This, despite the first half of the title is good news.
Many of you have seen this video of a Dallas Police Officer blatantly shoving an unsuspecting protestor off of a 4 ft planter he was standing on:
Originally posted on youtube the video quickly made it to DKOS and from there the world. And it has had successful results, and I believe another tally mark can be chalked up to DKOS victories, with special thanks to Horace for all of his OWS coverage and video finds:
Dallas Morning News. Lets check out that pre-video spin:
A video posted to YouTube (below) Thursday appears to show a Dallas police officer shoved a man off a Bank of America planter during a downtown Occupy Dallas protest last weekend.
The video is the first one to surface that indicates Stephen Benavides did not fall on his own shortly before he was arrested for felony assault on another police officer and resisting arrest. Police had previously said there was no indication Benavides was pushed as he and his supporters have claimed .
Benavides was in the Dallas County Jail until Wednesday night, when he posted more than $50,000 bond on the charges. His confrontation with police last Saturday sparked a riot that included seven other arrests.
Protesters have alleged Dallas police acted overly aggressive in arresting Benavides and others. Dallas police officials said earlier this week that a preliminary review of the handling of the protest revealed no misconduct.
(for the record I am an aquaintance of Benavides on Facebook through shared activism sites, and it is only now that I learned who exactly this happened to)
Funny, internal investigations turned up no video, when police, traffic, media, and protestors all had cameras. Funny how a near deadly fall can get you a felony assault charge (that hurts job opportunities), start a near riot, and its all the protestors fault....
Thankfully, one of Dallas's best police chiefs in quite some time is not turning a blind eye, as he has shown in his entire stint as Chief:
Update From The Article
The Dallas Police Department's statement:
Last night, the Dallas Police Department discovered a new video of the Occupy Dallas demonstration that occurred on November 5, 2011. The video shows a Dallas Police Officer, who was working off-duty for Bank of America, push a demonstrator off a planter in front of the building. Chief David Brown has ordered the officer placed on restricted duty and initiated a formal investigation into the officer's actions. The restricted duty assignment will also prohibit the officer from working off-duty employment until the departmental investigation is complete. In light of this development, the Police Department has requested that the Dallas County District Attorney and the Dallas City Attorney proceed no further with the criminal cases alleged to have occurred until further consultation takes place. These meetings are anticipated to occur next week. The Dallas Police Department is dedicated to the protection of all members of the public. Any allegation of police misconduct is taken seriously and will be vigorously investigated. The Police Department encourages any witnesses who would like to make a statement or who have additional video to contact the Internal Affairs Division at (214) 671-3986.
In other winning news, OccupyDallas has reached an agreement with the city to continue their occupation (for how long is debatable):
A federal judged helped the City of Dallas and Occupy Dallas protesters reach an agreement to stay in their present location through the weekend.
Earlier Friday the group asked for a temporary restraining order to keep the City of Dallas from shutting the camp down at 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
Just before 5 p.m. a federal judge heard both sides of the argument by phone. He did not issue the temporary restraining order, but allowed the two sides to come to an informal agreement to allow the camp to stay until another hearing on Monday.