MANSFIELD: A Victory for Brutality

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The acquittal of Westlake cop Robert Toth on federal charges of threatening, choking, punching and kicking a suspect during a drug investigation came as no great surprise. As the acquittals in the Rodney King case of 24 years ago (in which there was clear video evidence of wrongdoing by cops) proved beyond any doubt, in the end it’s white American jurors that assure police brutality will continue to be around for a long, long time to come. Maybe forever.

In the Toth case, a fellow cop, Jeremiah Bullins, bravely did something virtually no other cop has ever done in the United States: In open court he confessed to criminal wrongdoing of his own, but additionally, he testified against Toth, confirming the account of the abuse given by the suspect, Teddie Abadie. Also, federal prosecutors detailed for the jury how Toth went back and altered records to cover his tracks. But none of this made any difference to the jury.

Everyone of fair mind already knows how difficult it is to hold rogue cops accountable. First the unions that protect them have to somehow be gotten around; then investigators (who all too often are friends of accused cops) have to conduct a professional finding of facts; then a prosecutor (who all too often has one eye on those facts and the other on the ballot box) has to be willing to indict if the facts so warrant and then conduct a vigorous prosecution. However, even when all of these steps are carried out to perfection, cops still know the chance of them ever being convicted of wrongdoing by a jury — usually no matter how egregious their behavior— is slim to none.

The fact that our legal system is flawed and unjust — especially when it comes to protecting citizens against oppressive behavior by agents of the government — is becoming more apparent with each passing day, and this flawed system permeates and poisons the body politic. No one, no matter his or her function in society, can be exempted from accountability. To allow this to continue will only fuel further widespread distrust of government, a phenomenon that already is growing by leaps and bounds.

When citizens that are summoned to sit on juries fail to protect other citizens from police brutality, not only do they encourage and endorse such behavior by cops, they also make a mockery of the principles our country was allegedly founded on, thus weakening us as a nation. Is this what white jurors really want?

As Thomas Jefferson said, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.”

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From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.

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