April 19th, 2009 
joel The story regarding the YouTube video which recorded a profane, visibly-intoxicated Erie City policeman has broken nationally.
The video on YouTube as of Sunday evening has received over 19,000 views and over 1,500 comments. Also Sunday, CNN weighed in with a feature on the video and interview of the referenced murder victim’s mother, and the national director of the NAACP. No one from the Erie Bureau of Police was available to appear on the cable channel.
This video from CNN was the 14th most played video on Sunday evening.
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One thing that I haven’t seen/heard mentioned…if this cop’s under suspension, be it with or without pay, is he even ALLOWED to wear his uniform..as he did when he and DeDionisio called on the brother of the guy that posted the video?
[...] The video of the Erie police officer is making national news. This weekend the video was picked up on CNN and other outlets, and the head of the NAACP, Benjamin Jealous, along with several local pastors, is calling for James Cousins II to resign his position. Press and Tower has more on this. [...]
One more shining example of Erie’s police force. Time to clean house at city hall…start with the mayor!
Who here hasn’t complained about work? After hours, not on the clock, not in uniform yet he might lose his job? I do some media stuff where I work and I know I have complained about who works there and about the people that use our products. Does his contract say he can’t talk about work after hours? Sure it was in bad taste but did he know he was being recorded? Does he lose his right to free speech by being a policeman?
Maybe the police department can finally open up the “thought police” department too.
Why is no one outraged at the woman heard laughing at all these declarations the police officer was making? Why is no one outraged that we are commending nanny-state actions (do you really want strangers filming you without your consent when YOU are doing something stupid) ? Guess what. Drinking alcohol equals stupid behavior.
G.,
Actually I found the woman’s laughter and prompting quite outrageous. Really the whole video is disturbing, down to the fact that no one intervened to stop the officer from embarrassing himself.
-J.
There were a lot of wrongs here, including the person posting this on youtube and Cousins, but the actions of the EPD were by far the worst. If Cousins had simply apologized and said something to the effect of “Hey, I was drunk and blowing off some steam, and I regret what was said”, and the EPD had given him a suspension, the thing wouldn’t have been as bad as it is now. Instead, the NAACP is screaming and the ETN has this blasted on their front page. What a mess.
I’m just counting the minutes till Al Shrpton organizes a rally in Perry Square.
The mayor or someone had better get out in front of this ASAP. Either dig in behind the guy or ( more likely) cut him loose. The (bad) PR is just beginning if they don’t move fast.
More excellent leadership from Erie’s best!
/sarc off
JimGriffeyApril 19th, 2009 at 11:42 PM****One thing that I haven’t seen/heard mentioned…if this cop’s under suspension, be it with or without pay, is he even ALLOWED to wear his uniform..as he did when he and DeDionisio called on the brother of the guy that posted the video?*********When Cousins accompanied DeDionisio to interview/interrogate the brother of the man who posted the video, he hadn’t yet been suspended. He was suspended on Wednesday (after a reporter from the Erie Times-News called the Chief of Police), whereas the interview with the brother occurred on Tuesday.