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November 11, Salt
Lake City: A man was found dead in Pioneer Park, where Occupy Salt Lake protesters were camped out.
Police Chief Chris Burbank said he could not permit any more camping there or
anywhere in Salt Lake . "We as a city just cannot
tolerate this going on," he said. Chris asked members of the OSL to pack up and
be on their way by the weekend. Chris said protesting was ok in the day, but
not at night, presumably when the bogeymen come out. The one-man mandate came
after a man died while sleeping in a tent at the park. It is believed the man
died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a space heater and maybe a drug
overdose, which of course has to be thrown in for effect to help prejudice any
investigation. The man was not immediately identified.
I wrote the above paragraph based on our local news because Oped has been threatened by lawsuits from SLC media, which seem to lawsuit happy, presumably due to well-warranted and earned paranoia.
My question to you, Chris: So why don't you outlaw cell phones, which are known to cause many highway deaths? Why not just outlaw gas heaters in tents? Why not spend your time and limited resources on the many gangs, regular violence, and rampant drug use in Salt Lake? Why do you condone police brutality, as I have personally witnessed three times (once on myself), on innocent people? Why do you whitewash this brutality as was recently done when I reported it?
Maybe you recall my report last summer; but if not, here it is to refresh your memory (or in the remote possibility that you never saw it):Observations from Daniel Geery, address and cell phone given.
I was headed north on 8th East, by corner of Ramona Ave., around 7:00 p.m. August 8, 2011.
A cop car was blocking my side of the road, parked in the
wrong direction, tail diagonally into the road, and forcing me to stop my own
vehicle along the curb, as I was about to do anyway, seeing the circumstances.
A Salt Lake Police Officer was roughing up what appeared to be a civilian,
medium straight black hair, I believe white clothing, I think Mexican or Indian
(though it was difficult to get a good view under the circumstances). The man
had no visible weapon, knife, gun, rock, or anything I could see in his hands
that would be of conceivable harm. By "roughing up" I mean the officer was handling
the party harshly, forcefully shoving the victim over a curb and face down on
the sidewalk (east side of 8th East), where he put a knee into the
victim's back.
There was no observable resistance from the man, except for
trying to walk away from the officer. Officer pulled the man's hands behind his
back and appeared to be starting to handcuff him. No attempt was made to talk
civilly to the man, ask him any questions, or reasonably ask him to do
anything. The officer was shouting loudly at him about laying down and putting
his hands together, with a voice far louder than necessary for communication. I
did not hear the man answer with anything other than painful groans.
A second police car raced in from the north, seconds later,
further blocking the street by stopping in the middle of it (with no flashing
lights on either car). Second officer jumped out of his car and I tried to
speak to him, saying, "Officer I would just like to talk with you for a
minute." He looked at me, ignored me completely, and jogged to the man on the
sidewalk, already subdued. Second officer grabbed the man's left hand, raised
it up behind man's back, and bent the hand completely back against victim's
forearm, in a manner that I can only describe as horrifying, and which appeared
to break the man's wrist, or at a minimum sprained it such that it would
require prompt medical attention. I may be wrong about the break, but the man's
hand literally was against the back of his forearm, 180 degrees, in the most
unnatural position I have ever witnessed in a wrist joint.
I tried again to talk to the first officer, who hollered at
me that I didn't know what happened just before. I admitted to this, but said
this was clearly a case of unnecessary force. The man on the sidewalk was making
no attempt to resist whatever. The first officer shouted at me that "the drunk"
had taken a swing at him and punched him in the face. Whether this was so or
not, it seemed evident that the man did not have the strength to do any serious
harm. Likewise, there was no mark on the officer's face that I could see.
I politely said that I was not trying to cause any trouble,
and wasn't intending to interfere, but that this situation was the kind of
thing that creates a bad name for police, who are civil servants, paid for by
civilian taxes.
The second officer refused to even talk to me, or explain
what was going on. Based on the abrupt nature of the second officer's illegal
and abrupt parking, and his remarkably mad dash to eagerly bend the man's wrist
back to his forearm, the only conclusion I could reach was that he had no
intention of administering justice, but only wanted to maliciously harm the
individual already downed on the sidewalk.
I took the license plates of the police cars (Officer one:
98161; Officer two: 103627), and called 911, on a call that should have been
recorded, complaining about police brutality, which this certainly appeared to
be. The first officer eventually gave me his card with his name on it, saying
rudely, "Here, you want my name?" (I had asked for his name). I took the card
of Officer G. Swift, with his contact information on it. I was going to call
him first today, August 9, 2011, but he is evidently not in until Friday.
I called 911, 7:13 p.m., and reported this. The respondent
on the phone said she would report this to the supervising officer and advised
me that the supervising officer would call me back. Officer called back at
10:12 p.m. (times according to my cell phone), but I did not hear my phone.
Message was left to call Sergeant Buman (sp?), 799-3000 (same number as call
came from). I called this number at 10:45 a.m., August 9, but was told Sergeant
Buman was not on until the afternoon.
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