The Jack-Booted Thug(s) of the Week...

... are the three plainclothes Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania police officers who took it upon themselves to assault an 18-year-old honors student and violist at a local performing-arts high school for doing nothing more than walking down the street while minding his own business:

"Police charged Jordan Miles, 18, with assault and resisting arrest Jan. 11 because, they said, he fought with the officers who thought a "heavy object" in his coat was a gun. It turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Dew."
 
It's illegal to walk down the street with a heavy object stashed in one's coat?  That's news to us.  What possibly made them think that the object was a firearm - the fact that the student happens to be black and sports dreadlocks?   We sure hope the fact that the three cops were all white had nothing to do with their "mistake", and that they were merely blindly stupid instead of racist and stupid.  In any event, it seems that these particular cops certainly need to be educated about the propriety of violating peoples' civil rights based on what they "think" is going on, versus having objective evidence of an actual crime.

Miles steadfastly maintains that the officers never identified themselves as police officers.  We'd fight back hard as well should three goons in street clothes all of a sudden were to start getting grabby with us for no good reason.  How could we possibly be expected to know what their intentions were?

"Reportedly the officers identified themselves as police."

Says who?  Somehow, after reviewing the details of this incident, we have a hard time believing that assertion.

"According to officials, the officers have been moved from plain clothes detail to uniformed duty."

That's sure teaching them a lesson.  At least now the other pedestrians in Pittsburgh will be able to clearly see these fellows coming, should they decide to approach someone else in order to "investigate" their legitimate behavior.