Stanislav Petrov recovering from the beating at the hands of the SF Sheriff’s deputies.
If the stories are to be believed, Stanislav Petrov is not a model citizen. He allegedly stole a car and led police on a wild chase, only to be cornered in an alley in San Francisco. But that’s where the real story starts. Sheriff’s deputies Paul Wieber and Luis Sanataria got him down on the ground and beat him with their batons to within an inch of his life. While Petrov was lying on his stomach with his hands covering his head, the deputies continued to beat him, breaking an arm and both hands. (See video. The cries of agony you hear after the beating are due to the cops’ harshly handcuffing his broken hands behind his back.)
Little did they know that a security camera was recording their actions. So they submitted one report. Then, when the video surfaced, they were allowed to view the video and resubmit a new report.
Adding Theft to Assault
Now, months after this beating, a new claim has surfaced: Evidently Petrov’s beating was witnessed by two nearby homeless people, Haley Harris and her husband Jerome Allen. They say that after the beating, the cops took some money and a gold chain off of Petrov and gave them to them, clearly as a bribe to keep them silent.
Cover Up
Once again, we are seeing a cover-up from top to bottom. The two assailants/sheriff’s deputies tried to cover it up by submitting totally false reports. Why else would they want to submit new ones once the video evidence was revealed to them? The entire sheriff’s department is complicit. But so is the office of San Francisco DA, George Gascon. There is not the slightest doubt that if there were the same video of civilians beating a man with clubs, those civilians would have been arrested long ago and charged with assault and battery. And the mayor? Is he any different from Rahm Emanuel in Chicago?
Where Are the Protests?
Meanwhile, there are plans for a march led by the Longshoreman’s union Local 10 for May Day. This march will take up the issue of police brutality and murder. But the question is: Will it also take up the issue of these Democratic politicians who are covering up for such crimes?
And how about the movement against police murders and abuse? Where are the protests against this case? What ever happened to “an injury to one is an injury to all”?
Categories: repression, United States
You left out the part where, before Petrov tried to escape the sheriffs, he rammed two of the officers’ cars – attempted homicide. That might not justify what the sheriffs did, but it sure changes it from a stereotype about police to an understandable human response.
No, it is not “an understandable human response.” It is irrelevant. If somebody had stolen your car, rammed another car of yours and fled and you had been able to stop him and then had beaten him so badly as he lay on the ground helpless that you’d broken his arms, you would have been charged with assault and battery. But if you wear a police uniform, you can get away with anything. Including murder.