More Reports of Police brutality at Jackson Arraignment?

[img]http://www.santamariatimes.com/art/frontlogo.jpg[/img] Tuesday, January 20, 2004 [b]Remaining calm in the midst of Jackson chaos[/b] The last thing I expected to do Saturday night was go on the FOX News Channel and tell Geraldo Rivera about cops running amok on Miller Street in Santa Maria. But that’s exactly what I did because that’s exactly what happened Friday afternoon after Michael Jackson’s arraignment. A city cop even hit me in the chest as I held my official police press pass in my hand so officials would know I was at the scene to do my job. Then he hit me again. But, I’m not filing a formal complaint. And I’m not doing any more radio or television interviews about the assaults against me and others outside the courthouse. I’m not a whiner. I just want it fixed. [b]The unnecessary and excessive force that Santa Maria police and Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies used in their failure to control the crowd must be reviewed and rectified.[/b] Rogue cop recklessness actually endangers better-behaved colleagues. Some people hit back when an officer attacks without provocation. Had somebody punched a cop last week, all hell would have broken loose. As it was, the whole world was watching. If related reports that I’m starting to hear from other national media members are accurate, this part of the story is not over. A CBS news producer in Los Angeles called me Sunday and said she heard that some members of the Jackson family were upset with the wild police behavior they observed. And an online journalist in Vermont who runs a Web site geared to the legal community called Monday to say he had spoken to others who confirmed some of my observations and said they had witnessed police brutality during Friday’s dangerous scene outside the courthouse. :nav [url=http://forum.mjeol.com/index.php?showtopic=13284]Read FULL Article >>[/url] :timebomb