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Mr. Washington, it was worth it
During the Quincy City Council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 3, I witnessed something that made me glad I live in a free country.
A Quincy resident, Antonio Ramirez, who has been disabled for two years because of a stroke, came to the council meeting with his son, Christian Flores, to air a grievance he had about the way he was treated during a traffic stop by members of the Quincy Police Department. Flores read Ramirez’s statement because he has a hard time speaking in public.
In his statement, Ramirez, who has lived in Quincy for 18 years, said he was stopped for driving with a burned-out light in his car. During the traffic stop, the officer told Ramirez that his license was suspended. Ramirez said he was unaware of the suspension. The officer arrested Ramirez, handcuffed him and took him to the police station.
“I felt abused by the officer,” Ramirez stated.
He went on to say that circumstances like his make it difficult for people to trust police officers in the community.
“In my point of view, based on what I’ve seen and heard in the past 18 years of living in this community, most people, children, teenagers don’t trust, fear or feel anger towards the police, and things should not be this way,” Ramirez stated.
While the facts of Ramirez’s arrest and whether or not a third party believes he was abused have yet to be determined, I was thankful that he had the opportunity to address his local leaders over his grievance.
There are many places in the world where Ramirez’s words, as mild as they were, could open him or his family up to serious harm. Thankfully, we as citizens of the United States are protected by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
I was helping my daughter with a history assignment over winter break.
The assignment was about the Revolutionary War. I would encourage you to read up about that time again. When you consider everything that was stacked against George Washington and his Continental Army, it really is a miracle that they were able to defeat the British and win our independence.
I don’t know if they have any idea how much their sacrifices have meant to Americans across the ages, but as I listened to Mr. Ramirez use his Constitutional Rights to air his grievance to his local government officials, I hoped that somewhere and somehow, they knew it was all worth it.
3 Comments
#4
Razor commented, on January 12, 2012 at 9:33 a.m.:
I think most people do not trust the police anywhere. But, I think it is up to our local government to help bridge the gap. When is the last time anyone saw a Quincy police officer walking down our city streets and neighborhoods? For all we know they do not have legs. They should be accessible and know their community and it's citizens. I know the only time they come out of their cars is for enforcement of the law not for any kind of public relations. Let's get together and do a fund raiser for our legless law enforcememnt and get them some lower appendages. Call it "Prop a Cop- Legs for Law."
Silver Flores commented, on January 9, 2012 at 12:28 p.m.:
Gosh, I for one would have liked to read a story about Mr. Ramirez. Maybe the parallels of his story and of Mrs. Dora Trevino's complaint to the counsel about our local police. It might be interesting reading, and maybe a homage to past journalists who held local government accountable through their first ammendment rights.
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