Filed under: City Living, News
Twitter and NPR guy Jon Foreman sends this video of a Baltimore cop who went to 11 on a 14-year-old skateboarding where he shouldn't have. Officer Salvatore Rivieri was suspended yesterday with pay.
Dude, please, kids are people, too.
11:22 AM ET | 02-13-2008 | permalink
While the police officer has obviously been having a bad day and has decided to take it out on a child. I imagine that the kid has learned a lesson as well... Probably not a good one, the lessons you learn from a bully are never worth learning.
I have never been a big fan of how police use of their authority; Obviously this varies per state and their disposition toward children and skateboarding in general, but police have very wide latitude when it comes to city property; this is most likely look at by law enforcement as a reasonable response to ???vandalism???.
As a former resident of Baltimore, I have to say most Baltimore cops are not like this guy...I think this is more an example of someone with a need for someone to "Respect My Authoritay!"
Sorry, got to side with the Officer. Skateboarding is not allowed, yet they bring skateboards. They risk injury to themselves and others. The kids have no respect for the rules and no respect for authority. I'm sure it wears thins on the officers trying to get some parents children to behave.
Oh jeez the guy got physical and essentially told the kid that he personally would like to kill him. If I was the kid, I'd walk away with a nice paycheck from this incident, if you know what I'm saying. And I bet you I would win this in court, between the video and the threat of murder!
Oh, and it's really funny, was the cop about to say "If I find myself on YouTube..."???? Hilarious if so.
The kid has no sense. His friend told him to shut up, but he wouldn't. If he doesn't get straight, he is going to have trouble in life. The cop went too far, but it is very frustrating dealing with skateboarders. They say skateboarding is not a crime, but the skateboards cause damage (as they scrape along railings, stairs, etc) and they are a threat to the safety of others trying to enjoy public areas. I had a couple of kids call me out when I told them to stop skateboarding. A 12 year old kid called me the B-word. I wanted to kill him too.
kid, get a lawyer, make an example out of this animal, i mean, cop. Another example of a fine line between cop and criminal.
Laura,
Here's some more skateboard action. (I was there, but didn't take the video just sending you the link.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7qCBD5qw98
It's a different scenario, being that it involved a protest to end the war in Iraq.
The argument the pro-war side of the street had: This was a time of war and that the kids had to fulfill their patriotic duty and sacrifice their skateboard area for the pro-war supporters, so the warhawks didn't have to stand further back in the grass nor up a little on the side walk (even though it makes more sense to be on the sidewalk, that's where most of the people from the anti-war side of the street were).
The pro-war side was also particularly angered that the kids naturally didn't support the war, and some wore, held, or hung around a belt loop Orange (read: Impeach) scarves.
The high school students stood for themselves well (with minor help they requested for from war protesters) and despite loosing ground, they ended up taking territory back and successfully held the line for themselves.
As a whole the anti-war protest went excellently. And any protest where you get to camp out for a night... even better. But watching this unexpectedly unfold was an event unto itself.
=========================
About the Baltimore incident:
Skateboarding might do minor (really really minor) damage, but in the end its better for society to let people (and seriously in the totality of our population, not that many people skate that much) vent off energy in ways that is a minor inconvenience.
Instead of moaning about it, learn to love the art of it. I don't skate but like watching people who do, just like some people like watching ballet.
And maybe the issue wasn't that the cop grabbed him. But what kind of person would argue that anything beyond that was justified? Once a cop has a kid by the arm, the cop is in control. Nothing more physical than that needs to be done.
although one should respect authority I believe it (respect) should be given until the point of attitude then one should think in response to the attitude given
Yeah and most adults don't value the worth of kids. He overreacted to some 14yo over a piece of wood with wheels. Even threatened he'd enjoy nothing more to smack the kid up side the head. The parents should have gotten involved and brought the officer up on charges or excessive force and verbal assault. Salvatore Rivieri seems like a career criminal asserting his authority in the wrong manner.
Props to the kids for having enough presence of mind to document the case. The officer shows a clear pattern of repetitive antisocial behavior and should not be allowed anywhere near the public. A quick search yielded the following:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=l3Mts9gMGKo
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jsPXUu7WRTA
It???d be hard to believe that the only times Rivieri lashes out at citizens is when they point cameras at him. He probably behaves like this on a daily basis. I hope more of his victims will come forward with videos like these to help prevent his lawyers from arguing isolated incidents. Every single testimony is instrumental in helping take this monster off the streets.
I am stunned by the comments about the teenagers attitude and idea that maybe the cop overreacted a little. How was that not assault? The teenager did not threaten him, did not pose any danger, and yet he put him in a head lock--in addition to clear verbal threats. I don't get it...Imagine how he would behave with a child who didn't likely have parents with the means to pursue a court case.
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