the police lie

Here's three incidents involving abuse by the police that all got caught on tape. First, from Reason's daily Brickbats (8/23):

Pierce County, Washington, sheriff's deputies were looking for a suspect in a car break-in when they found Aaron Otto Hansen passed out in a sleeping bag outside a relative's home. The deputies, who were being filmed by the TV show "Cops", tried to wake Hansen and shouted at him to show them his hands. "You're gonna get tased, due," said one. When the deputy tried to pull the sleeping bag open, a disoriented Hansen pulled it back over his head and tried to push the deputy away. That's when that deputy and another knelt on Hansen and tased him repeatedly. As Hansen began to thrash about, one deputy called for a police dog that repeatedly bit at Hansen's leg, "leaving his pants shredded and his ankle bloodied," according to local media. The confrontation ended with Hansen begging the deputies to tell him what he did wrong. He was charged with two counts of assault for resisting the officers. Those charges were dropped the day his lawyer received the "Cops videotape. Hansen is now suing the deputies, the county and the cities of Lakewood and Tacoma.

Next up, via The Agitator, "Ten Bucks", wherein an underage girl gets peppersprayed because a cop can't remember whether he gave her a ten or a twenty and finally, over at Hit & Run, "This Is Your Utah Law Enforcement on Drugs", some video of ravers being set upon by the local constables.

Thank God for digital cameras that can record this crap and upload it to the net so police lies can be seen by all.