natural reactions to being arrested for no reason lead to "assaulting an officer" charge

[Liberal_in_LA]

Wiggling one’s body while in handcuffs, bracing one’s hand on a steering wheel during an arrest and yelling at a police officer are among the grounds for an “assaulting a police officer” charge in the District of Columbia. The map indicates where each of these arrests have taken place throughout the city, with concentrations in the central part of the urban area and also in the predominantly black neighborhoods in the Southeast. Ninety percent of these arrests are of black people, more than 75 percent male.
http://www.revealnews.org/article/dcs-assaulting-an-officer-charge-could-hide-police-abuse-critics-say/
A five-month investigation by WAMU 88.5 News and the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, co-produced by Reveal, documented and analyzed nearly 2,000 cases with charges of assaulting a police officer. The results raise concerns about the use or overuse of the charge. Some defense attorneys see troubling indicators in these numbers, alleging that the law is being used as a tactic to cover up police abuse and civil rights violations.

As protests and rioting have exploded across the county in response to police conduct, even Cathy Lanier, the chief of police in the nation’s capital, is urging lawmakers to revise the statute because its broad application “naturally causes tensions between police and residents.”

Copacino said many cases arise from a typical human response to being unjustifiably stopped by an officer, yet District residents do not have the right to resist an unlawful arrest. “When (police) are clearly arresting someone for no reason, if the person resists by pulling away, by not putting his hands behind his back when the police officer grabs him to try to handcuff him, that becomes a crime in itself,” he said.

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Kick.

[libdem4life]

2. What is good about all of these articles, photos, videos is that Mainstream America is starting to

wake up. What form it will take...some Tipping Point horrific event...but at the end of the day I do not believe that most of us in America...black, white, brown, asian...want this taking place in our names.

People are starting to push back, video officer "events", and be heard.

The ACLU has a mobile app that streams directly to the Cloud. I thought that was a great way to advertise and also truly Protect and Serve. Don't remember the state, but it's a start.

[awoke_in_2003]

3. Just like the news reports

beamed into American's TV sets, showing the way that peaceful marchers were being attacked with fire hoses and dogs, smart phones and the internet are waking white Americans (slowly) up to what is going on in AA communities.

[libdem4life]

4. I am cautiously optimistic.

[awoke_in_2003]

5. Same here...

phones are everywhere, and I hope they become a vector for change.

[uppityperson]

6. "Nearly two-thirds of those arrested for assaulting an officer weren’t charged with any other crime"

Nearly two-thirds of those arrested for assaulting an officer weren’t charged with any other crime, raising questions about whether police had legal justification to stop the person.

[True Blue Door]

7. Humanity is a crime when authority is inhuman.