Police abuses

[Crazed Rabbit]

In San Jose, police handcuff and then taser and beat with batons a non resisting 20 year old Vietnamese exchange student.

The worst part is the sound.

As you watch the video of San Jose police officers beating and Tasing 20-year-old Phuong Ho, the hardest thing is to hear the college student scream in pain. That and the sickening thud of batons, seen only dimly in the cell phone video but unmistakable to the ear.

It is the kind of thing you expect from rogue precincts in Los Angeles or New York. In downtown San Jose, it is stunning.

The thugs with badges got caught on a camera phone, which is why their lies where caught.

In Denver, cops attack and then arrest a man who said he was going to get a video camera to record them.

Taka Fushimi said a deputy then said he was going to tow away his son's bike.

"Then he proceeded to say if they towed it, my son wouldn't ever see his bike again. And I said he was full of ****, ya know ... He told me to go back to the house," said Taka Fushimi.

On the way back to the house, Fushimi admits he told the deputy the case was one of prejudice. He said the deputy responded back, "Yes, it is."

Fushimi said he threatened to get his video camera and that's when the officer came after him. He said the officer first jumped on his back. Then threatened to arrest him before he pushed him into the family's glass window.

Neighbor Terryron Thigpen said she saw the whole thing from her balcony.

"He just went and jumped on the dad," said Thigpen.

Thigpen said she yelled for police to stop and was horrified to see them arrest and assault 85-year-old Taka Fushimi Sr.

Fushimi Sr. said he was just coming out of the house to find out what was going on. He bent down to pick up his son's wallet when officers twisted his arm and pushed him to the concrete.

Finally, in Boulder Colorado, the local police chief decides he doesn't like the annual naked pumpkin run on Halloween. The problem for him is public nudity is legal, so he looks to see what he can charge these people with and decides on indecent exposure, a class 1 misdemeanor 'to knowingly expose his or her genitals in circumstances "likely to cause affront or alarm."' It also gets the person put on the sex offender list for the rest of their lives. Of course, the only people likely to see the event at 11pm are the many people who come out specifically to stand along the route and watch. But chief isn't letting the law get in the way of what he wants.

For nearly a decade, naked pumpkin runners did their thing unmolested, stampeding through the frigid dark past crowds of admirers who hooted, hollered and tossed candy. But last year the run attracted more than 150 participants, and Police Chief Mark Beckner fears things are getting out of hand. "It's a free-for-all," he says.

So he intends to stop it.

He will station more than 40 officers on the traditional four-block route tonight, with two SWAT teams patrolling nearby. All have orders to arrest gourd-topped streakers as sex offenders.
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More recently, Boulder has played host to an annual Naked Bike Ride to protest dependence on fossil fuels. And the Boulder Daily Camera, the local newspaper, serves up a steady stream of stories about clothes-free joggers and nudist gardeners.

Casting about for a law to apply, since nudity per se is not illegal, police hit upon the state's indecent exposure statute, which makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for anyone to knowingly expose his or her genitals in circumstances "likely to cause affront or alarm."

Given that the Naked Pumpkin Run starts at 11 p.m., long after young trick-or-treaters have retired, and given that the route is packed with fans who come out specifically to see the event, runners argue that it's absurd to think their prank is causing either affront or alarm.

Even if the run does catch a few people by surprise, "the joy it brings overall far outweighs the one or two people who could be offended," says Callie Webster, who is 22 and a veteran pumpkinhead.

Police acknowledge they have not been flooded with pumpkin-run-related complaints, but say that's beside the point. A throng of naked people with jack-o-lanterns on their heads is, by definition, an alarming sight, Chief Beckner says. Therefore, it's illegal.

Those convicted of indecent exposure rarely get jail time, but they must register as sex offenders, just as rapists do. Which seems a bit excessive to Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett.

"A lot of times," he says with a sigh, "these people are just being idiots."

Still, Mr. Garnett says he will back up the police, adding, "We will take the cases they give us."

CR