Justice Prevails

The police ring the doorbell. They have a warrant to arrest a man who lives in the house. He answers the door, surprised to see them and offended that he is being arrested for something he did not do.

He argues with the officer who promptly calls for help and soon there are six policemen standing in his front yard. The man steps outside to talk with them and the first policeman grabs him, throws him to the ground, and places a knee on his throat, choking him while screaming at him and manhandling him in other ways too.

The other five police officers stand there watching. The man’s family think to get out a video camera and record the incident.

The man is charged with resisting arrest and goes to court with a very good public defender, who opens by reminding the jury of the Rodney King case. He tells them what they are about to see is much less violent than that was, but asks, where do we draw the line? How much force is it okay to use on a man who may be innocent, who is simply charged with possibly committing a crime? Who is defending himself from a perceived threat of strangulation, because he cannot breathe?

He calls the other police officers to the stand, the ones who stood in a circle watching, but not helping their fellow officer. He asks them if being a policeman is like being part of a family? Do they stand up for each other and support each other through thick and thin? Is there an unwritten honor code, a brotherhood that responds to whatever occurs? He shows the jury their written reports where they each have written down the barest details of the arrest.

He calls the officer whose knee was on the man’s throat. He asks him the same questions as well as one other one. Do you count on your fellow officers to support you no matter what you do? Do you expect them to stand behind you no matter what?

He shows the jury the video the family made. He wraps it up by stating that anyone who is being choked has a natural instinct to protect himself. He asks them what they might have done under these circumstances and he rests his case.

He has done the unthinkable. A very new public defender has gone up against a very powerful police force and won a case! His office is awed, his fellow defenders are eager to give him the high five and justice rides again.