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Why Do Police Victimize The Victim?

By David Packman

This story comes in from the Dallas Morning News in Dallas Texas today, but as you'll see, it's definitely something not limited to Texas... something similar may have happened in Seattle recently too.

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At midnight on March 17, Ryan Moats received a call from the hospital. His wife?s mother had been battling breast cancer that had metastasized to the rest of her body and now she was dying. He quickly packed his wife and the parents of his mother-in-law in their SUV and drove off to the hospital.

Having been told that she wouldn?t have much longer, he turned on his hazards at a stop light and waited until the only other motorist on the road signaled him to go through. But he didn?t know that, nearby, Dallas Police officer Robert Powell had been watching and when Moats pulled into the emergency room parking lot and his family began rushing out of the SUV, officer Powell ordered them back in and proceeded to give Moats a ticket.

Moats, an NFL running back, tried to explain to officer Powell that his mother-in-law was dying and they had only moments to be with her before the end, but Powell was unmoved.

?I can screw you over.? Officer Powell said at one point during the long minutes he took to write out his ticket and check for any outstanding warrants, ?I?ll just put you in handcuffs, and I?ll take you to jail for running a red light. Understand what I can do, I can tow your truck. I can charge you with fleeing, I can make your night very difficult.? Powell explained to Moats when he pleaded with Powell to just write the ticket and let them see his mother-in-law before she died.

Powell had no sympathy for them, even the guards from the hospital and a nurse who all came out to verify Moats? explanation couldn?t convince Powell to just write the ticket and let them in?13 minutes later Powell finally let them go? albeit too late as Moats? mother-in-law had already passed.

Dallas police say they are investigating and call the dashcam footage of the event ?disturbing?. The assistant chief said of the matter ?When people are in distress, we should come to the rescue. We shouldn?t further their distress.?
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Sadly, many police officers have grown so callous and ingrained with the ?us vs them? mentality that when they are called or they intervene they make matters much worse. Not only for ordinary people, but sometimes even for the victims of crime themselves?

It?s not just a Dallas problem, not just an isolated event? for example, I received a letter a few days ago about an incident this year here in Seattle that involved two women, one of them who was viciously beaten and almost raped, only to be further victimized by a Seattle Police Officer:

One of the women, let?s call her M, wrote about how she was assaulted by a man who demanded money. When she said she didn?t have any he backhanded her and began beating her and ripping off her clothes.

It was then that her friend, let?s call her J, jumped out of their nearby car to help she was also attacked, but the attacker ran off, perhaps thinking two women were more than he wanted to deal with..

But, the damage was done, M realized that she could no longer see out of her right eye. J looked at M?s eye and realized it was bleeding and damaged, so they got into their car and rushed to the nearest hospital.

As J was driving, M kept blacking out so J, rightly concerned, went against a one-way only turn sign after pausing to make sure nobody was coming, and was immediately stopped by a Seattle Police officer.

J explained to the officer that she was driving her friend to the ER and asked for an escort. But the officer replied. ?I can?t do that?. And began to demand J?s license and registration. J became upset: ?Look at her, her face, her eye! We need serious medical attention!? she exclaimed, explaining that her friend was just beaten up and almost raped.

When the officer refused to look, M leaned over and looked at the officer, forcing him to see her developing black eyes and damaged right eye? The officer replied with a chuckle and smiled when he turned away to go back to his motorcycle to write the ticket.

When he returned he wrote two tickets, one for the traffic infraction and the other for failure to provide proof of insurance (which was later dropped when J showed the same form to the court that she provided the officer).

J, still in shock from the disbelief she felt at the officer?s reaction to her friend?s injuries, asked the officer ?How would you feel if it was your mother, sister, or daughter who was just physically and almost sexually assaulted and a police officer thought it was humorous??

The officer got irate and shoved his hand in her face, exclaiming ?I don?t want to hear it! Move!? and then he shoved her back forcefully, got on his bike and, in her own words:

He laughed, and flippantly said, ?Good Luck,? driving off on his motorcycle as if he had done nothing wrong. I couldn?t believe what had just happened. I and my friend had already been victimized and this SPD officer had just left both of us feeling degraded, small, used, harassed, assaulted and highly humiliated by someone whose duty it is ?to serve and protect.?

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It takes a certain kind of sadism for officers to have such disregard for the suffering of others, let alone to intentionally act in ways that would make that suffering worse? especially for the victims of crimes whom they are duty-bound to help and protect instead of harm and prosecute.

When they think of their role as officers as a divide between us and them and begin to think of the ?them? as less than human, this is ultimately the result?

While it?s good that the Moats case has been aired in the press? J and M?s case will never be heard or read? just another couple of innocent people who have learned that there are officers out there who have become so jaded and rooted in the culture of police isolationism that they treat victim and suspect with equal disregard?

Regretfully, to those officers, we?re all animals... victim and suspect alike.

Full post as published by Injustice in Seattle on March 26, 2009 (boomark / email).