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Texas cops rough up and handcuff U.S. Representative Ronny Jackson at rodeo [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2023-08-02

Ronny Jackson is a Republican representing Amarillo, Texas, in the U.S. House of Representatives. Also a doctor–a former White House doctor–he rushed to assist a teenage girl who went into diabetic shock at a rodeo in his district, and helped her parents revive her. When police turned up, according to reports, they demanded that her parents and Jackson back off, then one of them screamed abuse at him, tackled him to the ground and violently handcuffed him.

Shouse said she was pushed back and then punched in the chest by a woman and said she saw a law enforcement official screaming in Jackson's face, telling him to "Get the f**k back." "He was trying to tell them that he was a doctor and probably trying to tell him who he was, to be honest. And they were screaming that they did not effing care who he was," she said. "And the next thing I knew, they had him on the ground, grabbed him by the shirt, threw him on the ground, face first into the concrete and had him in cuffs." Shouse said once they realized Jackson was a congressman and doctor, they uncuffed him and started apologizing.

The "oh, you're a congressman?" thing is pointed because it belies everything we're told about the "training" that expects police to escalate, to yell abuse, to effect rough arrests as objective responses to potential threats. As soon as they knew who he was, the training was replaced by groveling.

The saddest (or funniest) part of is that that Rep. Jackson is a decidedly right-wing figure and can't admit any wrong was done by the cops, so all his office could do is publicly insist he had not been drinking. Jackson was accused of misconduct while in his White House position, which ended not long after being required to lie about then-president Donald Trump's weight. Trump "weighed" in at one pound less than the threshold for obesity, CNN reported.

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2023/08/02/texas-cops-rough-up-and-handcuff-u-s-representative-ronny-jackson-at-rodeo.html

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