DEMONSTRATIONS, PROTESTS, AND VIOLENCE FUELS

THIS SUMMER OF DISCONTENT

“Outside the street's on fire in a real death waltz”

From “Jungleland” by Bruce Springsteen

Tags and Updated Links:

NYPD Strategic Response Group, Disorder Control Unit,

Mass Demonstrations, Random Destruction, Vandalism,

and Violence, Historical Perspective,

 

 

 

 

(Thursday July 16, 2020, Midtown North) We have seen this horribly distorted anarchic dance before.  Certainly, the NYPD has within our collective memory banks the recollections of such turbulence, anti-Police street warfare, and the shotgun merging of disjointed factions of malcontents delivering the shit bombs of social unrest and violence onto our streets under the guise of “social justice”.  Oh yes, we have seen this frenzied dance before.  Legitimate protesters clear the way for scumbag looters, rioters, and those infected with a criminal instinct in an effort to deliver a nightmare scenario as the nights comes in.  The darkness conceals what the next mornings light will reveal. Broken store windows, vile graffiti, embers of dying fires, shattered glass from attacked NYPD vehicles, and looted goods strewn across some of most famous thoroughfares. The acrid aroma of the previous night’s chaos lingers and the daily headlines describe the transpiring events that marked the early morning hours.  While most of Our City slept the NYPD constricted, and effectively isolated the skirmish lines to a few limited pockets of lawlessness.

 

CAUSE AND EFFECT

 

On Memorial Day, May 25^th, a White Minneapolis Police Officer was filmed pinning a Black suspect, George Floyd, to the pavement shortly after responding to a 911 call. The senior Officer at the scene Officer Derek Chauvin used his body weight as he kept his knee on the neck of Mr. Floyd. For nearly nine minutes Chauvin applied his body weight pressure even as Mr. Floyd repeatedly begged for relief saying several times, “I can’t breathe”.  The scene was captured on cellphone video by many bystanders.  The other three Officers who accompanied Chauvin appeared to stand idly by as the life and death crisis unfolded.  Mr. Floyd was pronounced dead within an hour at a local hospital. Within hours as the sunset a crowd began to gather in front of the Cup Foods market, the scene of Mr. Floyd’s death.  It did not take long for the first small fire to be lit, to hear the first sounds of neighborhood shop windows being broken.  As the night wore on the crowd turned into a mob, a mob hellbent on destruction.  As is always the case the looters came out and had carte blanche in their thieving; the Minneapolis Police Department was instructed to basically “Stand Down” and allow the unrest to escalate unabated. On the third night of the upheaval rioters managed to gain access to a Police Precinct and burn it to the ground.  It was this act of surrender that would define the riot that followed not only in Minneapolis but in cities large and small across the country. The Minneapolis Police Department will forever have this shameful episode of blatant abdication as a dark chapter of failure as part of their legacy.

 

THE PEBBLE IN THE POND

 

The death of George Floyd was the proverbial pebble in the pond.  A small piece of stone dropped into a small urban pond that caused a cascading series of social unrest that rippled across the country from coast to coast.  Night after night as late June turned into July “peaceful demonstrators” would march in our cities streets while the nights grew ever more hazardous to life and property as many communities with little to no previous experience with crowd control tactics became literal hotbeds of random and coordinated violence and looting.  Oh yeah, there is ALWAYS looting.   Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King once said that “Rioting is the voice of the oppressed”. That may be so.  However, vandalism, destruction, and looting are the language of the opportunistic criminal element.

 

 

 

As the weeks immediately following the worst of the rioting have given way to a more sober approach by many “activists” and “neighborhood organizers” in the Black Lives Matter movement and associated but less well defined “causes”, the mainstream media and commentators, analysts, and assorted “experts” and “academics” have sought to piece what they see has a simplistic puzzle into a coherent explanatory mosaic.  But the world is not quite that simple despite how much such people wish it were.  They are seemingly preoccupied with weaving together a broad range of issues with an unwieldy needle.  Their determination to complete the mosaic includes weaving in the devastating effects of the Corona Virus across the country and particularly in the Black and Brown communities, the severe economic impact in those communities, a federal and local government who do not truly represent their issues.

 

HOLDING THE LINE

 

It did not take long for the ripples of near-anarchic lawlessness to invade the streets of Our City.  On the weekend after George Floyd’s death, the hierarchy in 1PP sent an e-mail to all Members of Service (MOS) to “get your uniform ready”, that all MOS from every Command, Bureau, Unit, and Squad to be prepared to respond to any Precinct, in full uniform including “hats and bats” - (Riot helmets and Batons).  The top brass in the Department was fully aware that it was just a matter of time, literally hours not days, before the criminal and social unrest would be unleashed on our streets.  There is hands down no better trained and equipped  Police Department in the country prepared for such widespread disorder (more to come on this at a later date).  The Disorder Control Unit and its subsidiary Strategic Response Group have largely mastered the tactical and strategic art and science of mass demonstrations and the violent unrest that is certain to follow.

 

The challenge during this period of time was that there were “multiple hotspots” requiring NYPD intervention from Manhattan to Brooklyn.  The upheaval in The Bronx was primarily the “typical” opportunistic vandalism and looting that was quickly extinguished relative to the huge throngs of people of various ideologies and violent intent that invaded sections of Brooklyn around the Barclays Center, in McCarren Park, Grand Army Plaza, and Crown Heights.  In Manhattan several very large groups of marchers made their way along the West Side Highway toward Columbus Circle, from 110th Street and Central Park West to Washington Square Park, and several times they marched back and forth across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan.  There is nothing “peaceful” about obstructing the traffic on our City’s main thoroughfares, impeding the flow of Emergency Response Agencies including the FDNY – EMS, and NYPD.  The looting was most severe just blocks from here in Midtown Manhattan, Times and Herald Squares, the locations of some of the most famous, iconic retailers including Macys.

 

LOOSING GROUND

 

As our City has poised for the next phase of “Reopening” from the last remaining Covid-19 restrictions the rioting has taken on a far more deadly, sinister complexion.  In what has seemingly become nightly occurrences the rate of gun-related crime has soared, direct attacks on MOS of the NYPD have risen to unprecedented levels, and the hard fought and won victories in sharply curtailing violent crime over the last 25 years is rapidly dissipating in the summer heat. The facts on the ground are in no way a reflection of the men and women of the NYPD.  Not at all. The widespread disorder and violence can be laid directly in the lap of the useless Mayor, Bill de Blasio.  

 

The hapless Mayor embarrasses himself daily while holding during press conferences.  He is completely devoid of any understanding about Our City, the diversity and complexities that are unique to NYC.  His politics, for lack of a better word, and pursuant policies as stated in his press conferences expose a man epically unfit for the Office he now holds.  It has become grossly obvious in a short period of time how his liberal views skew his approach regarding how  Our City is governed, the role of the NYPD, and his disgusting desire to appease the left-wing extremists, even those who have perpetrated acts of wanton civil disruption and frenzied turbulence on our streets.

 

SUMMERS PAST

 

We have lived through long hot summers many times in the history of Our City.  Those of us of a certain age can remember all too vividly those long-ago days when it felt that NYC was transforming into an armed encampment by radical groups.  Their goals and objectives may have varied but their tactics were the same. We suffered through race riots several times in the 1960’s, as well as many anti-Vietnam war demonstrations. We knew days of palpable fear in Our subways and the long burning inferno that leveled large swathes of the South Bronx from arson.  There were two summers when a faceless murderous entity who called himself the “Son of Sam” roamed the hot, still, muggy nights searching for prey around various “lovers’ lanes”.  Yes, in many ways this is a dance we have seen before.  Perhaps among the social phenomenon that does distinguish today from those similar epochs are the facts that much of the violence is organized by technology.  Like-minded people can rapidly communicate and coordinate their activities via “smart phones” and a range of social media “apps” that serve as meeting places.  What are now designated as “flash mobs” can appear very quickly as organizers can instantly orchestrate their adherent’s movements, hide caches of crude but effective weapons such as bricks, baseball bats, and Molotov cocktails to be used against the MOS of the NYPD.

 

Is what is transpiring in several large cities across the country a harbinger for the future happenings in NYC? If so, we very well may be doing battle with this civil and social turmoil for quite some time. In cities such as Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, Austin, Texas, Louisville, Kentucky just to name a few, the protests persist with varying degrees of militancy. Indeed, we may be compelled to more aggressively operate to protect the greater good of NYC and all Our people in every Borough and Command.  It may be a long, hot, protracted deployment of “Hats and Bats”.

 

May the Good Lord Protect

The Men and Women of The NYPD

 

 

Copyright The Brooding Cynyx 2020 © All Rights Reserved

Copyright Brooding Cynyc 2020 © All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TIME AND AGAIN PUBLIC FIGURES OPT TO NOT DO THE RIGHT THING

TENSIONS ON THE RISE IN THE WAKE OF

DEATH OF STATEN ISLAND MAN RESISTING ARREST

AL SHARPTON AND SPIKE LEE NEVER MISS AN

OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLOIT A RACIALLY CHARGED ISSUE.

TAGS: ERIC GARNER, AL SHARPTON & SPIKE LEE RACE-BAITING AGAIN,

“CHOKE HOLD” VERSUS TAKE DOWN, POLICE VERSUS POLICING,

NYPD, NYPD INTERNAL AFFAIRS INVESTIGATION, NYPD PATROL GUIDE,

CESSATION OF SQF, FDNY EMT INVESTIGATION,

NYC OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL

(Thursday July 24, 2014, NYC)  The audio and visual images of NYPD Officers attempting to arrest Eric Garner on Staten Island last Thursday are compelling and, to the uninitiated eye condemning.  The dynamics of this most recent high profile NYPD interaction with an alleged perpetrator is one we are all too familiar with.  Passions naturally run high on both sides of the circumstances by which the 6’ 5’ 400 pound father of six died after he resisted arrest and was taken to the ground before the Officers could subdue him.

The unfortunate death of Mr. Garner is being perceived through the same narrow vision of a tricolored spectrum; Black, Blue and White are the only colors this particular prism allows to filter through.  Mr. Garner was a Black man and the NYPD Officers represent the Blue hue and all happened to be White.  As long as the debate is framed in such a limiting manner we might look back on this episode months from now as the flashpoint that ignited what may prove to be a long hot summer in our City. 

And, as predictable as tomorrow’s dawn the usual public figures insinuate themselves into the growing maelstrom because they can never resist an opportunity to exploit their own self-promoting, self-serving interests.  People who could use their “fame” or other status to bring measured tones to counter the rancorous arguments throughout our neighborhoods opt instead to fan the always simmering flames of racial tensions while disparaging the NYPD has become their stock in trade.  It is sickening to see men such as “Reverend” Al Sharpton who has traded his track suits for $2000 Amani’s since the Michael Stewart days.  Perhaps to bolster his lagging career as a film maker, Spike Lee has stepped up to the plate and, in the most despicable way possible, created a mishmash video clip of Mr. Garner’s tussle with police with images from a somewhat similar scene from one of his movies that he just so happens to be re-promoting to mark its 25^th year anniversary of release, his 1989 film “Do The Right Thing”. Spike Lee clearly demonstrated to all that he is a classless instigator who has used many of his films to further his political agenda while getting rich directing half-witted, racially charged movies.

Within hours after Mr. Garner was pronounced dead at Richmond University Medical Center, Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton announced that his Department’s Internal Affairs Division was going to conduct an investigation of the incident and retrain Officers on what is officially considered a “chokehold”, a means of subduing an individual that has been banned from the NYPD Patrol Guide since 1993.   On Tuesday the FBI announced that they would be “monitoring” the internal NYPD investigation.  That is a curious statement since the entire event falls within the domain of The City of New York and its Office of Legal Counsel, NYPD and the FDNY since four FDNY EMT’s arrived at the scene and appeared to not be making sufficient efforts to revive Mr. Garner as he lay on the ground.   By law the FBI is tasked with federal law enforcement and has no jurisdiction over the NYPD and cannot become involved in any “local” criminal investigation unless the case meets certain strict criteria and/or they are formerly “invited” by local authorities to assist them.  Perhaps the Department of Justice and Attorney General Eric Holder are preparing for what will likely be a civil suit brought by Garner’s family.  In any case, at this point this development just further complicates the matter.

CHOKE-HOLD VERSUS TAKE-DOWN

With the popularization of MMA or Mixed Martial Arts Fighting, the viewing public knows what a choke-hold looks like.  Most times an opponent is trapped in a choke-hold he will lose consciousness if he doesn’t “tap out” prior to passing out. While many who have seen the video of the Officers attempting to arrest Mr. Garner see an Officer grab the much taller, heavier man from the back, that maneuver is clearly not a choke-hold; the Officer never locked his arms in the position that would be considered a choke-hold.  The Officer employed a common street fighting technique known as a take-down.  It is a close-line type clinching of one arm from behind an assailant’s back in order to restrain the individual’s effort to resist arrest and possibly injure the Officers.  That Garner was morbidly obese and as an asthmatic were contributing factors that no doubt were the underlying cause of his death. 

A complete or partial post mortem examination was made of Mr. Garner’s body by one of the NYC Medical Examiners.  That report has not been released and may still not be complete.  But, the results of that post mortem will prove what exactly killed Mr. Garner.  The truth is always revealed by the Forensic Pathologist’s scalpel.  The external and initial internal gross examination of tissue and organs often show telltale evidence as to the cause of death and, after specific tissue samples are processed for microscopic study, the whole story can be told.  Until that report is made public any opinions regarding Garner’s death are speculative at best; purposely deceptive and false at worst.

Much has been made about Mr. Garner shouting at the Officers who were attempting to cuff him while he was pinned beneath them on the ground in a standard operating procedure for applying cuffs to a resisting perpetrator.  He was heard 11 times forcefully telling the Officers, “I can’t breathe”.  A person who is rendered into a position or succumbs to the pressures that would obstruct breathing would also render them unable to speak forcefully and clearly.  If Garner was indeed having his breath obstructed his pleas about his lack of ability to do so would have grown shallower, more labored and fainter.  Again the post mortem will reveal what his breathing restraints were or weren’t and if, in fact, he succumbed by asphyxiation.  It is likely that Garner suffer a myocardial infarction – a heart attack – brought on by the over exertion as he resisted arrest, compounded by his bulk and asthmatically compromised lungs.

CHOICES

After 39 prior arrests for essentially penny ante crimes, for whatever reasons, Mr. Garner chose Thursday July 17, 2014 to make a stand.  He kept his back to the wall as the Officers converged around him to question him and he told them clearly, “This ends today”.  Obviously he was referring to what he perceived as all his priors and had reached his point.  Everyone has a point and last Thursday Mr. Garner had decided he had reached his.  At any time he could have simply complied with the Officer’s initially polite questions that escalated to more threatening tones as Garner continue to remain in a belligerent, resistant posture. 

While the video clip captures the sights and sounds of the altercation the element that no recording device of any kind can capture is the “feel” of the confrontation, the “smell” and “sense” of it as it plays out as both parties react and respond to the energy field between them that crackles and tingles like static electricity between high tension wires.  People who have grown up or spent times “on the streets” know all too well that feel, smell and sense component.  Anyone who has ever gotten into a barroom brawl or street fight is familiar with it.  Cops are intimately familiar with this sixth sense and as they grow in experience all the stimulus accumulated and processed throughout the years allows the Cop to acquire instincts; second nature responses that result in rapid, decisive action be that particular reaction escalatory or de-escalatory.  

It can be posited that an average man of Mr. Garner’s age, no matter his race, color or creed would comply with any reasonable instructions from uniformed, armed Members of Service (MOS) of NYPD.  Mr. Garner did not comply.  Does this entirely excuse the MOS who interacted with him last Thursday from any culpability?  Does that event explain why the EMT’s appear indifferent to Mr. Garner’s health status as he lay on the sidewalk?  These are not questions that can be responsibly answered from simply viewing the video clip that has gone viral.  People are free, obviously, to draw any conclusions they care to, arrive at the answers that most comport with their world and personal views.  But having such potentially incendiary tirades as we have seen on the local TV news and have read on-line, in the papers and in the media at large is absolutely counter-productive and creates an even greater chasm between the NYPD and the African American community who often feel they are subjected to unfair scrutiny and heavy-handed tactics by NYPD MOS.

POLICE VERSUS POLICING

The overwhelming majority of New Yorkers welcome the safety and security the men and women of the NYPD provide.  They support efforts to reduce crime, initiatives designed for crime prevention and overall help maintain a sense of social order that many big cities today such as Chicago, Detroit, Flint, and Oakland are severely lacking.  We of a certain age have all lived through our darkest chapters and recent troubling trends ought not to be misinterpreted as ominous signs that we are sliding backwards.  We are not returning to our past.

The fact of the matter is that while people like the concept of the Police they are often uncomfortable and disturbed when they actually witness real life “Policing”.  Policing the largest City in America is a tough job, one the MOS of the NYPD take great pride in and excel at.  Policing is often sloppy, sweaty, dangerous and ugly.  There is nothing neat and tidy about policing our streets and housing projects, our parks and promenades, and our subways.  Policing often requires the use of force; of physical altercations with the criminal element that no one really wants to know about.  They do not care to know about it until they notice it is NOT happening anymore.

With the cessation of the controversial “Stop, Question and Frisk” (SQF) policy, many citizens from neighborhood councils and groups throughout the Five Boroughs, some living in the most crime infested pockets of The Bronx, Brooklyn and Upper Manhattan tell Officers that they miss the greater Police presence that SQF often brought to their streets and projects. After all it is not the Police themselves who help maintain social order but rather the concept of the Police.  Since MOS cannot blanket every block throughout the City, it is the concept of being caught in some criminal act that helps maintain the order required of a civil society.  Do the Police sometimes get something wrong?  Certainly.  They are all as error prone as any humans are but they are also highly trained in the exercise of restraint,  self-restraint , as well as in the most effective, efficient and safest methods to apply force while protecting innocent lives and their own lives.

For some reason it seems as if the Officers who engaged Mr. Garner one week ago and were probably familiar with his history to some degree, felt it necessary to make the arrest.  As it unfolded he made some very poor choices and the MOS may or may not have made similarly poor choices.  It is only fair that we all wait for the truth to be revealed.  The autopsy report should be complete and released by this time tomorrow. Until that time everyone should refrain from drawing conclusions and exploiting this sad event for their own purposes.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/spike-lee-chokehold-victim-eric-garner-article-1.1877724

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/gray-area-nypd-choke-article-1.1872738

http://gothamist.com/2014/07/21/emts_suspended_after_not_helping_dy.php

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/22/spike-lee-eric-garner-radio-raheem_n_5610456.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/23/police-eric-garner-chokehold-nyc/13032275/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/nyregion/quick-action-on-chokehold-death-has-shielded-de-blasio-from-ire-for-now.html?ref=nyregion&_r=0

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/22/spike-lee-splices-footage-of-eric-garners-death-with-radio-raheems-in-do-the-right-thing/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/07/23/spike-lee-chokehold-nypd-radio-raheem/13035305/

http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/07/eric_garner_and_spike_lees_do_the_right_thing.html

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