If that was my kid, I’d horsewhip those cops.

One snap of the lash for each of the 11 blows — punches, kicks, knee strikes — that rained downed furiously on 21-year-old Santokh Bola, and so clearly captured in citizen video shot through a window overlooking the scene.

See how they like it.

A young man with physical and mental disabilities, though the officers would have no way of knowing that when they violently took down Bola on Nov. 1 after he stepped out of his vehicle in the parking lot behind the family’s Islington Ave. store.

Know what? It doesn’t matter one iota that the four cops who allegedly bushwhacked Bola were unaware of his condition.

There is simply no excuse for such a thrashing takedown of an individual pleading for mercy, crying out for his grandfather and his parents.

Of course I can’t do to cops what they do too often to civilians. That would get me a) pounded; b) arrested; and c) possibly killed.

“You don’t fight with police.”

Those words resonate down through the years, uttered by one of the York Region officers — the primary instigator — in a spectacular cock-up which resulted in the shooting death of a protective father, the grievous wounding of a son, all over a knock on the door the day after another 17-year-old son was pulled over for investigation of a driving offence.

Tony Romagnuolo would not let those three cops in his house. And Tony Romagnuolo ended up dead, in a deplorable incident that escalated into a wild confrontation: eight gunshots fired by three officers.

All the defendants — the cops — were acquitted by a jury.

Because that’s what juries seem to do in Ontario and pretty much everywhere else.

Fight with police — argue with police — at your peril.

How many dozens of cases have been brought to me over the decades, by victims and their devastated families, wondering: How could this happen? Enough that I stopped responding to those messages because unjustified use of force can turn into a full-time, soul-crushing beat.

They would arrive with their Polaroid photos of injuries and hospital records and he-said claims. But the he-said (or she-said) counter-claims of officers — if a complaint even got that far — were always paramount.

Cops are believed. And even when they’re not quite believed, they waltz. Police unions can afford slick lawyers — a subgenre of legal eagles who specialize in defending cops — and judges are inevitably tangential extensions of the justice system that employs officers. And juries rarely convict, no matter how deplorable the purported offence and how overwhelming the evidence.

These days, everyone’s got a video function on their smartphone. You’d think — you’d think — cops would be more aware that there’s little room to hide any more and conduct themselves accordingly.

So I watch the video of Bola’s terrifying takedown and a mist of fury clouds my eyes.

Bola’s family on Wednesday announced they’re suing Toronto police — the four officers, identified as only Jane and Johns Doe, and Chief Mark Saunders — for $5 million. That fills me with unease, too, because I’ve never been able to equate harm with financial compensation, even though this is the essence of civil law. I couldn’t seek profit for injuries suffered by a loved one, beyond the cost of treatment — and that treatment might indeed extend for years.

There was a time when a bunch of cops were so displeased with me that they spent night after night parked outside my townhouse, just staring. They pulled over a member of my family and threatened him. For the first and only time I complained to the then-chief of police. But mostly I sat there in the dark with a baseball bat on my knees, thinking: “Just try it, you f----ers.’’

Those who’ve never been teed up for police intimidation — lucky you — have no idea, the feeling of helplessness. Yes, I know it’s a tiny percentage of cops who are thugs, but still, more than you might imagine.

Apart from seeking redress in a civil court of law, what is the victim expected to do?

“I didn’t do anything, sir! Let me go! Let me go, please! I beg you!’’

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Police spokesman Mark Pugash said the Office of the Independent Police Review Director is investigating the matter. (Roll eyes here.)

On Thursday, the Special Investigations Unit contacted Bola’s lawyer. The SIU had not been called in after the incident. But the SIU only comes into play in circumstances resulting in death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

This occurrence would not appear to rise to that threshold.

So we’re left to the useless OIPRD, because a police complaint system with teeth has never been developed in the province.

The statement of claim alleges the officers involved were “insufficiently trained’’ to deal with members of the public in handling situations involving questioning, searching and arresting potential suspects, and that the Toronto Police Service was aware of prior incidents, assaults and other accidents involving the defendants.

This is legalese sleight of hand; the claimants know no such thing.

“Those are just standard pleadings, because if we don’t put it in the claim we can’t ask questions at discovery about it,” explained Bola family lawyer Michael Smitiuch. “Unless we pled it in the claim and alleged it, they’ll claim it’s not a relevant question (at discovery). Since we have, we believe it would be a relevant question. That’s standard protocol from our end.’’

Smitiuch is confident that police commanders already know the actual names of the John and Jane Doe involved.

“They know the identity. What will happen is the police will make their identity known. The claim will be amended to substitute their names. There are specific allegations on a specific date at a specific location. Through the discovery process, we’ll get the identities.’’

The defendants have 20 days to respond.

Bola was approached at gunpoint, according to the statement of claim. This occurred following a 9-1-1 call about a man with a knife, and Bola matched the suspect’s description. Although not all words exchanged are intelligible, the video strongly indicates that the approaching officers made no attempt to explain themselves to Bola, to keep the situation calm.

At the trial now sitting of Const. James Forcillo — charged with second-degree murder in the streetcar shooting death of teenager Sammy Yatim — an American use-of-force expert has been on the stand in recent days as a witness for the Crown. After examining all the video evidence — and there was plenty — Robert Warshaw testified there had been many alternatives to the lethal force deployed.

“Al l of those opportunities to de-escalate the situation just never materialized. There was no effort.’’

I wish Warshaw could watch the Bola takedown video.

There was no knife. No charges were laid. It was a mistaken arrest.