A Beatdown in Downtown
A Story of Police Brutality in San Jose
By J. Acevedo

When is it alright for a man to hit a woman?   I ask you this because if I were to hit my girlfriend or if any man were to hit a woman, be it his romantic partner or not, he would be booked into the county jail.   The man would either be held on domestic violence or assault charges.   Now, allow me to answer that question.

The only time that a man, or more than one man can put his hands on a woman and give her bruises and a black eye and a mild concussion and a bloody lip, is when he is a police officer.   The badge is the authoritative power that men in San Jose police uniforms use to inflict pain on women and men alike.   These officers or cowards that were probably picked on in high school, have the audacity to beat up my girlfriend and then try to stick her with false charges.   I guess they must do this to every person they beat up in order to justify there actions.

What makes me even angrier is the fact that I was thrown on the ground and booked into the county jail for speaking my mind.   What ever happened to freedom of speech?   Civil Rights?   I guess to cops the rights of natural born U.S. citizens don't matter.   I never resisted arrest and was never asked to place my hands behind my back, just plain and taken down.   I don't know if the cops have a new standard procedure but if they do it sure is a f*#ked up one.   Not only was my girlfriend tackled and roughed up like a man, but so was her older sister and the funny thing is that both girls are about 5-feet-1-inches tall and weigh around 120 pounds.   How would you feel if you watched the cops beat up your girlfriend and there was nothing you could do about it without facing charges of your own?   The feeling of violation that I feel and have to live with is as though I had to watch her get groped and molested, and couldn't do a damn thing about it.

As I tell you about my unfortunate experience, I ask that you keep in mind and wonder how many of these cases go either unreported or do get reported and nothing happens.   All I said as I stood back and watched was, “What the f*^k are you guys tackling girls like that for?”, and this provoked a cop named Mizuhara to grab me by the left arm and swing me down onto the concrete head first.   I managed to stretch out my right hand in time to soften the impact, but still landed very hard on my right hip and elbow.  

The behavior portrayed by the cops disgusted me, and the officers driving the patty wagon didn't help change my perspective.   Rodgers and Dela Cruz, the drivers, were just as bad if not worse than the arresting cops.   The cops said I was drunk, but who wasn't?   Well I wouldn't say I was drunk but I was drinking, and if you ask me every person coming out of a bar should be charged with drunk in public if that's the case.   But now I know that even waiting for a cab is risking being charged with drunk in pubic.   And how do the officers determine whether you're drunk?   I was never given a breathalyzer test, but apparently I was so drunk that I was able to remember the names and badge numbers of the officers mistreating us in the van.   I would've remembered the cop that tackled me's face, name and badge number also, only I never got a look at it.

As for my girlfriend and her sister, they received the worst treatment from the cops.   After seeing her boyfriend being detained by the bouncers at San Jose Bar & Grill, which started the problem by discriminating, my girlfriend's sister was under the impression that he was getting jumped.   I tried to calm her down and try to find out what was going to happen.   Then before I could do anything, the cops had her sister on the ground and then threw my girlfriend down.   I saw how rough they were being with them and felt like a coward for not being able to help them, but still I ended up face down on 2 nd St. in handcuffs.   I kept asking them what made them feel so tough, and why they had to tackle a couple of 120 pound girls like they were playing defense in the Superbowl and the game was on the line.  

What the cops did to my girlfriend and her sister that night was completely unnecessary.   Never in my life have I seen women get literally manhandled by cops the way they were that night.   Both girls suffered bruises, but for my girlfriend, I believe she suffered the worst treatment of all of us.   A mild concussion is what Dr. Chow in the minor injury clinic at the Santa Teresa Kaiser Hospital said she suffered from.   That was her only injury that wasn't visible.   On top of that she suffered from numerous bruises on her knees, arms and elbows, a cut lip, a black eye, and scrapes and bruises on her chin.   And to top that off, they charged her with assault (on who I don't know because I didn't see her hit anybody) and resisting arrest (how I don't know because we were never informed that we were being arrested).   To be honest, I'm surprised they didn't try to stick me with a resisting arrest charge since it seemed to be the charge of the night, either that or they just thought they were being gentle with me compared to the girls.

I've never really had it out for cops.   I've seen them at their worst when they beat the shit out of my brother back in 2002 and I still had hope for them, but after what I went through on February 17, 2008, I can definitely see why so many citizens in the San Jose community are against them.   The cops never told me I was going to be arrested, never read me my rights, and used an unnecessary amount of force.   Sure I only had a bruised hip and elbow, but when does a drunk in public charge constitute for such violence, especially when the detainee is being fully cooperative.  

The sad thing about my situation is that I don't have the kind of money that it takes to sue, and nothing is probably going to happen to the cops involved.   Sure I can file a grievance against the officer, but what the hell is that going to accomplish?   The chief of police isn't going to do a damn thing about it, except maybe give the cop a slap on the wrist and let him go out and brutalize another victim.   So to whoever his next victim is, if you're reading this, I'm sorry I couldn't do anything for you.   There isn't much if anything I can do to prevent this from happening to another San Jose resident or any out-of-towners, and for that I am truly sorry.   I really wish I had the means to act on what I feel should be done, but unfortunately I am only a college student that works part-time.