Photo by Jason Wagner, via Gothamist.
This is horrible:
Greenpoint resident Chrissie Brodigan says she was riding on the L train between Bedford and First Avenue when her pug, who has health problems, overheated and began vomiting in the tote bag she was carrying him in. As she was leaving the subway station with the dog in her arms, she says a police officer's attempt to issue her a ticket turned ugly, and when she became upset the cop began saying, "If you're going to act like a woman I'm going to treat you like a woman."
Brodigan says the cop went on to punch her in the back, and in the scuffle to handcuff her, he "grabbed my breasts and pinched them." A witness's account:
Melissa Randazzo, a speech language pathologist who lives in Williamsburg, witnessed the arrest and tells us, "something about it seemed very wrong. The cop's tone seemed really inappropriate and he kept saying things like, 'Are you going to act like a woman?' She tried to walk away, and then he grabbed her and pushed her against the wall outside the turnstile."
Luckily both Brodigan and her dog are okay.
A couple of thoughts here. Because the cop who Brodigan identified as her attacker is the NYPD's lone Hasidic officer, the Gothamist comments section has a bunch of racist comments and negative stereotypes about Hasidic Jews. Can we all please just agree that racism is not a useful response?
Also, Brodigan appears to be pretty plugged-in, and has thankfully been able to draw attention to this incident. I wonder how often this sort of abuse happens, but the woman in question does not have so many resources at her disposal. How many of these incidents do we never hear about?
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Woman says she was attacked by misogynistic NYPD officer.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/14697
The comment section at Gothamist is a toxic swamp of trolls. You should always expect posters there to exhibit the worst behavior.
just for one example in millions I'm sure, I was sexually harassed on the 5 train 2 months ago. I got the man's picture on my cell phone, got off the train and showed it to the cops at the Franklin Avenue train station in Brooklyn, and they told me "it's not assault for him to just touch you" and blew me off, they didn't let me file a report. Considering the MTA puts up signs saying harassment is illegal and sexual leering is illegal, it was mind blowing to be brushed off, although I am sure I was naive to expect them to care. And of course now I see that a puking dog is grounds for hand-cuffing. But being groped and called a "b*tch" and a "wh*ore" is totally OK and not worth the trouble to deal with at all. MIND BLOWING. Ugh.
Ugh that is so frustrating - you did everything right. Seems like the cops and transit authority workers (based on similar stories to yours) need training on what they're supposed to do when someone reports harassment to them and there needs to be a way to hold them responsible for acting correctly. Ugh. Maybe having more women cops would help? It seems like in every (albeit few) story I've heard where someone asked a woman cop for help, they got it.
I don't know, the women cops I have encountered seem to be pressured to be more macho than even the men in order to make up for the vagina. But that's personal experience.
That could be a whole different conversation - the pressure for female cops to be much more aggressive. Although, it does seem to make some sense. They do have to deter guys that would think "Hey this is just a chick I'll push her around like I do my wife-sister-girlfriend-friend-sunday night hookup"
You should have grabbed that police officer in the crotch and asked him if that was assault.
Unbelievable. I can't believe people like this are allowed to be public servants.
One of a million is right! We don't take sexual harassment or assault seriously in this country. At 18, I was riding a public bus through a less-savory part of town. A man in his 20's got on, and sat down next to a teenage girl a few seats behind me. He put his arm around her, and started asking how old she was (16), and offered her $20 for a blow job. He finally gave up on her, and came and sat down next to me to try again. He started with the same questions, and I started yelling at him, telling him not to touch me, to stop harassing me, and that it was illegal to proposition any woman, let alone underage teens for sex. I complained to the driver, and asked the driver to ask the man to get off the bus. He instead told me that yelling was unlady-like and if I didn't shut up, he would kick me off the bus. Being in a part of town that was unsafe to walk alone in, and where other buslines I knew did not pick up passengers, I shut my mouth until I could get off the bus and call the transit authority to complain. Of course, I never received a response.
Since then, through many other instances of sexual harassment and even assault (groping, etc) on public transit, I have learned that police and transit authorities are more likely to become hostile to women making the complaints than the perp. Unfortunately, women have to turn to a bit of vigilantism and awareness-raising through our social networks. In this, Brodigan is a great example for publicizing this type of harassment and misogyny. Her case is not unique, but her response is a positive example.
These kinds of incidents always make me question the absolute power cops hold, and the fact that they can say you did anything and completely screw you over. Imagine if she had been on a deserted street corner with no witnesses! He probably would have claimed that she attacked him at some point, and she would have been charged for that without question.
How many people have actually had this happen to them and weren't so lucky as to have witnesses around? But would lessening the power and supposed "word" a cop has have a positive effect?
That there are creeps like this in the world makes me sad.
That there are creeps like this in the world makes me sad.
The cops are saying she is an anti-Semite.
http://gawker.com/5305437/pukey-pug-hugger-or-kooky-jew-boo+er
Sort of sounds like CYA BS that NYPD sometimes pull. Also the it was reported in the NY Post, which is really pro police.
KidCharlemagne--considering what that Post reported she said, I don't believe it. The comments are exactly the sort of thing people make up as anti-Semitic comments. While what the cop was quoted to have said by Brodigan and more than one witness does sound plausible to me. It's not anti-Semitic to say that many Hasidic men have conservative attitudes towards women.
I hate reading this kind of stuff. I'm the daughter of a retired NYC cop, and the granddaughter of a retired NYC detective. As you can imagine, I grew up with a lot of cops around. Many of them were assholes, but most were good people who tried their best in one of the most difficult jobs in the world.
I know most cops are ok, but I do think that whole "fraternal" thing can get in the way of justice sometimes. I think they do stick up for eachother.
I have had mostly good experiences with cops during traffic stops, but I did have one bad experience. My car had gotten broken into and I was driving home a little fast. I was nervous about driving through a bad neighborhood with a broken window, because normally I would have rolled up the windows and locked my doors in the area where I was driving. A cop pulled me over for "speeding on HIS road". I was doing about 40 in a 30 zone. He didn't take any information about the break-in, either. It was in the days before everyone had cell phones, so I had not gotten a chance to report it yet.
He didn't give me a speeding ticket, but instead, proceeded to hit on me. I felt obligated to take his card and pretended that I was flattered by his invitation to go out with him. It wasn't the worst sexual harassment I've ever experienced in my life, but it was unsettling. I was still upset about my car getting broken into and there he was trying to score with me. Also, he was the only officer present and it was late at night. There were few cars passing and there was no one walking down the street. If he had tried something, no one would have been there to stop him.
Unfortunately, I don't find this woman's story hard to believe. Even though most cops are probably good people, I think there are definitely cops out there who use their position to get away with harassing women or worse. There are bound to be a few bad apples anywhere, including law enforcement. Some of them are just criminals with a badge.
Neither Gothamist comments or the Post are places to go for the most enlightened thinkers in New York, just sayin'.
I hope she presses charges against this officer and he gets what he deserves.
this happens all the time... the key is capturing it on your phone or camera and talking about it so we can effectively mobilize for change.
here is a prime example of a recent event of police brutality:
http://www.alp.org/node/352
As an activist on gender-based street harassment & assault, one thing I always say is to report such incidents to police, particularly if there are witnesses or you got a photo of the perp. Unfortunately while some cops will be helpful others will be indifferent or downright hostile and accusatory. It's scary to think that a woman out there who's been harassed (or mugged or assaulted etc) could be turning to this misogynist for help. As I wrote on my blog post about this: it’s quite chilling for women to realize there are men with these attitudes out there who are supposed to be “protecting” us from harassers, but in reality, they are harassers too, just with badges and authority.
Again, you've labeled this PO before all the facts are out. Why is there no comment on this woman breaking the law for which she was stopped in the first place?
To those of you who are reading this with special empathy for the woman, because you experienced something similar at some point, my heart goes out to you.
I just felt like I needed to comment on how the officer obviously thinks that women should be treated-- hitting and verbally abusing them. That is what makes this an incident of more than just a man in a public position abusing his power. It makes it hate driven.
The Gothamist comments, particularly on the most recent entry (in which some "source" claims that Brodigan made anti-semitic comments), are pretty appalling. Guaranteed they wouldn't be all "this is what you get for mouthing off to a cop" if Brodigan were a man. It's really sort of harrowing to consider how many people really do still think that mouthy women deserve whatever violence comes their way...
This is why I never trust cops. I hear too many of these stories, and although I'm sure they exist, I haven't met one cop that hasn't been an asshole to me.
For what it's worth, I have met good cops in New York, and have even called them a couple of times with surprisingly good results (one in which they came and managed to break up an assault and by the end of it, the guys were apologizing and shaking hands and no one got arrested. Awesome!) I do think it's reasonable to be kind of wary of police sometimes, but my hope at least is that we can work towards some kind of situation where the police actually are the good guys and can be trusted for help -- which is exactly why it's important to call out situations like the one here and make it clear to everyone that it is not okay for police to do things like this, nor should it be regarded as just a sad fact of life or something. We can do better.
Hasids are not a race, but rather a fanatical, misogynist branch of Judaism. That's not a negative stereotype--it is a tenet of their sect. It is not racist to posit a connection between one's fanatically misogynist religion and one's tendency towards misogynist assaults.
(Though, I did only read some of the Gothamist comments, so perhaps I missed those that were racist/anti-Semitic. Certainly not something I consider Gothamist commenters to be above.)
This is a patently offensive and anti-semitic comment. The fact that you have to justify it by announcing that its "not racist" only heightens the fact that you actually realize its offensiveness.
"This is a patently offensive and anti-semitic comment. The fact that you have to justify it by announcing that its "not racist" only heightens the fact that you actually realize its offensiveness."
I realize that my sentiment is offensive to Hasids, but that doesn't make it racist or anti-Semitic. They are not a race. They are a religious sect. I wasn't trying to "justify" my comment, I was taking issue with Ann's idea that anyone who links the cop's religion to his actions is being racist.
Hasids are also not monolithic. There's at least a dozen different groups, of varying levels of fanaticism and misogyny. And of the ones who are most likely to be in the NYPD (the Lubavitcher, or Chabad Hasids), while they are somewhat misogynist, they're of the putting women on a pedestal, and of having "men's" and "women's" spheres. Also, I have no idea why he was shoving her... adults are not allowed to touch unrelated adults of the opposite gender according to the rules. By her story, the officer is NOT following his religion in any way, in my opinion, as a not as religious Jew.
Of course, I can't make a really educated statement without knowing which Hasidic branch he was from. NYC has the most, and the most different groups, of anywhere in the U.S., surpassed only by Israel.
You're right, Hasidim are not monolithic. And it is weird that he touched her, though I've heard of such things before. (I dimly remember a story out of Israel a couple years back in which Hasids were forcibly removing women from buses for refusing to go sit separately or maybe for not being dressed properly? What is the word of god, I guess, when women are getting uppity!)
However, women-on-pedestal/gendered-spheres misogyny is still on the continuum of misogyny which I think totally informs more violent misogyny. I'm not saying that his assault on the woman was an attempt at enacting his religious doctrine. I'm saying that a misogynistic religion breeds a misogynistic worldview which breeds, well, this. Which is obviously not to say that any Hasid would have behaved this way or that any non-Hasid would not have. This is as true of fundie Christians, for example. And it has nothing to do with race or the Jewish ethnicity that you and I both share with [most] Hasidim.
If you include one eyewitness account why not also include this eyewitness account?
But a witness, Viane Delgado, said Brodigan was the one out of line. Delgado said Witriol "repeatedly" asked the woman to place the barking pug in a carrier she had. But instead, she allegedly insulted him with anti-Semitic slurs and tried to walk away. "You f---ing Jew, you're not even human," Delgado quoted Brodigan as saying. She repeatedly said, "Jewish people think they own everything," a source said.
Seems a little interesting that a bunch of crazy feminists would automatically support a woman who was, in fact, breaking the law. What happened after her breaking of the law will come out in the wash, but she is not above the law and personally, I don't want some guy bringing his pitbull on the train and saying, "Well, if that Williamsburg hipster idiot can do it, so can I."
If she was taking her dog, who has health problems, to the vet, then had she left the dog at home to get sicker and possibly die, that would also be against certain animal rights laws. So which is worse in your opinion: Animal abuse, or having a dog on a subway for a few minutes?
A small sick pug on a subway, and a violent pit bull, are different animals and pose totally different problems (if any at all), and its quite silly to equate the two.
JesseR, you obviously have no grasp of the law.
In NYC you are not allowed to have ANY animal on a NYC transit vehicle outside of a carrier. If a cop looks the other way for a pug and then goes after a guy with a pitbull there will be all kinds of marches lead by our good Reverend Al Sharpton. The law is the law and it has to be enforced or else society crumbles. You can't pick and choose how to enforce laws because if you do it opens up all types of challenges in court. Please, stop being so naive.
So you're saying that if someone is breaking the law, that they should be assaulted? I don't believe that cops should be allowed to break the law just because other people are doing it, sounds kind of dumb to me.
Siby...
No, what I am saying is that everyone on here has decided to play judge, jury and executioner of this cop without having a clue as to what really happened. Any of the judgements I have made are as to whether or not the woman broke the law (she did; the dog was out of the carrier) not whether or not she or the cop was right in the end.
I would stop engaging with Fair and Balanced; I don't think there's too much to gain there.
Well I certainly don't think that the woman is above the law. We have conflicting statements, so I don't know what to make of this.
But YOU are crazy if you don't understand why a "bunch of crazy feminists" are alarmed by what the police officer allegedly told this woman.
Darby...
The key word in your reply is ALLEGEDLY. Everyone here has convicted this cop based on one eyewitness statement included with the story this website published WITHOUT the other eyewitness statement that ALLEGES something else. Is it possible that the woman in this story could be wrong or is that she is automatically in the right BECAUSE she is a woman?
I can't wait until all you women who are calling cops assholes NEED a cop to save your ass from the miscreants who troll this city looking for assholes just like you.
You don't have to wait. It's already happened time and time again. Why do you think they're being called assholes? A criminal is a criminal, badge or no badge.
So, without being there and taking one eyewitness statement as fact and ignoring another eyewitness statement you are ready to label this PO a criminal? All I'm asking is that everyone on here stop jumping to conclusions. I'm not trying to argue who is right or wrong, but rather that this entire blog has seemingly attacked the NYPD based on one side of a story.
You know, even if she DID make the thoroughly objectionable, anti-Semitic statements that the other witness alleges, this does not excuse assaulting her. There are no witnesses denying that the assault took place.
This is unrelated, of course, but should anyone at Feministing encounter a troll, we can hit "report abuse".
ghostorchid...
I guess I'm the troll you want to silence for differing from your point of view. Thank you. All I'm saying is I find it interesting that people here have already figured out the PO was the one at fault.
Sorry all, just tuning in and seeing some of the comments left overnight and early this morning. I've deleted the name-calling posts.
As ghostorchid says, the "Report Abuse" button in the lower right corner is the best way to get the editors' attention if someone is starting shit in comments. You can also help us out by not responding to trolling comments -- makes them easier to delete later without creating confusion in the thread.
Apologies again for being late on this.
The "report abuse" button never works for me. All it ever does is pop up a Microsoft Outlook window and I don't use Microsoft Outlook.
When I'm at home (where I don't use MS Outlook) I just right click the "report abuse" button and copy the link; it includes the e-mail address of the editor and the link of the comment being reported.
Would it be possible to delete/ban/etc based on a consistent pattern of dominating discussion with badgering and condescension? Some trolls manage to never actually call people names or throw around slurs or what have you, but they still shut down productive discussion really effectively by using the comments section as a soapbox for their own misguided rantings without any respect for the context, the community, the original poster, and anyone with the nerve to call them out on it. I don't think this kind of thing should be permissible, either.
Haha. That's cute.
But, what could you expect from a poster that gets their moniker from Faux News?
Ruby, my moniker is a joke.
The right wing thinks they report things in a fair and balanced way and the left wing thinks the same, yet they both lie to get THEIR point of view across. Why is it that this story didn't include the other eyewitness statement that had the woman in the wrong? I think it's because it didn't support the feminist point of view.
ghostorchid...
I guess I'm the troll you want to silence for differing from your point of view. Thank you. All I'm saying is I find it interesting that people here have already figured out the PO was the one at fault.
It is totally possible to point out flaws in an argument w/o personally insulting the other party.
How about this:
"Have any of you considered the woman may have been more combative/violent/etc than the original news source is letting on?" "Have any of you considered the lack of corroborating evidence or eye witnesses?"
See, those kinds of questions encourage dialogue. You HAVE made one or two actual arguments, but you are pretty liberal with the insults:
"Probably because YOU are an asshole....You're probably the typical asshole who feels what YOU do isn't really breaking the law even when it is because you have a sense of entitlement....What part of Williamsburg do you live in anyway?"
Believe or not, that shit does NOT encourage dialogue. If you want an open and honest exchange of ideas, bring it. If you want to call names and then complain that we want to "silence [you] for differing from your point of view" then go find someplace else to be obnoxious.
Is Fair and Balanced Reporting? considered a troll? At what point are people banned?
I think that's a good question. I don't like the idea of banning people just because they are unpleasant (eg I don't "you crazy feminists" is sufficient reason to ban someone.) I think you need to be an EXTRA kind of unpleasant, but I'm not sure what that line is exactly.
Part of me wonders if FaBR? is actually linked to the story, if not the officer in question, then maybe a friend or acquaintance. Has anyone seen FaBR? contribute to anything other than this story?
No, I've never seen FaBR? comment before. And their comments should be deleted (regardless if s/he is banned or not) because as it says in the comment policy personal attacks are not allowed. And I'm pretty sure calling someone an "asshole" and all of us "crazy feminists" and "you assholes" counts as personal attacks.
Thank you for the excellent belly laugh I just had.
pow3rful: I am considered a troll when I live under a bridge.
Jrant: I am NOT the officer involved, nor I do have any connection other than reading the article and Googling the name Chrissie Brodigan. Hence the reason I have never commented before. After reading the comments here where everyone seems to be convicting the PO without knowing ANYTHING other than what this site has posted is pretty fascist of all of you, no?
llevinso: I do agree that my comments should be deleted. I mean when someone claims they're treated like an "asshole" and then I agree with them, there is really something wrong with that. From the content of this website it seems to me the readers/commenters would skew to the 'liberal' side of the political spectrum, but it's nice to see that Freedom of Speech is good for you, but not for me. You're just as hypocritical as the Republican politicians who run on a 'Family Values' platform and then get caught tapping their foot in a mens room or flying to Argentina to hook up with their mistress. I love the hypocrisy on both the right AND left.
Again, THANK YOU ALL FOR THE LAUGHS!!!!!
I would argue that FAB is a troll, not necessarily a troll that deserves to have their account deleted--yet (s/he would have to be more aggressive and obnoxious instead of merely annoying), but someone who it is best not to engage with (as I wrote above) because it doesn't bring any real value to a feminist discourse.
This is from the NY Post... personally, I think the paper is a place for right wing nutjobs, but I'm also thinking this website is made for hypocritical liberal nutjobs. Notice, Commish Kelly says there is "no indication she {Brodigan} was manhandled" but that there will also be a CCRB probe. How many of you will be back on here retracting your previous comments if the complaint is unfounded?
And, while one picture does not tell a complete story, from the picture included with this article who's body language seems to be more aggressive in nature? Please comment. Please, I beg you.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly came to the defense yesterday of a Hasidic cop accused of abusing a female straphanger he arrested for having an unleashed dog in the subway.
But Kelly did say her allegation will be probed by the Civilian Compliant Review Board.
"[There is] no indication that she was [manhandled]," he said of Brooklyn blogger Chrissie Brodigan.
"She made an allegation that she was abused in some way, and that's an appropriate issue for the Civilian Complaint Review Board to handle."
Brodigan got into a confrontation with Officer Joel Witriol, the city's first Hasidic cop, when she refused to put her pug in a travel container Monday.
Witnesses say she hurled anti-Semitic remarks at the yarmulke-wearing officer when he wanted to give her a summons.
According to an update from Gothamist, several witnesses have corroborated Brodigan's statement that the arresting officer said, "Do you wanna talk like a woman? Do you wanna get knocked around like a woman?" As far as I can tell, no other witness (including the NYPD) has backed up Delgado's claim that Brodigan, "hurled anti-Semitic remarks." In fact, one witness emphatically stated "That absolutely did not happen. I did not hear any comments like that at all."
http://gothamist.com/2009/07/01/witness_says_pug_owner_was_jew-bash.php
In terms of the image and who looks more aggressive, Brodigan has been cuffed and her dog is being taken away and she is visibly upset. Is getting upset the smart way to respond to a police officer? No, of course not. But I totally disagree that the image suggests Brodigan became violent and abusive. And if you want to talk images consider the pictures of the bruises on Brodigans arms. I study Krav Maga with several people in the military and law enforcement. There are plenty of places people can bruise when you are restraining them or taking them down, _the inside of the arm is not one of them._ Pinching the inside of the arm is something a bully does, not an officer in the middle of cuffing or restraining a suspect.
This comment has been deleted because it violates our comment policy.
Everyone here has their own biases and prejudices when it comes to police, misogynistic men, animal lovers, etcetera.
Let's all take a deep breath and look only at the facts for a second:
- Chrisse Brodigan initally reported that the officer "twisted her breasts" and was making misogynistic comments. When confronted with that on the Gothamist, she wrote, "... he MAY have been excessive." Think about that. So, he MAY have twisted her breasts. Or he may not have done anything.
- She claimed to have been too injured to work the next day, but didn't have any problem doing outdoor TV interviews, deleting her Twitter page which includes admissions of out of control behavior, etc. She also was the one who initiated contact with many of the blogs.
- One Hassidic poster on Gothamist explained that the officers comments were likely influenced by his speaking Yiddish and there being a common phrase, "to act like a mensch" - and that when he addressed a woman and in translation, it became, "act like a lady and I'll treat you like a lady". Based on all of Brodigan's "misrememberings" and her 'evolving' story, I tend to believe this is the most likely scenario.
- Chrissie Brodigan admitted in interviews and on the Gothamist site that she was verbally abusive to the police officer, calling him "a-hole" among a long list of insults.
- For the first 24 hours of this story, she couldn't remember if she made anti-semitic remarks to the officer as reported by a named eye witness.
- The other eyewitness whose boyfriend took photos, admitted she left the scene to run upstairs to call 911, so couldn't possibly make any claims with 100% certainty about what happened or didn't happen during the entire incident.
- She admits to resisting arrest several times. She sat down on the floor of the subway station, which FORCED the police to lift her, as she was handcuffed, by the upper arms. That would result in the bruising seen above.
- She claims to have been left handcuffed with three other prisoners who beat and spit on her. Which calls into question which 'attack' caused which injuries. She claims the officer 'punched' her in the back. No photos of either claim and she seemed absolutely fine and happy doing TV interviews.
- In the photos, she is stamping her right foot, neck vein popping and in an aggressive stance. The officer, including the one she accuses, seems passive and indifferent, wanting only to be somewhere else. (my interpretation. Your mileage may vary.)
Apart from my view of the photos, the above is not in dispute. So, you may want to rethink your position that this was some he-man-woman-hater bringing the pain on a helpless woman.
It definitely did not go down like that.
I hope those of you who have convicted this officer, called him names and soiled his reputation will think twice on this.
One of my favorite parts about feministing is when posts about police brutality get flooded with "Fact Trolls." It's like stepping into a fantasy land of wonderment and lunacy. (facepalm)
Well, we wouldn't want anything like facts getting into the way of your view point now, would we?
So, this site is REALLY big on censoring benign posts...
Here are the two they wouldn't post. You tell me if there's a little "Freedom of Speech is good for ME, but not YOU" going on here:
POST 1
Jrant...
When I asked you to look at the picture where did I suggest Brodigan became violent and abusive? I asked you to take a look to see who's body language SUGGESTED a more aggressive demeanor. If you saw two pictures of me and in one I was lying in a hammock with my eyes closed and one I was standing at the ready with my fists clenched it would be obvious which would suggest a more aggressive nature, but it would not tell if I did actually get violent. I don't know what happened, nor do you, but everyone on this site has decided to play judge, jury and executioner of this officer who was just doing his job.
Have you ever watched the show Cops? Do you see what those officers go through when trying to cuff someone who does not wish to be arrested? There is grabbing that could lead to bruising and that is POSSIBLY what happened here. If Brodigan is attempting to pull her arm away the officer has to grab her tighter which COULD lead to bruising without him 'roughing her up.' Is it possible that she has a condition that causes her to bruise easily? Is it possible she had those bruises already and now she's trying to cash in? You don't know her motivation, I don't know her motivation and about 8 million other people in this city don't know what happened, yet there are a lot of people on this site that have labeled this officer a misogynist without knowing all the facts. No?
Also, if you knew anything about eyewitness testimony you would know it tends to be highly flawed. Your unnamed witness above says, ""That absolutely did not happen. I did not hear any comments like that at all." But just because that eyewitness (or earwitness as the case may be) didn't hear it doesn't mean it didn't happen. Even Brodigan herself leaves an out when she says, "I don't remember saying anything anti-Semitic." When I was in college I was working in a bar and underage when a bartender slipped me a drink in full view of the boss. He confronted me and I could not tell him the name of the bartender who gave me the drink. She thanked me for not giving up her name, but I had to tell her I didn't do anything special as I truly could not remember who gave me the drink.
Could it be possible that the eyewitnesses you want to quote as if their word is gospel may have issues with the NYPD? I'm not saying they do, but is it possible? Put it this way, if we were both lawyers facing off in a court room I've just put a ton of reasonable doubt in the mind of the jurors. Can you recover from that? I don't think so, but I'm willing to listen.
POST 2
Since I'm the one who has been accused of "name calling" I'd like to ask how me agreeing with someone who refers to themselves as an asshole is wrong?
If you look at my other comments I like to think they are rather well thought out and just asking why the posters here all seem to know what happened in that station? If anything I believe myself to be the most rational person on this site because I am NOT rushing to judgement in this case. If there is evidence to suggest this officer acted in any way that was less than professional he should be dismissed forthwith, but somehow the people posting here have read one story on a blog and they are ready to ruin this officer's career.
I also like that feministing.com has blocked my original account. Way to go. Healthy debate can't be had when you only want to talk to people who support your point of view.
This is simply insane (the assault situation).
When you serve the public, you cannot take anything personally. Example: if she did make anti-semitic remarks, he still did not have the right to pinch her and touch her. Any arrest had to be made in a way that was strictly by the book. You take the insults, do your job, and call it a day. Proper protocal. It applies to cops, social workers, etc. Anytime you work serving the public, you do things by the book. Does this mean you just take abuse? No. If a situation is one you feel is escalating, you seek assistance. You do not decide to take revenge (if in fact he did) by assaulting someone. I am sure most cops are good people just doing their job, but at the end of the day, just because most do a good job does not mean we have to put up with the few bad apples "just because". We can't assume she didn't do anything, but you also can't assume he acted appropriately.
So, you can't assume he acted appropriately, but you can assume he didn't like everyone posting here seems to have done?
I still find it hysterical that my posts never make it onto the page. Freedom of speech for all who agree with me!!!! That should be the new Femisting.com motto.
Interesting that comments stopped when two of us pointed out the rush to judgment. Can anyone tell me the status of this?
It's called "not feeding the trolls." Welcome to the internet.