Police, Use of Violence/Excessive Force

Cases of Police Violence

In the late 1990s, Human Rights Watch studied the excessive use of force in 14 major cities, including New York, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles. Human Rights Watch found police brutality to be a systematic part of police departments across the country. Several cases of police brutality have attracted national attention in the media. In 1997, Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant, was arrested by New York City police and taken into custody. At the precinct, he was ushered by officers into a bathroom where he was sodomized with a wooden stick. He was left bleeding in a cell for 3 hours before he was taken to the hospital where he stayed for 2 months recovering from massive internal injuries. In the same year, Oliverio Martinez was riding his bike to work in the agricultural fields of Oxnard, California. Police suspected he was involved in drug activity and stopped him for questioning. After a brief scuffle, police found a knife. Martinez was shot 5 times. He survived, but he is now blind and paralyzed from the waist down. He was never charged with a crime. In 2003, according to Amnesty International, a Native American transgendered woman was allegedly stopped by two police officers and taken to an alleyway where she was raped.

The Victims of Police Violence

As the above cases illustrate, the victims of police brutality most likely come from socially marginalized communities. African American, Native American, Latino, transgendered, and low-income individuals bear the brunt of police brutality in the United States. Experiences with the police are often shaped by race, economic status, and sexuality. Therefore, there are widely different perceptions of police conduct in the United States. Sociologists Ronald Weitzer and Steven Tuch studied how race affects perceptions of police activity. They found that communities that experience increased police brutality are more likely to view police brutality as a systematic problem within the United States rather than the result of a few “bad apple” police officers.

Police Violence and the History of Urban Uprisings

Police violence has historically provided a major catalyst for urban uprisings. The history of urban uprisings in the United States is inextricably bound to the excessive use of force. The 1965 Watts uprising ignited after a routine stop of Marquette Frye led to police beatings of onlookers in the low-income community of Watts, California. In 1969, police raided a gay bar frequented by men of color in Greenwich Village, New York. The raid led to the Stonewall uprising that lasted for 2 days. In 1980, Liberty City, Florida, residents rioted after four White police officers were acquitted for the beating death of Arthur McDuffie, an African American. The 1992 Los Angeles revolt was sparked after four White police officers were acquitted for the videotaped beating of Rodney King. In 2001, Cincinnati residents took to the streets after Timothy Thomas, a 19-year-old African American, was shot and killed by a White police officer. Thomas was unarmed.

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