Justice For the Beaten

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A happy story today -- of sorts.

A hero who saw police brutally beating a drunk driver with fists and weapons intervened and tried to talk sense into the policemen. Having arrived home and having had nothing to do with the incident except to find the beating occurring at the foot of his driveway, he told police that they should let up on the guy and that they didn't need to be so rough. He also told the police that they didn't "have to beat him like Rodney King."

The result was that the police maced the good samaritan and beat him to a pulp. As is also par for the course, the man was arrested and made out to be a villain.

That's not the good news. No, that's just another typical pattern behind police brutality occurring in the USA.

The good news is that the man -- after having to move out of the Chicago area due to harrassment -- was finally able to get the police to drop the charges against him and make a settlement for $180,000. As the vicitm's lawyer put it, "Though no amount of money can properly compensate for a beating at the hands of police, we are satisfied that the defendants recognized the error of their ways."

There is an unfortunate post-script, however. Out of the two officers involved in the beating, one has since resigned and moved out of state. The second officer, however, remains on the force, with no sign of being removed in the future. Do your part and contact the Waukegan police, and inform them that this is unacceptable.