QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES
MEANS "WHO POLICES THE POLICE?"

From the Houston Chronicle, a classic tale of cops and rock and roll:

Noise complaint at bar leads to melee

McDuell said Stephens, whose guitar was hanging from a neck strap, then used a sexual obscenity and shoved the officer with his shoulder.

McDuell said the officer then tried to arrest Stephens for assault and forced him to the stage floor of the stage.

Stephens, a 25-year-old from San Francisco, said that is "absolutely" not what happened.

Stephens said he was sideways and singing on the stage just before he turned around and saw the officer, who then shined a flashlight at him and said, "Stop."

Stephens, who denied shoving the officer, said he responded, "Why?"

He said the officer moved closer to him and yelled, "Stop!"

Stephens said he again asked why and that the officer then grabbed him by the neck and forced him to the floor.

Accounts vary, but apparently several people then charged the stage, there was a lot of pushing and shoving, and the officer called for backup.

HPD's McDuell said several people were grabbing the officer from behind when he felt someone grab his pistol.

Click here for the rest.

Wait. Now, what happened? The main thrust of the Chronicle article is that nobody can really say at this point who's at fault, despite the fact that there were dozens of witnesses, some of whom were taking photos and shooting video. Frankly, I think the Chronicle, in a misguided attempt at "balance" isn't really doing the kind of reporting it ought to be doing. Here's my version of "balance," another account of the incident from the music news site Pitchfork courtesy of the Houston Chronicle's music scene blog Handstamp:

Two Gallants Speak Out About Houston Incident

According to McDuell via the Houston Chronicle, Stephens "used a sexual obscenity and shoved the officer with his shoulder."

"There's no way I shoved him at all," Stephens said. "I think anyone with a little bit of reason, if you just picture the situation, we're there to play music, not to attack police officers. We're playing music and a cop comes in, we had no idea what was going on, why in the world would we immediately attack a police officer for walking into a venue while we're playing? We're not on tour to take down law enforcement. It's just ridiculous to me that someone would make up that rumor, because why would anyone do that? He completely took the first offensive move by throwing us to the ground."

Vogel said, "I never pushed that guy. Neither did Adam. We were just so confused about what was going on. We didn't have time to be angry or want to start a fight."

"All I remember being on the ground was trying to get back up," Stephens continued. "I didn't swing at him. I remember trying to push him up off of us, because there was no reason we should have been on the ground. We didn't do anything at all! I still feel like it's in my right to defend myself if I feel like I've done absolutely no crime. I didn't swing at him, I didn't do anything in any way to attack him. But I think we were doing what anyone would have done in that situation, just trying to get back up, try to get back our footing."

The Chronicle also reported that Rodriguez "suffered bruises and cuts on his arms," which Two Gallants deny. "He had blood on his shirt, but that was from me," Vogel explained. "I cut myself a lot when I'm playing, so my hands were bleeding when he pushed me. And when we were down at the jail, waiting for everything to be processed, we saw him hanging out, going about his business, and nothing was wrong. He wasn't hurt at all."

Click here for more.

Yet another account posted on a myspace site alleges this: "An Ex-Walter’s employee claims Rodgriguez 'always came around with a chip on his shoulder, being very confrontational to patrons of Walter's shows.'" For me, that pretty much encapsulates what was really going on.

Forgive me for jumping to conclusions here, but given the fact that none of the people involved in the "melee" are actually criminals, and that they were obviously just trying to play a gig, the burden is on the Houston Police Department to explain why things went so badly. I mean, a fourteen year old kid who wasn't even inside the venue was tasered, for crying out loud! And it's not like these were hardcore punks or death metal rockers; this was a mellow country band. For that matter, the cop version of the story just reeks of CYA--"felt someone grab his pistol" ranks right up there with "I thought I smelled marijuana." Further, even if the cop story is absolutely true, what the hell did they think they were doing sending a single officer into what they say they believed was a crazed and drunken crowd of wild rock and rollers? It doesn't add up. Their version is bullshit at face value.

Clearly what happened was that a dick cop came in there to throw around his au-thor-i-tay. When band members, who were right in the middle of a song, didn't immediately get down on their knees and suck his big hard cop dick, he freaked, going into typical cop manly-violence mode. This kind of thing happens all the time. It's just that such stories aren't usually in front of masses of witnesses and on videotape, and cops who are often drunk on their own sense of power and self-righteousness are able to get away with it scot-free. Events like this are inevitible because pig-headed police attitudes are heavily encouraged by police culture. I think it's safe to say, however, that, eventually, Rodriguez is going to be in a bunch of trouble--too many people saw what happened.

But it will happen again. And again and again. The only thing that can stop it is to require an overhaul of the culture in which cops operate. The "us versus them" attitude has got to end. The cult of authority-worship has got to end. The "code of silence" that requires good cops to look the other way when bad cops do bad things has got to end.

I've said many times before that society needs police protection, but not from guys like this. Goddamned pig.


Two skinny, vegan, 100 pound band members "assault" a 250 pound cop from underneath him

Click here or here for video.

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