Earl Ofari Hutchinson: Many Hands Created the Frankenstein Monster Derek Chauvin
*There was a loud warning thirty years before Derek Chauvin choked George Floyd to death about how cops like Chauvin are turned into Frankenstein monsters.
In 1991, the Christopher Commission was charged with investigating the causes of the riots that rocked the nation after the acquittal of the four LAPD cops that beat Black motorist Rodney King. In a blistering report, it identified hundreds of officers who had been the targets of citizen complaints of excessive force, in nearly all cases against Blacks and Latinos.
Some of the officers had six complaints or more against them for using improper tactics in dealing with suspects. It tactfully labeled them “potential problem officers.” The officers were accused of beating suspects, kicking them and, in some cases, shooting them. Not one of the officers was fired. Not one of the officers received anything more than hand slap disciplinary punishment. And, most importantly, not one of them was prosecuted for their multiple acts of terror under the color of law.
A follow-up report two years later found that nearly all of these “problem officers” were still on the job. There was no indication that any of them had even undergone the intensive counseling or training that the commission had initially recommended. It took years and tremendous pressure from the Police Commission and the U.S. Justice Department to persuade the LAPD to drop its resistance to a computerized monitoring system that would better track civilian complaints regarding the use of excessive force.
There was yet another damning finger point at how police officials and higher-ups wink and nod, turn a blind eye and even overtly encourage aggressive action that easily strays over into naked brutality by cops against civilians. In a 1993 interview shortly after his conviction in federal court for beating King, then-LAPD Sgt. Stacey Koon told an interviewer that he had acted as he had because there were no clear policy rules — no training or procedures — on what constitutes excessive force when subduing suspects. Some dismissed Koon’s complaint as a self-serving ploy by a disgraced rogue cop. But the blunt reality is he spoke the truth.
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https://eurweb.com/2020/06/01/earl-ofari-hutchinso9n-many-hands-created-the-frankenstein-monster-derek-chauvin/
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a nationally acclaimed author and social issues commentator, Hutchinson is the author of more than 10 books on politics and racial issues in America. He is a contributor to a variety of news outlets and websites on varying topics concerning politics and race and is often interviewed for various print and broadcast outlets.
He hosts the live call-in program The Hutchinson Report on Pacifica Radio outlet KPFK-FM radio in Los Angeles featuring his commentary and the voices of listener-callers, and KTYM-Radio in Los Angeles.
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