Now see, this right here? This right here is probably the perfect illustration of what is wrong with police in the United States and the people who call them. There is something very, very wrong with police officers and I’m not just talking about acting with impunity. I’m talking about exhibiting a mentality that seems incapable of rational thought while hiding behind the authority of the state. There is also something wrong with the people who call the police for many, many so-called crimes, and there is definitely something wrong with the people who defend the indefensible. Okay. I just had to get that off my chest. Now on to the issue.
A lawsuit has come to light this month about an incident that took place in Honolulu, Hawaii, in September of 2014. Jamie Kalani Rice says he was on Nanakuli beach when he noticed a seal lying on the beach. Thinking the seal was injured or dying, Rice knelt on the sand near the seal and began chanting to heal the animal. As part of the healing ritual, Rice would take some sand and rub it between his hands and on his body. Video of the entire incident was taken by people identified in court documents as volunteers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In the video a man’s voice can be heard saying “call the police” and directing the person taking the video to get a picture of the sign posted at the beach, which is not clearly shown but says something to the effect of “do not disturb the seals.” A police officer eventually arrives on the scene and that is when the problem begins. This is when most problems begin.
In the interest of brevity, I’ll just stick to the issue of this cop and what he did and not the history of colonialism of the island of Hawaii, which ends up making people like Rice, described as a native Hawaiian, a stranger (and criminal) on his own land who is expected to get permission from invaders to do a traditional healing ceremony for the Hawaiian Monk Seal which is now endangered which is why volunteers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would even be in Honolulu to call the police on Rice when they shouldn’t have in the first place. Yeah, I’ll post on that topic way later.
Officer Ming Wang is now seen on the video speaking to Rice. The majority of the men’s conversation is inaudible, except for in the beginning: a voice presumed to be Wang’s can be heard saying “dangerous.” Rice is heard and seen saying “Nah,” and then making gestures. He appears to be gesturing that he is doing a ritual for the seal but again, it is inaudible. Rice continues his healing ritual, at one point making a loud grunt or exclamation. At that point, Wang snaps out his collapsible metal baton. The men stay in their positions a while longer and Wang can be seen putting his baton into the side of his holster, then taking out an object—later determined to be a can of pepper spray—and shaking it. Once Rice finishes his ritual, he rises to his feet and begins to walk away from the seal. Wang follows behind Rice. The camera does not zoom in but we see Rice outstretch his arms at least twice, again grunting or exclaiming loudly. I’m not a rocket scientist, but it shouldn’t take one to figure out that the exclamation has to do with the ritual that Rice has just conducted by either signaling the end of it or some other aspect of the ritual. Wang continues to follow Rice as Rice picks up what looks to be his belongings when he turns and begins to walk back down the beach.
Again, the camera has not zoomed in but it looks as if words are spoken between the two men. Then suddenly, Wang dashes in front of Rice and blasts him, twice, with pepper spray. The blasts appear to have no affect on Rice, thus Wang snaps out his baton and begins hitting Rice on his legs, arms and possibly shoulders. Rice eventually falls to his knees and then face forward onto the sand. Wang puts his baton up, kicks Rice at least once, then proceeds to handcuff him. A female voice on the video begins to cry; what she says is inaudible but a man’s voice tells her not to cry, that the man is being arrested, and that everything has been video recorded. You can check the entire 10-minute video of the incident, uploaded in September of 2015, at the bottom of this article.
Infuriated is one of the words I’m feeling as I type this. Infuriated at what’s been captured on the video, infuriated that the folks who called the cops couldn’t have waited and obviously didn’t have enough intelligence to see that Rice was not only nonthreatening to the seal but reverent; and infuriated at that Defender-of-Cops-Regardless-of-What-They-Do-Common-Sense-Be-Damned troll that I’m sure is lurking out there somewhere: “you don’t know what he said to the cop just before the cop sprayed/hit him!” That is true; I don’t know what Rice said to Wang just before Wang began assaulting him but check this out: I don’t give a damn what he said. Not one flippin’ g-damn. At no point on this video is Rice physically threatening to this cop. Once Rice gathered his belongings—several yards from where the beached seal was laying—the incident should have been over and done with and Rice should have either been allowed to leave the beach, go to another area of the beach or given a ticket for trespassing. I am absolutely, positively going to sit at this computer hundreds of miles away from Honolulu, and without a clue as to what was said between those two men, and state that Wang assaulted Rice for no reason, he should be fired, criminally prosecuted, found guilty, and sentenced to prison not jail, preferably in a state other than Hawaii that has weather that really, really sucks.
The fact that it appears that Rice’s healing ritual apparently worked, as the seal can be seen moving off the beach, just pisses me off even more.