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Most videos expose stupidity, not cases of police brutality
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Video of a Ripon skatepark arrest of a non-compliant resident was intended to embarrass police but honestly it backfired. - photo by Contributed to the Courier

There's bad apples in every occupation.

There are corrupt bankers, doctors, lawyers, bookkeepers, politicians, teachers and construction foremen.

There are also bad police officers and when they are exposed for their dirty deeds, they need to be fired - or prosecuted if they've broken the law. Because they have power, bad cops must be terminated.

You may remember that Ceres Police flushed out Officer Chris Melton, who was accused of kicking a suspect in the groin after he had surrendered, and then joked about it like it was fun sport.

But having said that, not every video of an officer using force to arrest or detain someone qualifies for hyped up cable TV news attention.

Each time an officer must use force to take down a dumb a- - as his friends video the whole thing on their cell phone camera to post instantly to Facebook, I always first consider what stupid actions were taken that landed them there. Ninety-five percent of the time they were in defiance. The same goes for Michael Brown, Eric Garner and now Sandra Bland. There was no video for Freddie Gray in Baltimore but the media would have us believe that he was an innocent rube who was punished by overzealous police.

With the proliferation of cell phone cameras, these controversial videos pop up regularly. I'm sickened by how the media plays them up, particularly only when the "victim" is black and the cop is white. Note how I use quotation marks around "victim."

Like most of you, I watched the dash cam video of Sandra Bland being pulled over in Prairie View, Texas, for not using her signal during a lane change - a big pet peeve of mine - and watched as she refused to comply, got herself arrested and then berated the officer in a barrage of obscene and embarrassing terms. But for the media to suggest there was foul play when she ended up hanged in her cell? Where is the evidence to even infer that claim? People hang themselves all the time in jail.

Let's face it. Most of these videos - designed to make police look like the bad guys - never ascribe blame on the part of the dumb butt. They almost always involve resistant, disrespectful and brazenly defiant spoiled brats who have this "By God you can't tell me what to do" attitude.

There's an old saying my brother used to tell my kids when they took things too far: "You mess with the bull and you get the horn." If you think you can beat the police, think again.

In my view, more often than not, these videos don't indict the police but illustrate the problems of defective human beings polie must deal with. The media sides with the one being arrested - almost always - and fans the hatred toward authority.

That's exactly what happened earlier this month in Ripon at the Curtis Pernice Skate Park where a call about loud music and use of profanity at the skate park led to the arrest of Eduardo Maldonado. The 20-year-old skateboarder is defiant with police from the start of the video.

"I need your ID man," the Ripon officer tells Maldonado. He shoots back, "Oh my God. Why do you guys have to pick on me?"

"We're doing our job. Give us your ID and we'll be out of here."

Maldonado fails to comply. Cocky, Maldonado gives a lot of sass talk and I think I can hear him tell the officers "I have an older brother who can beat you up so get over it." He backs up and stands with hands on hip.

When Maldonado asks why an ID, one of the officers says, "Because you're still under investigation for being under the influence of narcotics."

Maldonado disrespectfully tells the officers: "I'm not under the influence of anything. Could I speak to you like this? Come on, use your brain if you have one, I hope."

At this point I'm already seeing the picture. His parents have apparently raised him to become a disrespectful, defiant, self-righteous punk.

The officers wait patiently but Maldonado stands there without producing an ID which he nods as being in his pocket.He starts to back up toward the skating bowl. Both officers move in to grab him since he appears as though he is ready to bolt. Maldonado pulls back his arms as the officer says, "Don't be stupid."

"I gave you your chance," an officer tells Maldonado as he's being grabbed.

The obnoxious friend with the camera, who at first advises Eduardo to not resist over and over tells officers "You don't have to pull out the Taser, bro."

Maldonado then calls the cop a "bitch."

Maldondo resists the placement of handcuffs and is taken down. When the three bodies crash to the cement, a hysterical young girl runs up with the most dramatic blood-curdling screams of "Stop it" as if someone is getting murdered.

Maldonado continues to defy orders to get on the ground and has a Taser placed against his back. Zap, zap, zap, zap. It's deployed but apparently is malfunctioning as the suspect is unfazed. One officer tugs on his arm to pull him to the ground but he remains seated on this low bar, his left hand anchoring himself down. Maldonado wants things his way, saying, "I'm getting up so you can put the cuffs on me."

Maldonado stands and refuses to drop to the ground and pulls his leg up twice as an officer tries to kick it out from beneath him.

That's when a third officer comes up and gives him three relatively light whacks on his right thigh and is led to the police car. The officer has Maldonado in custody and asks "why do you have to be so stupid?"

The friend, acting as though he had video evidence of the crime of the century, proudly tells his friend he got it all on video.

Thank you for that; it shows how stupid your friend was during the incident. It all could have been avoided with simple respect and compliance.

The same sort of defiance was recorded during the June 5 pool part in McKinney, Texas. Police were called when a resident of a gated community reported teenagers - who didn't live at the community and who happened to be black - were crashing the private pool. A fight between residents and non-residents ensued. Police arrive. The party crashers act in defiance. One young black girl, Lashauna Burks, refused multiple police officer orders to "Get you're a - - out of here." She continues to mill around, running her mouth. Cpl. Eric Casebolt says to the girl "I already told you to get out of here." She back-talks some more as she walks away and he goes into make an arrest. Her friends charge at Casebolt as if to protect her. Two black males charge Casebolt, who then draws his gun and they chase off.

"Call my momma, call by momma," cried the bikini loudmouth as she's getting arrested.

Casebolt came under criticism for the way he handled the mob. What I find outlandish is the media's response. Fox 4 news reporter Zahid Arab reported residents "believe he let his emotions get the best of him" and that he drew his weapon at "teens and swimsuits." Actually, Arab had watched the video he would have seen that Casebolt drew his revolver on two clothed males who rushed him, one of whom moved his left hand toward his waistband. Arab made a feeble attempt to report residents felt the blame was on the conduct of teens that "forced him to do it."

Internet media idiot, Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks, commented on the incident, saying "Here we go again, this time it's McKinney, Texas. It's a pool party and it got out of control because at least one officer there, Eric Casebolt, did things he most certainly should not have done."

Says who?

It would have been more accurate for Uygur to say: "A private pool in a gated community was overrun by outsiders who didn't have a right to use it and when officers came out to break up a dispute about the private property invasion, things got out of control because the trespassers were told to leave and they didn't, some defying police."

You'd think someone was killed in Texas by the way the media carried on. I thought police showed remarkable restraint. Yelling at a defiant teenager was certainly appropriate for someone trying to quell a mob scene.

Burks' mother went public, of course. Instead of scolding her child for being such an impudent brat, she scolds the officer "for excessive force."

The media can, and should, play up instances of where officers are clearly caught doing wrong. Anyone who has viewed the April news chopper video of a San Bernardino County man on horseback being chased, stumbling and laying face-down on the ground, placing his hands behind his back only to be beaten and kicked in the head and groin by 10 testosterone fueled officers knows the value of video evidence. Those officers deserve to be fired, not because the man being kicked was white but because they crossed the line with a surrendered subject.

Ideally, the public shouldn't fuel the fire by going public with videos showing officers using necessary to get the upper hand. And in some instances, like the November 2011 video of the Ceres officer struggling to arrest a suspect at 7-Eleven on Herndon, put down the camera and help the lone officer.

But let's be honest. In most of these videos, someone deserves to get the "horn" for messing with the "bull." It's even happened in Ceres. There is an October 2012 video on Youtube that shows Sgt. Joe Wren's dog biting a suspect with a frantic female teen repeating over and over "The dog is biting him! The dog is biting him!" and Wren replying, "That's what he's supposed to do." The boy recording the video repeats twice "We got this mother f------!" Apparently the stooge in that scene didn't learn from the bite because when the canine released his bite, he tried to run away.

Comments posted on the video by a parade of mental midgets included: "Cpd can suk my fat (deleted) u honkeys" and Flip Morales who posted: "i get sick to my stomach every time i watch this video. Ceres police can go to HELL!!!"

It's apparent that there are a bunch of parents who never should have had kids because they sure didn't know how to raise them to respect others or authority. It's too bad that police have to suffer the consequences as the adulthood babysitters.

Since so many people lack the skills of being human and respectful toward police, a video with some helpful hints is making its rounds. They include always being polite (duh), ask if you're being detained or if you're free to go; if freed, leave the scene; if you are being detained provide ID, very slowly, be quiet, and do not consent to searches without a warrant.

There are many ways to entertain one's self by anti police zealots. If you want to check out their flawed ideology - maybe a psychosis brought on by drug use - check out the defiance by searching You Tube and searching for "Copblocking Parma (OH) Cop with "F the Police Sign" and you'll see what demented souls police are up against.

It's unbelievable folks. Unbelievable.

How do you feel? Let Jeff know by emailing him at jeffb@cerescourier.com