Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2005 > October > 11 > Entry
New Orleans beating too bloody for too long
It was tough to watch cable news Monday, wasn’t it?
The video of New Orleans cops beating up a 64-year-old man was beyond gruesome. It was nauseating. There was blood streaming from his mouth and nose, and he was lying in a pool of blood as the two cops pummeled him to a pulp.
In case you missed it — and good for you if you did — Robert Davis, a retired elementary school teacher — was stopped in the French Quarter on Saturday night, initially accused of public intoxication. He was repeatedly punched by two officers, and a third officer roughed up an Associated Press television producer who caught the action on video.
There’s a link to the footage on our Web site, if you feel deprived for having not seen it.
Davis, who was treated at a hospital and released to police, insisted he was not drunk. In fact, he told an interviewer that he hasn’t had a drink in 25 years. He was booked on public intoxication, resisting arrest and battery on a police officer.
The three officers — S.M. Smith, Lance Schilling and Robert Evangelist — have been suspended without pay pending an investigation. A trial is set for Jan. 11.
Aside from bloody pummeling, it’s hard to know exactly what we were seeing. Davis appeared to be flailing around, but was he resisting arrest, as the officers claimed? Or was he just trying to avoid the beating?
Any TV news organization in possession of that video certainly would have run it. It was shocking and newsworthy. But it ran continuously all day on cable news.
We could have done without the exhaustive repeats. And without the long, lingering closeup of blood pouring out of Davis’ nose and running into the gutter. The point — that New Orleans is a violent place these days and the police force is stressed — could have been made without the constant hammering.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: News coverage
Comments
By Matthew
October 12, 2005 10:24 AM | Link to this
Diane,
I find your complaint that the violence committed by the NOPD was difficult to stomach troubling. If you are disturbed by violence, turn off your TV and go out into the real world where you can witness implicit and explicit racism on a daily basis. I agree that the manner in which cable news networks usually sell fear is hard to watch, but when they expose injustice, against the wishes of the police, I am all for running it 24 hours a day so that people are broken out of their comfort zones.
By Mollie Johnson
October 12, 2005 08:37 AM | Link to this
Louisiana has and always will be a
very violent place and a very corrupt place.
From as far back as I can remember there has always been something corrupt going on. In the late 90's they were stopping people on the interstate and accusing them of possessing drugs in order to take their car and other possessions. Once this was on TV and they showed the elderly and the type of people harrassed; this stopped.
Most law officials are corrupt.
By Reverend DJ
October 12, 2005 07:17 AM | Link to this
My suspicions were well-served after watching just one episode of "Hillary for President" er excuse me "Commander in Chief". ABC and the libs are getting the "collective masses" ready for the Hildebeast in 08. God help us all.
By Jon B. Smith
October 11, 2005 04:19 PM | Link to this
Hear, hear! Once, on network news was sufficient. But, that is cable news for you. They are afraid that one person out there in TV land, might miss the storie, and that would be just tragic. If they replayed the more humane stories, as often as the inflammatory tales, perhaps I would watch them more often. As it is I check for breaking news, or something that I may want to watch on the network news.
By Jon B. Smith
October 11, 2005 04:07 PM | Link to this
Hear-Hear, I couldn't agree more! But, then, that is cable news; they repeat everything hourly (and sometimes more frequently) for featar that someone out in TV land may miss something. Even when something major is occurring, I only check the cable news once or twice. If I get a repeat of anything, that is it intil the network news in the evening.
Also, on another subject: You are right on the money with your article on TV commercials. I used to make a sandwich during commercials, and now I can prepare a full meal and still miss none of the program...
By Mark B.
October 11, 2005 12:53 PM | Link to this
There was no shortage of footage of people carrying things away from stores in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. Do a Nexis search and see how many times the words looter and lawlessness are used in news reports during that period. The media has no problem making blacks look like hoodlums. But when white cops start beating the crap out of a harmless black man, that's too much for you? Thank God someone was there to get it on camera. My guess is there's a whole lot more blood flowing into gutters, but no one's around to record it. Good for the broadcast media for showing it and good for the NOPD for getting those thugs off the street before they kill someone.