8Jun09 Law Enforcement Series: Christopher HarrisPosted By: John Russell

As I have mentioned to some members within our organization already, I am planning to slowly compile a list of examples when police violate the law they are instituted to protect and make these available for view on these internets. The purpose of this series is not to slander, push aside, or belittle the many thousands of honorable examples that the police do on a daily basis, but to instead illustrate the inherent dangers of one possessing unchecked power over another.  I have chosen law enforcement because I believe it is the easiest to see how unaccountable bureaucrats can exercise their power without consequences.

I will begin the series using a simple layout, and I hope that others will help compile this series. Be sure to include categories and tags as well.

Who: A 29-year-old man named Christopher Harris
What: King County Sheriff’s Deputy is shown slamming a man into a concrete wall after being falsely identified as a convenience store stabbing suspect when two witnesses mistakenly identified Harris.
Where: Seattle, Washington outside Seattle’s Cinerama Theater
When: May 10, 2009
What resulted: The police are claiming this was justified because he was fleeing from them. Witnesses are claiming that he was merely backing after the initial shock of a person charging him. It should be noted that he threw something from his pocket before the tackle. The policeman in question is on paid administrative leave following the investigation. Christopher Harris was sent to the hospital in critical condition, where he died later due to head trauma.
Do YOU think this was justified?

Footage:

Source:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009213641_arrest13m.html

Extra:
Here are some comments from a website frequently visited by officers. Many of these comments are policemen themselves:

tomo411 says:

Shouldnt have been running. END OF STORY!

If you comply with orders of police officers you dont get laid the f**k out!!!

mpd9418 says:

Moral here… DON’T RUN FROM THE POLICE! Nice collar.

thebronze says:

He shouldn’t have ran if he didn’t do anything wrong. He got what he deserved.

mtarte says:

I’ve done the same thing dozens of times. No excessive force here, but for political expediency, the officer will eventually be hung out to dry. Sorry, you run and an officer uses reasonable force to stop you, you suffer the consequences.

raymundo says:

Nothing done wrong means just that, you don’t run, you don’t get hurt. If this person was such a good person he would not have ran, besides what are we supposed to do. When they stop we say o.k. he says all is good then turn and walk away, NOT!!!! Its sad what happened but again don’t run, you won’t get hurt.

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Comments Posted by John Russell in Law Enforcement Series, Police
Tagged
  • NOYA
    ALL YOU COPS BAND OF BROTHER RIGHT B.S. HE USED WAY TO MUCH FORCE AND YEAH SOMETHING DID COME OUT OF HIS HANDS SO WHY HAVE THEY NOT MENTIONED WHAT IT WAS CAUSE CLEARLY IT WASNT AGAINST THE LAW NEVER GOING UP TO SEATTLE DAMN COPS ARE DIGUSTING THERE HOPE THIS HAUNTS YOU GUYS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES KNOWING THAT YOU KILLED A INNOCENT MAN WRONGLY-KEY WORD HERE IDENTIFIED BY SOME LADY SHE SHOULD FEEL JUST AS GUILTY AS FAR AS I SEE!!
  • margaret
    POLICE have lost their commonsense .The police officer who tackled Christopher Harris down and KILLED him, should go to JAIL .And the people who justified this action should never have children.There is nothing worse in this world then picking clothes out for their murdered child .My heart goes out to the family.




    o the police!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and not tackle he or she down and KILL them and then, only then ,he will learn to we become human.
  • shadow
    I think all of you are wrong. Despite the fact that this man may or may not have ran from the police, he did not get what he deserved. The police are trained to uphold the law and keep all citizens safe despite what you may or may not have done. There are numerous ways to have stopped this boy if he had been running. There was not any need to use that much force, to cause so much trauma. All suspects of crime are innocent until proven guilty. He was not proven guilty and he still lost his life. These police officers do not deserve to wear the badge. They took this way too far and now this boys family has to live with the aftermath. I would have understood if the boy attacked a police officer but that was not the case at all. Justice is never enough for some.
  • Not justified. Police cannot be trusted. Beware of the ones who have been charged to protect us. Those who are defending our protectors have yet to encounter their misplaced ire. Cops will always protect another cop @ the expense of a public they have been charged to serve. To a cop, all force winds up as justified when the reports are filed.
  • RJ
    Are all the comments at the top from cops...or just heartless, deranged people...or both?

    From what I've read, the officer began chasing Chris from the other end of a dark alley. Witnesses said they never heard him identify himself either.

    The bottom line is that this was excessive force. If the police training manuals say it's not, THEY NEED TO BE CHANGED. This rookie officer did not need to lay him out like he was some linebacker reliving his high school days.

    There was a better way of handling this. He could have grabbed him and tackled him to the ground.
  • Jesse1984
    Fuck, are you telling all that shit seiously????This guy wasn't runnin',wasn't hiddin',wans't fightin',wasn't talkin' shit to the police officer...No excesive force????fuck that man, this guy is dead beacuse how that fuckin' idiot called police officer acted, this officer should be in prison, being a police officer doesn't mean u can do whaever u want.He had to reduce that guy,not push him like this into a wall,u know he can get hurt...
  • bob
    "Resonable force" is the phase police hide behind. Killing someone running, tasering a 72 year old woman and they convince themselves that they are using "reasonable forse". BULL SHIT!!!. Should run from the police? Right, police are the reason you run, you don't know if the a-hole behind the badge is a"good cop" or "bad cop". Fell like gambling with your life? Well do ya...punk?"
  • I don't know if I'm more appalled by what the officer in the video did or that others appear to be defending it. "You shouldn't have run from the police"? Umm...it appears that that's exactly who you should run away from.

    If it can be rationalized that slamming an innocent man's head into a wall, killing him, and only being subjected to a punishment of a paid leave of absence, then what the fuck does it take to be a monster?
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