One good thing

Mitchell Crooks, the man who videotaped the now infamous Inglewood, California, arrest of Donovan Jackson, a 16-year-old boy, has himself been arrested and is being held in Placer County on outstanding warrant charges. I don’t feel sorry for him but wonder if he would’ve been arrested within days of uncovering and disclosing to the media information regarding a major terrorist plot.

I can’t condone drunk driving, petty theft or a hit-and-run charge. His indiscretions are too blatant to explain away. On the other hand, there but by the grace of god go all of us. What happens if you now or previously had traffic or parking violations, owed back taxes, had a spotty employment record, credit problems, psychological counseling, filed for bankruptcy or missed alimony payments, but courageously stepped forward to do the right thing? How many of us lead unblemished lives? The message is clear: Publicly embarrass the powers that be and you will be punished for disclosing damning evidence of public- or private-sector wrongdoing.

Maxine Waters, a Southern California congresswoman, is raising funds to pay for Mr. Crooks’ defense. She is doing this not because she supports criminal behavior, but because she supports, in principle and action, the idea that citizens who step forward to divulge politically sensitive information should be able to do so without fear of reprisal. In a larger sense, she is using her political capital to support the next Mitchell Crooks.

I don’t know who Mitchell Crooks really is, but I know he did at least one good thing. He just happened to be staying in an Inglewood motel earlier this month and just happened to have a functioning video camera handy when Donovan Jackson’s father was stopped for a traffic violation. He exposed police brutality in the arrest of Jackson, a developmentally impaired teen. The resulting media exposure has been the catalyst for a current investigation into this case and a larger probe by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, district attorney and the federal Justice Department into a possible pattern of police misconduct within the Inglewood Police Department. He deserves credit for that. Jeremy Morse, for example, the officer seen roughing up Jackson in the video, had at least one other brutality complaint filed against him prior to this incident.

While I expect Enron’s Kenneth Lay and WorldCom’s Bernard Ebbers to feign remorse, keep all or most of the investors’ money, and not serve a day, guys like Mitchell Crooks are typically found guilty and serve every day. As usual, we shot the messenger.