I posted on Monday about an incident in Allentown PA where police had to subdue a man in apparent distress outside a hospital emergency room entrance. (I tried to post an update but it disappeared into Tumbolia – the place where suppressed sneezes and lost socks go.)
Rather than try to recreate that very detailed update, I’ll summarize here. First, I was incorrect about the location of the hospital. Based on the video of the incident, it looked to me like a hospital about four blocks from my house. It was actually a hospital about a mile from my house (with an uncannily similar ER entrance) but nothing I saw in the reporting specified the location until Tuesday.
Second, the protest that had been called for Monday went off peacefully. There was neither violence nor rioting. The people who were interviewed who appeared to be representatives of Black Lives Matter (not confirmed whether or not they really were) were upset but quite rational. They accepted that an investigation had to be done before jumping to conclusions.
Third, another video of the incident was released showing the entire thing rather than only the 23 seconds of the initial video. There’s no reason to think that either video was edited or manipulated to show anything differently than what actually happened, they were merely from slightly different angles. Both videos correspond exactly.
Fourth and finally (for now), the city released the results of its investigation and concluded that the officers did nothing wrong. (The comment section of the post of the article on Facebook is remarkably supportive, for a largish northeastern city in a traditionally blue state, of both the conclusion and the police.)
After studying the videos, I agree with the conclusion. The police were extraordinarily patient with the man before the scuffle started. Once it did, it’s clear that the officer who used his knee to hold the man down never obstructed his airway. His leg was never on the man’s neck. Rather, his shin was across the man’s head and his knee was on the man’s shoulder. Once everyone – the officers and the man – calmed down, the man was peacefully escorted into the hospital, where he was treated and released. He was later charged with disorderly conduct, public drunkenness, and possession of drug paraphernalia but that’s the extent of things.
The only thing to await now is the reaction to the investigation. As I understand it, there’s a protest happening right now. I haven’t heard anything yet about what’s going on there. If it devolves into the kind of chaos we’ve seen elsewhere (and assuming I don’t have to shoot any rioters going after me or my house), I’ll post another update. If everything remains peaceful, I’ll call the matter resolved and move on. Warily, to be sure, but on.