Complaints reveal sick treatment of Gays during Atlanta bar raid

[FreeState]

http://www.towleroad.com/2009/09/heres-part-of-atlanta-police-chief-richard-penningtons-press-conference-on-monday-regarding-atlanta-police-officer-dani-lee.html

The Southern Voice obtained copies of nine complaints filed by Atlanta Eagle employees and patrons following last Thursday's police raid. A sampling:

"One man said officers grabbed patrons who didn't immediately lie down by the neck and forced them to the ground. The man said he was kicked in the ribs while lying down. 'Then I heard laughing and giggling and saying this is more fun than raiding niggers with crack. They also told us to shut the fuck up unless we were spoken too .' The man said he heard one person told that if he spoke again he would be hit by a chair. He also reported that one officer 'said to everyone in general that all you all do is flash your asses and show your cocks.'"

"Another patron described listening to officers chat about their cell phone plans as he lay on the ground. 'I was forced down by physical force. They grabbed my neck and pushed me down. They put their boot on my back and told me to stay down. … If anyone asked anything they were told to 'shut the fuck up.''"

"Another patron said he saw officers forcing people to the ground by officers pushing their shoulders or the backs of their heads. He said he asked to move because there was broken glass on the floor where he was lying, and he was told to 'shut the fuck up.' The customer recounted hearing anti-gay slurs: 'I heard several slurs such as 'I hate homosexuals.' I also heard 'I don't like fags.' One officer asked me if I was married and had any children, and he told me I should be ashamed for being there." The customer recounted having his diabetes medication, which was in an unmarked container, taken and not returned. He recounted hearing another customer told that if he didn't be quiet, an officer would hit him over the head with one of the barstools. 'There were several officers standing over me that started joking about this is a lot of fun, we ought to come back and do this every week.' The customer said he heard an officer say pictures of men on the walls made him sick, and make comments about people's appearance, including calling him 'big boy.' He also said officers were watching the football game on TV during the raid."

More at the Southern Voice...

Your blood boiling yet? Here's part of Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington's press conference on Monday regarding Atlanta Police Officer Dani Lee Harris, the force's LGBT liaison, who was MIA during the raid. "Says Pennington: We really should have had her involved in this."

The LGBT liaison? Ya think?

[LisaM]

1. This is just sickening

I didn't like reading it, but thanks for posting this.

[mitchtv]

2. typical Police procedure

Nothing new here. The more things change, the more they remain the same.Many cops are just plain bullies.

[hedgehog]

3. Why hide this here in GLBT? It should be on the GD page.

I wonder how many conventions Atlanta hosts in a year? A little talk of boycotts might be very effective.

[FreeState]

4. Feel free to post it there as well. n/t

[hedgehog]

5. Done!

I didn't want to step on your toes by doing this without your permission since you spotted this first.

[imdjh]

6. Call the mayor- making trouble for her makes trouble for the cops 404.330.6100

[mrbarber]

7. Fascist pigs.

Go choke on a donut, you wastes of oxygen.

[Gedankenaustausch]

8. Is this supposed to be news?

This is typical cop behavior... it's like OMG cops threatened people, no way!!! OMG cops were rude, NO WAY!!!! OMG The police took someone's personal property and didn't return it, NO FREAKING WAY!!! come on people, where have you been all of your life?

But really, there's nothing wrong with the cop telling you STFU or even talking about their cell phone plans when holding people during a raid of some type. These remarks, esp. the cell phone comment is a little nitpicky. And believe me, I hate cops. And as far as the diabetes med's go, there's no way for a cop to know what kind of pills they are. When you take them out of the bottle, it sucks, but you can run the chance of getting them taken up.

[FreeState]

9. Nothing like excusing bigotry because its already the status quo n/t

[Gedankenaustausch]

10. .....you misunderstand

i'm not "excusing" I'm just shocked at the mass outrage that is coming about... oh idk.... 50 years too late. I can't believe that people actually are shocked that police officers are bigoted. Apparently there are some really misinformed people out there.

[FreeState]

11. I think most posters know cops sometimes act like jackasses

I think the shock is from a pattern that has emerged over the last 8 or nine months. There have been 3 high profile gay bar raids that I know of (2 in Texas and now this one). I cant name one single straight bar that has been raided in a similar manner from my memory.

[Gedankenaustausch]

12. I can

2 straight bars, and a frat house in the town I go to school were raided in a similar manner because there were "drugs being dealt" and "underage drinking was being encouraged." Those charges against the property owners were dropped. Same style, same threats, people shoved down, etc. of course no gay references because they weren't in a gay place, but anti-college student anti-fraternity slurs in the place of them. They don't seem to bother the gay bars in the area.... at least they've never been raided like this that I know of and never when I've been there. Police in the city tried maybe 10 years ago to do sting operations in a park, it netted a few arrests, one local preacher. I tried to find news clippings online from the instances I mentioned but I don't think the stories made it to the news. This happens all the time, sad thing is many times it's unreported.

[ret5hd]

13. Poor poor frat boys...how many were hospitalized with brain damage...

from being beat by the police like the guy from fort worth texas?

[Gedankenaustausch]

15. uhhh none

violence is violence. severity doesn't do anything but rile up those on the fringe.

[ret5hd]

16. Well, how many frat boys with money and lawyers were hurt then?

[Gedankenaustausch]

17. wow

easy on the stereotypes there buddy. Your comment is about as acceptable as me saying that the cops beat the gays up because gays are sissy's and can't defend themselves. I'm gay, and in a fraternity, one that accepts me very much. Your stereotypes are despicable. Go somewhere else to spew your hate filled comments. They're not welcome here.

[ret5hd]

19. LOL. My stereotype, if any, is that cops don't rough up frat boys...

gay or otherwise, mostly because their parents have lawyers and money.

Your obfuscation is laughable. Just answer the question.

[Gedankenaustausch]

20. obfuscation eh?

haha how long have you been waiting to pull that one out? Esp. "your obfuscation is laughable." OMG please were not at a debate at a Mensa meeting. I'm glad you spend your time thumbing through your thesaurus (well, i'll give you more credit than that), learning words that no normal person uses, except of course to make fun of those who think that using words like obfuscation are cool, and then busting them out in places like internet forums. Jeez, give me a break. And don't you dare try to come back with, "well i'm sorry that you don't use words like that, haha i'm so educated I use them all the time" argument, because everyone knows thats bs including you. I mean come on, this is an internet forum, not a law review. You're not going to wow anyone with your use of a word like obfuscation. No one is going to be like, "OMG he used the word obfuscation, he's so witty, he must be so smart."

I'm going to guess that you went to college, and I then would guess that you never liked the frat crowd, never gave them a chance, they may have never given you a chance. Yeah some frats at some schools act like jackasses, and some of those jackasses have a lot of money. And guess what, it would reasonably follow that some gays at some schools act like jackasses, and some of those jackasses have a lot of money. I mean isn't this just ridiculous to talk about in the first place? Apparently you have some anger that you need to work out against the frat boys. If you didn't go to college, and therefore have little experience with frats, you're really casting judgement from a far.

Isn't it also a stereotype about gays thats the same thing? Loaded, lawyers a plenty, kinda goes hand-in-hand with good taste, good with clothing coordination? I mean look at our mainstream representation, when is the last time you saw a poor gay person on TV? With that type of representation and stereotypes in our culture, one could easily make an argument of "The gays get special treatment because they are all so rich, and have lawyers, and the ACLU always comes running to their side. They can get away with anything, no cop would ever mistreat them." But, you and I and everyone else that has a working brain knows thats crazy. It's the same with frat boys, when they're on TV, or mentioned by anyone who isn't a frat boy it's always the same old played out stereotype. I hate it when someone that has little knowledge of actual gay culture says stupid things like, "OMG I love to shop with my gay friends!" I also hate it when people attack frats as "parents having lawyers and money." Then try to say that they get away with everything because of this. All of these things are equally stupid. Try not to buy into them. I CAN tell you my experience is totally different from your disgusting stereotypes of frat life.

Furthermore, if I can quote the jest of your argument, I think you are trying to draw an inequality between the type of brutality and illegality between a the cops treatment of gays and fratboys? What a silly thing in the first place, but I know there is a lot of mistreatment by police towards gays, I also know that there is a lot of police mistreatment by police towards frat boys. They carry stupid stereotypes around about both. Most cops think all gays are gross and don't deserve equality, most cops think that all frat boys do coke and D&D and so if you have your letters on the back of your car and it's after 10pm, your going to be stopped and hassled with the same ol, I think I smell marijuana in the vehicle, i'm going to search it routine. Cops abuse everyone, but trying to say that one group gets picked on more than others is just childish. Everyone agrees that police overstep their boundaries, but when you start saying well this group gets it worse than this group, it pisses other people off and the more people you piss off the number of people against you increases. Don't be so unsupportive and dismissive of other groups being brutalized especially when your opinions are based on stereotypes.

B:T.W. i know that I stereotyped police in this, but I think that we both agree that police behave this way, so don't try to call me out on that.

[ret5hd]

22. just answer the question.

:rofl:

[Gedankenaustausch]

23. So you won't address anything

in my last writing, you are just going to throw all that away because you want to compare the severity of the police's actions? right, ok I'll entertain you because I see that you can't respond or understand anything more complex than simple dichotomies, oh jeez i sound like you now. I know you are going too compare the assaults and resulting injuries, saying that it was worse in TX. So here you go, no one had to go to the hospital. People were thrown down, stepped on, threatened with b.s. charges, etc when they didn't comply with the police command to "get the fuck on the ground." But apparently no one was thrown in such a way that they suffered brain injuries. I think anyone who has a medical background will tell you that it's just luck of the draw how you land, what you hit, which way your head hits, if you have had previous skull injuries, etc. Police throwing someone on the ground is not cool, I think it's total bs. But your argument that the raid is worse in TX because one guy got sent to the hospital, which is a pretty random thing, is ridiculous. Police brutality is deplorable no matter who they brutalize. Are you going to address the things that I said now? or do you need more time with the thesaurus?

[ret5hd]

24. Now that we have ascertained that no injuries occurred...

we can assume that the level of violence was uhhhmmm...different.

So now can you tell me how many of these poor poor frat boys were actually charged (as opposed to merely being "threatened with b.s. charges")?

[Gedankenaustausch]

25. your as ridiculous

as the stereotypes you buy into. Were you there personally? Can you comment on the violence first hand? More importantly can you have a reasonable dialog about police brutality? I can get back with you on the charges etc, as I don't have the info at hand. Let me make some calls and I will find out. But, back to the subject at hand, you are despicable for laughing at the violence by the hands of the police waged at fraternity members. How would you feel if someone laughed at the violence at the gays, saying "the poor poor gays." Your sarcasm is horrible and not appreciated.

[ret5hd]

26. You have yet to provide any evidence of police brutality towards frat members.

You have given testimony towards possible harrasment, and much hyperbole attempting to say that harrasment of frat boys is equivalent to gay bashing.

Maybe what you are trying to say, without much success, is that gay bashing is kinda like frat-house hazing?

:rofl:

[Gedankenaustausch]

27. funny

So, I called a friend who's in the frat. This is what he told me. The cops busted in a little after 11pm, screaming "get the fuck on the floor motherfuckers" those that didn't IMMEDIATELY comply were forced to the ground. He even said some were thrown to the ground, some were tackled, then handcuffed. If you talked the cops would put their knees in your back and say things like, "your daddy can't help you now you little cocksucker." I'm gonna put your ass in jail and "big bubba" is gonna have his way with your little ass." They frequently made fun of the fact that they were wearing polo shirts, saying "you guys all wear the same clothes because you all fuck each other" (does that even make sense? LOL). They made menacing comments to the girls that were present at the house, saying that "all these guys want to do is get you in some back room and rape you." My buddy had bruises on his knee from being tackled, the scrapes broke the skin and caused slight bleeding but nothing too serious he said. Other's had similar injuries. Everyone was lucky that they didn't wind up with much worse injuries. 5 people were arrested with pi, two with possession (of the same marijuana). All five that had pi were also charged with failure to comply as well as an additional 4 others. The four others were not arrested, just given citations. Both of the possession charges were dropped because apparently it was a bit too tough to prove either guy had it. No charges were made against the property owner. The 5 guys all went to jail, released the next day, were fined $350, and made to go to AA classes for 6 months, they were also placed on non-academic probation by our university, making them ineligible to participate in university sponsored extracurricular activities.

Now this isn't my account, I was not there at the time, this is purely from what 1 person told me. I don't think this constitutes "brutality" in the unreasonable burden that you require, but I think it does. I don't see any case as being better or worse. I see all cases of police brutality, weather against frats, gays, anyone to be equal. I'm sorry but we just disagree on that.

[donco6]

18. Nothing wrong?

Wow. How far we've fallen in recognizing our basic rights.

[Gedankenaustausch]

21. We haven't fallen at at all

I'm guessing that your "nothing wrong" statement is about when i said there's nothing wrong with a cop saying STFU or talking on their cell phone while holding you? I meant wrong in a legal sense. Yeah I agree its incredibly disrespectful and just plain "wrong." But, it's not illegal. I hope this cleared it up.

[foreigncorrespondent]

14. Sickening!

I bet they don't show this on Cops.