Sunday, December 14, 2008

According to some female students, Jersey City cops were out of line at Snyder High School

You can get the backstory here, but in an evacuation situation, according to some teenage female students, police overreacted and broke out the nightclubs after practically no provocation. One student, Jasmine Hickson, a 15-year-old sophomore, who was doing as she was told was singled out after seeing another student pushed by police commented "That's not right". Police then surrounded her and began making with the nightsticks. Police say Hickson wouldn't leave which is why she was baton'd. Some student also make claims that the police seemed to arrest innocent bystanders who were trying to comply with orders.

Johnny's seen similar situations and police can and DO arrest those on the perimeter or trying to comply. They wanna start hauling people in to show authority and get everyone in a compliance kinda mind. Was that the case here? We don't know but we also don't automatically believe everything the police say because police say it. No diligent citizen should. Facts are facts here and it seems odd the incredible bulk of those arrested were girls. Can't big police officers make a cuff of 15 year old girls without using batons?

There is still a lot yet unknown as to the facts. Is Ms. Hickson embellishing the story? That's certainly possible. Did police overreact for the crowd they were dealing with? That's possible too. Thus far city spokesman Stan Eason has declined to elaborate on what led to the arrests.

More on this as it becomes available...

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