Florida man seriously injured and unable to speak after encounter with police, daughter says after her father was falsely accused of stealing a banana ( wiredposts.com )

A woman in Florida says her 55-year-old “medically fragile” father was falsely accused of theft at a Florida grocery store last week and then seriously injured in a violent encounter with police. Now, she says, he is hospitalized and has lost the ability to speak.

agent_flounder ,
@agent_flounder@lemmy.world avatar

She said he told her that he picked up four bananas, one of which he ate on the way to the register, and that he told the cashier that he needed to pay for four bananas even though she scanned only three. Anjelica Lee said her father told her he was followed closely while he was shopping by a white female employee, who, she said, accused him of stealing the banana he ate.

...

“At first, I was trying to ask her what happened, and she was like, ‘People like you and him shouldn’t come into the store if you don’t have money to pay for things,’” Anjelica Lee said. “My mom is white, and my dad is Black. So I’m mixed. So I think she meant Black people. And it just escalated from that, and she went to cussing me out.”

JFC. Racist piece of shit.

Fuck the cops. Fuck this piece of garbage cashier.

Fuck all this.

negativeyoda ,

Even if he was justly accused of stealing a banana, what in the actual fuck?

platypus_plumba ,

Police in the US escalate situations instead of de-escalating them. In any country this would have been solved after a short conversation.

BigWheelPowerBrakeSlider ,

This is Polk County, Florida, home of the cowboy sheriff Grady Judd who has never seen a camera and microphone he didn't want to use to engrandize himself. Except for the body worn ones. Polk County residents are not the most enlightened of people. But, never discount there being two sides to every story.

growsomethinggood ,

What side of this story could justify beating up an old man until he can't speak?

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

Hey morons, that Monty Python sketch about defending yourself from being attacked with a banana by shooting the attacker was supposed to be a joke.

https://y.yarn.co/0022f672-e2b6-4791-a76e-bbe8dbfc9e31_text.gif

I sure hope they disarmed the guy.

jordanlund ,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

Cops: "Well, yeah, but he was black soooo..."

NoIWontPickaName ,

Did anybody read the article and see the part where she were threatening the employees with a bat and admitted to it?

I think they’re sort of burying the lede on this one.

I would completely expect the police to show up, armed and ready for someone who did just receive a call about threatening people with a metal bat.

Fuck the police and what they did to him, but let’s not pretend like this isn’t a whole other thing than the headline.

That being said, can anyone tell me what the cops did to this dude other than make him sit in the back of a police car I very well might’ve missed it.

The latter part of that article go wild

SheeEttin ,

Yeah, the police response was still disproportionate, though. By the time the cops got there:

she was sitting in the driver’s side of her car with the door open and her father was standing outside the vehicle as they waited for her laundry to dry

The entire thing was over. But instead of asking "what's going on here", hearing an explanation, and going on with their day, they arrest the woman and hospitalize the man.

jettrscga ,

To answer your question on what the cops did:

Anjelica Lee said. “My dad said to me: ‘Don’t get out of the car until they can fully see you, because they’re going to shoot.’ And after he said that, nine or 10 of them jumped on him, and then they slammed him on the car.”

She said she could hear her father screaming: “You’re hurting me. I can’t breathe.”

This is all from the woman's perspective. But it sure seems suspicious that he had chest pains that the police's story can't explain.

girlfreddy ,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

“At first, I was trying to ask her what happened, and she was like, ‘People like you and him shouldn’t come into the store if you don’t have money to pay for things,’” Anjelica Lee said. “My mom is white, and my dad is Black. So I’m mixed. So I think she meant Black people. And it just escalated from that, and she went to cussing me out.”

You can almost guarantee the victim will be Black.

Every. Fucking. Time.

NegativeInf ,

We don't have police. Just corporate enforcers. Pinkertons in different uniforms. Oh, you are accused of a 17 cent theft and didn't do it? Eat lead I guess. I'm just so tired.

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

Bananas are $10

SilverCode ,

Lucille, is that you?

Lucidlethargy ,
@Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works avatar

There's always money in the banana stand.

Coasting0942 ,

SCOTUS: processing, processing, processing…..

Complete! If you don’t like it then just vote in a different police chief or mayor!

Son_of_dad ,

If you get your house broken into, or your car stolen the police can't even be bothered to pretend to care. They treat your theft like an inconvenience to them and will tell you there's nothing they can do.

But if you're a corporation, they'll rush right over and cripple a shoplifter for stealing a banana.

agent_flounder ,
@agent_flounder@lemmy.world avatar

Hey now, they also specialize in oppressing minorities.

JoMiran ,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar

I see they opted for the Israeli definition of "measured and equitable response".

jonne ,

Reminder that the IDF trains US cops. Palestinians are used as guinea pigs for policing techniques.

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