Puerto Rican Parade Drama (and arrest)

April 1, 2008

So the Welch clan went down to Lake Eola with friends Greg and Kathleen in tow to see the niftiness that is O-Town splayed out in pluralistic glory. The Puerto Rican Pride parade was kicking off the Ponce De Leon Festival (was he PR or something, why him, didn’t he fail in his quest?). In addition to the great entertainment, colorful multi-culturalism and floats (life is always better while viewing floats) there was the hope of vendorized PR food. PR food delights is the true reason that USA has yet to let go of the island. [such possession will come into play]

Of course there was the obligatory flyers alerting spectators of the evil occupation of the small island by capitalist pigs, aka USA. 15 minutes later the message came yelling down the street. “Viva Puerto Rico Libre”. (lucky for those us spanish deficient that is a fairly easy translation) Apparently the Puerto Rico LIberation Front (the name I gave them) had taken a spot in the parade as a real participant. Complete with a banner and a decent small contingent they seemed to be working it. But apparently the yelling, which came from a megaphone wielding college age girl was breaking some rule. It attracted one of the motorcycle cops working the side of the street. After a short conference they all apparently agreed and the megaphone, and girl, was sent to the sidewalk.

Here the fun starts. The cop drives off and the megaphone immediately strikes up again. No No. Mister motorcycle police man drives back up and gets pissy. He calls her back to the street, she refuses and walks off, he gets even more pissed, she finally turns around and eventually says something that really ticks off el policia and bammo she is getting the cuff action without any of the S & M.

It gets hairy with the PRLF now in the cop’s face. People yell, a taser gets drawn and we have some serious action. Greg was a bit disappointed that the PoPo simply gave some shoves and no real electricity flowed, I was just relieved that my wife and kid managed to make it away with out getting trampled.

This of course is an extreme, over-simplification of the actions. If needed I might go into more detail. But I was quick on the trigger and got most of the action on film disc. You can see for yourself below in the slide show or for the bigger pics check out the Flickr set. I left them all in order and posted all related to the action so you can see everything.

Lucky for Puerto Rico and the real independence movement these guys were not real representatives of the real deal. Actually they were part of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. One of the two arrested was even their Congressional candidate for Florida. Not that they were crazy or total freaks but they seemed such a small minority of the PR crowd that it was hard to take them serious. And after the goofy girl ran her mouth and got her self in the clink when she could have just waited a few more minutes for the cop to motor on down or just switch to flyers it seemed more of a stunt at that point.

Like I said earlier, you can see the pics and form your own opinion of whether or not it seems bogus. Also, I have issues with the message pushed by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. That is all for another time and don’t start to even think I am defending their thinly clad communist views. Let me also state that she broke the rules and then acted belligerently when she was obviously in the wrong. Protesting and causing the commotion is often an arrest able offensive. If she was playing the game with out knowing the rules then she deserved the cuffs. Also, the crowd got way to close when she was going down and that provoked the rough treatment that followed.

I do question what happened in the following context, there is often a very obvious non-violent way out of it and why didn’t the cop take it. He got hot and in her grill and it was obviously not getting through to her. Actually he was probably playing into her plan for a little martyrdom drama and the ability to cry police brutality. He treated her appropriately and if she was her it was due to her stiff arming him while cuffing her. Instead of escalating it in the way he did he could have used her comrades who were yelling at her to chill out. Sending one over to talk to her for a second before busting her could have kept it low key.

Next, I wonder if he was aware that he had moved the action from the street to the crowd. He could have pushed further and gotten into the park where there was no people and just five feet more. The shakedown happened right where my wife and one year-old son was sitting just seconds before. It could have gotten ugly if people weren’t glued to the “show” rather than the show. Everybody seemed to be aware and got out of the way.

It just seemed that he was pissed and dropped the psycho babble for a bit of strong arm way too soon. Why aren’t cops tuned into handling whack jobs with out risking another workman’s comp filing. Bill Cosby speaks of the short time he owned a concealed weapon, it made him more willing to step out and risk the fight more than talking his way out of it. My father, who retired from 25 years of police service, was proud that he rarely had to pull his weapon while cops today seem to revel in war stories. The taser stories that occupied the front pages for many months were ridiculous in many instances.

I am not arguing that she should not have been arrested, I am arguing against the bull in the china shop approach that we witnessed of a cop that was more insulted than protecting us from harm. Matter of fact, if it was handled by grace by the “man” it would have gone miles in proving that the system works and they are that much more on the crack pot edge of things.

Being a cop is dangerous, almost 200 died last year and they deserve enormous gratitude for stepping out of the car at a normal traffic stop. I just wish they would see it as pro-cop to want them to use more brains than brawn in more situations. Several people could have gotten hurt, including the officer. While it is arguably the girls fault for being a dumbass in the first place, it is the cop that we have charged with keeping it from getting to retard level if necessary.

Any rate, here are the photos, interested to here random thoughts. Also, I have more goods that I will post after I get them scanned

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.