This is a followup to the diary earlier today "SC police officers to mentally ill woman: I'll let you go if you let me Taser you in the forehead." http://www.dailykos.com/....
Franklin Brown, 35, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and his fellow Marion police officer Eric Walters, 39, was sentenced to a year and a day. Brown's sentence was longer because he shocked 40-year-old Melissa Davis while she was already handcuffed in April 2013.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
Walters apologized to Davis, his family and the city of Marion. He said he has no job and had to tell his children, once so proud their dad was a police officer, that he did a bad thing and has to go to jail.
"That's not me. That wasn't me. I made one mistake. Now I am going to pay the ultimate price," Walters said.
I always find it remarkable when someone says "I am not a bigot," after some incredibly racist or homophobic statement or action. "That's not me." Just "one mistake." Oh, the unfairness of it all, he slipped up once, and he never would have done it in the first place if he thought there would be consequences, which I must admit was a pretty low risk. And I always thought the "ultimate price" was dying for the love of your country.
But maybe there is something to his statement. Racism and violence are often crowd phenomenons. All the high fives and good-old-boy laughter is just team spirit and going along to get along. Naming "the other" is a cornerstone of conformist behavior. Maybe he wouldn't have done it on his own, maybe he's not a bigot in his heart (that is somewhat of a snark), but get the team together and people get hurt. One sociopath leads, and everyone else follows. That is why it is absolutely crucial that these serious crimes are prosecuted; there is a price to pay for passivity and allowing this level of brutality when you are sworn to uphold the law and protect the citizenry.
Brown was the extra bad guy, and it appears from the article that he "manned up" and did not offer an apology or make an appeal for a reduced sentence. He's got about 16 months to think about it.