Homeless Man Punched Repeatedly by Police in Fresno, CA

In the above video, we see a Fresno, CA police officer punch a homeless man at least four times while he is lying on the ground on his side, and then once more when the man is face-down on the ground with his hands behind his back.

At the end of the news report, notice the after-the-fact pretext that the police department offers and that the news dutifully reports: there was another fight between this man and police five years earlier. Is this supposed to reassure and convince us that if a person has EVER previously had a fight with police than ANY level of force is permissible in subsequent altercations?

Wasn't the police report that supposedly "explains" today's beating written by the police themselves? It's a trite formula now that whenever the police exceed by a mile their authority, they offer some past alleged bad act by the victim to justify the police behavior of present.

"Yeah, we shot him in the bag, but he was arrested for possession of marijuana back in 1966." Often the police offer mere past allegations and privacy-protected documents from secret files to justify behavior.

This video shows vividly why police should not have access to electrocution devices. Although punching a man repeatedly when he is defenseless is cowardly, yet it is not as likely to kill the victim repeated 50,000 volt shocks with an electrocution device.

Just remember this: Every member of the public has a right to self-defense when police exceed their authority to use force. And every member of the public has a right to defend another member of the public when police exceed their authority to use force. Once members of the public defend themselves from police, police will charge them with assaulting an officer, etc., and usually the charges stick. So members of the public have to choose between being beaten senseless and offering no resistance or defending themselves first on the street and then once again in a court of law.

"Defense of another." No member of the public is obliged to stand by and helplessly watch police brutality occur. In fact, public action in the face of excessive police force may save your life or someone else's.