My most recent LewRockwell.com piece dealt with the alleged different treatment by police of two juveniles involved in a mall brawl in Bridgewater, New Jersey. The supposedly mistreated black kid has since been identified only by his given name Z’Kye and the other party only by his given name Joseph, who was also noted to be of Colombian and Pakistani heritage. When the two police officers arrived at the scene, they flung Joseph onto a lounge couch and handcuffed Z’Kye—hence the charges of different treatment. But I suggested that different behavior on the part of the combatants might have led to different treatment by the police.
When I analyzed the action in this cell phone video, I saw Z’Kye on the floor on his back with Joseph crouching over him with his arms extended downward as if to keep Z’Kye from getting back up. The police approach Joseph from either side and grab him as Z’Kye throws a punch. As the police are pulling Joseph away from Z’Kye, Z’Kye throws another punch. It was immediately after Z’Kye threw that second punch that the one officer let go of Joseph and began subduing Z’Kye. Although the action is partially obscured for an instant by a spectator rising from one of the lounge couches in the foreground and stepping out of the frame, all the elements described above are still discernable. In another news story about the incident that I referred to, the part where Z’Kye throws the punches has been edited out of the video footage!
A new development in the story that I just became aware of is the existence of a second cell phone video of the incident that gives a totally unobscured view of what happened that perfectly corroborates the analysis I gave above. Although the video footage clearly shows that Z’Kye continued to throw punches after the police arrived and put hands on Joseph, none of the crack CBS New York news staff seemed to notice, even as they commented on the video.
Even after the newer, clearer cell phone footage became available, other journalists still didn’t get what happened right; here’s David Matthews of the New York Daily News:
Video of the fight shows both kids falling to the floor as two police officers arrive. One pulls the white boy away from Z’Kye, the Black teenager, while the other officer tackles Z’Kye.
No, no, no, that’s not what happened! Both officers had their hands on Joseph and were moving him back away from Z’Kye when Z’Kye threw that second punch at Joseph. It was immediately after Z’Kye threw that second punch that the one officer let go of Joseph and went after Z’Kye. If David Matthews had slowed the video to 0.25 playback speed and pored over it again and again the way I did, he probably would have noticed that. When wokeness attacks a journalist’s brain, he becomes lazy, taking the path of least resistance and flowing along with the “Narrative.”
