Comments on: Ft. Worth Police Used “Restraint”

By: John

John — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:47:13 +0000

(1) Putting a man in the hospital with a brain injury is NOT “showing restraint”;
(2) Being hit on by someone is NOT a reason to brutalize that person;
(3) Police officers who are trained to take down armed and aggressive criminals should be able to handle a come-on without flipping out;
(4) They officers knew that they were entering a GAY BAR and they were “offended” by attention from the patrons?
(5) The whole thing is a total crock–NO ONE would ever see a bunch of pumped up, burly, dead-serious on-duty policemen storm into an establishment and then casually hit on one of them. You’d just get out of their way. It’s completely asinine. It’s almost certain that no one actually touched them, and if anyone did, it would be because they failed to identify themselves properly as on-duty officers (in which case we’re back to “hey, you’re a guy in a gay bar who appears to be just another patron–what did you expect?”

This is a purely fictional “excuse” made up by a bunch of homophobes trying to justify their gay bashing after the fact. Only a self-righteous homophobe would think to suggest that gay men just can’t keep their hands off other men in any context–or that violence is ever an appropriate response to being hit on by another man.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:20:13 +0000

Sounds to me like Halstead is going to have to back up and state that he will make statements after a formal, independent investigation is conducted. Otherwise, he’s just parroting the statements of the officers – because that’s the only input he’s getting. The problem is that Halstead is also answerable to the public, and as such, he has to balance those interests.

My question is: who scheduled and planned this raid? are they being investigated? who provided leadership here and basically authorized this behavior?

By: Christopher Waldrop

Christopher Waldrop — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:52:02 +0000

Jim, I’ve been taking several deep breaths, and it seems like Mr. Halstead is ignoring the facts that have been presented to him.

I’ve also said on this board that I’ve known some pretty nice cops–people who were nice to be around and who, because of their intelligence and kindness, made me feel a little more secure. There are a lot of times that I want to give the police the benefit of the doubt.

Given the information that’s come out about this situation, though, this is not one of them.

By: lindoro almaviva

lindoro almaviva — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:32:04 +0000

Where is the ACLU on this? does anyone have any knowledge of what is the ACLU, the Human Rights campaign, and the local chapter on Equality doing? Or are they doing exactly what they did with Obama? “Don’t worry, is just a couple of heads and they are no famous people. Just pass our pet projects and we’ll let this one slide.”

By: jim

jim — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:58:44 +0000

Let’s just all take a deep breath. Mr. Halstead has a great resume. I think he needs to take a deep breath too. I’m taking my deep breaths. I don’t know the details; I wasn’t there.

I’ve said on this board that our law enforcement people are important and needed, and should be recognized for all the good work they do for our communities.

A quote I heard that I like, “If you gotta eat crow, eat it fresh.”

I’ve made mistakes. Everyone has. The only people who don’t make mistake are the people who don’t do anything.

It’s better to be open about what has happened instead of trying to hide.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:36:16 +0000

“Scheduled Inspection”? Do they have those at Applebees too?