The Observation Deck

To bob Collinwood--as a self=admitted rude, inconsiderate patron of Library, you also make wild, unsubstantiated claims that "transgendered persons likely to be killed by police"; can you provide any facts to support that? Remember that rules are rules, regardless of race, and those who refuse to obey are subject to removal--and apparently Ms Robinson did not go quietly. And those writers talking about civil rights (huh?) and discrimination--it was a Black policeman here. Is he prejudiced against his own race? This is nothing more than parents who didn't teach daughter how to behave in public looking for payout. and isn't this the same "liberal" Lakewood that recently settled decades-old lawsuit about refusing a Black-resident shelter to open?

I agree.

The Library incident, was a series of small mistakes, that got much worse, but never made it to the level of those outraged.

I do not see any police violence or racism in Lakewood Police and Safety Services, none.

The Lakewood Public Library has been without ism from the first day Ken Warren, and now Jim Crawford walked in.

This is an unfortunate incident, made worse by an insurance company that would not pay a fair price for the injury.

Nothing more.

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I am sick and tired of this.

vernon sendelbach wrote:To bob Collinwood--as a self=admitted rude, inconsiderate patron of Library, you also make wild, unsubstantiated claims that "transgendered persons likely to be killed by police"; can you provide any facts to support that?

Try doing some research. These examples took about 10 seconds to find.

vernon sendelbach wrote:Remember that rules are rules,

What rules? Can you cite them all without looking?

vernon sendelbach wrote:regardless of race, and those who refuse to obey are subject to removal

Where does it say this? (FYI, I just visited the Lakewood Library's web site. The library's own web site, which is chocked with information about Lakewood Library, does not include any information about the "rules" which various people are so convinced are clear and obvious and ironfisted.)

vernon sendelbach wrote:--and apparently Ms Robinson did not go quietly. And those writers talking about civil rights

Yes. The right to exist—in a public library, while doing absolutely no harm to anyone—without being physically grabbed and injured and then made fun of.

vernon sendelbach wrote:This is nothing more than parents who didn't teach daughter how to behave in public looking for payout.

I am absolutely fed up with this.

"How to behave in public?" How is that?

Ms. Robinson was doing absolutely nothing wrong. She was not even bothering library patrons or staff. She was a young woman spending her time in a public library.

An off-duty police officer moonlighting as a private security agent, while in uniform, decided to evict her from the library.

A number of Lakewood residents have mysteriously decided that any behavior short of vanishing from the library by teleportation, the instant that this private security agent directed Ms. Robinson to do so, somehow constitutes "outrageous failure to obey the law."

BS.

No one has declared martial law in Lakewood. We do not owe instantaneous obedience to every command that any police officer happens to utter, let alone to every person moonlighting while in a police uniform. Failure to deliver such obedience does not justify physical assault. (As the Lakewood police department has formally recognized.)

The average person in Lakewood probably commits more violations of the actual law in a single day, than Ms. Robinson did in this entire incident. Many of those actually risk harm to other people: failing to shovel your sidewalk in winter; routine violation of any number of traffic ordinances; etc.

None of this calls for, or leads to, being bodily seized and seriously injured. It should not have done so in the case of Ms. Robinson.

I am sick and tired of people trying to justify that. The solution to violence is not to justify it or excuse it. The solution is to call it out as wrong, hold accountable those who commit it, and provide care and support to those who are victimized by it.

mjkuhns wrote:I am sick and tired of this.

vernon sendelbach wrote:To bob Collinwood--as a self=admitted rude, inconsiderate patron of Library, you also make wild, unsubstantiated claims that "transgendered persons likely to be killed by police"; can you provide any facts to support that?

Try doing some research. These examples took about 10 seconds to find.

vernon sendelbach wrote:Remember that rules are rules,

What rules? Can you cite them all without looking?

vernon sendelbach wrote:regardless of race, and those who refuse to obey are subject to removal

Where does it say this? (FYI, I just visited the Lakewood Library's web site. The library's own web site, which is chocked with information about Lakewood Library, does not include any information about the "rules" which various people are so convinced are clear and obvious and ironfisted.)

vernon sendelbach wrote:--and apparently Ms Robinson did not go quietly. And those writers talking about civil rights

Yes. The right to exist—in a public library, while doing absolutely no harm to anyone—without being physically grabbed and injured and then made fun of.

vernon sendelbach wrote:This is nothing more than parents who didn't teach daughter how to behave in public looking for payout.

I am absolutely fed up with this.

"How to behave in public?" How is that?

Ms. Robinson was doing absolutely nothing wrong. She was not even bothering library patrons or staff. She was a young woman spending her time in a public library.

An off-duty police officer moonlighting as a private security agent, while in uniform, decided to evict her from the library.

A number of Lakewood residents have mysteriously decided that any behavior short of vanishing from the library by teleportation, the instant that this private security agent directed Ms. Robinson to do so, somehow constitutes "outrageous failure to obey the law."

BS.

No one has declared martial law in Lakewood. We do not owe instantaneous obedience to every command that any police officer happens to utter, let alone to every person moonlighting while in a police uniform. Failure to deliver such obedience does not justify physical assault. (As the Lakewood police department has formally recognized.)

The average person in Lakewood probably commits more violations of the actual law in a single day, than Ms. Robinson did in this entire incident. Many of those actually risk harm to other people: failing to shovel your sidewalk in winter; routine violation of any number of traffic ordinances; etc.

None of this calls for, or leads to, being bodily seized and seriously injured. It should not have done so in the case of Ms. Robinson.

I am sick and tired of people trying to justify that. The solution to violence is not to justify it or excuse it. The solution is to call it out as wrong, hold accountable those who commit it, and provide care and support to those who are victimized by it.

BRAVO!

To me, it makes no difference what color that young woman, or the officer, were.

It's simply OUTRAGEOUS that a big, heavy brute of a man would violently yank that girl out of her seat and throw her around the way he did.

It's unacceptable behavior no matter who you are, what color you are, or what political persuasion you are.

Again, our mayor displayed his lack of leadership by not getting ahead of this issue and addressing it before it became a national news event.

Vernon,

Well said. This is just another example of what is wrong with the world today. If you don't like something, start a fire, break windows,beat up on persons who don't agree with you, smart mouth a cop instead of doing what you were asked to do. Blame it on the police. Then you can sue and make lots of money. Time to grow up.

Thank you Lakewood Police. You can come and help me anytime. Since there appear to be so many disgruntled citizens, maybe they should either defend themselves or move out of Lakewood.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:I agree.The Library incident, was a series of small mistakes, that got much worse, but never made it to the level of those outraged.I do not see any police violence or racism in Lakewood Police and Safety Services, none.The Lakewood Public Library has been without ism from the first day Ken Warren, and now Jim Crawford walked in.This is an unfortunate incident, made worse by an insurance company that would not pay a fair price for the injury.Nothing more.

WOW!
It appears that Jim O'Bryan's account has been hacked by Jen Pae. She couldn't have written a spin job any better than this.

This incident was alarming for a major reason: Because Summers and his Crew were able to keep it out of the media for seven months.
It's disturbing that an incident on video with multiple witnesses managed to stay out of the limelight.
I bet a lot of mayors wish they could just sweep their police violence stories under the rug the way Summers has.
If Summers can hide a violent public incident like this, imagine what he can do with information about the hospital deal or other city matters that could "damage the brand" if they came to light.
What else is this administration hiding?

Since there appear to be so many disgruntled citizens, maybe they should either defend themselves or move out of Lakewood.

Lori, please. You sound like you've joined Team Summers. Anyone who questions what's going on in Lakewood and who doesn't get behind all their plans "hates" Lakewood, so why don't they move out!

In true Team Summers' fashion, it's not true, it's not productive, and it's divisive.

Why did this post even appear today? Did something new just happen? Anyways, totally disagree with the OP. This is nothing I want our LPD to get involved in ever. This was not a dangerous situation and the involvement of the officer made it worse.

Michael Deneen wrote:

Jim O'Bryan wrote:I agree.The Library incident, was a series of small mistakes, that got much worse, but never made it to the level of those outraged.I do not see any police violence or racism in Lakewood Police and Safety Services, none.The Lakewood Public Library has been without ism from the first day Ken Warren, and now Jim Crawford walked in.This is an unfortunate incident, made worse by an insurance company that would not pay a fair price for the injury.Nothing more.

WOW!
It appears that Jim O'Bryan's account has been hacked by Jen Pae. She couldn't have written a spin job any better than this.

This incident was alarming for a major reason: Because Summers and his Crew were able to keep it out of the media for seven months.
It's disturbing that an incident on video with multiple witnesses managed to stay out of the limelight.
I bet a lot of mayors wish they could just sweep their police violence stories under the rug the way Summers has.
If Summers can hide a violent public incident like this, imagine what he can do with information about the hospital deal or other city matters that could "damage the brand" if they came to light.
What else is this administration hiding?

Mike

Jen Pae did not hack my account. Did a fool hack yours?

I have known about the incident since it happen.

There is not police violence story.

An unfortunate incident, found a person getting injured, at the hand of an off duty police officer. Not through hate, bigotry, racism, just clumsiness.

It is on record, the person asked for her bills to be paid. EVERYONE thought it was and honest amount and an unfortunate situation.

The insurance company said sorry not paying.

They rightfully hired a lawyer, and damn good one, and it was on. Then you heard about it.

But it was the special kangaroo court of righteousness called social media, that it became racial, and hateful and spun out of control.

Mike, sometimes, just like the bumper sticker, "Shit Happens."

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Jim O'Bryan wrote:There is not police violence story.

An unfortunate incident, found a person getting injured, at the hand of an off duty police officer. Not through hate, bigotry, racism, just clumsiness.

I've watched the video. Officer Jones did not grab Ms. Robinson and attempt to bodily remove her from the library through "clumsiness." You can chalk up the injuries which followed to clumsiness, if you so choose. But clumsiness did not introduce the completely unnecessary use of physical force in the first place.

That's why LPD described this as "unreasonable and unwarranted force." If you want to say that "police violence" is something distinct from this, okay, go ahead. Feel free to mentally substitute "unreasonable and unwarranted force" for the word "violence," in my earlier comments.

Mike, sometimes, just like the bumper sticker, "Shit Happens."

Nope. This incident wasn't "shit happens;" it was not an accident, an oversight, or bad timing. It was a WILLFUL violation of a young woman by a man who obviously let the power of his position go to his head.

Since we are being scatalogical, the mayor should have been all over this situation like the proverbial flies on $hit. But no, in yet another stunning display of a total lack of leadership, he sat on it.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:Jen Pae did not hack my account. Did a fool hack yours?

I'm pointing out the facts....you are offering empty spin in defense of a corrupt administration.
I know you're not comfortable discussing Lakewood's racism, but this is ridiculous.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:I have known about the incident since it happen.

So you are admitting that you covered this up?
Don't you think this story would have been of interest to readers? It made national news....yet wasn't worthy of mention in the Observer?

Jim O'Bryan wrote:There is not police violence story.

What next....are you going to ask what the definition of is is?
Yes, it's a police violence story...more importantly, it is about the cover up of government wrongdoing.
This incident is a great example of what can happen without media oversight.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:But it was the special kangaroo court of righteousness called social media, that it became racial, and hateful and spun out of control.

Sounds like Jim Kenny or some other spin from Build Lakewood/Lakewood City Hall. They too adopted a "shoot the messenger" strategy by labeling truth-tellers are "hateful" and "divisive".

Bridget Conant wrote:Mike, sometimes, just like the bumper sticker, "Shit Happens."

In the words of Branch Rickey "Luck is the residue of design.".....more often than not, things happen for a reason.
When people say stuff like "Shit Happens", that means they are trying to shirk blame.
SPOILER ALERT: In future years we'll be hearing many variations of "Shit Happens" from the current members of this City Council.

Michael Deneen wrote:

Jim O'Bryan wrote:There is not police violence story.

What next....are you going to ask what the definition of is is?
Yes, it's a police violence story...more importantly, it is about the cover up of government wrongdoing.
This incident is a great example of what can happen without media oversight.

Mike

Yes it is true, I am really all of the demons you fight with rolled into one...

Get a hold of yourself.

I will try this one more time, maybe you will grasp it, probably not.

An incident happened at the library, there was NO CONTROVERSY, until the insurance company said no.

Perhaps they are the racists group, perhaps they are the haters, the bigots. I'm betting they are just a bunch of paper shufflers with bonuses based on lack of pay outs, like all insurance companies. Not evil, not cool, just people.

At that point the injured girl, correctly got a great lawyer to get paid for suffering. I think everyone agrees she deserves bills paid. EVERYONE.

Mike, I think we have the media insight, the facts, and refuse to get into the kangaroo court of misinformation, just so people can scream racists and police brutality.

The minute the lawyer got hired, he took it public to the media, and the shit storm started, The lawyer, doing his job, to hurry a deserved settlement along.

No this is why this BS pisses me off. A member of the Lakewood School Board had a death threat made to him. That paperwork disappeared from the books for years, until a strange cross search found a supporting document, that led back to the original police report, which was also misfiled.... This smells of another mayor cover-up.

Every document in this incident, were public to my knowledge. No one is is fighting anything, but the insurance company. Read your policy, then can do it.

No one is tougher on this Administration than I am, no one.

For the record, I hope the girl and the lawyer make serious bank for the BS they are going through.

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An incident happened at the library, there was NO CONTROVERSY, until the insurance company said no.

No controversy?

I think you mean no public knowledge of the incident.

Because if by no controversy you mean there wasn't anything wrong with what happened, you are mistaken.

The manhandling of a young woman would be news anywhere, anytime. Just because no one in Lakewood knew about it doesn't mean it "wasn't a big deal."

It IS a big deal. And not only will they pay fir it monetarily, the incident has diminished the entire department and the city.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:An incident happened at the library, there was NO CONTROVERSY, until the insurance company said no.

There was "no controversy" because no one knew what had happened.
Noone knew what had happened because no one in the media....including the Observer....carried the story.
Once the story was reported, there was plenty of controversy.