This kind of stuff has been going on for a while ... but I think a couple of things are happening. One; people are carrying video cameras with them all the time, so we are seeing incidents like this *much* more. Two; incidents like this are happening more often ... and heres what I mean by incidents like this: The police officer is not harassing this man. He is doing his job, and Ill bet he feels a bit foolish and doesnt enjoy what he has to do. The person who harassed this man is the asshole who called the cops. People are using the cops to harass others that they dont like. We saw that poor man in Ohio who got killed by police in a Walmart while purchasing a BB gun, because some asshole didnt like the sight of him, and called the cops. Just recently, we saw a 12 year old killed for the same reason. Ive had it happen to me twice, in Oak Park, in the past year or two. In one case, I know exactly who it was that called the cops, because she came out to ask me what I was doing, standing on the corner in front of her business (I stopped for a moment to reply to a text message). She came out asking, can I help you? Seeing that she was just being a busy-body, and obviously didnt like me standing there on her corner ... carrying BINOCULARS!!! What was I doing??!! I told her she could help me write this text message ... otherwise, no. After a couple of minutes I walked away. Within 2 blocks a squad car pulled up and asked what I was up to. I explained that I had been birding in the park, and was now walking home. He said they got a call about a man with binoculars acting suspiciously, and maybe looking into houses. ****The woman didnt like my response to her, and was using the cops to harass me.**** I told him about the lady on the corner, and he said he was familiar with her, and her nosy nature. We chuckled a bit, and went happily about the rest of our days stuff. If I had been black, who knows what might have happened...
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 22:53:28 +0000