restrain a one-legged, Black homeless man, who was “armed” with crutches and apparently “dangerous”. The incident is the latest embarrassment for the US police, who face constant accusations of illogical brutal use of force.
 
The confrontation was captured on video and shows white police officers taking down a one-legged homeless black man on the city’s central Market St. According to witnesses, police were called in to the scene to take care of a suspicious man waving some “sticks” around in the middle of the street.
 
The video was shot in August by Chaedria Labouvier, who is heard calling out to police throughout the video, shows the extent of humiliation and brute force exercised immediately after the man was wrestled to the ground by SFPD officers. As the disabled- and believed to be mentally challenged  Black male struggles to move, 4 cops pin him down,  after  officers called for an Extended Range Impact Weapon (ERIW) which is a less lethal use of force due to the circumstances.
 
“These are my crutches. I use these to walk,” the man tried to explain. But even after realizing that the man had a prosthetic leg, the police officers continued to use overwhelming physical restrain and man-handled him, forcing his head to the ground.
 
In the video you can clearly hear the homeless man complying with the cops and asking them to get off his prosthetic leg while hand-cuffed, as well as a Woman saying “Oh my God –you´re on his prosthetic leg?”
The video shows that the officers used their body weight to subdue the subject by attempting to hold him still for no reason-since the man was restrained.
 
San Francisco police spokeswoman Grace Gatpandan said officers encountered the 42-year-old man waving around wooden sticks and detained him for a mental health evaluation as he walked toward street traffic.
 
Witnesses in the video can be heard saying the man used the sticks as his crutches and was simply crossing the street.
Police chief Greg Suhr and others would “look into this situation thoroughly and determine if there were any violations of department policy”. She said the case was also sent to the independent office of citizen complaints.
 
This incident comes after a recent incident where San Francisco’s chief of police has moved to dismiss eight officers who sent and received racially charged and homophobic text messages that included references to lynching’s, white power and burning crosses.
Here’s the video of the incident below.
Written By Carlos G 
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