Brickbat: Burning Up

Michael Kenyon has sued the Phoenix Police Department after officers held him on hot asphalt for several minutes in July 2024, on a day that temperatures reached 114 degrees. Kenyon received third-degree burns on his legs, chest, arms, and face, and he had to be hospitalized for more than a month. Police had initially arrested him on a charge of theft but later determined he was not a suspect in that case. Hours after a local TV station asked about the lawsuit, officials charged Kenyon in connection with a March 2024 domestic incident involving his brother. His lawyer says the timing of those charges is "certainly suspicious."

Comments

[Quicktown Brix]

Three police-authority-abuse articles in a row? Come on Reason, you're flaring up my TDS on election day.

Oh well, I'm in too deep to stop now....Cops need total immunity so they can continue these effective techniques.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hell hath no fury like local law enforcement questioned.

[Chumby]

No fault asphalt?

The LP candidate may want a hot top to grind his ass fault.

[MatthewSlyfield]

It's San Andrea's fault.

[Incunabulum]

>Kenyon received third-degree

Oh, its third degree burns now? Because last time it was 'first and second' degree burns.

[AT]

And I’m thinking this is literally [how] George Floyd was literally like…

lol. *eyeroll*

“So, I walked up to them with my phone in my hand and said, ‘Hey what happened?’ or ‘What’s going on?’… One officer grabbed my one wrist, and the other officer grabbed my other wrist… They said to me in a mean hostile way, ‘You’re being detained.’ But I said, ‘I’m on the phone. What do you mean? I didn’t do anything. Please explain to me.’

And there it is. As always.

What he should have said was, “OK Officer, whatever you need to resolve this. I’m happy to cooperate so this can be cleared up. To clarify, am I being arrested?” If so, invoke right to counsel. If not, shut up until they arrest you. Then invoke right to counsel.

It is regretful that this guy suffered injury. I’ll even go so far as to assert that the cops should have exercised a little more care considering their immediate physical environment. But Kenyon clearly holds the lion’s share of fault on this – because he apparently thought he should argue his case right then and there.

Not how it works. And anyone with even a basic understanding of civics would know that.

You want to place blame - place it on the State/culture that has made a conscious effort to deprive people of their knowledge of their own rights.