Garfield Heights Chief of Police Robert Bryne may very well be an extraordinary individual; he might have been an altar boy at his local parish (assuming, of course, that he’s Catholic); he also could have coached Little League Baseball and Pee Wee Football, all while being the sole caretaker of his aged and infirmed mother. I don’t know.
Likewise, Garfield Heights Patrol Officer Michael Malak might volunteer at a food bank on his days off; lead the Boy Scout Troop at his church; and tutor inner-city gang youth, helping them turn their lives around. Again, I don’t know.
Nonetheless, what I DO know is they both should immediately be fired, Malak for his mistreatment of a mentally challenged man, Bryne for stating that he didn’t have a problem with the video that shows four or five of his cops abusing Kenta Settles. All of the cops that were on the scene are either too dense to “get” it, or are too stuck in their racist past to care.
There’s little room for ambiguity since the facts of the case (and accompanying video) are relatively simple: Settles took public transit to pick up a prescription from a CVS Pharmacy on Turney Road in Garfield Heights. When the building was locked he walked up to the drive-thru window where he attempted to ask a man sitting in a car if the pharmacy was still open.
What did the man do? He called the police because a black man asked him a question. “Questioning while black” might be the official charge. And yes, I’m making an assumption that the caller was white since a brother probably would not have been afraid of another brother, nor would a black dude have called the police on another black dude, since we know that any encounter with the po-po can turn into dangerous a situation, even something that starts off as the most mundane.
(See the video for yourself on my previous posting.)
Where Chief Bryne went on the record (and off the rails) with his initially positive public assessment and comments on the behavior of his cops, he lost the public trust. To unequivocally defend the cops in spite of the overwhelming video evidence — which is very damning — means the chief has no integrity, and since fish rot from the head, we have to assume the rest of the department he heads up is just as damaged and blinded by racism as their leader and therefore are no longer fit to have badges and guns: Someone (probably someone black) could get hurt.
Why is it that cops (even when caught on camera doing wrong) attempt to convince the citizenry that up is really down, black is actually white, and that wrong is always right — as long as the orders are carried out by someone operating under the color of authority?
“I was only following orders,” is no longer an excuse that can fly, no matter how many years they’ve been able to get away with this tactic. But unless we the people rise up and demand better they’ll continue to use any flimsy logic they think they can get away with.
Indeed, they’ll piss on you and then try to tell you that it’s only raining — but I’m on this one like a cheap suit — rain or dry.
Like many similar cases, this one didn’t have to happen. As Jeremy Tor, the attorney representing Settles in a lawsuit said, “This is another unfortunate example of police brutality against members of our community. From the get-go, the officers approached him with hostility and in a very aggressive manner. He was simply there to pick up his psychiatric medication and another gentleman was also there to pick up medication just misperceived the situation and he got concerned and he called the police. This was a perfect illustration of how things could have gone so much better if the police officer approached Kenta with the appropriate level of respect that I think he and everyone in our community deserves.”
Interestingly, cops from around the country are resigning sometimes en masse according to recently published reports. Good. Some might be embarrassed, but others of them might have the feeling of, “If I can’t kick someone’s ass whenever I want, what’s the sense of having the job?” Whatever the reason we need more and more of the bad cops to resign. Indeed, all cops from every police force in the country should tender their resignations to their department via a letter, and then allow the citizens of the community to determine which ones (if any) are rehired.
Representatives of both Black Lives Matter and the NAACP of Cleveland say they are monitoring the Garfield Heights outrage to determine what action should be taken if either group feels that the situation warrants further scrutiny. Kareem Henton of Black Lives Matter and Cassandra McDonald of the Euclid branch of the NAACP stated they and their organizations plan to turn on the spotlight of publicity to assure that racist cops are either fired or decide to quit. In either case, good riddance to bad rubbish.
