If you don't break the law, you won't get tackled by the cops

Over the weekend a 15-year-old boy was wrestled to the ground in Ridgewood, Bergen County after blocking traffic with his bike and refusing to cooperate with police, according to the police there. Several groups of kids on bikes were allegedly blocking traffic and causing a public hazard in several Bergen County towns.

Of course a video of the incident has been making the rounds on social media and immediately a local politician sought to politicize it and use it to divide people.

From Twitter feed of Dr. Arati Kreibich / @AratiKreibich

We don't see what happened before the police altercation and the police claim he was resistant and uncooperative. If you run afoul of the law and you don't cooperate and try to flee, you might get thrown to the ground and cuffed. My brown-skinned kids knew that and so does anyone else who respects the law.

The politician's name is Arati Kreibich and she is a councilwoman in nearly by Glen Rock, and ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary, thank God. Any government official who seeks to gain notoriety or more power or position by defending lawlessness and attacking law enforcement has no place in our government. Sadly, our state is filled with them, and if we're not careful, towns and cities in New Jersey could end up like Seattle or Portland. Riots there have raged out of control for months without any end in sight.

If we let people of any age or any ethnic background disrespect the laws and law enforcement in our state, the eventual result will be what we are seeing in cities around the country. When you have a population of young people who have been taught or told that our country is bad and that all cops are bad too, what would you expect to happen? Is it bad parenting or wrong messages being sent in our public education system or stupid people spreading garbage on social media? It's a toxic mix of all of the above, and until good people stand up and say enough, this will continue to grow and spread to a town near you.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy. Any opinions expressed are Dennis' own.