Police Officer Escorts a Child to Use the Bathroom
December 11th, 2006Update:
Justin Cook, the photographer who made the image below, wrote to me, requesting that I remove the image because he held the copyright and I wasn’t authorized to use the image. I indicated that I would not remove the image and that he should read about Fair Use. He asked me to remove it again. I refused, again.
He then told me that my original headline, “North Carolina: Child Uses Toilet at Gunpoint,” was misleading. I said that I printed the entire caption that was originally provided with the image. I also offered to print his clarification of the circumstances surrounding the situation in the photo and change the headline, but again refused to remove the photo.
Here is Justin’s clarification about the situation:
CLARIFICATION:
“Basically this was a standard search warrant situation on a known drug house. The child is not being held at gunpoint. His mother was detained and the officer simply walked him to the bathroom. The officer never pointed the gun at the child, in fact moments before this photo was taken, the officer and child were goofing off on the front porch. It was a very surreal situation, they were high fiving each other, the child even hugged him at one point and took his flashlight. Simply the officers had taken a liking to the child and when he needed to pee one walked him to the bathroom and remained with him to maintain control of the situation. The officers are never to surrender or abandon their weapon at any time during the raid, and no person at the house is to go unwatched during the course of a search.”
The militarization of domestic law enforcement is one of the sickest aspects of America’s decent into fascism. While I’m glad that Justin provided clarification to the situation—I am always willing to provide clarification to ANY story on Cryptogon when it is necessary—it doesn’t change my opinion of the horrible nature of the situation that is depicted.
I wish Justin wasn’t attempting to get sites to remove his excellent work.
—END UPDATE—
Via: Cpoy:
Photo by: Justin Cook – University of North Carolina
A member of the Durham Police Department Selective Enforcement Team escorts a child to use the bathroom after serving a search warrant at a suspected drug house. Working closely with the police department’s Gang Units, SET is responsible for making high-risk entries into dwellings to serve search warrants. Gang Unit Two made two controlled buys, or drug purchases, from the home with the help of an informant, giving them probable cause for a search warrant. Even if a raid doesn’t turn up anything, presence and show of force sends a hard message to the neighborhood that gang and drug activity will not be tolerated.
Research Credit: The Agitator
another “hard message” would be to just rape, burn, and pillage openly. it’ll send the same message and at least they’ll be honest with how they feel about us serfs…
Aw come on. That weapon is down. It’s slung, and of course he’s keeping his hand on the grip to keep it from swinging. It’s not pointed towards the kid, that’s the perspective of the photo. It appears to be more aimed at his own foot, which has it’s own faults.
Like the photo of the kid that they were sending back to Cuba a few years ago, the cop’s finger is off the trigger, pointing straight forward. That’s appropriate, which is good to see. You never put your finger inside the trigger guard unless you’re ready to fire.
But…
Why did he have to be in there standing beside the kid. He could have waited patiently outside the doorway. Did he think a 3 year old kid was going to grab an uzi and take them out?
If they had time to take the kid to the bathroom, the scene was already under control. Otherwise, the cop would have been taking a more defensive position.
There’s all kinds of things we can’t know. Did he walk back in to ask “So are you done yet?” Or is the kid saying “I can’t get it started”, and the cop is telling him about rain storms and water falls. Or is he saying “Dammit kid, hurry up, we’re trying to arrest your family, I don’t have time to waste waiting for a kid to piss.”
That seems to be a pretty clean house for a drug den. I have to wonder what level they were selling at. Probably a housewife trying to make ends meet (like the first episodes of ‘Weeds’). That brings up the question of “How just are the drug laws?” Since a large percentage of the people in the US legal system (arrested, waiting trail, in jail, and probation) are small time drug offenders. A quick Google search gives all kinds of interesting statistics. The generalization of it is that about half of drug arrests are for marijuana, which comes up to millions every year.
I advocate abolishing the marijuana laws, much like the alcohol laws were after prohibition. Oddly enough, I’m not a pot smoker. I know plenty of people who are, and I have to say of all the drugs I’ve seen used, marijuana is less dangerous than pot, unless it’s really a dangerous thing to have people giggling at (or with) you.
With all that said, the photo was probably shot in the cleanest crack house I’ve ever seen. 🙂
Warrant or no warrant, this is a disgusting scene. What coward of a cop can’t put his weapon down to escort a child to the bathroom, as Mr. Cook said the house was already secure? Or hand it to one of the other 10 or 20 or so SWAT team thugs that are likely outside the picture to wait outside the bathroom?
But even more deplorable than the USA’s police state are the folks who make excuses for it, like “Maybe the cop was just showing the kid how to jerk off?” Or “The kid even took his flashlight.” Pop quiz: how many milliseconds will it take the average cop to shoot an adult dead, taser them unconscious, or pepper spray them at point blank for just touching a cop’s flashlight or other gear?
Adjust the color curves to lighten the darker tones in photoshop, and you can see that the weapon is pointed closer to the child’s feet than the pig’s own foot. If the US was truly concerned about protecting people and children from harmful drugs, they would have a non-paramilitary unit(s) accompanying the SWAT team to remove children from such a scene immediately after it is secured. Don’t tell me the pig thugs had no knowledge of children being in the house when they obtained the warrant.
And one last question: how exactly did Mr. Justin Cook enter a private residence during a SWAT raid to take a partially nude photo of a minor? Do the Durham police have a pervert photo squad, or does the SWAT team hire photographers to show how tough they are on young children? I can see the Durham police motto now: “To protect and perv.” Maybe it’s one of those loving born again SWAT teams or something.
You done good, kid. Stand fast when you are in the right.
The pig is staring right at the kids pee-pee. Hmmmm… maybe there is a problem with pedophilia in this country.
There is no justification for this picture. Thanks for explaining to the photographer the concept of the internet and Fair Use. And his explanation for what happened turned my stomach. If anyone ever did this to my kid, I’d wanna kill ’em.