>So, uh, shoving a cop isn't a violent crime?
Anecdotal, but about a year ago I watched as four policemen - three of them probably weighing over 200 pounds - tackled a shoplifter in front of a Manhattan store. The fourth piled on after the shoplifter was summarily slammed to the ground. The predictable shouts of "Quit resisting!" were heard. When the parties all regained their footing, one of the policeman found that he had suffered an abrasion tackling the guy. I overheard him saying how the 'asshole' would be going upstate for assaulting a cop. I remember reading of similar cases where suspects had 'shoved' policemen who were applying chokes and the like. I believe victim precipitation often mitigates sentencing. I guess that goes out the window though when the 'victim' was graduated by the police academy.
Doug writes:
>I remember when Rudy Giuliani tried to define
>"aggressive pandhandling" as bordering on violent
>assault.
And you'll no doubt remember the heroics of the cops operating in that milieu, such as the gunning down of squuegee man Antoine Reid by an offduty NYPD officer.
I think this is all related. It is tough for many people to see just how tough it is to be unsuccessful in this country. Path dependency and national hatred of losers come into play, and the lucky/ambitious often don't realize this. I guess if you're a petty criminal, you have to endure the application of force by an increasingly large and well-armed police force. If you're unfortunate enough to not have a home, you have to reckon with a series of laws effectively criminalizing homelessness (as with 'shoving' cops, how many hobos busted for pissing in the bushes in a park do time for lewd conduct and the like?).
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