Is the smartphone the ultimate protection against police brutality?

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group of police in the middle of the road
Photo by AJ Colores on Unsplash

Youtuber, (whatever that is) Kai Cenat is to be charged with inciting a riot after thousands of people gathered in NYC’s Union Square in the wake of Cenat stating on social media that he would be handing out 300 free PlayStations:

Now, while the charges above, how they’ll play against the Jan 6th riots and who was responsible for them is a pretty interesting story in itself, but I’d like to comment on some of the reactions of the police to the disturbances.

I’ve occasionally done pretty lengthy comparative pieces on the training and culture of policing between Europe and the US and, in particular, the disparity of a uniform budget, training format and a culture of militarism and heavy-handedness which exists in various police forces in various states/counties/municipalities in the US both on my own blog and in other places.

However, seldom have I seen such incredible brutality as that below, which for me, belongs in the most draconian, dictatorial third-world warlord-run fiefdom, as opposed to one of the most advanced countries on earth:

Rioting/ resisting arrest/ running away/ hand suddenly moved/ could have had a knife?
From the video, the poor unfortunate looked to me like he was walking away? Regardless, whatever he did or didn’t do, nothing justifies such sickening horrific brutality.

I hope that the officers responsible are investigated and brought to account for their actions.

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