Arkansas Cop Attacks and Chokes Skaters
So far, the mayor of Hot Springs, Mike Bush, has suspended officer Williams (with pay) while they look into what happened. The mayor does acknowledge that the footage shows everything. On the other hand, McCrary Means, a police spokesman, is still charging two of the skaters that were arrested with some pretty serious crimes, like McCormack who is being charged with misdemeanor battery. In the video, McCormack is the guy who pulls on Officer William's arm after the girl gets put into a choke hold. Yes, that's right. He pulled on the cop's arm, trying to defend a girl who was being choked, and he's now being charged with battery. Sound fair? HE is being charged with battery, not the cop who was chocking the girl. What ever happened to the police being there to serve and protect? I don't see either of these things happening in the town of Hot Springs, Arkansas.
So what can you do about this? Well, you shouldn't go out and take it out on the first cop you find. That won't help anything. There are good cops out there, who became police officers because they wanted to help people. On the other hand, there are cops out there like Joey Williams, who obviously has some power issues, and who doesn't understand the slightest part of what it means to serve and protect. One thing you can do is contact Bobby Southard, the Chief of Police for Hot Springs. You can e-mail him at bsouthard@cityhs.net, or write a letter to him at 641 Malvern Avenue Hot Springs, Arkansas 71901. I would like to encourage you to not write and tell him that he sucks, or write him threats, or anything like that. That sort of stuff won't help, and it will just make skaters look stupid. Instead, think through what you want to say, and say it passionately and politely. Another thing you can do, if you live in Arkansas, is contact Hot Springs city officials, and state officials. If you are a kid, then ask your parents to. This could have easily been you being attacked by a cop. Help the people in charge to understand that skaters aren't all criminals, that no one should be treated this way, and that police can't be allowed to get away with stuff like this without being charged themselves.
Feel free to comment below. Thanks Josue and David for the help with this story.
Comments
Its so sad that the REAL criminals are running free while the skaters are taking all this heat. Its one thing if these kids were vandalizing something, but they weren’t. They were just skating. He could’ve just told them to go away….there was no reason for physical violence.
wow thank you so much for your help it means alot that you hear our words and are just as concerned about this topic as every skater is i hope there is justice for the kids i mean just choking a girl alone is wrong and haveing the person who is chokeing the girl be a police officer is really bad for there image and i hope this officer is taken of duty because this just isnt right
Glad you posted this. I’m going to write a letter – being an “older” skater, I find this particularly infuriating. My kids skate…I still skate.
Heres the email I just sent off, let me know if you need me to send anymore.
Chief Southard
I recently had the displeasure of watching a video online featuring your officer Williams put numerous minors in choke holds for skate boarding. While I absolutely respect police officers who put their lives on the line everyday to protect me and my family, I abhor bully cops who abuse their authority with careless arrogance. I do believe skateboarding is a crime in your town however as I and most Americans believe, in this country the punishment must fit the crime. The punishment for a 13 year old committing a misdemeanor is not being choked by an authority figure into submission. This is not how children, and make no mistake about it, these were children, learn from their mistakes.
Moreover, Officer Williams did not only choke a young boy, he blatantly assaulted a young girl I would be shocked if she weighed more than 115 lbs. Sir, I beg of you, this man cannot be let to roam the streets representing law and order. My neighbor is a now retired police officer, who represented Abington, PA proudly for close to 30 years, and it sickens me to think that this noble man could be in anyway associated with the acts I saw Officer Williams commit moments ago.
Please see past everything else and do the right thing. Remove Officer Williams from the police force and drop the charges against these young kids.
Thank You
-A. Christopher Maltby
I have tried to email, just so you all know the Chief has disabled his email, as all messages sent will be immediatly returned to sender.
HERE IS MY EMAIL, KEEP IN MIND, I USED TO BE A PUNK AND HAVE BEEN IN THOSE KIDS POSITION MANY MANY TIMES, IF YOU WRITE AN EMAIL PLEASE TRY TO NOT CALL THE COPS PIGS, TRY TO BE SOMEWHAT INTELLIGENT. THANKS
Chief Soutard
As I am sure you’re recieving numerous emails concerning the recent YouTube posting of your Officer detaining youths while skateboarding, I will try to be brief and concise.
Of course there is always two sides to a story, I work alongside PD in Utah as a Firefighter-Paramedic, and I have seen first-hand the indiviiduals they have to deal with, as well as understand the stress of the job. That being said, I feel that is it apparent your officer was overreacting in his treatment of skateboards violating local ordinance. Public servants are precisely that, and I think we can both agree that no one was properly served by what transpired, perhaps only the Officer involved as he tapped his pent up stress and frustration at either the current situation or maybe something entirely unrelated. The offending youths would have been properly educated with a warning, instead of what transpired; which I imagine has only polarized them against all members of the PD, which is not a good thing.
I am certain you are getting emails demanding the Officers resignation, discipline, etc. There are rare mistakes where such action is warranted, taking away a man’s livelihood is a harsh thing. I am not suggesting that, simply that he obviously was caught up in the moment. Perhaps looking into the situation further and reminding him that his job is to protect the rights of all citizens, including the ones who are breaking the law…or an ordinance.
Thank you.
Zeth Turner
FF/PM
Provo Fire and Rescue
Hello,
My Name is Clayton, and I work in Hot Springs, Down Town at the National Park. I was at the Nut Cellar Coffee shop, inside when this all happend right out front.
If the kids want to skate, that’s awesome! There are Thousands of roads, and parking lots, and there is even a Skate Park, in Hot Springs, built and maintained by THE CITY for the Kids..
Down Town is very packed with tourists and workers.
It is NOT against the law to skate in Hot Springs…
it IS against the law to skate in Down Town Hot Springs.. This is not only for protection of the public not getting run over, but also to protect the kids from hurting them selfs…
It’s not only against the law to Skate Down Town, it’s also against the law to ride your bike on the sidewalk, rollerblade, or anything else…
Also, I’m not happy about the kids and the way they edited the video. You don’t see the kid swing at the officer, you don’t see one of the kids that spit at the cop, and they don’t tell you that 3 of the kids had been giving a warning not less than 30 minutes before this…
There were 7 kids and one Cop.
Did the cop go over board? Sure he did, some what.. But if you swing at a cop, and run from the cops, that is what is going to happen to you..
Although this video might not have captured everything that went on what was and has been shown should still be put into great consideration when making the choice of having an officer removed from the force. And also, when CHILDREN are being charged with battery.
this is why i hate cops! is skateboarding illegal or something?
Time to eat crow, eh? I’m PERSONALLY encouraging the officer to sue you and a host of other sites for slander for saying he “choked”, “attacked” and brutalized someone now that an official inquiry has WITHOUT A DOUBT determined otherwise. The comments that you have made and permitted to be posted by others are slanderous, damaging and blatantly false. It may interest you to know that the Supreme Court has ruled that a wesite host bears SOLE LIABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY for damages related to what they say and what they “allow others” to post about someone. Now that he’s been cleared of wrongdoing my prediction is that he’ll be a very wealthy man soon because of people like you who injured his proefessional reputation. Serves you right for being such a judgemental idiot.
To the gentleman who commented above me, it’s not your responsibility to go around messing with people and getting them in trouble. Slander is saying the he is a ****head mother *****. Did i see anything like that in the article? He did choke them, watch the video. That is clearly and (as you would say it) WITHOUT A DOUBT a choke hold. It’s not judgmental sir, he is saying what he feels. That doesn’t magically make everyone who reads this draw that same conclusion (personally i think the guy that ran did deserve something). My point is that hes not the website owner, and opinions are allowed in America (look at the first amendment). By the way i saw nothing blatantly false, only connotation that shows he has a negative feel about this. Are feelings now as illegal as skateboarding?
I myself, want to see the un-edited version
This whole thing with the cop is really retarded (exp. the cop) but, reading the comments above and all the stuff i’ve seen on this so far is kinda refreashing, all i ever see anymore is people leaving comments like “you suck mother****, f-you, ” and immature stuff like that, i think this is really showing that there ARE responsible, mature, skaters out there and we’re not just all rebelious, punks that don’t care about anybody or anything other than skateboarding. so yeah it could end up helping skaters reputation. ( and best of luck to all the skaters in the video )
Why the hell are you making such a big deal about him choking a girl and that a girl was in the middle of them? Would it be less severe if there was no girl in between them? ****ing sexism man, who gives a **** if its a boy or a girl it was still police brutality.
Unfortunately I know how this story ends. “Police department investigation found the officer innocent of any wrong doing.” That’s the way these things always end.
The problem is that all police misconduct is investigated by other police officers within the department. Talk about a conflict of interest. If you really want to fix the problem you should write every congressman asking for a federal law requiring:
1. That all investigations of police misconduct be carried out by a taskforce with no association with the police department.
2. That officers found guilty of misconduct are let go.
3. That a camera be placed on every police car.
4. That the age limit be raised for new recruits.
5. That a college degree is required for new recruits.
The last two will help but are optional. There is no reason why the first three shouldn’t already be law.
Police abuse by law enforcement is a nationwide problem. This is a rare video in one sense only. The police, besides being criminals for assaulting, are also stupid of feel beyond reproach as they did not confiscate and destroy such damning evidence.
I have something going against my own sheriff’s department. They claim to have violated my Federally protected Private medical information at te VA Hospital. This can only be legally obtained with my signed consent or a Federal Warrant. The officer claims to have done it with just a cellphone call. All the claimed information 100% bogus though. Unheard locally, I took it to Federal Authorities at the VA investigating and they have the incident report as evidence. I also discovered a video racial hate crime by the sheriff’s department. I turned that over to the FBI which is investigating.
Don’t even bother complaining from local levels. Just go straight to the top.
Hence, from now on I say two things to all cops. My name and “I reserve the right to not speak with you under my 5th Amendment Rights. If you have further questions or inquiry, I demand the presence of an attorney.” I add I am 60, and the biggest crime I ever committed is the headlight on a motorcycle was once out. Water affecting a switch. I corrected the problem with a can of WD40 before he could write the warning. But my experience is that police are my enemy, not my friends. No actual criminal has ever done anything to me. Police however, have stolen from me, violated my rights, lied, turned over confidentially given crime reports over to the offender. And this by police in 4 different states. I won’t even try to total the number of counties or towns. So this is the norm.
I know it’s a real long shot. But we have a satellite returning to earth from its decaying orbit in March. Wouldn’t it really be a sign of devine justice if that satellite or a good sized chunk of it would hit Officer Joey Williams right in the butt? A better chance of that happening than getting justice from a police force’s internal affairs.
ok for one thing i live in arkansas and as it sais this is in hot springs arkansas, yea well its not, but thanks for the support anyway
i run into cops here in downtown(minneapolis) all the time and thier fukin assholes most the time, one time they came up to my friend, acted cool and said “That was a cool trick , what board are u useing? can i see it?” and then snap he broke it, threw it away and said “Dont fukin do it again….they wouldnt let us see the security cameras and we couldnt do shit about it
i think this is just pretty much bull s**t.
Cops are not going to be stopped until everyone has harm. Pretty much the people better take action soon before we lose the rights our ancestors died to protect.
I have seen incidents like this. Sorry to say but I do have three good cop friends but people are right bad cops make citizens not trust any type of law enforcement. I am fighting now for myself not to be incarcerated for a crime that was set-up by my local police. I have photos that they took. Ohh one picture shows one box for example then eight photos later there is magically two boxes. How about not receiving motion of discovery that the judge grants you or better yet how about be charged 9 days later after the crime and the prosecutor doesn’t have all the papers in her file but writes a letter to the police officers and magically there it is 7 days later. Good luck skaterboarders Police Prosecution and judges have immunity for their actions. The officer should not be suspended with pay but fired what threat did that girl or boy do to him. Oh check out the 6 foot officer with 72 year old lady tasing her ass caught on camera she I think was not even 5 feet tall man he should be so proud. Great thing for cops having video cameras!!!
well i have never ran into a cop before cuz i just naturally assume all cops have an issue with skaters whether ur a girl or boy so i choose to walk even if its just a security and its b\c of people like him!!!
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