It’s always rare for police to be held accountable for their often repulsive actions. Luckily, today we can report one of those rare cases.
According to KQED, a jury has found that Officers Robert Johnson and Robert Wong used excessive force in the arrest of Joseph Green. The case stems from a 2011 incident when Green, who was 16 at the time, was turned away in a gas station for using a damaged bill. After the clerk turned him away, Johnson decided he needed to step in and harass him because he was black and existing. Green tried to leave the store but the officers violently grabbed him, threw him to the floor, punched him in the face and slammed his face into the ground. This resulted in Green losing two of his front teeth. This was all done to arrest him for “trespassing.”
The evidence that clinched the case for Green was the video of the incident. After Green was arrested and taken out of the gas station, Johnson returned to the scene and laid shopping baskets out where the officer and Green had landed to make the aisle look more narrow. He took a photo and attached it to the police report with no explanation and didn’t mention the repositioning of the baskets. Ultimately, the jury found that Johnson acted with “malice, oppression or fraud,” and that Wong failed to stop Johnson from using excessive force. The result was Green being awarded $710,000.
It’s so nice when justice gets served, especially since police officers very rarely face consequences for their repugnant actions. Just today a Tempe officer was absolved of the killing of a 14-year-old boy. As much as the Blue Lives Matter crew likes to talk about “freedom” they’re pretty gung ho about advocating for a police state. Given that those folks tend to be running things in cases like this, it’s truly a welcome change of pace to see the officers face at least some kind of consequence.
Oh what’s that? Last year Wong was promoted to Sergeant? Johnson was voted officer of the year in 2018?
Oh.
Well, at least Green got paid.