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‘Please. Your knee in my neck. I can’t breathe.’

MICAH

Pittsburgh Cop Caught on Camera Beating Teen Acquitted After Judge Claims Teen Was Aggressor

The assault was caught on camera, a Pittsburgh cop shoving a teen down to the ground twice, then punching him a few times before handcuffing him, which led to criminal charges against Sergeant Stephen Matakovich.

The surveillance video does not show Gabriel Despres (Victim) to be staggering nor combative. It just shows him walking normally and stranding straight his hands in his pocket. 

Matakovich claimed Despres went into the usual fighting stance cops are so fond of claiming.

“Despres stepped his leg back and bladed his body slightly and appeared to have clenched his right fist … and then rocked onto the balls of his feet from his heels.”

None of that was captured on video. Not even close.

But Matakovich apparently wrote his report before realizing his actions were caught on camera, which led him to be charged with two misdemeanors, including simple assault and official oppression.

But in court, Matakovich argued that Despres never took his hands out of his pockets, which, of course, made him fear for his life.

Naturally, District Justice Robert Ravenstahl sided with the cop, proclaiming in court that Despres was the aggressor. Seriously, he said that.

It’s not clear if he even saw the video, but he dropped the charges nonetheless.

SOURCE

This is pretty fucking disgusting. How can it not be clear whether or not the judge saw the video? How can this decision be made without seeing the video? People in Pittsburgh and across the nation need to stand up against this kind of cover-up. I can’t get how this shit can called a #Justice system. That’s the way the corrupt system works. Fucking Bullies with badges… We need to start taking down the judges and prosecutors who let them get away with this shit.

#BadgeAbuse #PoliceBrutality #Cops #Police #America 

On the morning of September 4, 1957, fifteen-year-old Dorothy Counts set out on a harrowing path toward Harding High, where-as the first African American to attend the all-white school – she was greeted by a jeering swarm of boys who spat, threw trash, and yelled epithets at her as she entered the building.

Charlotte Observer photographer Don Sturkey captured the ugly incident on film, and in the days that followed, the searing image appeared not just in the local paper but in newspapers around the world.