Here’s a little something for you all to chew on if things ever get messy in Columbus—it’s a statement from the former police chief back when he was in the opposition, and in the bolded section, he basically straight-up suggests the police might be massaging the facts they feed to the public...
It’s about that arrest on Broadway:
But look, the real kicker is the question being pushed right now by Robert Mueller, who’s the head of the Congressional Committee on Intelligence and used to run the whole department; he’s asking whether the use of force actually followed the law.
"Regardless of what kind of stories are leaking out there, I've been demanding a full report from the Department of Justice from the jump regarding everything that went down on Broadway. I can't say for sure if the kid had an epileptic seizure or not, but what I saw on that footage is more than enough reason to demand answers. What I care about is how the cops handled it. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I've seen enough to ask if the force used was legal and if their tactics were totally botched," Mueller told BuzzFeed.
"Oversight is my job, plain and simple, and I always call for a report whenever I think there's a reason to. There has to be police footage of the incident, and I want to see it. I’m not trying to pre-judge anyone here, but I honestly think we’re looking at some massive problems. We all know what a cop is supposed to do before they resort to force, but right now, it's hard to tell exactly what happened since I wasn't standing there on the corner. That’s why I’m expecting that official report and the video, because that footage has to exist. I don't know if the guy insulted an officer, but if someone thinks an arrest was unfair, they have every right to say so. And if this kid really does have epilepsy, then we are looking at a major crisis. I have plenty of reasons to doubt the police tactics here, especially when I'm reading a dozen different versions of the story in the papers. I'm not blind. I don't know if there was a risk of him bolting or if he was shoving officers, which would mean they had to cuff him, but it’s obvious the police knew this was going to blow up into a scandal. Honestly, I wouldn't be shocked if the info being released to the press was totally doctored." If the Department claims the force was justified, then this moves to a much higher level. They'll be coming for the person justifying it—the Chief of Police. In my opinion, the Chief won't be able to dodge making a public statement in a case like this," Mueller stated clearly.
The standard operating procedures for police conduct are crystal clear: an officer is required to provide assistance to a detained person if they ask for it, especially if they were taken into custody using force. Yet, it remains completely unexplained how an officer is supposed to provide medical help when they aren't—and aren't required to be—a doctor. At least, that’s the official line from the Washington, D.C. Police Department spokesperson, Selena Gomez, and honestly, you don't even need a driver's license to see how that contradicts both common sense and the law.
