Free Thought Project – by Matt Agorist
Rockingham, NC — For asking police a question, Stephen Sings Sr. was told he was going to be kidnapped, subsequently attacked, tasered, and locked in a cage. Prior to his interaction with extremely violent cops, Sings had committed no crime—he merely asked them a question.
After video of the disturbing incident went viral, the community of Rockingham cried foul, and they are accusing the Richmond County Sheriffs Deputies who attacked this innocent father, of racism. The video tends to back up their claims as Sings was attacked for trying to get an answer to his question about his son who had been arrested: “What did he do wrong?”
“There’s no way you can justify the actions of the cops…there was no threat posed,” commented La’Réz Peguese on Facebook.
“This is about right and wrong for me. The cops were wrong in the video. The man who asked a question was arrested and tazed for simply nicely asking a reasonable question,” stated Amanda Hardin.
Indeed, as the video shows, Sings was polite and cordial when he walked up to the officers to ask them his question.
“Hey Officer Allen, now can you explain why you locked my son up..? What did he do wrong? I want to know,” Stephen Kernel Sings Sr. asks Sheriff’s Deputy Damond Allen.
But the deputy was apparently too good for Sings and would not answer his question. Instead, he scoffed at the peasant who would dare talk to him.
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” responded Allen, adding, “This isn’t even open for discussion.”
When Sings responds by telling the deputy “This is your duty to talk to me,” Allen’s ego took an apparent bruising so he moved to abuse his authority in the most egregious manner possible. Allen hands his water bottle off to another deputy before moving in to kidnap and cage a man for politely asking him a question.
“Put your hands around your back,” the deputy orders Sings—seemingly unlawfully.
“Man, I ain’t got to put nothin’ behind my back,” Sings responded. “What you mean? … I ain’t did nothing wrong.”
“Put your hands behind your back,” the deputy said.
Not wanting to be illegally kidnapped for asking a question, Sings resisted being put in handcuffs and violence was escalated from there. As Sings continues telling the cops he did nothing wrong, they continue to escalate force. That’s when several other officers jump in and throw this father to the ground and appear to begin punching him.
Around two minutes into the video, after simply asking a question, multiple taser strikes can be seen and heard as another officer starts kicking Sings.
According to the Richmond County Journal,
Sings is charged with two felony counts of assault inflicting physical injury on a law enforcement officer, five misdemeanor counts of resisting a public officer, three misdemeanor counts of assault on a government official, and one misdemeanor count each of injury to personal property and disorderly conduct.
He is held at the Richmond County Jail under a $150,000 secure bond. Sings is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 2.
While Sings shouldn’t have resisted and instead fought his unlawful arrest after posting bond, one can understand his frustration for being attacked for asking a question. Had anyone else attempted to attack and kidnap this father — other than a group of men with badges — rest assured Sings self defense would have received praise instead of multiple felonies and a $150,000 bond.
What’s more, in the case of State v. Mobley, the Supreme Court of North Carolina ruled on Jul 1, 1954, “a person has the right to resist an unlawful arrest by the use of force, as in self-defense.”
Was Sings resistance lawful or not? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
This is who we are now, and it’s only going to get worse.
there is a cure for this