http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/03/national/a014925D22.DTL

that cop is an freaking idiot if i was one of dem watching my friend getting busted i wouldve board wacked the dude over the head

From most of the comments everyone knows of this. And here in toronto cops always take "unnessessary" steps to arresting skaters. Happened at Bumb Rush "big skate comp thing" where a cop beat out a kids leg with his night stick becuase he asked him why he wasnt alowed to skate where he was.

its outa control.

Coming from L.A. police brutality is nothing new. But to think that this is justifiable by city ordinance? I'd love to see the policy where it states that a male cop is allowed to place his hands on a female minor. She did not resist arrest, she did not heckle nor provoke the officer. If the officer wanted to take action, he should've confiscated the skateboards. If it indeed is skateboarding that was the infringement, seeing that he was clearly out-numbered by the teens, the proper thing to have done was to call for back up, not use excessive violence. I'm not sure what Arkansas' regulations are, but generally it's one cop to two people here. If even. It's attrocious. It's dispicable. It's disgusting. If this officer had children of his own, and had their school security handle them in such a way, he would be just as upset. CHOKING is not a police technique. Pepper spray, tasering, etc. are police technique. Physical violence and such acts are supposed to be diminished and controlled by law-enforcing folk, not exerted.

yeah that cop must of had a bad day or he was trying to pull that super cop act. Those kids acted like retards to, i wouldnt yell at a cop or anybody while they are trying to do thier job even though what he was doing was wrong, the cops in the states seem to be more strict about it then up here also. but yea its dumb and we know it will never change

I hope those kids parents have a good lawyer, that cop should be seeing a couple of hefty lawsuits. and getting his in the end. hopefully he gets cut from the force for choking a 13 year old boy, what the fuck is that shit about. though if i was that kid running, i probably would have hit the cop with my board a couple of times just to get some cheap shots in on a pig.

This fat, ignorant, redneck, has obviously watched too much Jerry Springer. He's even got the the shit kicking accent down. Probably had to bang sheep when he was growing up and now likes to take his aggrression out on teenagers. It makes him feel like a man!! Remember this...You're doing o.k. in life, untill you decide to become a cop...

damn skateboard punks with their tight jeans and their fancy haircuts and their expensive vidya recorders.

Summary of this incident used to be found at http://www.pbcommercial.com/articles/2007/06/26/ap-state-ar/d8q0lg6g0.txt

Here's the copy and paste:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Hot Springs police have placed an officer on administrative leave while they investigate an Internet video that appears to show him choking three skateboarders near the city's famed Bathhouse Row, the resort city's mayor said Tuesday.

Mayor Mike Bush said investigators have talked with passers-by and business owners who saw Officer Joey Williams stop the skateboarders on a city sidewalk Thursday. A YouTube video posted Monday shows Williams apparently choking one of the youths after forcing him to the ground, while later chasing and wrestling two others while holding them in a headlock.

"Unfortunately, the video shows it pretty good," Bush said. "I don't condone that sort of stuff and I tell everybody that calls me, we don't know where he was before and during and after this video."

When asked about the officer's conduct, Bush called Williams "one of 100 best and finest we've got" in the city's police department.

Williams did not answer a request through the department for an interview and did not respond to a phone message left at a home number in his name.

Police spokesman McCrary Means identified two of those arrested as Matthew Jon McCormack, 21, and Skylar Nalls, 19, both of Hot Springs. Means said McCormack faces a misdemeanor battery charge after allegedly pushing or striking a 67-year-old city employee during the melee. Nalls received a citation for skateboarding and faces misdemeanor charges of fleeing and obstructing governmental operations.

Means said four juveniles involved in the incident also face skateboarding citations and resisting arrest charges.

The YouTube video apparently was taken without Williams' knowledge by a camera fixed to a belt. It shows the youths along Hot Springs' Central Avenue, an area where a city ordinance prohibits skateboarding. Voices in the background can be heard asking Williams why he was arresting the youths.

"When I tell you to stop and you tell everybody to keep going, that's fleeing, that's disorderly conduct, that's a violation of city ordinance," Williams said.

Williams later threatened one of teens laying on the ground that he'd spray him with pepper spray if he moved.

Hot Springs, located 43 miles southwest of Little Rock, markets itself as a tourist city. Eight bathhouses that figured prominently in the popularity of Hot Springs as a resort town in the first half of the 1900s are lined up along Bathhouse Row in the city's downtown.

Unfortunately nothing will come of voicing your disapproval.
Not to be negative - But by all means try.

Amadou Diallo was an unarmed man that was shot 41-51 times by police on his bachelor party night. He was getting married the next day. A jury unanimously voted to acquit the officers of all charges.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadou_Diallo

I cant believe that shit - that cop would be fired in England

Fuck the poLice! Just like NWA said. That shit is fucked up! I hope those pigs get some shit for that.

i emailed them, i didnt even know where to start. seriously, choking a 13 year old kid?

for putting up the video

I couldn't figure out how to do it.

shit is so fucked

I'm calling the Hot Springs PD in the morning.