If We Didn't Have the Video...

The incidents are countless. The brutality seems endless. The history is deep.  Consider this riveting account of a Clevelander whose 71-year old father was battered by police.

By Montrie Rucker Adams, APR

Montrie Rucker Adams with her father, Titus Rucker

I often wonder where our nation would be if it were not for video cameras mounted inside stores, perched on the side of buildings, saddled on outside poles and clutched in bystanders’ hands.

Every time I hear stories about police brutality against African Americans, it makes me sick. Literally. We pay our taxes for them to protect and serve. Yet, many African Americans are shortchanged when it comes to police earning their pay.

In 2006, our family had its experience with the police when over 20 of them beat my father. Titus Rucker, a Korean War veteran, former nurse and business owner was 71-years old.  

If we didn't have the video…

Luckily, our father was not killed, however he continues to suffer emotional scars and trauma from that December day in the basement of Santa Clara, California’s Police Department. He could have spent the rest of his life in prison.

If we didn't have the video…

My father missed a civil court date which he did not make due to surgery. Two sheriff’s deputies went to my father’s house on a bench warrant. He was arrested and taken out of his home. They did not even give him a chance to put on shoes.

If we didn’t have the video…

The 30-something police officer said he felt threatened by an unarmed 71-year-old black man while in a police station.

As the machine scanned my father’s finger to produce a print, Jose Villagomez pressed his thumb on the back of his hand to the point of pain. There was no need for pressure. This department had a new system that did not require an inkpad. When my father jerked his hand back in a natural pain reflex, he was attacked by Villagomez. A gang of his fellow officers rushed in. Instead of breaking up the skirmish, they beat him, kicked him and one officer tried to gouge out his eye.

If we didn't have the video…

Titus Rucker booking photo after his battery by police

His injuries included a concussion, fractured ribs, a broken facial bone and several cuts and bruises. When the ambulance came to get him, he was put on the hard metal floor. No gurney.

If we didn’t have the video…

The hardest part was the trial. Listening to the lies. The 30-something Villagomez said he felt threatened. By a 71-year-old man? Unarmed? Not under any influences? In a police station?

If we didn't have the video…

My father continues to suffer emotional scars and trauma from that December day in the basement of the Santa Clara [CA] Police Department.

The courts "found" a young, black female prosecutor to spew venom about someone she did not know. She provided a PowerPoint presentation to give the jurors a visual representation of her rants. "He did it for the money!" She yelled. "He's faking his injuries!" She cried as she pointed to my father. "He had motive!"

Motive? What motive?! The officers came to his home. He didn’t concoct a scheme for money. Wow!

If we didn't have the video…

Many cities, police departments, businesses and now an increasing number of residences are spending thousands of dollars on video surveillance systems to thwart crime. Some citizens are uncomfortable knowing their every move may be tracked. As in the case of George Floyd and other African American men who succumbed to police brutality, videos have served as proof when the officer is the criminal.

If we didn’t have the video…

CNN's Harmeet Kaur wrote recently about why police officers often falsify reports. (Videos Often Contradict What Police Say in Reports. Here's Why Some Officers Continue to Lie.) Her article draws upon research by Philip Stinson, a criminologist and professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University. 

Stinson, a former police officer who tracks police misconduct nationwide, says that lying officers are "fairly common". They lie to avoid the consequences and to justify their actions. It continues to happen, writes Kaur, because officers are not held accountable, the investigative process tends to favor officers, discipline is minimal, and officers are often protected from repercussions.

Even when there is video, too often it does not matter. In 1992, the officers who were caught on tape beating Rodney King the previous year, were acquitted. This was the first time most of the world viewed the proof of extreme police brutality against an unarmed African American man. Since then, videos of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Philando Castile and others, gave the world a vision of a Black man’s fatal encounter with the police.

If we didn’t have the video…

My father’s case resulted in a hung jury that deadlocked, 6-6. [Here is an account of the trial.] Like the Rodney King case, it did not want to see the obvious.

If we didn't have the video…

My father is a graduate of Central State University, which he attended after being mustered out of the Army. His father studied under George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute.  

He did not have a jury of his peers. No African Americans in Santa Clara County were on the jury. 

Here is the video my father's deadlocked jury saw. It was taken by the police.

Many white Americans are fed lies through media images and stories — both calculated and casual — that imply African Americans, especially men, are vicious thugs with criminal intent. But for the video, I am certain we would be visiting my father in jail.

It’s fairly common for police officers to falsify reports and statements to avoid the consequences and to justify their actions. It continues to happen because officers are not held accountable, the investigative process tends to favor officers, discipline is minimal, and officers are often protected from repercussions.

Since the lynching of George Floyd on Memorial Day, there have been 20 days of civil unrest and worldwide protests stemming from police brutality and the systemic racism that plagues our nation. I think about our many brothers and sisters who lost their lives, and my heart breaks, my stomach turns, my eyes water, and my soul just won't rest. It upsets me to think of the outcome for Derrick Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao…

If we didn't have the video…

___________________________________________________________

Montrie Rucker Adams, APR is a writer, and Chief Visibility Officer at Visibility Marketing Inc.

SUGGESTED READING: 

An illuminating interview with Bowling Green State University Professor of Criminology Philip Stinson.

• • •• • •