Mardi Gras Terrorism: Video Shows 9 White Plainclothes Officers Attacking 2 Unarmed Black Teens - no basis for the stop

From [HERE] The local branch of the NAACP on Thursday called for federal and state investigations into the actions of nine State Police troopers and one New Orleans police officer after a local TV station aired a video Wednesday night showing the plainclothes officers -- all of them white -- allegedly tackling two young black men in the French Quarter. The incident happened on Sunday in the 700 block of Conti Street amid Mardi Gras 2013 celebrations.

"The major issue is whether or not excessive force was used, and whether or not the civil rights of the young men were violated," said Danatus King, president of the New Orleans chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "There is a great concern that had those young men been white, they would not have been treated the same way."

The video, which was aired on WVUE-TV and lacks audio, shows 17-year-old Sidney Newman and 18-year-old Ferdinand Hunt standing against a wall. Suddenly, a group of plainclothes officers approaches. Some of the officers tackle the teenagers to the ground and then pounce on them. 

One of the officers is shown swinging Hunt (who weighs 130lbs) around forcefully. That cop was a State Police trooper, according to a police source familiar with the incident. Later on in the video, a uniformed NOPD officer approaches the group. She reportedly tells them she is Hunt's mother, and the officers shortly let both men go with her. The teens were unarmed and did not reisist arrest. 

State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson (racist suspect in photo) said he takes the allegations "very seriously," adding that he personally initiated an internal investigation into the incident on Monday morning. He said investigators would take statements from everyone involved and determine what happened within 60 days.

Edmonson denied that race was known to be a factor in the incident. He said the undercover task force was largely enforcing juvenile curfew, weapons and drug laws. This is deception/racism. In the video, the police approach quickly and do not to appear to ask questions or identify themselves.

Not a way to check for curfew as far as the 4th Amendment is concerned. (In order for the police to stop you or to even touch you the Supreme Court has ruled that police must have reasonable articulable suspicion that there is criminal activity afoot and the person detained is involved in the activity. The reason must be particularized). - BW 

Hazel Newman, Sidney Newman's mother, told WVUE that she thought the officers overreacted, and she wondered whether race was the reason. (why wonder. You know it is. Start from there.)

"Why take a child or a young man that's 130 pounds and sling him across? Why not just walk up to him and say, 'What are you doing? What's your name or why are you here?' That's a human being," Hazel Newman told the station. "I would hate to think that it was because these boys were young black boys." 

New Orleans police are not investigating the actions of the NOPD officers -- the officer with the State Police group, or Hunt's mother -- because the department has not received any complaints about them, said spokeswoman Remi Braden.