Oh, hey, HERE'S a fun one.

[theweaselking]

Albany cops grab man at bus station, arrest him for "resisting arrest" without ever being able to say what he did or why they stopped him in the first place, strip search him, have him taken to a hospital, involuntarily sedated, and cavity searched.

And then the hospital sends him an $7,000 bill.

Of course, he was black. This has been happening, apparently, since the early 1970s: If a black male gets off the bus in Albany, they're grabbed and searched, immediately.

Comments

[publius1.livejournal.com]

I don't know why, but the fact that after essentially raping this man, they send him a bill for $7,000 is the part that REALLY FUCKING INCENSES me.

[affreca.livejournal.com]

It sounds like they don't treat women any better. (http://pandagon.blogsome.com/2008/03/10/albany-ny-police-allegedly-sexually-violate-woman-during-traffic-stop/)

[anivair.livejournal.com]

Well, if they do this all the time, then I'd say that black guy is to blame! he should know better than to be a black man leaving a bus in that city, shouldn't he? Some people...

[sydneycat.livejournal.com]

Fuck. My boyfriend is moving back there and I've been visiting him and his best friend for years. They're both black. I wonder if walking in and out with white women makes it easier to go unaffected. I'll be more cautious the next time I head out there.

[anivair.livejournal.com]

something tells me that a black man walking around with his white girlfriend doesn't make the racists LESS angry.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Just from reading that first page, it's also a textbook case of "they don't learn, do they" as well: Several times even otherwise justifiable arrests were overturned because of their idiotic methods of finding the cocaine or whatever.

[torrain.livejournal.com]

Might make them more cautious.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Well, here's the thing.

All of the serious studies show that drug use is pretty consistent across demographic groups. If it's 10%, then search any 10 grandmothers with knitting and you'll find somebody carrying painkillers they don't have a scrip for, etc.

However, the vast majority of drug arrests and convictions are of black males.

The reason has to do with the law that says a cop can search you without a warrant at any time if they feel threatened - like you *might* have a weapon - and that things found during this search are admissable in court.

And who are the only group you can consistenly get away with saying "I felt threatened" by?

Brad Hicks had a post on this specific issue a few weeks back. Let me see if I can find it.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that should have been "if it's 10% among grandmothers". Not that drug use is universal among all demographics, but that, in any non-race-based demographic, drug use is a constant between races.

I said that very badly.

Here's Brad:
http://bradhicks.livejournal.com/378767.html

[sydneycat.livejournal.com]

It's true...but perhaps it lends less moral authority to just snatch him up and hassle him.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Thanks. That was a very clear background explanation.

[elffin.livejournal.com]

More and more, I am wanting to wear chain maille and a chastity belt whenever I travel.

[anivair.livejournal.com]

good point. They'd probably fear your police report.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

In both Canada and the US, "resisting arrest" is a supplemental crime, added on when they arrest you for a crime and you resist it.

But they have to arrest you *first* before you can resist arrest. Which is why this guy got the charge thrown out.