Community | May 30, 2011 | 88 comments

Dance at the Jefferson Memorial and get choked, slammed on the ground and arrested

source: http://wamu.org/news/11/05/30/after_dancing_arrests_park_police_launch_inquiry.php

bundlebear
After the arrests of several protesters for dancing at the Jefferson Memorial Saturday was caught on video, the U.S. Park Police has launched an inquiry into the conduct of the arresting officers, according to an NBC4 report.


The U.S. Park Police department has launched an inquiry into the actions of several officers during the arrests of several protesters May 28.
Courtesy of: NBC4
The protesters were reportedly protesting a recent appeals court decision that bans dancing at Washington's memorials. Video shot at the scene and posted to Youtube shows protesters on the ground with park police officers on top of them, and one protester being thrown to the ground by an officer.

A Park Police spokesperson told NBC4 that the chief of the park police has asked the agency's office of professional responsibility to "initiate an inquiry into the activities of these officers."

"It's going to be an all-encompassing inquiry, and so anyone that was involved, that can be identified in the video is going to be part of the inquiry," according to the spokesperson.

A News 4 photographer was also escorted off the grounds of the memorial during the protest, according to the NBC report.


http://wamu.org/news/11/05/30/after_dancing_arrests_park_police_launch_inquiry.p...
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88 comments // Dance at the Jefferson Memorial and get choked, slammed on the ground and arrested

  • cztheday
    • +1
      cztheday  

    • If the individuals had been engaging in some kind of wild slam dancing that had the potential to injure bystanders or cause them to be wary or frightened of entering the memorial, I could see a reason for arrest for the same reasons someone could be arrested for threatening to assault one or more visitors to the monument. But quiet dancing is, in my opinion, a completely understandable celebration of the man who gave us the Declaration of Independence and who stood solidly behind the freedoms granted in the Bill of Rights.

      Unfortunately, I agree with those who feel that the current Supreme Court is likely to uphold the ruling of the circuit court of appeals. I just hope people bear that in mind in the next presidential election. The next president will likely be called upon to appoint at least one justice and perhaps two. Do we want more decisions like this or fewer?

    • 12 months ago
  • littlwarrior
    • +1
      littlwarrior  

    • Bans dancing at washington memorials? What the fuck is this Footloose? Im sorry I know the story is about police brutality, and rah hope their careers are over, but seriously we have banned dancing at memorials? WTF America, god this nation needs therapy or fucking something.

    • 12 months ago
  • GeneSurber
    • +1
      GeneSurber  

    • Apparently, there was a recent Appeals Court decision regarding a 2008 incident similar to this one that occurred on Saturday.

      "In 2008, Mary Brooke Oberwetter and a group of friends went to the Jefferson to commemorate the president's 265th birthday by dancing silently, while listening to music on headphones. Park Police ordered the revelers to disperse and arrested them when they did not.

      Oberwetter sued on free speech grounds, but the appeals court ruled last week that her conduct was indeed prohibited "because it stands out as a type of performance, creating its own center of attention and distracting from the atmosphere of solemn commemoration" that Park Service regulations are designed to preserve."

      Both the 2008 incident and the one on Saturday show just what kind of fucktards we hand guns out to. Utterly fucking ridiculous. It should be taken to the Supreme Court, but something tells me that with the republicon fucktards on the court, that this slight against our liberties will be upheld... after all, republicons love to talk up "liberty," but they don't much appreciate when the citizenry actually has it.

    • 12 months ago
  • hoosierdaddy
  • Jeremy_Gordon
    • +2
      Jeremy_Gordon  

    • Kokesh actually was in the military. This guy fought for our rights just to have his abused by these officers, who are the true street thugs here.

      A great man once said, “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men"

      -- Abraham Lincoln

    • 12 months ago
  • squarethecircle
    • 0
      squarethecircle  
    • Jeremy_Gordon:

      So right. Another smart man's words.

      Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.
      T. Jefferson

    • 12 months ago
  • UtopianSky
  • EdJoyProductions
  • DavidYates
    • -1
      DavidYates  

    • "Dance at the Jefferson Memorial and get chocked..." Chocked? I guess they didn't want them to roll away? C'mon! Edit this crap! This happens almost every single day and it makes you look ignorant. This is the stuff of Tea Party protest signs. Journalists should think beyond spellchecker!

    • 12 months ago
  • bundlebear
  • jahbini
  • EvilDoer
  • NiceN
    • 0
      NiceN  

    • Get it over with and make America into the world of V for Vendetta, maybe then we can a hero to bring down justice onto an oppressive world.

    • 12 months ago
  • CaptSutter
  • NickerBocker09
  • letsliveinpeace
  • Andover
  • SoCalFramer
  • MotherForTruth
  • Varex_Sythe
  • cztheday
    • +1
      cztheday  
    • Varex_Sythe:

      Actually, if the ruling came from one of the courts of appeal, it was almost certainly the decision of a panel of judges as opposed to the decision of a single judge -- which, at least to my mind, makes the ruling even more repellant.

      The whole idea of using a panel rather than a single judge is to avoid the kinds of emotion-based rulings that sometimes come from judges that may bring certain biases or prejudgments to the deliberation process.

      A panel that must reach some kind of internal compromise is supposed to deliver more reasoned and more thoroughly debated rulings.

      The various circuit courts of appeal each have certain reputations (e.g., the Ninth Circuit Court to which appeals go in California and a number of other western states tends to be overturned by the Supreme Court more often than the others because the make up of the Supremes is strongly conservative while the Ninth Circuit tends to be strongly progressive), so the additional deliberation and debate does not necessarily equate to uniformity among the courts.

      But rulings like this one are patently absurd. My feeling is that such decisions reflect the unfortunate dominance of the Republican Party in winning the Presidency since Ronald Reagan (the President appoints the justices to the Supreme Court and the judges on the Circuit Courts of Appeal).

      Since the appointments are for life, we can expect a continuation of such absurd rulings for years to come. Equally unfortunate is that people rarely consider the importance of the power to appoint judges in their decision for whom to vote in presidential elections when such consideration is, in my opinion, among the top ten matters about which people should contemplate carefully in making that decision.

    • 12 months ago
  • harleyblueswoman
    • +1
      harleyblueswoman  

    • why in the world would they ban dancing of all things at all Washington Memorials to begin with???? I mean....have they had a real problem with dancers in the past or what???? Seems absurd to me!!

    • 12 months ago
  • bundlebear
  • Joeydee44
  • nobsartist
    • +1
      nobsartist  

    • In the future, please dance armed. This is a sickening display of police brutality.
      If that was to happen to me, and it has in the past, I will defend myself and the gloves are off. If I ever see that bald headed bastard with the dark glasses on, I will fuck the pig up.

      I hope that the victims of these pigs sue the shit out of them. Take their pensions.

      If possible, please put the home addresses of these pigs on the internet.

    • 12 months ago
  • letsliveinpeace
  • Dailydummie1
    • +2
      Dailydummie1  
    • letsliveinpeace:

      Wow, the first thing you hear the cop say is, "You're not allowed to have freedom of speech, or freedom of expression at the memorial of Thomas Jefferson." Can you imagine what Jefferson would have said about that?

    • 12 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +13
      JanforGore  

    • “Dancing is a healthy and elegant exercise, a specific against social awkwardness.” ~Thomas Jefferson.

      He is rolling in his grave. Keep dancing.

    • 12 months ago
  • remanns
  • Leen61
  • Leen61
    • +3
      Leen61  

    • I just watched this on my AlterNet news roundup and I am outraged!!!!! Happy Memorial Day, folks, in fascist America! There was no justification for this violation of civil liberties. If the ACLU isn't all over this, I will be shocked! The Jefferson Memorial....to honor one of the signers of the declaration of independence and author of the constitution, how much more blatant can it get that we are living in a police state? TJ....the very man who wanted us to have our freedoms...wow.

    • 12 months ago
  • mspray11
    • +2
      mspray11  
    • Leen61:

      Remember the movie "Footloose"? I wonder if the people that drafted that absurd law were radical Christians? I only saw a few cops in that video. Those people could have over taken the cops if they all would have bum rushed the cops and called it self defense. What the hell is with all these police that are going for the skinhead look? Is that suppose to be cool? Reminds me of some of the videos coming out of Joplin where these hot-dog cops ride around in four wheelers with automatic rifles scaring the crap out of people trying to sort through what is left of their belongings.

    • 12 months ago
  • Leen61
    • +1
      Leen61  
    • mspray11:

      Hi mspray! Nice to see you. Anyway, I remember the movie "Footloose." I'm just wondering if those people would've bum rushed those cops if they would've been in even more trouble? I just think it's a case where these cops are getting more and more out of control, they think THEY are the law and they just get off on doing this stuff. Everything I saw in that video....there was no reason or excuse for. These cops should be held accountable but probably won't be. It's always the victim who takes all the blame. And in this case, blame for what? Nobody in that video did anything wrong. Notice the cops harrassed the couple first? Did you see they were wearing Code Pink T-shirts? Cops/government are no fans of Code Pink. That's why I think these cops started this shit in the first place. The one cop told the guy from the press "You better put your camera away or you'll be arrested." What a bunch of BS! I wish I could go to DC next Saturday and join Adam and dance! But I'm sure here at Current, for those of us who can't go, there will be video of what happens next. I do want to see the follow up to this!

    • 12 months ago
  • Johnny_Los_Angeles
  • Omle_Du_Fromage
  • Ricky84
  • Slfriend79
  • Stoneyroad
  • Stoneyroad
    • +3
      Stoneyroad  

    • 2 different videos showing the entire incident
      from warnings to clearing the memorial.

      notice how cop says "this is your final warning" AFTER he body slams the guy and while he is grabbing his throat

    • 12 months ago
  • keithponder
    • +3
      keithponder  
    • Stoneyroad:

      Sickening.

      SEND THESE VIDEOS TO ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER'S OFFICE @ THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.

      Demand a response of behalf of the Republic of America, One Nation under God, with Liberty and Justice for All. Better yet, send this video to Keith Olbermann. Let's test his mettle from jump street, out of the gate. That's what he's here for.

      He better speak up for justice if he want to earn our respect and we better demand his accountability. NO FREE RIDES AROUND HERE. We need a voice.

    • 12 months ago
  • cherry5000
    • +2
      cherry5000  

    • thanks for posting this article, bundlebear. this is similar to an incident in dc, two weeks ago; when two transit police officers push a handicapped man out of his wheelchair.

    • 12 months ago
  • bundlebear
  • Leen61
  • Leen61
  • Sir_Mckenna
  • cherry5000
  • Leen61
  • squarethecircle
  • Sir_Mckenna
  • remanns
  • remanns
  • samthesixth
  • ZiggyStrange
  • kennymotown
  • jubal
    • +8
      jubal  

    • We certainly do live in a police state now. Their trying to make dancing flash mobs illegal. This is completely ridiculous.

      Dance terrorists.

    • 12 months ago
  • bluestranger
  • jubal
    • +7
      jubal  

    • What is wrong with these people who ban dancing? What is so horribly offensive about it? This is simply control of a pernicious nature that provides an excuse for police to be abusive and to instill fear and loathing into the hearts and minds of our people.

      I am completely against this ban and these people who make such rules and enforce them should have their responsibility to protect and serve revoked.

    • 12 months ago
  • Incredulous
    • +6
      Incredulous  
    • jubal:

      uh, how bout we just revoke all of them and their right to walk and chew gum at the same time...isn't there a spell or something for that? Where are the wicked witches when you need them?

      Oh wait, they're holding public office.

    • 12 months ago
  • Natalie_Alford
  • samthesixth
  • bluestranger
    • +7
      bluestranger  

    • That they were arrested at all is just as bad as the force used to arrest them. When did dancing become a crime or a form of protest. Let's review. Those delusional idiots from Westboro Baptist can interrupt funerals and taunt people that have been devastated by tornadoes with impunity. On the other hand if you want to get "jiggy wid' it" at the Jefferson memorial you are committing a crime.

    • 12 months ago
  • jubal
  • Incredulous
  • bluestranger
  • bluestranger
  • figlatin
    • +5
      figlatin  

    • I watched all the vids and I just cannot believe this. It was cracking me up when the first couple was getting arrested and another guy started doing the running man in the background... But then it immediately stopped being funny when the cops started slamming people to the ground. If I hear one more person say that the troops fight for our freedoms here at home I'm gonna scream.

    • 12 months ago
  • GeneSurber
    • +10
      GeneSurber  

    • i have no clue what the so called "protestors" were protesting, but this is just ridiculously deplorable. i can't believe those officials are given weapons... Jesus, what the fuck is this country coming to? If those are the fucktards that we are putting in charge of keeping the peace, then we truly are screwed. Every single one of those moronic police officers should be in an unemployment line before the day is fucking out. They should be fired, pure and simple. How could they even think for one second that their response to the situation was in any way or manner appropriate? Every person in the D.C. area who can make it to the memorial should go there and start dancing and DEMAND that those fucktards be fired from their jobs immediately and that the arrested be released.

      This is just shocking. All those people were peaceful as far as i could tell... the intervening officers merely exacerbated the situation... created a "situation." What small minded, moronic, absolute fucking idiots!

    • 12 months ago
  • Incredulous
  • figlatin
    • +6
      figlatin  

    • I'll be in DC the first couple of weeks in July and I'm going to dance in the middle of every monument I visit. God this bullshit is out of control!

    • 12 months ago
  • remanns
  • bailey78
  • remanns
  • bailey78
  • Pfailblog
  • Pfailblog
    • +2
      Pfailblog  

    • Keep this at the top!! My post of this lasted about a day up there! This is so important for the sheeple to see! Obama is NOT on our side!

    • 12 months ago
  • ZiggyStrange
  • ZiggyStrange
  • remanns
  • Pfailblog
    • +1
      Pfailblog  
    • ZiggyStrange:

      Where is his statement against this to show that he is on our side? He doesn't say anything about the police treating people like animals. Look at the Bradley Manning protest in Virgina where riot and military police stopped elderly people from laying flowers on a public memorial, then arrested them. There were masked men with machine guns there. Obama says nothing. He is a fraud.

    • 12 months ago
  • ZiggyStrange
    • +2
      ZiggyStrange  
    • Pfailblog:

      He did not comment on my grandmother in law passing away either.

      Where do you get these ideas that The President has to comment on everything.
      It's never been the case and never will be. You are obviously linking him to this because you are a Patriot right? Maybe you think he should read every ordinance in the country and comment on that. In NY we can't smoke in parks anymore, must be Obama's doing too.

      Come back in 2016 cause he's going to be "not" commenting on this kind of thing right up until he's out of office. Blame the lawmakers that passed it. How much you want to bet the people that passed this are conservatives.

    • 12 months ago
  • Leen61
  • Jeremy_Gordon
  • KB723
  • bundlebear
  • KB723
  • Leen61
  • bundlebear
  • Leen61
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