The incident of Chicago police felony assault described in Mr. Griggs’s post directly resulted in the resignation of Chicago Police Superintendent Philip Cline. He was ashamed of himself and his department.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every public official overseeing abuse of power would resign — after firing all the abusers? Talk about a leaner government!
Forty years ago, I was pulled over by two of Chicago’s finest when they saw my motorcycle headlight was turned off. I was wearing a leather “Newark Police” jacket (bought down the street from a surplus store) and they laughed about it. “Hey,” said one, “what do we do with this hippie?” (this was shortly after the infamous Chicago Democratic Convention of 1968).“I think we’d better beat him up,” the other guy said.
They turned towards me and I braced myself — and one of them laughed, tapped me on the “police” patch on my shoulder, and they left.
Mayor Daley was in charge in those days. Times have changed indeed.
2:59 pm on June 2, 2009
