You Are the Enemy
Update, March 25, 2004

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/
176961p-154048c.html
(Reprinted from the New York Daily News)


This one needs little introduction or comment:

> Bronx cops are to blame for the death of a 
> blind 83-year-old Co-op City man who was 
> yanked from his home when police mistakenly 
> arrested his wife, a lawsuit filed yesterday 
> charged. Roslin Kaufman, 73, sued the city 
> over the death of her husband, David 
> Kaufman, who died hours after cops came to 
> their home Aug. 18 and arrested her on charges 
> of stealing a bus driver's bag.
>
> The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Federal Court, 
> says that as Kaufman watched from the backseat 
> of a patrol car, cops dragged her dazed 
> husband onto the street and stood by when he 
> collapsed.
>
> ... Charges against Roslin Kaufman were 
> dropped after it was decided that she had 
> accidentally scooped up a bag belonging to 
> the bus driver when she picked up her own 
> things, Wachtel said.

So. An old lady accidentally takes something that isn't 
hers. The cops -- ever eager to protect us from such 
threats to the public order -- not only put her in 
handcuffs, but to protect themselves from her blind, 
decrepit husband, they cuff and manhandle him as well. 
No doubt they have been trained to do this whenever they 
make an arrest: this kind of behavior is now standard 
procedure with most police forces.

Undoubtedly New York's Finest will now make a big show 
of changing their guidelines to make it less likely that 
elderly suspects will actually be killed in custody. But 
whether that will actually make a difference is beside 
the point. This incident was obviously caused by cops 
operating according to their training, which indicates 
that both police and their masters look upon us citizens 
with utter contempt.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

David T. Wright's original article "You Are the Enemy" 
may be found at: 
www.thornwalker.com/ditch/wright_you_enemy.htm.
Updates are posted as events come to Mr. Wright's 
attention.

Go to the Archive of “Enemy” Updates.

Copyright (c) 2004 by the Thornwalker.com 
www.thornwalker.com. All rights reserved.