Bratton, mayor? Hmmm, and my family thought Shaw was a crappy mayor!

While I agree that there may be a lot of grey area regarding the totality of events around this incident, there isn’t a shred of credible evidence to date that excuses the beating administered to the camerapersons. None.

Bratton is no fool. When he is confronted with self-evident video and audio, he knows better than to fight it.

Yes, like Rodney King, the force used at Mac Park was troubling, but it was Police Commission (Mayoral) policy. Local politicians will scurry to blame cops, lest another Dan Walker (1968)shows up to blame the mayor’s policies for brutality.

Remember the “Boston Massacre?”

Like Rodney King, the British troops who fired upon American colonists were acquitted NOT because the excessive force had not occurred, but because those troops had followed King George’s brutal policies. Like the FIRST Rodney King trial, jurors who heard the case were not from Boston. John Adams had feared that the defendants could not get a fair trial, and Adams’ law practice suffered a while after the unpopular acquittals.

We do things much differently in LA today. The police commission iumposes the Mayor’s orders on cops and, when they follow those orders and embarrass the politicians, the Mayor appoints his lawyer friends (Warren Christopher, Connie Rice, academics and Times reporters) to blame cops for their own ill-conceived policies.

Bratton has been careful to say that the video he has seen, along with the eye(ear)witness evidence regarding the lack of sufficient (per LAPD policy) dispersal orders, lead him to believe LAPD screwed up.

If and until a given officer’s due process rights are violated, I will not condemn Bratton for his common sense approach in dealing with the media subsequent to the incident.

While I agree 100% that the good citizens of L.A. have created regs that leave our finest out on the proverbial limb every damn day, this was not one of those occasions. Uniformed officers assaulted “protected” citizens (the media) who gave no hint of physical threat.

And the police will just drive and wave. Can’t blame them.

It’s a shame to see this happen - there are many people that appreciate the work that those in law enforcement do for us - even at the cost of their lives. To use a military term, Bratton is a “Blue Falcon”, and will throw anyone under the bus to same his and V’s skin.

TCO - Lock and load, rock and roll!

And Clark Baker is right; Bratton is what he is. What the City hired is what they got.

I however thought he would have been sufficient weaselly politician enough to have at least acknowledged the 3 uniformed officers when he acknowledged the civilian VIP they were talking to.

From what I observed in the “May Day Melee” videos, Metro did not violate policies imposed by the Mayor or his leftist Police Commission. And while I’m not surprised that Bratton would sacrifice good LA cops to protect Villaraigosa, it’s remarkable that Bratton would violate his fiduciary responsiblity to taxpayers and admit that his officers were guilty ONE DAY after the event took place. Real cops collect evidence and investigate - they don’t jump to conclusions unless they fear what an impartial investigation will disclose.

But like Rodney King, a handful of cops will be accused of doing what police commissioners order them to do, and the usual troop of lawsuit monkeys will shake down taxpayers, kicking back a cut to Villaraigosa and Rocky Delgadillo through the various trial lawyer associations. And if Bratton goes along with it, he’ll get another five years at taxpayer expense. I admit that it’s a great scam.

Lefties have enjoyed exclusive control in management and hiring within the LAPD since 1992. So in 15 years, or what Robert Parry recently described as two generations of cops, how can it be that lefties still hire and promote so many “bad cops?”

The answer is that as long as the LAPD is viewed as the dysfunctional organization, LA cops will be too busy defending themselves to investigate the rampant crime and corruption of LA politics.

I don’t blame Bratton - he is what he is. But until Civil Service protections are restored to LA’s chief of police, it doesn’t matter who’s chief.