for BigTrial.net
Last night, at least ten members of the city police department's SWAT team called out sick, to protest the D.A.'s arrest of former SWAT team member Richard Nicoletti for using pepper spray and tear gas on protesters who were trying to block the Vine Street Expressway.
The SWAT team members who called out sick were on the midnight to 8 a.m. crew. So in response, the city had to hold the 3 to 11 SWAT crew over on overtime.
This morning, at least ten officers on the SWAT team day shift called out sick as well.
Why is the SWAT team out of action? Apparently, they're disgusted with the way Nicoletti, a 12-year veteran, was treated when he was fired by the police department and charged by District Attorney Larry Krasner with simple assault, reckless endangerment and possession of an instrument of crime. Cops say Nicolletti was arrested for following orders that went up the chain of command, all the way to the police commissioner and the mayor, and then came back down again.
"This dude's a stud, a former Army Ranger, a decorated police officer," a former teammate of Nicolletti said. "He got completely shit on."
For following orders that came straight from the top.
On June 1st, the day the protesters were trying to stop traffic on the Vine Street Expressway, which, by the way is a crime, the local cops had just heard over police radio a call for help from a state trooper.
The trooper was surrounded by protesters, who again, were in the act of committing a crime by trying to block the expressway. And the trooper said over the radio that he was going to have to abandon his vehicle because it was about to be overrun by protesters.
The tactic of using tear gas went all the way up the chain of command, from sergeants to lieutenants to commanders to the police commissioner and to the mayor. And the orders came back down the chain of command. You're losing control of the expressway; so go ahead and use tear gas to control the protesters.
On video, one of the protesters who was pepper-sprayed by Nicoletti is seen before hand grabbing a canister of tear gas, which probably came from the cops, and throwing it back at Nicoletti.
Right there, the D.A. could have charged the protester with assault on a police officer, which, before Larry Krasner became D.A., was also a crime.
As far as using pepper spray, according to the cops, members of the SWAT team say they typically don't need permission to use it. It's one of the tools of the trade that they carry with them every day.
About pepper spray, the former SWAT team member said, "We take it on every single warrant, every single barricade. In the middle of a riot, how do you ask permission to use pepper spray?"
But as far as left-wing lunatic Krasner was concerned, carrying a tool of the trade ISSUED BY THE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT amounted to possession of an instrument of crime.
How insane is that?
"It's tough to lock up people in the middle of a riot," one former SWAT team member said, in explaining Nicoletti's use of pepper spray.
The three protesters sitting on the ground had masks and goggles on that were being worn to protect them from tear gas and pepper spray. Again, the protesters sitting on the ground were trying to illegally block traffic on the expressway, creating an incredibly dangerous situation for both motorists coming to a screeching halt, and the protesters who had put themselves in harm way.
So Nicoletti was following standard police procedure when he lifted the protesters masks and sprayed them with pepper spray. Spraying them the masks on would have been ineffective while the cops were trying to clear the expressway of protesters.
On the video, one of the protesters that Nicolletti sprayed is clearly seen trying to take a swing at him, which again, before Larry Krasner became D.A., used to be a crime.
Nicoletti's conduct during the protests was investigated by the police department's internal affairs bureau and he was cleared of any wrongdoing. But, cop sources say, an edict came down from the top -- find something on Nicoletti.
At the press conference where the mayor and the police commissioner decided to surrender to the protesters, and apologize for the use of tear gas, "Everybody threw everybody under the bus," one cop complained.
Another cop, asked what was up with the sick-out by the SWAT team, said everybody in the department is upset because "nobody's backing the cops."
About Police Commissioner Outlaw, the cop said, "She went from throwing the D.A. under the bus" for his leniency in prosecuting criminals arrested for carrying illegal guns in the city, to "now, all of a sudden, she's in bed with him."
The cop was referring to Outlaw's recent decision to team up with Krasner and have individual assistant district attorneys assigned to each police district. Outlaw tried to explain her turnaround in an extensive written interview with Big Trial, an interview that in the eyes of many cops, was long on platitudes, short on common sense, and failed to make the case for collaborating with a cop-hating ideologue like Krasner.
"She's lost the department," one cop said.
In charging Nicoletti, Krasner, as outlined by Ben Mannes in an earlier Big Trial post, may have a conflict of interest. When he was a cop-hating defense lawyer who previously sued the police department 75 times, Krasner tried to nail Nicoletti's police officer father for a completely unrelated police shooting, but came up empty.
In a July 8th interview with WHYY, Krasnert talked about his intention to indict Richard Nicoletti, as well as his unsuccessful pursuit of the "elder Nicoletti."
"He couldn't get [Nicoletti's] father on the shooting," the former SWAT team member said. So now he's going after the son.
There's another potential conflict of interest for Krasner, who came to office thanks to $1.6 million in contributions from billionaire anarchist George Soros.
One of the protesters that Nicoletti sprayed in the face is Christina Sorenson, who was sitting down on the Vine Street Expressway.
"I put my hands behind my back, I was waiting to be arrested and then I felt somebody pull on my goggles and then spray me directly in my eyes," Sorenson told CBSN Philly. "I think any officer who meets peace with violence should lose their job."
This is the same Christina Sorenson who was one of the winners last year of the "Soros Justice Fellowships" for "outstanding individuals to undertake projects that advance reform, spur debate, and catalyze change on a range of issues facing the U.S. criminal justice system."
According to the announcement of her award, Sorenson "will address the need for accessible and responsive grievance of youth in institutional placements" on behalf of the Juvenile Law Center.
So George Soros financed both the district attorney who indicted Nicoletti as well as a protester who was one of the alleged victims in the case.
Isn't that cozy?
On the subject of cops in rebellion, apparently, there's a price to be paid for all the disrespect, unfair criticism and downright abuse that's been dumped on our police force in the past few months.
It starts with our left-wing jackass of a mayor, and our cop-hating district attorney who belongs in jail. Next, there's our rookie police commissioner who's in over her head, all those "peaceful" protesters, and of course, all the social justice warriors in the media, led by the crazed ideologues at the cop-hating Philadelphia Inquirer.
The newspaper of record just ran a timely little series entitled "Black and Blue," sure to further inflame racial tensions with a greatest hits collection, by tracing the "painful history of police violence against the Black community in Philadelphia" all the way back to 1838.
The job action by the SWAT team isn't the only evidence that the cops here may have reached their breaking point. Here's a couple of statistics to ponder.
In June of 2019, the Philadelphia police made a total of 776 car stops, pedestrian stops, as well as tickets issued.
In June of 2020: the number for all three categories has dwindled down to 89.
Under the progressive leadership of Jim "Stand Down" Kenney and Larry "F--k The Cops" Krasner, the city of Philadelphia continues its descent into lawlessness.
Throughout Center City and along the 52nd Street corridor in West Philadelphia, hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage left behind by those peaceful protesters stands in mute testimony to a complete failure of leadership.
There's a Tent City on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and in the Azalea Garden near the still closed Art Museum that's further evidence of that same failed leadership. Meanwhile, Mayor Jim "Surrender Monkey" Kenney has personally taken over negotiations with the homeless lawbreakers over their "demands" for free housing, cop-free zones, and who knows what else.
We're on pace for a record year for homicides, shootings are through the roof, and now the SWAT team isn't showing up for work.
Cops are standing in line to resign; the rest of the police force is pissed off, and demoralized.
What's next? A blue flu? A city without cops, and complete lawlessness?