Brutality

Initial thoughts: If you are deviating from mainstream society and can be perceived to be fucking up the Quality of Life you are at a much larger risk of catching a police sponsored beatdown.

Some cops will fuck you up after nabbing you for something minor.

If you are a messenger you are messing with the Quality of Life by breaking traffic laws.

Some cops will fuck you up if you are a messenger. Some cops will fuck you up if you are a skateboarder. Some cops will fuck you up because you write graffiti. Some cops will fuck you up for the way you dress or have your hair. Some cops will fuck you up because you went to a certain show or a club. Some cops will fuck you up for shoplifting. Some cops will fuck you up for being a drug addict.

If you’re a person of color it happens faster, and escalates faster.

Some cops will fuck you up for talking back. Some cops will fuck you up for making them seem dumb. Some cops will fuck you up if they are having a bad day or made them run or whatever. Some cops will fuck you up just because they can.

Some cops will fuck you up if you’re on the other team so guard your grill.

“A bicycle delivery worker was fulfilling a Postmates order for a burrito in SoMa when he tells CBS SF he was stopped by SFPD officers who went on to brutally beat and mace him, landing him in the hospital.
Donovan Reid, a 22-year-old black man, says police stopped him for using his phone. He maintains he was navigating rather than texting or calling. Asked for his ID in a snippet of video he recorded, Reid cannot produce any. As an article lifted from Bicycling magazine explains, in certain situations cyclists do need to present identification if it’s requested by police or else risk being taken into custody.
Reid records this conversation and the aggressive tone of officers, but then his phone is off, and there’s a break in the timeline of footage.
Bystanders pick up minutes later, recording disturbing footage of Reid screaming in agony. He says officers told him to “stop resisting” and hit his legs in particular, sending him to the hospital. He also received two citations.
On a GoFundMe page from which Reid hopes to gather funds for legal counsel and medical expenses, the cyclist elaborates on his experience.
I was riding my bike in sf doing deliveries for a company called Postmates when an officer pulled his cruiser in front of me and told me to pull over. I complied. He then stated that he is pulling me over for being on my phone texting while biking. I said I’m being safe and I’m only using navigation, not texting.
The officer told me to drop my phone (I started recording after he told me to pull over) and then grabbed my shirt collar and started punching me in my stomach. I noted that this was excessive force and the officer continued to punch me in my stomach. He reached for his mace and impaired my vision and then began grabbing me by my neck and slamming me to the ground, placing his knee on my back.

Later, more officers came and began holding my legs in the air and beating my legs, while telling me to stop resisting and keep my legs on the ground. I told him I couldn’t do that because someone is beating my legs and holding my legs in the air.
Afterwards I went to the hospital and got two citations and my courier gear (1 bicycle) is in police holding.
Currently raising money so I can afford legal representation. This is a stressful and painful life event that no one should have to ever go through, I’m very happy to be still alive. I will use the donations accordingly to pay for counseling sessions and court fees.
The SFPD’s Internal Affairs Division is reportedly investigating the incident, with the Office of Citizen Complaints notified.
Reid, who says he feared for his life and thought he might be shot, says of the officers that “They should be terminated.” There was, “No need for that to happen. Not to me. Not to anybody,” says Reid.”

Damn dude. Get well soon.

Thought two:
So Postmates is one of the app based courier services? This story illustrates what I was talking about the other day-The lack of a team.

If you work for a legit company with radios of some sort and you are stopped by the police you call into dispatch and let them know what’s happening. It de-escalates the situation. If you are being arrested you can call for back up and have some one take your gear. It happens.

With this app based stuff there’s no one to report to, no consequence for fucking up, and no back up. It seems unsafe to me. I get the whole rookie junior toy”I love not having a boss maaaan” mentality, and I know its hard to work your way up through the ranks of being a real messenger, but its worth it. This shit is real dude. Pay your dues and start at the bottom. Work your way up from the bunk companies. Apply for your jobs on the worst day of winter. You know the drill. If you have what it takes you will rise up.

Three:
Cities are generally safer than they were 20 years ago and crime as a whole in the US has dropped. That doesn’t mean you aren’t going to run into trouble on either end of the spectrum.

If you are a messenger and you are good at your job you break traffic laws. Its a requirement of the job.

There’s all the other stuff as well-fist fight with an irate taxi driver, possession, giving a cop a dirty look, not being white, etc. All that stuff can be a crime.

If you get caught breaking a law things might go south and you are going to jail, and if you are real unlucky you get a Nickel Ride as a prize.

If you get away without getting taken in on some trumped up charges and get a ticket you better pay.

If you don’t pay your traffic tickets, you get a warrant. So now you’re like a real criminal…

If you get a warrant Sheriff’s department can bust in your door and take you away until you pay your $110. WTF.

Also:

Maybe you get robbed for your bike while using a payphone next to Red Hook houses.

Maybe you get in an altercation with someone in a car, or truck, or bus.

Maybe a whole Frat House is talking shit and you need to call in some friends to scare them back to class.

I don’t know.

I do know you don’t get any help working for your phone.

Four:
What’s up SF still has the no fixie law still on the books? I remember hearing about that shit when they made the law. Info would transfer from SF to Philadelphia through Ellie and MSA. You’d hear all these things. SF Messengers are starting a UNion, SF cops will bust you for not having a brake, etc etc…

Five:
A lot of people in this country will applaud cops beating you up. Generally the Fox News/Donald Trump types, but appreciating cop violence crosses political lines-You know the dudes that are like “I’m a liberal but…”

Read the comments on any article like this and half of them will be along the lines of “He got what he deserved, we don’t know the whole story, got to support our police go team.”.

Six:
I am saying “some cops” here. Most cops are just doing their job. But if you run into the wrong one…