End the Lie – by Madison Ruppert
A 14-year-old was reportedly choked by Miami-Dade police and charged with a felony count of resisting arrest with violence and disorderly conduct, all for giving police “dehumanizing stares,” clenching his fists and appearing threatening.
Unfortunately, it’s not all that rare for teens to be brutalized or even killed by police in the United States. There also seems to be something about police in Florida being especially violent for no apparent reason as they were when they beat a 66-year-old and when they murdered Nick Christie.
The incident occurred on Haulover Beach in Miami, Florida on Memorial Day morning after police said they saw Tremaine McMillian slamming another teenager on the sand.
“They told him that behavior was unacceptable,” Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said to CBS Miami. “He walked away and officers followed him. They asked where his parents were. He said he was not going to take them to them.
“When he started to leave the beach area, officers had to get off their ATVs to detain him,” Zabaleta continued. “He had closed arms, clenched fists and pulled his arm away.”
“Once he was approaching the road, the officers restrained him. Again his body language was that he was stiffening up and pulling away,” Zabaleta said. “Now you’re resisting officers at that point and when the hands are swinging and you are resisting officers, at that point you have to be taken into custody.”
“Of course we have to neutralize the threat,” Zabaleta said. “When you have somebody resistant to them and pulling away and somebody clenching their fists and flailing their arms, that’s a threat.”
McMillian and his family strongly disagree.
“I ran over with my son and used my cell phone when I saw my son and he couldn’t breathe,” said Maurissa Holmes, McMillian’s mother. “There was no reason to slam him on the ground like that the way they did. He’s a child, not an adult. For them to jump off their ATV and do this, this is wrong. I want justice. You don’t do that to a child.”
The video report by CBS Miami is embedded below.
“I just saw him walking,” said Kearra McMillian, McMillian’s sister. “My brother did nothing wrong. He didn’t say anything to the officer. He just kept walking. I guess they just got mad because he wouldn’t stop.”
McMillian was also reportedly holding a 6-week old puppy who was pried out of his arms before being taken to the ground by police.
“He got in front of me on the ATV and he slammed my hand. Then he started choking me,” McMillian said to CBS Miami. “Then my 6-week old Pit Bull mix named Polo got hurt and bruised his front paw when the police grabbed me and slammed me down.”
“At that point we are not concerned with a puppy,” Zabaleta said, adding that the police report did not indicate that a puppy was involved in the encounter. “We are concerned with the threat to the officer.”
“That police report was not accurate,” McMillian’s mother said.
“How could I be clenching my fists when I was taking care of my puppy and giving him some milk with a bottle?” McMillian said.
Miami-Dade police said that McMillian had been arrested once before for robbery, but CBS Miami does not report if he was convicted.
McMillian’s Assistant Public Defender entered a plea of not guilty at the Juvenile Justice Center and asked for the state to reconsider the charges against McMillian.
Judge Maria DeJesus Santoveria refused to reconsider the charges and set McMillian’s trial for 9 am on July 16.
More at EndtheLie.com – http://EndtheLie.com/2013/05/29/14-year-old-put-in-chokehold-by-police-charged-with-felony-after-giving-police-dehumanizing-stares/#ixzz2Um2payzM
Sneering at a cop is illegal now? Whats next, send a cop a greek love call a felony?
Greek Mating Call: is defined as a big loud smelly fart.
At this rate these clowns could lock me away forever!
SMDH in disgust.
I’am totaly at a loss, how you give a dirty rotten animal stares that seem in human when their not human,POLICE GANGS are animals by nature,they know americans are scared to death of them and rightly so,natural instink tells you to be afraid of vicious wild animals,THATS one of the reasons the LORD said,IF YOU HAVE NO WEAPON,SELL YOU COAT AND BUY ONE,this was our dear lords commandment to his children,he knew the day would come when you would be facing a wild animal,and FLORIDAS FULL OF THEM…………………………..
I can’t wait until hunting season gets rolling.
Freedom of speech, freedom of facial expression, freedom of thought…. this is eroding fast.
Maybe it’s just senility setting in, but I remember when the police were trained to be polite, professional, and how to de-escalate a situation using violence as a last resort.
Today, the use of club, mace, taser, and even gun seems to be the immediate response to any behaviour that indicates anything less than groveling compliance to their absolute authority.
It’s not senility. But we do have to be a certain age to have experienced that. That was my memory, as well. I noticed a huge change in attitude and procedure after 9-11.
EE most americans had their head to far up their ass to notice the police gangs raping ,murdering and killing,even in the 60’s they were every bit as vicious,and killed the sheep daily,YOU GOT THE INTERNET NOW and america sees just how vicious these animals really are,and americans were really stupid in the 70’s,the military went to KENT STATE and murdered and shot students at will ,and most americans were yelling they deserved it for protesting the murder of people in viet nam,NOW america is going to get a first hand look at death in the streets,because your dictator in chief is going to take this country down,RED DAWN is on you,NATO military is coming into every military base in america right NOW,and have been for three weeks,and YOUR POLICE GANGS WILL BE HELPING THEM………..kill your family,better get ready…you been warned………….
yeah, I’m a little younger than that (50). So I experienced the 60s through the lens of my establishment parents’ eyes. I had no older siblings to influence me. Just saying… I went through that time in a more protected, less aware and indoctrinated mode. But also somewhat aware of the dissonance. More as an observer (yes, I observed; I didn’t just watch the Brady Bunch). It was a disturbing time to grow up — because of the dissonance between what was taught and expected of me, and what I experienced and observed.
I agree the internet makes a huge difference now. What if we’d had it then…
The militarization of the police started with SWAT. Few departments actually need a SWAT team, but every one eventually had one.
You can see the change in how the media portrays the average cop. Shows like Adam-12, Dragnet, and Chips showed even tempered, polite and intellegent officers. Fast forward to today where shows like Flashpoint and others show the average cop as a hyper-militaristic storm trooper. The same trend can be seen in movies.
Not only is the military gung-ho attitude of acting first (mace, assault, taser, etc) and asking questions later, you rarely see this behaviour punished, even with posting videos on youtube. The only logical reason for this is that it s actually encouraged, and any officers involved protected (or promoted) by their departments.
I don’t like to paint every officer and department with the same brush, but if you can’t see the war on crime turning into the war on citizens, you aren’t paying attention.
Ha! This reminds me of my visit to the Time Warner Cable store in Round Rock, TX yesterday. I no longer live in Round Rock and live in the Austin area far away from those bastards.
Anyways, I kept worrying I was going to run into a cop on my way to getting a replacement modem. So once I got in there, I noticed there were two other people besides me in the place. One was a woman and the other was a guy. Both were being waited on by the employees. The woman acted normal, but the minute I walked into the police, the guy gave me this angry sneer as he was leaning over the counter being waited on. He was wearing a black shirt and jeans with a black wristwatch, military/cop haircut and sunglasses above his head as though it were sunny, yet it was RAINING OUTSIDE. The guy’s build was your typical cop build and posture and he was checking me out suspiciously as I walked into the door. Like an outsider who just walked into the saloon and is viewed suspiciously by criminal or criminals in the bar. Then when I looked at him, he tried to pretend he was looking at a flyer on the counter while I noticed he was looking at me through his peripheral vision. This guy was clearly a cop with a vendetta against the world and his own community. Just like the person in this story, he was eye balling me for no reason. Then as he left a few moments after I left, I knew he was definitely a cop by the way he walked and how he was wearing his glasses when it wasn’t even sunny out and it was raining. The guy walked like a cop, as though he still had his cop utility belt on him as he was walking and flailing his arms out to his sides and swaggering back and forth. He acted like a cop and smelled like a cop and even wore a wristwatch like a cop. He was definitely a cop. The only thing that was missing was his uniform and taser. It’s pathetic. Big Brother in Round Rock, TX. Cops EVERYWHERE! Mafioso town and county.
However, when you come to Austin, TX (which is in a different county) you rarely, if ever, see this kind of attitude. I think it’s time Round Rock and Williamson County puts a new sheriff in town. One FOR the people and BY the people. That area is almost as close to being corrupt as NYC itself. It’s called deception. When everyone is thinking that the real corruption is in Austin (the next town over), the real corruption and Gestapo is actually in the quiet little town of Round Rock, where Dell (An elitist’s company) owns the damn city and where the cops only patrol and arrest the people in the poor area of the town and are nowhere to be found in the rich side of town. Typical.
Luckily, I didn’t get thrown down, choked and arrested for giving the guy/cop a stare down contest. I mean after all, I was arrested a couple of months ago by the Round Rock police just for taking my dog to the dog park in Round Rock. So this would be nothing for them.
Well, that’s interesting, NC. I haven’t been to your neck of the woods, but I am wondering now about what it is that would attract a cop’s attention in the first place. What is it about a person’s appearance, or demeanor?
I guess I’m thinking of adding to the list I made above, “freedom of appearance” because jeez, I am who and what I am, and I have many guises I wear when I am in public. Some of them bring suspicious stares, and others have me completely unnoticed. I don’t mind being invisible, but at the same time I do want my freedom to be myself, to look the way I want, to go where I want, make whatever legal purchases I want, without having my appearance or demeanor (maybe I’m having a bad day and I’m glaring a little?) create suspicion in the minds of others (you know, those lists of normal and common behaviors to be on the lookout for, that nowadays can get you put under investigation!).
So what will you do to protect and preserve those freedoms you speak of?
People a long time ago fought and died for them, what do you do in today’s world to stop those freedoms from “eroding”? “eroding” makes it seem as if they were losing influence when they are simply being taken away, voided by the cops and the government. At what point do you realize that these “rights” that were so taken for granted have now been turned into privileges that the government can choose to deny you whenever it pleases. At what point do you realize that the only way to regain them is through unity and resistance, and that in order to make a difference you must be willing to give it all you got?
People that have earned their rights anywhere in the world had to deal with being arrested, jailed, ridiculed, investigated, attacked, beaten, threatened and/or killed while resisting.
What to do, what to do.
These are fair questions. I think we should each do whatever we can do, to our utmost, at any given time, and that varies by the individual. I think notions of unity are good, as in individuals united in a common purpose (emphasis on “individuals.”) Adapting to circumstances with new strategies, conserving resources and focusing energies, knowing when to be patient and when to act, and never giving up. Resistance takes many forms.
“People that have earned their rights anywhere in the world had to deal with being arrested, jailed, ridiculed, investigated, attacked, beaten, threatened… while resisting.”
Been there, did that. And I ain’t done yet. WTF are you doing?
This is my technique for deescalating in police encounters. I tell them I have been to the doctors getting treatment for Hepatitis. You should see them backpedal.
I hope I can remember this! Of course in heated moments such as dealing with the gestapo I generally don’t remember things like this!
That’s the funniest thing I’ve read in awhile. HIV may work well too. Man I actually laughed out loud when I read that. Genius. Pure genius.
“I am wondering now about what it is that would attract a cop’s attention in the first place. What is it about a person’s appearance, or demeanor?”
I don’t know, EE. Maybe it’s because I’m so handsome and he’s Round Rock ugly. Who knows. lol
Ya know NC, if I was you I would watch my back too because them faggot cops just seem to love your wiggle NC. 🙂 – well lets hope not anyway NC , I was just jokein` ya know 🙂 . They used to fantasize about me too and they still probobly do. I stay away from those faggy type enviroments as much as possibile.
huh?
This crap has been going on for a long time. It has just become more violent because of the new toys at their disposal and the corruption of the judicial system. I am 68 and can remember back about 1959 when I and a handful of buddies were sitting on a friends porch shooting the bull. We noticed that an awful lot of cop cars were cruising the neighborhood looking for something or someone. Being the upstanding citizens that we really were, we decided to flag the next patrol car down and ask if we could help in any way. Upon reaching the corner ( one house away from my friend) we waved a friendly haloo to the next cruiser. He came to a screeching halt diagonally to the corner leaped out of the car walkie talkie in hand and shouted ” I caught them!” Within a heartbeat there were 5 cruisers surrounding us and the morons in blue were all congratulating each other and pulling out their cute little note pads to take our names and” book em Dano” Fortunately my friends mom was home and rushed to our aid explaining that we had all been sitting on the porch for the last two hours. Come to find out some granny a couple of blocks away had called Mayberry RFD on some kids that had ran through her yard and trampled a petunia which had of course required Barney Fife to bring half the police force to apprehend the perps. Lucky they didn’t have ARs , tazers and armored tanks like today. They did however establish a healthy disrespect for the morons in blue in several young boys that has lasted a lifetime and grows with each passing year.
Since when are “dirty looks” considered a crime??
. . .
IS anyone compiling a list of these cops so after we take this country back we can put these punks on trial.
There are still way too many upstanding people (like Granny) who think calling the cops is going to help, and that no innocents will be harmed. That maybe the cops will just “talk to them.” What a life-changing betrayal you went through as a teen! On the other hand, it may just be that you got a dose of reality early enough in life so that you weren’t as susceptible to the lies. I know that the betrayals I’ve experienced have changed me forever; I wish I could have been more aware, at a younger age — though that is painful. It’s also painful to be oblivious and trusting for decades and then be awakened harshly with many years of regrets.
I hope for this young mans’ sake that video surfaces showing police overreaction. If that’s the case, I’m sure he will sue. I know it’s the taxpayers who pay for police thuggery…but perhaps if enough lawsuits cost enough money, people of a given city will demand accountability. Hey…I can hope right? I would love to see lawsuits against police thuggery include a provision requiring the termination of the offending “officers”. I’d rather see that than monetary awards…unless it comes out of the thugs pocket.
I think many intellectually-challenged law enforcement officers fantasize about being involved in their own Ruby Ridge stand-off and popping a few caps into a few perps. Maybe he was trying to make something else happen with enraged family.
Kirk to enterprise, beam me up Scotty!