Houston burglar Chad Holley, 15, was already face down on the ground in a surrender position, hands behind his head, when Houston police officers stomped, kicked and beat him in 2010 in a now infamous Internet video. The four officers were quickly fired — then arrested and indicted. All four are currently awaiting trial. Two of them face civil rights violations charges.
Contrast that with the fate (so far) of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers who stomped, kicked and beat Malcolm Xavier Springs in March in Charlotte. Those officers remain employed, and will apparently face no disciplinary action by the police department.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Deputy Chief Kerr Putney took the highly unusual step of publicly admitting that the multiple officers beat and kicked Springs while he was down on the ground at a press conference last week. Putney then claimed it was justified because Springs wouldn’t show the officers his hands before they handcuffed him.
“The officers used a reasonable level of force, and there’s no evidence [Springs] was struck while he was handcuffed,” The Charlotte Observer quoted Putney as saying.
Well, no evidence except for the eight witnesses the department interviewed who claim that multiple officers also beat Springs after he was handcuffed. But other than that, nope, no evidence.
The arrest and prosecution of the Houston officers shows just how serious a deal this could be — that and the fact that the FBI is investigating the case, something I’ve never seen them do here after questionable treatment of a suspect by police.
Admitting to beating a suspect and then shrugging your shoulders over it is a pretty unusual — and quite frankly cavalier — tactic for a police department. So far, the beating hasn’t gotten a lot of attention locally. That’s partly because like Springs, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe and Putney are black, so there’s not much for the local or national NAACP to march over in terms of civil rights violations. The local NAACP is politely ignoring the situation, even though Springs had two bullet holes in his chest at the time of the beating from being shot by police. (It’s a courtesy I doubt they’d have extended to a white chief in the same situation, but I digress.)
The other reason the situation hasn’t gotten a lot of attention is because Springs, 20, seemingly deserved a beat-down by someone. Unlike Holley, who earned his thumping for merely running from police after a burglary, Springs is accused of robbing and then shooting one man, running from police, then shooting a pursuing police officer.
Taken at face value then, what has just happened here is that the police department has publicly declared that the new standard for not showing your hands when asked by police, even if you have two bullet holes in your chest at the time, is a beating by multiple police officers. That’s fine with me if the state legislature wants to pass a law making that legal and defend it in court. But short of that, I’m wondering about the, uh, sustainability of this operating philosophy.
I don’t know whether to praise Monroe for standing by his men when it would have been easier to throw them under the bus or to question whether he’s running a Dukes of Hazzard-style, backwoods operation.
Editor’s Note: In last week’s Citizen Servatius column, Servatius wrote that “it costs roughly $40 million a year to keep the library system running.” She based her figure on information found at cmlibrary.org, which reports that the FY 2009-10 library budget, that started July 1, 2009, was approximately $35,372,946 with more than $31.7 million of that amount coming from Mecklenburg County. But, in March 2010, the library received a $2 million reduction in FY 2009-2010 funding from Mecklenburg County. The FY 2011 library budget, however, which began July 1, 2010, is approximately $25 million with $23.3 million of that coming from municipalities: $21.17 million from Mecklenburg County, $1.4 million from the City of Charlotte, and $730,000 from five towns in Mecklenburg County. Still, Tara opines: “With a large county tax increase likely this year and the economy improving, they’ll no doubt go back to funding libraries at a higher level in the future. You just don’t know by how much.”
This article appears in May 3-9, 2011.
Gosh Tara, once again you’ve injected so much conjecture into your op-ed it’s not funny. If you took the time to read the Task Force report, you’d know that they suggest per capita funding of about $27 per Meck resident. The Board of Trustees and County Commissioners agree. Unless Meck County jumps in population significantly in the next few years, the library will not see a “roughly” $40M budget.
Hey Tara,
Having just read your column about police brutality, I immediately went online to find this interesting news report. Were you able to view this?
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/27253841/detail.html
After watching this, and hearing that Mr. Springs is a man who, apparently has purposed himself to a life of crime, and whose crimes are a tad bit nastier than shoplifting at the local candy store, had several warrants out for his arrest, was a fugitive from the law, had led the officers on a chase, tried to escape on foot, shot at and wounded an officer (must have been the reason why his own chest had a few holes), and was finally subdued, makes me wonder at your stepping in to defend him, or basically your use of his, in my opinion, deserved treatment, as a sounding board to spout out, “Unfair!” Had Springs robbed your home, assaulted you with a gun multiple times, led you on a high-speed chase as you pursued him into a neighborhood of innocent people, opened fire on you in same neighborhood, shot you or your partner, and then refused to comply by placing his hands behind his back when finally he was brought down, maybe then you might find whatever treatment he received necessary force. As an award-winning journalist, you must feel that it is your place to shine a beacon of illumination upon social injustices being perpetrated by those who place their lives on the line to protect and serve you, and every other innocent citizen who may have been on hand that evening, sound asleep in their homes, only to be awakened by sirens, and gunshots, so frighteningly close by, and then to collapse in the relief that Charlotte’s finest had brought this seasoned criminal down. Thankfully this man, whose MO was one of ravaging the rights of innocent people, would be taken out of commission for awhile. More than likely by the time you receive this email he will be out with a gun in someone’s back demanding they give to him what is not his to take. Though I feel that your stance in this case is reprehensible, it is my true hope that yours is not the back at the firing end of his gun.
And still I wonder if you have even inquired into the health of the injured officer. Is he back on duty? He is a cripple, unable to work and provide for his wife and children? Have you spoken with the whomever’s home Springs invaded, and while holding them at gunpoint stole whatever he pleased? If you did, would your column reflect such, or would you even mention them? Unfortunately your words bespeak one of a privileged upbringing, who is living a life safe from those like Mr Springs, and whose only concern it seems is to point a well manicured finger at those who are doing their best to keep Mr. Springs out of your path. Your words and position are thoughtless to the many employed to uphold the law in situations that would leave you cowering in terror and firing at anything that moved. Before you defend Mr Springs and lambast those who treated him with such unfairness, spend an hour, alone in Mr Springs company, in his element, and without the protection of those viciously brutal, police officers.
In all reason and sensibility,
Citizen VOR