In our coverage of the police assault on peaceful Occupy Oakland demonstrators Wednesday, we ran the inspiring photo of a man standing in front of a line of riot police, wearing a sailor’s uniform, holding a Veterans For Peace flag and clutching a copy of the U.S. Constitution.
But what we didn’t realize at the time — not apparent from the photo, but seen in the following, remarkable video — he was also standing stone still as tear gas canisters were exploding all around him…
I can’t help but look at the faces of the police in gas masks, presumably from the Oakland PD (though there were some 17 other agencies there that night) in that haunting video, as they look at the sailor, and wonder what they must be thinking to themselves as that hero stands facing them. We have previously written about the extraordinary violations of the First Amendment that have occurred across the country during these otherwise peaceful demonstrations. What thoughts are going through the minds of those men — all of whom are undoubtedly also a part of the same “99%” for whom Occupy protesters are fighting — during that moment?
[UPDATE: The sailor has now been identified as Joshua Shepherd. See his interview on DemocracyNow! here.]And, as another photograph now reveals, look who happens to be standing right next to the sailor seen above, in the moments just prior to the Oakland PD’s tear gas assault…
That’s right. That’s Scott Olsen standing next to him on the right, the former U.S. Marine and two-tour Iraq vet whose skull was fractured just minutes later that night by a police projectile, sending him to the hospital in critical condition. The two short videos below document the incident, and the moment when cops actually toss in a flash-bang grenade amidst a number of demonstrators trying to frantically administer first aid to Olsen…
This one specifically highlights what happened during the attempt to aid Olsen…
A bit of somewhat encouraging updated news on Olsen: His condition has been upgraded from “critical” to “fair” and he is reportedly now breathing on his own and “responding to his mother who is at his side.” His parents flew in from Wisconsin to be with him yesterday.
There are still worries about the possibility of brain damage, though a report I saw late last night said that, for the moment, doctors have determined he won’t need to have surgery in hopes of reducing the brain swelling he experienced in the hours following the injury.
VFP has created a Scott Olsen Fund to collect donations to help offset medical expenses.
Finally, last night, Oakland’s Mayor Jean Quan (D), who had ordered the police assault on the two prior evenings, decided to not wait in line last night to speak to demonstrators at their General Assembly meeting, according to on-the-scene tweets from Mother Jones’ Gavin Aronsen.
Instead, after claiming she was not allowed to speak, she issued the following statement on her Facebook page…
Well, she had me right up to her last request, #4: “We are asking you not to camp overnight. Frank Ogawa Plaza is open for free speech activities between 6 am and 10 pm.”
I guess I missed the asterisk in the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment where “free speech activities” are confined to certain convenient hours.
Anyone who has that little understanding of our nation’s owner’s manual — particularly after allowing her police to behave as they did — needs to resign immediately. It’s time for you to step down, Mayor Quan.
The cops don’t even know what the constitution is.
Those cops have Ghaddafi generations of enculturation in violence and disregarding people, it’s that it’s usually black people they are using inappropriate force against, abusing, and violently attacking….they are so used to doing this. After Rodney king verdict, there was protest march in black community, they came down hard it, right away, not after many nights…they had all this new shiny gear out and were eager to use it. Oakland PD has been injuring and terrorizing peope with flash bang grenades for decades. I bet the guy that thru that one into the crowd huddled around injured person has done or seen this done to black people many times…he saw all those cameras, he saw people photographing an injured person, he was safely behind a barricade in riot gear, with a few hundred of his friends, but he felt the need to lob a concussive grenade at people trying to aid some one. I have been contending for years the brutality the police have been so accustomed to doling out in black community will bleed more and more across the whole nation, the police have been unchecked,I’m sure they are surprised at the backlash they are now getting because their acts that night are pretty much normal operating procedure . A
time to understand better.
consider apartheid and how they played south africa, and for how long and now israel and on and on and greece and iceland – wait not iceland – and now the u.s.?
http://tvnewslies.org/tvnl/index.php/editorial/bob-alexanders-commentary/21305-the-trick.html
scott olsen probably knew more of this perspective than anyone else there and put himself between protesters and police intentionally. self sacrifice to protect friends from psychopaths is noble. it probably does not do much in the long run.
violent protesters are counterproductive. violent police attacking peaceful protesters do not help stop corruption much either. how well did the media cover the antiglobalist protests?
sure oakland will lose a mayor and probably a police chief and a supervisor or two. eventually they will use more technology to stop accurate exposure of their crimes. and the psychopathic intraspecies predators will find new puppets to prey on the 99%.
so what makes the outcomes in iceland different from greece and so far the u.s.?
Brad:
Here is the updated map of the free speech zones in the USA:
Map of USA Free Speech Zone
We are the United States of Israel.
Our police are being trained for combat….not to protect the public as they were intended! Why are drills done using foreign governments soldiers in America? Do you see the problem?
Police who nearly killed this Iraqi vet at OCCUPY protests trained with the Israeli military in Urban Shield. We can expect this nationwide thanks to this kind of training!
http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Article/098511-2011-10-27-police-who-nearly-killed-iraq-vet-at-occupy-protests-trained.htm?From=News
Ask yourself why are FOREIGN countries involved with and privileged to critical information regarding America’s Homeland Security exercises?
(Then ask yourself why many of our highest government officials are dual citizens of Israel. Why is the head of America’s HOMELAND SECURITY, Chertoff, an Israel loyalist). Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s chief of staff before leaving to be the mayor of Chicago, served in the Israeli army. This begs a lot of questions about WHY they are even allowed in our most sensitive government positions. Google United States government and dual citizens of Israel and see what comes up.
http://www.urbanshield.org/index.php/about/teams
INTERNATIONAL TEAMS
Israeli Special Police Force
Jordanian Special Police Force
The Kingdom of Bahrain National Police
Urban Shield CA 2011
Urban ShieldUrban Shield is a national model, full-scale exercise, designed to assess and validate the speed, effectiveness and efficiency of capabilities, as well as test the adequacy of regional policies, plans, procedures and protocols. Urban Shield incorporates regional critical infrastructure, emergency operation centers, regional communication systems, equipment and assets, as well as personnel representing all aspects of emergency response including intelligence, law enforcement, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Units, Fire, EMS, etc. The Urban Shield Exercise is unique because of its focus on training during the exercise. “
Urban Shield is a national model, full-scale exercise, designed to assess and validate the speed, effectiveness and efficiency of capabilities, as well as test the adequacy of regional policies, plans, procedures and protocols. Urban Shield incorporates regional critical infrastructure, emergency operation centers, regional communication systems, equipment and assets, as well as personnel representing all aspects of emergency response including intelligence, law enforcement, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Units, Fire, EMS, etc. The Urban Shield Exercise is unique because of its focus on training during the exercise. “
http://www.urbanshield.org/index.php/about
“Among those listed on the drill’s official website, urbanshield.org, under 2010 Supporting International Agencies / Organizations are “State of Israel National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA)”, “State of Israel National EMS System, Magen David Adom”, and “State of Israel National Police”.
http://www.urbanshield.org/index.php/about/supporting-agencies
Urban Shield is a national model, full-scale exercise, designed to assess and validate the speed, effectiveness and efficiency of capabilities, as well as test the adequacy of regional policies, plans, procedures and protocols. Urban Shield incorporates regional critical infrastructure, emergency operation centers, regional communication systems, equipment and assets, as well as personnel representing all aspects of emergency response including intelligence, law enforcement, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Units, Fire, EMS, etc. The Urban Shield Exercise is unique because of its focus on training during the exercise. “
International Agencies / Organizations
Belgium
Canada, Vancouver Police Department
Croatia
Kingdom of Bahrain
Kingdom of Jordan
Singapore National Police Force
State of Israel National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA)
State of Israel National EMS System, Magen David Adom
State of Israel National Police
State of Qatar
United Arab Emirates
Public/Private Partners
International Agencies / Organizations
AT&T Corporation
American Medical Response (AMR)
Century Theater
Cisco Systems
Chevron Refinery
Chevron Refinery Fire Department
Denevi Video
Dolphin Graphics
FedEx
Long Beach Police Department
Marriott Corporation
NUMMI
Oracle Corporation
Prison Health Services
QUEST, Quality Emergency & Safety Training
Ropemasters
Transamerica Corporation
The majority of VENDORS for this training are more suited for military operations that police training…..it’s absolutely frightening to think our police and emt personnel are being trained with the mindset of the military.
http://www.urbanshield.org/index.php/vendors
Seeing the sailor standing there with the flag and constitution brought tears to my eyes. He is an American standing still for what he believes.
Has anyone considered finding out the highest democratic award a country can bestow on a citizen and put both Scott and the Naval person in for it? True American heros.
How would one do that? A sort of, home grown Tiananmen square.
Ashley, #5
“head of America’s HOMELAND SECURITY, Chertoff”
Maybe you wrote that text somewhere a few years ago, the cut and pasted it years later without editing it?
Comparing the still photo to the last video raises a disturbing legal question.
As I noted in a comment to Brad’s initial coverage, CA law enforcement is well aware of the fact that the force inflicted by a tear gas projectile is potentially lethal.
“On Aug. 29, 1970, while covering the National Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War, the 42-year-old [L.A. Times reporter Ruben] Salazar was killed instantly by a sheriff’s tear gas projectile while he sat in an East Los Angeles.â€
The still photo depicts Scott Olson standing next to the sailor holding up a copy of the constitution. The first video reflect the sailor is less than ten feet from the heavily armed law enforcement contingent.
The last video depicts Scott Olson lying on the ground, perhaps no more than 20 feet from the officers on the other side of the fence.
Where the L.A. County Deputy Sheriff may not have been able to see Salazar when he fired from outside the bar, the officer who fired the projectile that first left Olson in critical condition (since updated to fair) could not have avoided knowing that it would hit him in the head. Either that, or the officer closed his/her eyes before firing.
From an NLG volunteer re: Oakland:
It bears repeating: “It is *not* law enforcement, and these are *not* police. This is counter-insurgency, and these are troops. And these troops are attacking the American people.
The good news is that no state has ever defeated a domestic insurgency. But if the insurgents believe their adversary is the police enforcing the law, they have already lost. Free your mind, and your ass will follow. Buy their bullshit, and your ass is grass.
DREDD…regarding your question…I should have been clearer…he was there from 2005 to 2009 and co-authored our infamous Patriot Act.
Watching that unknown sailor and that former marine, Scott Olsen, standing up for me made me cry. When the Oakland police threw the tear gas canisters at them, hitting Scott Olsen, I felt violated and betrayed, too. Something is very wrong in our country today and it appears there is no going back now. Change seems inevitable. I just hope it benefits “We the People” and not the 1% who are in control, at least for now.
What is the response of our wonderful United States Attorney General Eric Holder to these protests?
Nothing. Nothing! Obama screwed up appointing him.
Obama needs to go.
This is what these police officers likely are thinking as this is the sentiment of a 20 year NYC transit cop (for what it’s worth):
“There is 47% in this country that when it comes to filing taxes, either get it all back, or some that even get tax credits (more back then they even paid into the system). Those people are leeches on society, and usually the most vocal at demanding that the people that actually pay into the system should pay even more to subsidize THEM”
Apparently he see no reason to question why 47% need subsidizing and concludes they are all lazy bums.
Brad,
Your coverage has ended my fence sitting ambivalence about Occupy. It is not just about the Wall Street one percent, it is about the soul of a country…my country.
Patricia –
I’m delighted to hear that. Welcome off the fence, and onto the cold hard earth. We need ya here!