What Is This

[Content Note: Police misconduct; police brutality; racism; misogyny.]

A couple of videos, care of @elonjames:

1. San Francisco Public Defender Jami Tillotson, a thin middle-aged white woman, is arrested at the San Francisco Hall of Justice on Tuesday, January 27, 2015 by officers of the San Francisco Police Department, after she tells them not to unlawfully take pictures of two young black men.


Video Description: Two young black men are standing against a wall inside a municipal building. Tillotson stands between them; as far as I can tell, she represents one of them but not the other. Offscreen, the police inspector, a white man, says: "I just want to take some pictures, okay. Then he will be free to go." He steps into the frame and raises a camera. Tillotson moves to block the young man. "No, he's—" she starts. "Counsel," the inspector interrupts. She begins to explain she doesn't represent him, and the inspector asks to speak to her for a minute. He tries to move her away, but she stays in place, in between the two men, and the inspector moves back, blocking the camera with his back. "Look," he tells her, "you can either step aside, let us take pictures, two minutes, or we can make this—" She tells him: "We're okay here. We don't need pictures taken, thank you." The inspector then tells her, "If you continue with this, I'll arrest you for resisting arrest." She smiles at him and says, "Please do." So they fucking arrest her. He instructs her to put her hands behind her back, and she is handcuffed, and she is turned over to uniformed officers. Tillotson says she's still representing her client, who stands by, not knowing what to do. "There is no 148," she says. "I am not resisting arrest. There is no 148." They lead her away, and the police inspector proceeds to take pictures of the two young men.

2. Seattle Police Officer Cynthia Whitlatch, a white woman, is recorded by her dash cam arresting William Wingate, an elderly black man, for using a golf club as a walking stick:


Video Description (starting at 1:45): Whitlatch pulls up in her vehicle alongside a curb where Wingate is standing, minding his own business. "Can you put that down, please?" she tells him. "What?" he says. "Your golf club," she says. "What about my golf club?" he asks. "Can you please set it down?" she instructs him. "What's going on?" he asks. "Set it down, please," she tells him. "I don't know what's going on," he says, clearly and understandably confused. "PUT IT DOWN!" she shouts. "It's MY golf club," he replies. "I'm not gonna take it from you, but it's a weapon. Set it down," she says. "I've had this golf club for 20 years," he exclaims. "I'm not gonna ask you again; set it down," she says. He tells her he's been using the golf club as a walking stick for 20 years, and she tells him he's being recorded, and he says call somebody, and she says she is calling somebody, and then she ACCUSES HIM OF HAVING SWUNG IT AT HER WHEN HE HAS DONE NO SUCH THING AT ALL. Naturally, Wingate vehemently denies that, and he says he wants a witness. Whitlatch continues to scream at him to put down the club, as Wingate tries to talk to a passer-by about what's happening. She tells him he's not free to leave. "If you do not put the golf club down, you will be subject to arrest for obstruction!" Wingate tries to leave, and Whitlatch rushes around the car to grab him. Another officer, a white man, arrives, and they tell him to put his hands on the car. She then alleges he swung the club at her at another location, which Wingate denies. (AND WHO FUCKING CARES IF HE DID WAVE A GOLF CLUB IN THE AIR AT A PASSING COP CAR JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.) Whitlatch and the other officer arrest Wingate.

3. Seattle Police Officers randomly spray pepper spray at people, including high school history teacher Jesse Hagopian, peacefully leaving a rally on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day:


A white female uniformed officer, flanked by other officers, is screaming at a quietly dispersing crowd of people to "GET BACK!" Without warning, she sprays a huge canister of pepper spray, hitting Hagopian, a black man who is walking by talking on his phone, right in the face. "Seattle Police Department!" she screams, as she continues to spray. "GET BACK!"

I don't even know, y'all. You know, maybe if the police want people to stop accusing them of being totally out of control, they should stop acting totally out of fucking control. Because, yeah, not all cops, but enough of them to be a major goddamn problem.