Galveston Police chief Vernon Hale spoke at a Tuesday night town hall and stressed that the two officers seen detaining 43-year-old mentally-ill homeless man Donald Neely for trespassing were not acting maliciously.
Hmmm, no.....this is hard to defend.
Of course the media write click-bait headlines, but that doesn't make the underlying issue here not an issue.
If nothing else, at the bare minimum, the officers should have understood how this would appear to anyone else, and that they may be recorded.
If they didn't think it would look bad and cause trouble, they're guilty of being Obtuse in the 1st degree.
Beyond looks, I can't see the underlying substance of the arrest beyond simple trespass.
That would rarely get you arrested in Canada. Break and Enter yes, robbery yes, home invasion yes etc.
In the case of simple trespass the normal procedure here is to simply ask someone to leave, and if they do, the incident is over. No arrest required. [[someone's home would be different; but I'm assuming a commercial space or the like here.). The most I'd expect to see is a caution [[so the police have a formal record of the interaction).
I'm dubious about the arrest; but then from there to carry out the arrest of any man, or woman, irrespective of skin colour in that manner for any reason other than an emergency/exigent circumstances is extremely dubious.
Do you honestly think they would arrest a middle-class white person in the same manner? I rather doubt it.
They would expect a lawsuit if they did. But a mentally ill, homeless, black person.......
Hmm.
I'm not going to accuse officers I've never met, and whose records I'm not familiar with of conscious racism.
I will suggest, that at the minimum, they are guilty of being obtuse to public perception and optics. That further, whether they know it or not, they likely would not have acted in a similar manner w/someone who was white and/or better off.
That the latter is really not acceptable in the day and age, is a given to me.
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