Officers Brutalize Black Man For Playing Loud Music

Police officers in Blytheville, Ark. spent the morning of Easter Sunday not attending church services or lying to their kids about the Easter Bunny, but instead at a convenience store ripping a Black man from his car, then tasing and pepper spraying him in the parking lot.

Patrick Newbern was stopped by police officers in the parking lot of Lucky’s convenience store after receiving complaints that the music emanating from his car was too loud. The officers took his license and told him to wait in the vehicle while they wrote him a ticket. Mr. Newbern’s vehicle begins moving, but stops before leaving the parking lot, prompting officers to “get his ass out of the car.”

While trying to explain that his car has brake problems, the officers wrench Mr. Newbern from the vehicle while his seatbelt is still attached, then throw him to the ground and plant a Taser in his back. Mr. Newbern is then pepper sprayed and held face down on the cement, while his agonized screams echo through the area.

During the struggle, Mr. Newbern told police he wasn’t resisting, but they did not let up. A gathered crowd repeated that Mr. Newbern wasn’t resisting, but additional police officers pointed pepper spray at the crowd to keep them away from the altercation.

Mr. Newbern has been charged with a violation of the city’s noise ordinance, fleeing by vehicle, and resisting arrest.

The incident has come to the attention of the Mississippi County, Ark. Chapter of the NAACP. “As soon as I saw the video, it made me sick to my stomach,” said Chapter President Tony Hollis.

Mr. Hollis has called for the officers to be disciplined and for the Blytheville Police Department to better train their officers. He’s also planning a rally to bring attention to the video and the relationships between Blytheville police officers and the community.

The mission statement of the Blytheville Police Department is “to provide the community with a quality, progressive law enforcement service, that suppresses and eliminates criminal activity, promotes a positive perception of the community, and addresses all conditions that have a detrimental impact on public safety.” Blytheville police officers at Lucky’s on the morning of Easter Sunday failed their mission statement.

The tactics used on Patrick Newbern do not conform to a “quality, progressive law enforcement service.” Dragging a man from his car, tasing, then pepper spraying him for having his music too loud does not suppress and eliminate criminal activity, considering that citing someone for loud music without so much as a warning is a little much in the first place. What is considered “too loud” is subjective, varying from person to person, so while a few complaints is enough to send an officer to the scene to get the music turned down, it cannot logically be a baseline for citation.

The mission statement continues by stating that to fulfill their mission, Blytheville police officers “must continually seek the respect, support, and cooperation from the community [they] serve on the fundamental principle that the public and police are one.” By brutalizing a Black man in a convenience store parking lot, Blytheville police failed their mission statement. The incident with Mr. Newbern is not going to help the Black community respect, support, or cooperate with police. It’s going to hurt the relationship and given the current climate between police officers and people of color in the United States, fraying that relationship is something Blytheville — and really all police departments — can ill afford.

But then again, perhaps mission statements mean nothing and police are more interested in burying Officer Friendly instead of resurrecting him.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons and is in the public domain.

[h/t Raw Story]

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