Protecting and Serving

My son sent me this video a couple of days ago. I watched it three times just to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me. Now, let's see . . . this is Birmingham. . . oh, yeah, I remember these guys from the 1960s. First, Police Commissioner Bull Connor, the guy who put the red in neck, and his whole band of merry men with their fire hoses and snarling dogs and billy clubs to keep all those dangerous black civil rights demonstrators at bay. I remember them well. They were all TV stars in the early 60s . . .So, Birmingham police chasing a van on a big 4- or 5-lane street . . . guy is really speeding . . . oops, he clips cop in the road attempting to flag him down (one has to wonder just what this officer was thinking) . . . . the van's off on a ramp . . . oops, again, he's losing control at 40 or 50 mph . . . he's rolling the van . . . he's ejected himself from the vehicle as it rolls into a telephone pole. . . . looks like he's really hurt. He's lying there in the grass by the side of the road. Not moving . . . and here come the cops out of their cars and . . . what the hell is this? Four or five of them are beating the living shit out of the unconscious guy on the ground!! NO, man. I've got to watch this again!

Well, I did. About half a dozen times, and every time the same thing happens. A swarm of cops leap from their cars and run to pound the hell out of guy lying on the ground who's helpless, hurt, and not moving. He doesn't move under all the blows either.

I'm happy to report that five of these guardians of public safety got their asses fired for their zeal in carrying out their duties. [The black chief of police in Birmingham remembers the '60s. Personally. Good for him. Good of all of us.]