As I Was Just Sayin' About Pigs ....

The idea that the cops in my town could do - have done, may be doing right this minute - something this brutal and stupid just makes me crazy. Because it's just too common and widespread to not be happening everywhere.

Digby:

FRESNO, Calif. (CN) - Fresno police drowned a man by Tasering and hogtying him, then sticking a garden hose "onto (his) face and mouth" when he pleaded for water, the man's two children claim in Federal Court.

The two minor children, I.R. and H.R., claim that in the summer of 2011 Fresno police restrained their father, Raul Rosas, at a friend's house while responding to a domestic disturbance call.

The children say their father was not armed and "had not committed a crime."

After an altercation with a John Doe officer, police pepper-sprayed Rosas and then Tasered him a "countless number of times," the complaint states.

The children claim their father was Tasered "for eight to ten more minutes," then he was "hogtied with his ankles tied to his handcuffs behind his back."

The complaint continues: "Decedent was then slammed onto a table in the residence's backyard face down. An officer was observed with his knee on decedent's back while decedent was hogtied, handcuffed, and face down.

"Decedent stated that he couldn't breathe and that he needed water; an officer ran water from a hose onto decedent's face and mouth to the point of making it more difficult for decedent to breathe. Decedent tried to move his mouth away from the water and gasp for air. A witness yelled 'He can't breathe, you're drowning him,' but the officer continued running water over decedent's face.

SNIP

I'm pretty sure this what Dick Cheney would call a "no-brainer" when the authorities are dealing with somebody who gives them lip. Or whenever they need to.

If this is all true, you have to give them credit. It is a truly innovative torture regime employing pepper spray, electro-shock, hog-tying and water torture. I wonder where they came up with the idea?

Well, it's not like they strip-searched him right there in front of his kids and the neighbors.