Emily Good was arrested by the Rochester police for videoing the above arrest scene on her cell phone. Emily was not breaking the law in any way, moreover she was standing on her own property while recording the video. One of the police officers, Mario Masic, gave her an illegal order to get back inside her house, Emily politely stated she was within her rights. This led to her arrest. It seems the police did not wish to be recorded because they were arresting a man and searching his car without probable cause. The fact thay they let the man go and arrested Emily instead corroborates the neighbor’s statements that the man’s arrest was arbitrary. The supportive neighbors took Emily’s cell phone and continued recording as Emily was led away. They also testified that, contrary to what officer Masic says to the camera, Emily had not said anything hostile to the officers prior to starting the recording. The police claim they had pulled the car over to question three members of a known drug gang. The video shows only one unarmed man, and apparently there is no one else in the car. Folks are furious and are calling for Officer Masic to be fired and the police department sued until they don’t know what a Dollar looks like any more.
Somehow, the fury I feel about this incident overwhelms my rationality to the point where I don’t want Officer Masic’s punishment to end with just a firing and a law suit. And I wonder if this is because my nerves are raw over the brutal and arbitrary bullying of Iranian citizens by the Baseej and Iranian police. Next I wonder that if my blood boils from so far away just from a video of American police violating the dignity of a citizen, imagine how people inside Iran are feeling where the law actually mandates police fascism. With all this fury, how do Iranians continue to keep their tempers?
