Los Gatos, CA, 2001
A peaceful day of skateboarding in a public parking lot came to a terrifying halt when a local worker in his mid 40's, unprovoked, assaulted a small boy with a wooden board, claiming, "the cops will never believe you!" when confronted by the boy's friends. But little did he realize that the entire incident was being secretly documented on video.
After attempting to unlawfully detain a different boy, the maniac worker placed a call into the Santa Clara County Sheriff's department. The boys, having done nothing wrong, decided to wait for the sheriff so they could report the violent worker. Upon arrival, however, the sheriff simply let the worker go, seemingly unconcerned about the truth or the video evidence. Instead, the condescending sheriff greeted the law-abiding group of skateboarders with extreme hostility, even accusing them of "dinging people's cars," and "tresspassing on private property"-- referring to the public parking lot the boys were skating in.
Fortunately, this uncalled-for display of discrimination against skateboarders--which is not uncommon--was being captured on video.
After ordering the boys to leave, they obediently complied, but instead of just leaving it at that, the power-tripping sheriff decided that the innocent boys hadn't had enough abuse. To make an unnecessary example, he physically barred one 13 year old from leaving by forcibly pushing him and yelling, "you got a problem, punk?" He then grabbed him, handcuffed him, and threw the polite little skateborder into the back of his vehicle and drove off.
Due to this amazing video, no charges were placed against any of the boys involved, the rough worker has since been fired and charged with misdemeanor assault, and the sheriff, after an investigation, was placed on a four week suspension, hopefully learning his lesson.
Bullying little kids is always a foolish idea, especially when you're law enforcement and the cameras are rolling! Always keep the cameras rolling.
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