Once again a community was outraged with police action that amounted to a tempest in a teapot. In Paterson a deaf and speech impaired man came up aggressively towards officers who were there for an arrest having nothing to do with this individual. There was no apparent connection between this man and the police activity on Godwin Avenue. Yet this clown approached police in an angry, menacing manner. The police showed incredible restraint in not reacting and telling the man to “walk away.”

The guy wouldn’t listen. Not even when a woman who knew him got in between him and the police urging him to back off. Several times, making sure he could see her words, she warned him, “You’re gonna go to jail.” Even this friend of his recognized he was the aggressor.

But not the community.

Because of what happened next there were calls for the police officers to be disciplined. The man began to move away but then threw something at the cops. One law enforcement officer said it was a lit cigarette. That’s when they finally moved to take him into custody. They did the right thing. You cannot allow attacks even of this sort on police officers to go unanswered. It will only make them bigger targets of abuse in the future and make all their jobs even more dangerous. Because the man resisted arrest, pepper spray was involved. They used what was necessary and legal to arrest a jerk who was given ample opportunity to stop interfering with police. Of course the community wanted blood. Thankfully they didn’t get it. An investigation found the officers did nothing wrong.

Watch the video of the incident yourself and see if you agree.

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