POLICE ASSAULT ON AL HIXON

I emailed this letter to the STAR TRIBUNE on Thursday, October 4, 2007.


The jury quite properly held the city of Golden Valley liable for $778,000 in
damages for the police assault on Al Hixon. But several addional points need to be made.
First, there are several hundred thousand Blacks living in this metro area so the
police need to understand that, if they receive a report of a Black person committing a
crime, the next Black person they come across is very, very unlikely to be the criminal
they are looking for. Those of us who are white never have to fear that, if the police
receive a report of a white person committing a crime, the police will pile onto us if we
are the next white person they encounter. All local, state and federal governments that
employ police need to explain this simple fact that even a child can understand to the
police they employ and make it clear that violating this understanding means they will be
fired.
While the police may use whatever force is necessary to subdue a criminal resisting
arrest, there is absolutely no need to shoot pepper spray up the nostrils and into the
lungs of somone already on the ground and being handcuffed. This is torture, not
legitimate use of force by the police. It is also assault and a felony. The policeman
who shot the pepper spray into Al Hixon's lungs should not only be barred from ever being
a policeman again but he should also be prosecuted for the felony of assault.
Robert Halfhill
125 Oak Grove, Apt 41
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55403-4308
Phone: 612-870-9026
Email: rhalfhill@juno.com


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