Sometimes Big Brother looks out for us

September 23, 2008 @ 1:30AM

Sometimes Big Brother looks out for us

By Carlos Miller -...

As civil libertarians, we sometimes like to have our cake and eat it too.

We want to be able to photograph in public without getting harassed, yet we get irritated and scream Big Brother when the State photographs or films us.

But sometimes those cameras serve justice, as in the case of the Broward County teens beating a homeless man to death with baseball bats in 2006.

Unknowing to them at the time, their barbaric actions were caught on video, enabling police to identify and arrest them.

Last week, two of the teens, Thomas Daugherty and Brian Hooks, now 19 and 21, were convicted of second-degree murder and will serve at least 40 years in prison.

But what would have become of this case had it not been for the security camera that caught the teens savagely beating Norris Gaynor to death?

The video was instantly viewed throughout the world on the Internet as well as various news stations. And it generated more than 100 tips in a couple days that eventually lead to the arrest of the teens.

Without the video, the incident would most likely have ended up as another unsolved murder of another homeless person; an ugly trend that is becoming an epidemic throughout the country, especially Florida.

In 2007, there was 142 unprovoked attacks on homeless people throughout the country, including 32 in Florida, according to the New York Times. In most of those cases, the incident was not caught on video and the suspects have not been arrested.

Without the video, Daugherty and Hooks, two middle-class white teens at the time of the attacks, would have probably kept their violent secret to themselves.

Perhaps they would have eventually joined the ranks of the professional class or even joined the police academy, which would not be the first time a sociopathic bully was drawn to law enforcement.

And perhaps they would have eventually married and started families, their sociopathic rage simmering beneath the surface.

As police officers, how long would it have taken them to unleash their rage on a suspect a la Rodney King?

And as a husband and father, how long would it have taken them to unleash their rage on their own family?

It’s difficult to speculate how they would have turned out when we don’t know them personally, but it’s not too hard to imagine after seeing the video.

Comments

Anonymous

3 years ago

Good story.

Except for the two times you insinuate that vicious hoodlums are destined to become police officers.

While I agree with your stands on SOME police violating SOME people’s civil rights, I think it’s really unfair to assume that people with violent and aggressive personalities are pre-disposed to law enforcement careers. My sister-in-law is an officer with the MDPD and through her I know a lot of cops. As far as I can tell, none of them are psychopaths and I’m pretty sure she never beat to death any homeless people.

Maybe these kids would have grown up to be teachers or Democratic politicians. Maybe they would have been fishermen or realtors. There are bad people all over – don’t lump all the bad people and cops together.

Anonymous

3 years ago

PDBreske, thank you, I agree wholeheartedly.

Anonymous

3 years ago

PDB,

It was just speculation, as I confirmed in my final sentence.

But I do agree with you that most cops are not violent sociopaths.

However, it is no secret that many people who are prone to violence or bullying tactics or have control issues are drawn to law enforcement.

Anonymous

3 years ago

And I will stand by my statement that there are bad people all over. If you can cite a study proving that law enforcement attracts the violent or criminally minded individual, please do.

I do respect your site and I do think that your rights were totally violated during your arrest, but that doesn’t give you the right to label the profession that wronged you with some form of scarlet letter.

Your rights were trampled on by an individual. Sometimes individuals do bad things.

1 year ago

it wasn,t an individual that violated his rights it was every cop that was there. 5 i think it was. that would be 100%

Anonymous

3 years ago

PDB,

I doubt there is a study that would indicate that law enforcement would attract these type of people.

Our jails and prisons would indicate that these type of people are drawn to all types of professions.

However, law enforcement is one of the few professions that allows its workers to use violence against citizens. It’s one of the few professions that allows its workers to exert a certain control over citizens.

While most of the people drawn to law enforcement do so because they actually want to enforce the law and fight crime, there are far too many who abuse their power and give the rest of the cops a bad name.

Anonymous

3 years ago

Okay, this is the last I’m going to comment on this subject.

I agree that far too many police officers abuse the authority they are given by virtue of their profession. But just because this authority is abused by a small percentage of officers does not automatically presume that the profession is attractive to people who want to exert inordinate or illegal control over citizens in their jurisdiction.

As you pointed out, there probably isn’t a study that shows any correlation between aggression and law enforcement any more than any other profession. Until such a study is published, any statements to that effect are based on anecdotal evidence. And since you are bent on pursuing the admittedly improper use of force by some members of the law enforcement community, you are more likely assume that this community is filled with bullies and thugs.

If one were to focus such scrutiny on another profession – professional sports comes to mind – one might find that a relatively high number of mean-spirited thugs also are attracted to the job.

If we highlight jobs that seem to employ those who are criminally minded, might not we also include high finance or Catholic priests.

Hell, why not include soldiers? They’re trained to kill. I’m sure many of them joined not to serve their country but to quench their bloodlust.

Do yourself a favor and focus on the individuals who are committing these crimes and stop bashing the entire law enforcement community. If you generalize your assault on every police officer you weaken your argument against the few who are deserving of punishment. People will read this site and assume you just hate cops, and that doesn’t help anyone.

Anonymous

3 years ago

PDB,

I don’t believe I bashed the entire law enforcement community with the above post. If that is the way it came across, that wasn’t my intent.

My intent was to point out how if it wasn’t for that video camera, these teens would have most likely gotten away with the murder.

And considering they appeared like normal well-adjusted teens on the surface, it is likely they would have eventually finished school and gotten some type of job.

The reason I mentioned that they could have joined the police force is because that is the type of job where somebody like them could be extremely dangerous to the average citizen.

If they would have become bankers or lawyers, they would most likely be a threat only to their wives.

I was trying to point out that if they would have gotten away with this murder, we would most likely be reading about them in the future.