04/24/24
March 01, 2011
SportsFilter: The Tuesday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
I don't know what to make of that. The obvious answer is ESPN is his current employer, whereas the Herald is his ex-employer, but the Herald's target audience also enjoys a good "Cops beat on uppity black guy" story more than most. I'd like to think it's not true because he seems likable and is a better-than-average sportswriter (damning with faint praise, no doubt), but do the cops show up over a loud argument at the mall?
posted by yerfatma at 08:28 AM on March 01, 2011
I'd like to think it's not true because he seems likable and is a better-than-average sportswriter (damning with faint praise, no doubt), but do the cops show up over a loud argument at the mall?
Between a black man and a white woman? What do you think?
posted by bperk at 09:56 AM on March 01, 2011
The Bryants are in a trial separation and he admits putting hands on her, so it seems like some kind of domestic violence was taking place that witnesses saw. Perhaps it was as mild as grabbing her arm as they argued, but these days many police departments have a policy of always making an arrest in that kind of situation. It was a huge mistake for him to resist arrest.
posted by rcade at 10:17 AM on March 01, 2011
It was a huge mistake if he resisted arrest. They have to prove that as well.
posted by bperk at 10:39 AM on March 01, 2011
I know the place this incident happened very well. It's not a mall. It is a very small town where everybody knows everybody. Getting loud and yelly and putting your hands on other people does not go over well there, and bystanders will call the cops.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:44 AM on March 01, 2011
It was a huge mistake if he resisted arrest. They have to prove that as well.
True, but I have trouble believing they showed up and just went all Rodney King on him. If you're engaged in a disagreement and police show up, you do what they tell you to do.
posted by rcade at 11:00 AM on March 01, 2011
It's not a mall.
For chrissakes, whatever it was. His original story included a cop threatening to taze him; someone in the thread of that article (think it was at the Globe) said the cops in question don't carry tasers. Make of that what you will.
posted by yerfatma at 11:40 AM on March 01, 2011
Easy now, yerfatma. I didn't think you thought it was in a mall. My point was that a loud dispute might get overlooked in a mall; it wouldn't in Ashfield in front of the Countrypie.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 11:46 AM on March 01, 2011
True, but I have trouble believing they showed up and just went all Rodney King on him.
Why? What was novel about Rodney King was that it was caught on video, not that it happened. More recently, there was this guy who was celebrating a Maryland basketball win over Duke and was slapped with a resisting arrest charge. Video evidence showed that he was hit by police for no apparent reason, and he was the one charged with resisting arrest. The charges were dropped after the video surfaced. The difference once again is the video evidence. Eventually, I hope, these kind of cases will sink into America's subconscious and people stop always blindly believing the cops.
posted by bperk at 12:20 PM on March 01, 2011
There's nothing blind about it. He admits putting his hands on his estranged wife and that he lost his temper in a "public altercation." Whatever happened during that altercation was enough to get somebody to call police. Police have statements from five witnesses, and four police officers claim it took three minutes to subdue him: Trooper Brian Doak, state police Sgt. Richard Cardan, Buckland officer Paul Herbert and Shelburne officer Clinton Phillips.
So in order for Bryant to be innocent of resisting arrest, four cops from three jurisdictions have to be lying about what they did in front of at least five witnesses at noon Saturday outside a pizza place in a nice area. I will grant you that it is possible he is innocent. I just don't see it leaning that way at the moment.
posted by rcade at 03:15 PM on March 01, 2011
So in order for Bryant to be innocent of resisting arrest, four cops from three jurisdictions have to be lying about what they did in front of at least five witnesses at noon Saturday outside a pizza place in a nice area.
Without knowing the witness statements or the officer's statements, you can't know that. There is no evidence at all that four different cops made all the same statement with regard to resisting arrest or that any of the witnesses saw that either.
posted by bperk at 04:30 PM on March 01, 2011
I thought it was Buckland Pizza in Buckland. Either way, it's a picturesque place that hides an undercurrent of murderous mayhem like all Stephen King towns.
There is no evidence at all that four different cops made all the same statement with regard to resisting arrest or that any of the witnesses saw that either.
We're not at a stage where any of that is knowable with clarity. It's the day after an arrest and all we have are assertions by the police and the Bryants. You're comfortable suggesting it might be racial. I'm comfortable suggesting it's likely he resisted arrest. Neither of us will know anything for sure unless more comes to light.
As an aside, I wonder if Bryant is making a mistake by playing the race card so hard. It elevates the story and makes the 911 calls and witness reports more likely to get coverage.
posted by rcade at 04:30 PM on March 01, 2011
The Race Card is totally working in the comments at ESPN. Assuming The Race Card is something you use to summon virulent racists.
posted by yerfatma at 05:54 PM on March 01, 2011
I thought it was Buckland Pizza in Buckland. Either way, it's a picturesque place that hides an undercurrent of murderous mayhem like all Stephen King towns.
You weren't supposed to tell!!!!
Seriously, I thought I had read that it was a pizza place in Ashfield, but Buckland Pizza makes more sense given that there was a Buckland cop and a Shelburne cop. It's in Shelburne Falls, which is about as sinister as it gets.
bperk, it is always possible that two staties, a Buckland cop and a Shelburne cop got together and did a Rodney King on this guy...but knowing the town as I do, I'd bet long odds against it.
(on edit: ...and if it happened that they had been eating at Buckland Pizza, I can understand why the guy would have been pretty cranky)
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:31 PM on March 01, 2011
ESPN writer Howard Bryant has been arrested on charges of domestic violence and resisting arrest, although both he and his wife deny the accusations.
Interestingly, the linked story from ESPN doesn't quote the police ... but this Boston Herald article does.