The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Mom Blames Atlanta Police for Her Son Getting Beaten in Massive Brawl

Posted on | December 17, 2020 | Comments Off on Mom Blames Atlanta Police for Her Son Getting Beaten in Massive Brawl

An interesting development on the “social justice” front:

A woman whose 13-year-old son was badly beaten after a massive brawl at Atlantic Station last month has filed a complaint against a group of Atlanta police officers who she says did nothing to stop the attack.
Iresha Ridley said she has formally asked APD’s office of professional standards to investigate why none of its officers intervened while a crowd beat her son.
Prior to that attack, another teenager was beaten and punched until he lost consciousness in a different location, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. A 15-year-old was charged with aggravated assault in that case.
Javon Ridley was attacked Nov. 28 as officers were working to disperse the crowd after the brawl that involved as many as 300 teenagers. In a news conference Wednesday, the Ridleys and their attorney said they believe as many as 10 officers were present at the time.
“The officers have to be held accountable for not intervening when it was their duty to protect (Javon),” attorney Mawuli Mel Davis said.
Atlanta police confirmed that Iresha Ridley had been in touch with an investigator regarding the complaint and that “an investigation into the matter is open and active.”
“We are deeply concerned over this event and we understand and share the frustrations of Mr. Ridley and his family,” an Atlanta police spokesman said in an emailed statement to the AJC. “This incident should never have occurred and I believe it provides a glimpse into some of the challenges faced by the Atlanta Police Department and our officers. Maintaining order over hundreds of juveniles in a situation like this is nearly impossible.”
Hundreds of teens were gathered near the dining and shopping destination’s bowling alley about 5:30 p.m., and many were engaged in fights, according to an incident report obtained by the AJC.
When officers tried to disperse the clusters of teens, several “became defiant and more disorderly, engaging in more fistfights,” the incident report said. One teen was severely beaten and repeatedly punched, police confirmed. When he fell to the ground, another teen repeatedly stomped on his head, the report said. . . .
According to Davis, Javon Ridley was dropped off at Atlantic Station by his mother more than two hours later. The teen, who was unaware of the brawl, had planned to meet his uncle about 8 p.m., Davis said.
“His uncle was there and waiting for him at the bowling alley,” Davis said. “When he attempted to get out of the car to go to the bowling alley, unfortunately, Atlanta police turned him away.”
Due to the violence that had erupted just hours earlier, Atlanta police told Javon and other teens to stand on the 17th Street bridge, which is just outside of Atlantic Station and about a five-minute walk from the bowling alley.
That’s where a large group of people descended on the 5-foot-3, 104-pound teen, Davis said.
Passersby captured the attack with cellphone cameras and posted the videos to social media. In one video, shared with the AJC by Davis, a crowd is seen throwing blows on one person. Davis said as many as 20 people took turns punching and kicking Javon. It is not clear why he was attacked.
“While he was being attacked, obviously, you can see videos where there are Atlanta patrol cars that are occupied by Atlanta police officers who did nothing to render aid,” Davis said, “and that, for us, is a miscarriage of justice.”
Iresha Ridley said she was “devastated” by her son’s attack. “Unfortunately, I was not there to protect him,” she said.
But Atlanta police officers were, and they did nothing to intervene, Ridley said.
“This is my only child,” she said. “He could have been killed.”

While I don’t know if the Atlanta police did everything right in this situation, it seems absurd to scapegoat them for not intervening while, at the same time, police get accused of “systemic racism” every time they do intervene. People with the “social justice” mentality always want to blame police no matter what happens. Watch this video:

 

What was happening in Atlanta that night was chaos — anarchy, the collapse of public order — and whose fault was that? Why blame the police because Atlanta is descending into savagery? As Hobbes said, this was bellum omnium contra omnes, “the war of all against all” which subjects its victims to “continual fear, and danger of violent death,” rendering life “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

But just take down some more Confederate statues and maybe rename a few high schools, and I’m sure everything will work out just fine.




 

Comments

Comments are closed.