Case Study Police Brutality

Case Study #2

Police brutality is becoming more and more apparent in the news today because it seems to be occurring more than before. In 2012, the NYPD killed 21 people that year which was an increase by 7 from the previous year (W.A.T.E.R, 1). The numbers are rising in the big cities where more crimes are likely to happen. Toronto isn’t as big as New York City, but it comes to show that police officers are killing more individuals each year. In 2009, in the little city of Cabbagetown near Toronto, two Toronto officers severely beat a man who was allegedly drunk in public. The two police officers were later found guilty of assault causing bodily harm, which shocked much of the public because rarely do police officers get charged after incidents like this. This case ended up bringing up the ethical issue of whether police officers use excessive force on people because they are law enforcements. Police officers seem to usually get away with the actions they do, which sometimes result in death, because they are law enforcements and they’re just looking out for their own safety and of others. I believe that police officers do sometimes use excessive force on people and that they get away with the consequences because they have a free pass because of their job title. To defend this judgment, the arguments that I will use are the statements of both police officers, the test results that proved that the police officers attacked a man who didn’t deserve it, and the decision of the SIU.

On April 24th 2009, Richard Moore was severely beaten by two Toronto police constables, Edward Ing and John Cruz. Moore’s injuries consisted of fractured ribs and his scalp was cut which he needed to get stitches for (Edwards). This encounter between poli...

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...being watched and that there is video evidence if there are complaints against them, they would be less likely to use such aggressive force or think twice about the actions they are about to take.

Police officers abuse of their power and use excessive force against people which most of the time isn’t necessary. In the case of Richard Moore, two Toronto police officers beat him leaving him with fractured ribs and a severe cut to the skull because he was running in the streets allegedly drunk and they wanted to save him from running across the street and harming himself. The results from the hospital indicated that there wasn’t even any alcohol in Moore’s system therefore the police honestly had no reason to beat him up like that. This just goes to prove that police officers don’t think twice about their actions and often use excessive force when it isn’t necessary.