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Some things never change…
Rodney King was savagely beaten by Los Angeles police officers in 1991 and 32 years later, boys in blue are still on the same type of time. 43-year-old unarmed Black man Gary Christian can be seen suffering the same abuses that Rodney King did in a viral video circulating on social media. In the video below, you will see a Barstow, California police officer walking toward Christian with his baton raised threateningly. You will not see Gary Christian holding a weapon, threatening the officer, or presenting any risk to the boy in blue.
Despite that, Christian is still struck multiple times with the officer’s baton even as he lies on the ground defenseless. Per usual, we advise that you take stock of your mental health before viewing the video. It is not bloody but it can be triggering to see police violence against innocent Black bodies.
According to TMZ, Christian was wanted on a felony arrest warrant for violating his probation. Let the cop tell it, Christian assaulted him twice but the last thing a cop deserves is the benefit of the doubt. Body camera footage or it never happened.
Barstow PD also says this … “The department has a copy of that video and would like the community to know that a comprehensive administrative investigation will be conducted into this incident to determine if the force used by the officer was within Barstow Police Department policy and current law.”
Some of you may remember a story that BOSSIP published back in 2018 about 26-year-old Diante Yarber who was shot 30 times at a Walmart by Barstow police when they tried to stop him for being “suspicious”.
