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Irene Baldwin's avatar

It's troubling; the Supreme Court has ruled over and over again on this stuff- since the Vietnam era, I think- and it still happens all of the time. Not only do civilians not need to show any particular deference to law enforcement, but they can actively criticize them, even sometimes to an extent that an exchange might be considered fighting words if it were said between civilians. The police are expected to be able to cope with a little extra provocation before they throw a punch. We have a lot of arguments about this in my house. My husband thinks all of the calls for police reform are too hard on the police; I belong to the school of "who guards the guardians" and if they won't police themselves- as in this case where the department pretends the victim committed a crime- then we have to find a way to do it for them.

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Will Doolittle's avatar

The column doesn’t say what was said but what was done. One man shoved the other. Two cops grabbed the man who was shoved and frog marched him out then took him down to the ground. If you’re seeing something else you have the wrong event

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