[Leica] The Well Hung Photographer BEING BEATEN!

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (Ted Grant)]

Walker Smith asked:
Subject: [Leica] The Well Hung Photographer


> Ted,
> I take it that the drunk cop's team lost? He must have a thick skull as
> an M4 on the end of a strap packs a mean punch and would certainly
> cold-cock most men. Sounds like it rattled his brain some as it was.<<<<<

Hi Walker,
Yeah it kind of rattled his cage alright because he was down on his hands
and knees probably wondering what hit him, when his buddies saw me still
standing. Then they took over. :-(

However the three of them lost badly once reporters got into the situation
at the local paper and football radio station. Big front page story for
three days running about photographer being beat-up by, "Drunk Cops!"

These guys were totally out of line as they were drunk as they'd been
drinking in the stands during the game, like a no-no. Then the home team
lost and they as fans were pissed off, had jumped down on the playing field
at the end of the game.

When the rent - a - cops tried to move them out a nearby exit they started
beating up the security guys. I'm standing there innocently and here's a
fight happening right in front of me. As a newsphotographer I thought "Hey,
get a few frames!"

Next thing I have is this big guy lunging toward me, trust me if you've
never had a human lunging at you who's 6' 4" and well over 200 lbs it's as
scary as hell!   And trying to grab and swing his fists while I'm trying to
explain whatever to get him to cool down. But to no avail, he was after me
and camera as he saw me shoot frames in his direction while he was hammering
on a really small rent-a-cop.

So I figured I'd give it to him as hard as I could because he's going to
kill me by the look of him. With the neck strap wrapped around my wrist,
something I rarely do, but I'm damn glad I did that time. I swung as hard as
I could because I figured if I didn't hit him hard enough and he didn't go
down then surely he'd kill me.

The camera landed flat base plate to the left side of his head and he sort
of stood there for a moment, then his knees just let go and down he went!
:-)

The end of the story,  two of them were fired and the third was demoated to
rookie as low as he could be lowered.

> Not only should the cops involved have lost their jobs but they should
> have served time for assault & battery.<

The assult charges came up and I was asked if I wanted to press charges.
It's not my thing to be vindictive. I figured they got a smacking anyway.
Now that was one side of how I felt and they did pay for the broken 500mm
mirror lens and Nikon. The other side was, I still had to live and drive
around the city and I didn't want to have a B&W on my tail everytime I
turned a corner.

However, under the circumstances I always thought the the police department
itself should've charged them with assult even though I didn't. But then
maybe it doesn't work that way.

>>Cops have a tough job and I support them 100%<<,

Well I've worked a geat deal with them and they surely do not have an easy
task at anytime........

>>but not when they go bad. Then they're just thugs with a badge.<

Truly the case here.

> I'm glad you survived the incident with nothing worse than a few extra
> lumps on your noggin. It could have been serious.<<<<<

Well if you consider the beating I got on the skull and it was only by the
good grace I was face down in the grass they didn't work my face over or
heaven forbid, they didn't beat me in my only good eye! However, it was a
moment of time in the life of a newsphotographer. :-)

ted