MovieChat Forums > The Wire (2002) Discussion > Police Brutality

Police Brutality

posted 8 years ago by Born_Tomorrow
12 replies | jump to latest

I know that this is just one example of brutality out of many but when Freeman smacked Byrd over the head with that bottle that was fcked up. They didn't have to do that. They had plenty of opportunity to grab him before he pulled out a gun and plenty of other options that they could have used besides randomly smacking a kid in the head with a beer bottle. What if that wasn't even the right guy? It kind of reminds me of that show "To catch a predator". No matter how cooperative and nonthreatening the guy acts, as soon as he steps outside, even if he has his hands up, all of the police officers rush to tackle him, like he has a football in his hand.

I woke up this way...

[–] ChristopherSolomon 8 years ago

There are lots of examples of police brutality throughout the show, that was honestly probably one of the lesser ones. Beating Byrd while he was chained up, the cop who broke the kids fingers and Bubbles getting assaulted are all far worse. The cops on this show are pretty hard to like, but it's practically a war zone mentality they have.

[–] Born_Tomorrow 8 years ago

Not to mention Prez knocking that kid's eye out.

The difference to me was that those instances were in the heat of the moment, they were obviously not premeditated and a lot of the time, they were provoked. Plus in those instance, it was just one angry, hotheaded cop being an ass hole but in this case, it was a group effort and it was obviously premeditated. Basically what I'm saying is, since this was a group effort, they all had to agree that the best scenario was to smack the guy in the head with a bottle. That was all they could come up with between the 6 of them? What if that was the wrong guy? Neither of them had a picture of him.

I woke up this way...

[–] NuckyThompson 8 years ago

Neither of them had a picture of him.

He was identified by Bubbles during the operation.

[–] SaliceMcD 8 years ago

I don't know who was worse: Walker or Colicchio. But this incident was pretty damn bad.

[–] hammerbutt 8 years ago

They know Bird is the right guy and he is armed and he's not a kid he's a stone cold killer

[–] Born_Tomorrow 8 years ago

Sorry, where I'm from we call every young person a kid, regardless of whether he's a killer or a choir boy.

So every armed person needs to get smacked over the head with a bottle in order to arrest him? Even if he was armed, he didn't have it out and pointed at them so he wasn't an immediate threat. I'm sure if they had actually put some thought into it, it was a much easier way to capture the kid without smacking him with a bottle.

I woke up this way...

[–] hammerbutt 8 years ago

I'd say his character was over 21 so not a kid.
Every armed person who has murdered several people yes.
Omar told them that Bird would definitely throw down in that situation as well

[–] Born_Tomorrow 8 years ago

Every armed person who has murdered several people yes.
Omar told them that Bird would definitely throw down in that situation as well

 You can call him whatever you want to but I'm going to call him a "kid" and there is nothing you can do about it. Also, I don't care what Omar told them, if this was real life, it wouldn't have happened like that. No group of detectives or cops would have approached that situation by smacking the guy with a bottle. It's retarded to even think that that's realistic. The only way that that would happen is if they all wanted to lose their jobs and end up in a cell right next to Byrd.

I woke up this way...

[–] hammerbutt 8 years ago

Not sure why you think I want to do something about it I'm just disagreeing with you. Also your use of the word retarded is very offensive.

[–] Born_Tomorrow 8 years ago

Not sure why you think I want to do something about it I'm just disagreeing with you.

Because it's not the topic of discussion, yet you keep harping on that one word, like you can't get past it.

Also your use of the word retarded is very offensive.

What makes my use of the word "retarded" any different from the use of the words "dumb" "idiotic" or "stupid"? Here is the standard definition of the word, in case you didn't know...

re·tard·ed
/rəˈtärdəd/

adjective
less advanced in mental, physical, or social development than is usual for one's age.

adverb
very foolish or stupid.

"in retrospect, it was a totally retarded idea"

Do you go around telling people that the words "foolish" and "stupid" are offensive too? I see people using those words all over the place yet nobody complains and call it "offensive" but you want to complain about the word "retarded" even though it means the same thing. Isn't that a bit hypocritical?

I woke up this way...

[–] hammerbutt 8 years ago

Harping? I mentioned it twice and it is part of the discussion violence against a kid is different than violence against an adult.

[–] Born_Tomorrow 8 years ago

Um, yes, harping. That's exactly what you're doing. Anytime you can't get past something, you are harping over it and if you had gotten past it, you wouldn't have brought it up a second time, especially since I've already explained that I refer to all young people as kids, not just the minors. In fact, many people refer to all young people as kids. Furthermore, the subject wasn't about hitting a kid. It was about the police brutality on this show, period. My use of the word "kid" was just apart of an example that I was using, not the subject of discussion.

I woke up this way...