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Early Addition
The police played a 911 call made during Monday's Brooklyn barbecue shooting. The NYPD claimed that housing cop Jason Jeremiah was hit on the head with a Razor scooter, causing him to shoot the attacker and the call seemed to support that: "One guy is down because he beat the cop in the back with a bike, with a scooter, and the cop shot him...He took one of the kid's scooters and he beat the cop across the back." Officer Jeremiah shot Robert Ramirez in the chest, and Ramirez is still at Brookdale Hospital. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that scooters have been used in other recent attacks and that it can be a "fairly lethal weapon, particularly if you start swinging it."
However, other people present say that Ramirez did not swing a scooter. Ramirez seemed to have been trying to defend his stepfather, Jose Morales, who the two housing cops were trying to restrain; witnesses said the cops were roughin him up. Commissioner Kelly did confirm that the police hit Morales' hands with a baton (Morales was resisting being handcuffing by holding on to a fence), but the Brooklyn DA's office is investigating to find out what happened. According to the NY Times, City Councilman Charles Barron visited Ramirez's family at the hospital and said the police force was excessive.
Ramirez's father, Robert Ramirez Sr., said, "The gun was not necessary. My son Robert is a good boy. How much violence could a skateboard do to you - if he did come with it. But I know he did not." The Post reported that the family was expected to post bail for Morales, who has been in jail since Monday for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
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sticky 'g' key today?
They both had batons?! They could’ve at least beaten the shit out of him before pulling a gun. Now that would’ve been an acceptable overuse of force.
A an NYC scooter rider, I can attest to the lethality of scooters (in NYC, especially). I have accidentally inflicted many a swinging scooter scab on myself and passers-by.
Beware of scooter-riders—an even more vicious menace to society than skateboarders or rollerbladers!
i would have liked to see a fencing-style duel involving a police baton and a folded up razor scooter.
Why does your recap neglect to mention that the guy swinging the scooter has a lengthy arrest history including two other incidents where he assaulted a police officer?
What confuses me most about this whole thing is that the basis for arresting the stepfather was that he didn't have ID while standing in a public place. Is there a law that says you have to have ID at all times and not just when driving a car?
Picking up a weapon ceases to be "defending his stepfather". It's called "going on offense".
How much of a pause was there between the sentences:
"How much violence could a skateboard do to you if he did come with it."
and
"But I know he did not."
Razrs' are basically sharp-edged planks of metal, so I imagine one could do a great deal of bodily damage with them. As for the cops overresponding to getting hit in the back with a scooter, cops' in-the-moment priorities are not focused around limiting your injury to the barest sustainable minimum once you assault them. If you decide to assault a cop, I think it's reasonable for you to expect ten times the assault in return. Whether you live or not is your good luck. You just don't assault cops. It's not a question of justice or jurisprudence; ya just DON'T ASSAULT COPS. I'm not endorsing police brutality, but once you start something, it's on, and you should expect the consequences.
then level the playing field, give law abiding citizens their carry permit.
I bet the mayor would never give up his security detail.
You mean with thier kevlar, they're still threatened by a razoor scooter? PUHLEEEEZE, don't make me LAFF.
God, I luv da internet.