Justin King | The Anti-Media

In 2011, three Bridgeport, Connecticut cops beat and tazed an unarmed man while he was lying prone on the ground. The city has already paid out close to $200,000 to the victim. Two of the officers have pleaded guilty in federal court to deprivation of rights under the color of law. The third officer, Clive Higgins, has also been indicted by the feds but has entered a not guilty plea. Higgins is on video kicking the victim, Orlando Lopez-Soto, in the head.

As is typically the case in situations like this, the local political machine has closed ranks around the department. Mayor Bill Finch and Police Chief Joseph Gaudett issued a joint statement containing the standard phrases:

“We expect a lot from our officers and the overwhelming majority of our officers do their job extraordinarily well. But when they violate the public trust, they need to be held accountable.”

Of course, the “just a few bad apples” defense doesn’t really hold water. The officers weren’t held accountable by anyone in that office. The federal government had to step in to obtain some semblance of justice. If a video similar to this surfaced of three civilians beating a prone person, arrests would have been made that day. Higgins wasn’t placed on unpaid suspension until Friday. That’s around three years after the video surfaced. If an “overwhelming majority” of officers in this department were professional, this guy would have been gone as soon as the video surfaced. Instead, the cops and Police Chief acted as any gang would: they protected their own.

It’s typical, it’s intolerable, and it’s the reason for the increase in violence toward the few good apples.

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