This occurred at approximately 1:30 pm on 9/20/2015, In Ryan Park in Saint Paul, MN. I am posting this because I believe the Saint Paul police unnecessarily escalated the situation, were unprofessional from start to finish, and showed an appalling and unacceptable use of force towards a small boy who posed no threat. I want the police to be held accountable for these actions, which the circumstances did not merit in any way. This is is the full, unedited video I took, meaning there are some long, uneventful stretches; I'l maybe make an edit of the most relevant parts later), but I figured I would throw it all up as a start. The story, as far as I could gather it from others (there were well over a hundred people around) and from what I saw myself, is as follows: A boy (who I speak to later in the video) and his friends were attacked with sticks by two other kids, likely the brothers of the boy who was arrested. The kids who were attacked called the police and described their assailants. The police took a description from the victims, and then apparently attempted to arrest the boy seen on the ground in the video. The boy's mother approached to intervene, and was told by the officer to "get your fat ass back." The boy yelled at the officer not to call his mom fat, at which point the officer violently threw the boy the ground (I observed this from a distance, and came running; I am an eyewitness to events from this point forward) and pinned himself on top of him. Just before the video begins, the officer was choking the boy with his forearm around his neck. The crowd was yelling "He can't breathe!" The officer relaxed his grip, but remained with his full weight on the boy's chest, and was shouting at him to get his hands behind his back, even though the boy was pinned under the weight of the officer and could not possibly do so. The video begins jsut after this point. The boy who had initially called the police insisted that the boy who was arrested WAS NOT his assailant. Both the boy and his mother were arrested; the mother has been charged with felony obstruction of police proceeding. (I know both of these people well, and although you can hear their name in the video, I am choosing not to use them; their personal lives are not what need to enter any public discussion. The police, however, as public servants, need to be accountable for how they treat citizens). After they were taken away, a large number of police had arrived. Many in the crowd were outraged at what they had witnessed, and some were shouting at the police including some profanity. Several officers responded with profanity in turn (e.g. "How about fuck you?!" "Fuck off" "Back the fuck up!"). A couple of the officers can be heard cursing at the public in the video (again, with dozens of small children around); as I was there, I can attest that there was much more profanity antagonism from police that is inaudible on the video or did not make it into the recording. The citizens are free to express themselves and are under no legal obligation to be polite; but for the police to swear back and respond with petty tit for tat, with small children all about, is absolutely unprofessional and reprehensible. The police, as representatives of the state and of the justice system, must be held to a higher standard.

• published: 24 Sep 2015
• views: 107853