By John Vibes
Dekalb County, GA – Police Sgt. Anthony Robinson was recently found guilty of ordering other officers under his authority to assault underage suspects while they were in handcuffs. Robinson reportedly told officers Blake Norwood and Arthur Parker to beat up four different suspects, on different occasions. Three of the four suspects were reportedly minors at the time of the beatings.
One victim named Travarrius Williams told Channel 2 reporters that he was badly beaten well after his arrest while he was restrained.
“They were punching, kicking, stomping. They broke my teeth on the back of the windshield,” Williams said.
“That’s why black, young men really run from the police. We ain’t running because we did something, we’re running because we’re scared they’re gonna beat us, shoot us. When people get high authority, they feel like they’ve got power over anybody, so the Police Department’s really like another game,” Williams said.
“This is the kind of conduct by police officers that, if it goes unchecked, people get killed,” Brian Spears, Williams’ attorney added.
Surprisingly, another cop witnessed the assault and filed a report.
Williams was allegedly selected for the beating because he accused one of the officers in the department of wrongfully arresting his brother on another occasion. According to court documents, Robinson told Williams that “We don’t let people disrespect us like that in our house,” before ordering the beating.
After the investigation began, Officer Norwood turned on Robinson and told investigators about other occasions where Robinson had ordered him to beat up underage suspects. In that case, Robinson had ordered Norwood and another officer to beat up three young men, aged 15-16, also while they were handcuffed.
“(Williams) never did anything to us. We beat him because we were told to beat him by Sgt. Robinson because he was being disrespectful,” Norwood told investigators.
Norwood and Parker took a plea deal in exchange for their testimony in Robinson’s trial, and both men were given probation, according to wsbtv.
Robinson was convicted on two counts of felony violation of oath of office, three misdemeanor counts of simple assault, and one misdemeanor count of simple battery and is facing up to 14 years in prison.
John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both fiction and non-fiction writers. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can purchase his books, or get your own book published at his website www.JohnVibes.com.
The more police get prosecuted for criminal behavior, the more likely we’ll see a change in criminal behavior, I’ve noticed a few more stories like this recently than usual so hopefully that indicates a trend and not just a few random one-off prosecutions. Notice the line “No one disrespects us in our house”… the problem being that cops apparently believe the entirety of their jurisdiction BELONGS to them, THEY are the law, and absolute capitulation to their authority is the respect they feel entitled to. I think most people understand that; how to change that mindset is the question. Maybe when their jobs are at risk to being replaced by robots, cops might start getting chummy with the community REAL quick? I hope they’re not surprised when they go looking for support from their communities and that support is tepid at best.
WELL, SEEMS TO ME PASSING A CRIMINAL BACKGROUND FOR THESE COPS ISN’T ENOUGH. THERE IS EVIL IN ALL THAT “WE” SAY OR THINK ARE GOOD PEOPLE. JUST BECAUSE A PERSON IS IN “AUTHORITY” DOES NOT MAKE THEM ANY BETTER THAN YOU; AS A MATTER OF FACT, THEY JUST MIGHT BE CRAZY, OR STONE COLD KILLERS
Never forget that the source of this problem (like many others) is the mindset instilled by the training cops receive in Israel. We are all becoming Palestinians.