The events that happened on Friday night at the Buffalo bar crawl seemed so unrealistic when they occurred that I almost felt like I was watching my life from a television screen.
It was around 1:30 a.m. when I stood on the curb outside of Pure nightclub with a group of my friends. The street in front of Pure was packed with participants of the bar crawl, and the line to get inside the club started four bars back. Two police officers stood in front of the nightclub patrolling the area.
Looking at them, I could tell that the last thing they wanted to do was be on the lookout for overly drunk individuals.
I witnessed my friend get tackled and dragged by one arm and one leg across the street, only to be tossed under a car. While my friend was lying on the ground, the same individual proceeded to kick him several times in his rib cage. Once my friend was back on his feet, a man grabbed him by the throat and pushed him up against a car. After that, four other men came at him and threw him on the ground in unison. He did not even attempt to defend himself.
These individuals were the Buffalo police officers.
When I tried to stop these cops from brutally hurting my friend, they told me that I needed to step away or I would be next. I did not touch the cops nor did I make a threatening comment toward them. If they would have arrested me, it would have been on completely false charges.
It is unknown why these men brutally attacked my friend. He did not pull a weapon out on them, he did not threaten them, he did not yell at them, and he did not attempt to touch them. He may have made a quick remark; however, when did it become illegal to talk to a cop in a non-threatening manner?
I found out the next morning that the cops had arrested my friend on charges of assault. Although I am unsure of the exact nature of what happened between the cop and my friend, I am certain that my friend did not present a threat of harm toward the cops. His only problem was that he was in front of the wrong cop, at the wrong time, on the wrong night.
Police officers deserve a lot of respect for the terrible things they have to see and deal with each day. They do a tremendous job protecting citizens from the awful crimes we hate to read about.
But after the events I witnessed Friday night, the only thing that comes to mind when I think of an officer of the law is disgust.
I am disgusted by the amount of power they have and the horrible things they can do with this power if it is taken too far. An officer's job is to serve and protect Buffalo citizens, not brutally violate them.
So I pose this question: Is there a point where a cop can cross the line with the amount of harm he is allowed to inflict on a civilian?
If the answer to that question is yes, then what can the citizen do to prove the cop overstepped his boundaries? The most likely answer is nothing unless the entire situation is video recorded.
Does that scare anyone else besides me?
E-mail: kquinn@buffalo.edu
