High Hands in Houston:
Memo to Houston Police: Are you freakin’ kidding me?
Saw this on Boing Boing this morning…
Last Friday night, a small music venue here in Houston (Walter’s) was in the middle of a show when a cop walked in on a noise disturbance call (not unusual for Walters), and instead of talking with the management to turn down the music or shut down the show, walked straight up to the stage to tell the band to shut down. The band had no idea what was going on and asked why, at which time the cop tried to grab one of the musicians’ guitar, and then slammed the musician to the ground… of course from that point on melee ensued, with at least three people being tasered by this cop, and several people being arrested. One of the kids tasered was a 14 year old kid who was there with his parents! One account states that the boy’s father was also tasered.
The band, according to SFist, was Two Gallants, a San Francisco duo I’m fond of (I extolled their song “Waves of Grain” on Episode #6 of my podcast)
This is insane. Look at the tape and judge for yourself but at the very least, the city of Houston should be looking into this, the police department should discipline this over and police procedures regarding recruiting and proper procedure in a high density situation like a concert should be reevaluated. It’s a wonder this didn’t start a riot.
We pay police departments to protect us from harm, not to make it worse before it happens. This is not public safety. This officer is a power-hungry thug who deserves to be sanctioned and then dismissed immediately.
Update: Two Gallants reports they’ve had lawyer up. They also break it down over at Rolling Stone and in an interview with SFist.