As with the Van Kuyk case, the assaulting police hit Rev. Joseph Kirkland, his family and house guest with a slew of charges, including disorderly conduct and interfering with a police officer.
Philly prosecutors pressed those charges, which police had concocted to cover-up their criminal assault on Kirkland's house, but a judge quickly dismissed them.
Philly's then top prosecutor, Arlen Specter, later a US Senator and top Senate Judicial Committee member, rejected widespread demands to prosecute those offending police officers for their criminal conduct against Rev. Kirkland and his family.
Specter recently released a book criticizing the dysfunction in contemporary partisan politics -- an ironic argument coming from someone who once shirked his ethical and professional duties by ignoring outrageous misconduct and abusive behavior by police and prosecutors.
Months after that August 1972 incident, a federal judge in Philadelphia issued a ruling in a class-action police brutality lawsuit in which he criticized arrests without probable cause.
Additionally that judge noted that those most likely to be targeted for abuse are individuals who had the audacity (but legal right) to challenge their initial police contact.
I guess certain abusive practices are just embedded in Philadelphia Police Department culture.
So are a 1972 incident and 1973 court ruling ancient history?
Well, that '72 incident and '73 court ruling implicated issues animating the Van Kuyk incident.
Meanwhile, a Maryland man in 2010 avoided a possible 16-year prison term for posting a video on YouTube showing a plainclothes state trooper brandishing a pistol when he stopped that man for an alleged speeding violation.
A Maryland judge dismissed the criminal charges filed against that motorcyclist wearing a helmet cam in a ruling reminding police and prosecutors that public officials are "ultimately accountable to the public" and public servants should not expect their action to be "shielded from public observation."
Philadelphia prosecutors need to drop the charges against Van Kuyk and reverse the proceeding against his girlfriend.
Further, authorities nationwide need to crack down on misconduct by police and prosecutors.
Linn Washington Jr. is a member of ThisCantBeHappening!, the new independent Project Censored Award-winning online alternative newspaper available at: www.thiscantbehappening
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