The City of Troy, New York, "Where Henry Hudson Turned Around."

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

THE BIG STORY

All right, class. Settle down and take your seats.

People seem to want to discuss the recent incident involving some members of the Troy Police Department and two young gentlemen that took a scenic, multi-jurisdictional car ride on Friday night.

According to the initial story:


Troy city police officers beat two suspects with batons as the men lay face down on the ground late Friday, while as many as six other cops watched, according to a family who witnessed the incident.

Terry Kindlon, representing the two suspects, wanted the District Attorney to investigate. The Albany County District Attorney said he would investigate.

Before we start choosing sides like this is some type of sporting event, lets take a deep breath (but not inhale).

It does no one any good to automatically believe the police used excessive force. Several witnesses believe they did use excessive force. Sometimes witnesses who catch a portion of an event are not seeing what they think they are seeing.

One witness appears to be something of an activist for some progressive causes. Just because someone may be an activist for progressive causes does not mean they have poor eyesight.

It does no good to describe the two suspects as "scumbags" or "dirt balls" or .....Police rarely have to chase choir boys. The issue is whether excessive force was used, not who it was used on.

Now, feel free to discuss the issues surrounding the incident. We will not publish comments that attack the personal lives of those involved or unfounded rumors of a potentially defamatory nature. There's plenty of real issues to discuss here without fanning flames. We do not want to be even partially responsible for Al Sharpton showing up on Troy's doorstep.

Otherwise, we'll take a wait and see attitude. The process is in motion.

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