I am sure by now lots of people have seen a video, where a 75 year old man was pushed to the ground by the Buffalo police on Thursday night. Blood can be seen leaking from his right ear. The officers were quickly condemned; now the two Buffalo police officers are suspended. In the meantime, the 75 year old man is still in serious condition with a head injury in the hospital.
The officers argue that they were following orders, and (despite overwhelming video evidence to the contrary) they allege that the elderly man "tripped and fell". The officers also disagreed with their fellow officers suspension, so the entire unit of the Buffalo Police Department, 57 officers, resigned to offer support for the two officers.
“Fifty-seven resigned in disgust because of the treatment of two of their members, who were simply executing orders,” said John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association.
So the officers allege that "they were following orders".
It sounds very similar to the Nazi's defense of "just following orders", that many Nazi officers offered during the Nuremberg trials when being charged with war crimes. They knew Hitler's orders were unlawful, but obey them anyway.
[ Top cartoon image courtesy of Clay Jones from Claytoonz ]
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