Newspoem
14 October 2000
Anne Bargar
Anne Bargar

Can Someone Please Explain This?

Crouching behind a trash can, maybe looking for recyclables, can get you killed. Being afraid of the cops is as punishable by death as not being afraid of them.

There was one man behind the trash can. The students living in the building to which the trash can pertains say that the man behind the can was putting up no resistence, and was in fact asking the officers to stop beating him.

Somewhere between 15 and 17 officers were involved.

The Champaign Police Department has stressed the non-simultainaity of involvement by all 15-17 of said.

So the News-Gazzette says that the cops didn't beat him to death; instead they just scared him to death. Which if you ask me is just as brutal. And said paper has yet to define what "aggressive" and "confrontational" mean in this context; nor has anyone provided any explaination as to why this fellow's trash-can lurking was so dangerous.

Facts are not forthcomming. Remember that the next time you take out your trash at 5 am.

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