One of the more gruesome images of yesterday came from a fight that broke out when OWS protester Brandon Watts allegedly threw batteries down at the NYPD from the walls of Zuccotti Park yesterday afternoon before snatching an officer’s hat and getting pulled down. Twitter and YouTube blew up with images of Mr. Watts, blood dripping from his skull, as he was lead away by the police. One of the images made the cover of today’s New York Daily News. Mr. Watts has been charged with assault and grand larceny, and was treated for his injuries in Bellvue Hospital.
But in the bedlam of yesterday’s Occupy Wall Street protests and over 300 arrests, it was hard to say what really happened to Mr. Watts; only that he “busted his head open during a bout with cops,” as the Daily News reported. But the images of videographer/photographer Kyle Christopher, who was standing nearby with his camera, tell a more in-depth, if no more conclusive, story of the ordeal.
(All photos via Kyle Christopher).
I am Brandon Watts’ foster sister. My brother had no idea about politics, no clue about any of the things being protested. All he ever wanted was to belong… Somewhere out there he wanted a family. In the people that were protesting he probably thinks that’s what he had! He has oppositional defiance disorder ( which caused him to go against the police) amongst many other things that stemmed from a sad childhood full of abuse and neglect! He’s always defensive of people of authority because none of them ever protected him as a child when he needed them. Hence him attacking the police officer.
Brandon isn’t exactly a hero, as everyone is making him out to be. He’s a very confused young man, who doesn’t understand anything about what’s going on. He probably in jail right now, scared, alone, crying, and confused.
He went to NY originally because he had run away. He wasn’t putting up a tent to join protestors, he was doing it because he had no where else to go. He joined the protests, completely unaware of their meaning and purpose because he wanted to “belong”. He doesn’t know any better, because he’s never learned anything other than being afraid and fighting for himself.
And yet, given all that, he did belong. He did find a place and that was more than he got elsewhere. That is why they Occupy. So they can live in a future occupied with people that have a place.
OWS is where every screwed up in the head loser who blames everyone else for their problems belongs, so I guess you are correct.
Seriously, that’s idiotic. We need to decouple the corrupt interests of big businesses and the federal government. This isn’t a friggin therapy clinic.
Drew (or your hed writer): “depantsed” is a redundant back-formation like “unloosed” or “flammable,” please consult the Observer style guide next time
Wow, this from a guy who typed ‘hed writer’. FAIL
Try Wikipedia, chuckles. It’s journalistical lingo! http://wiktionary.org/wiki/hed
I would guess the “bloody picture” looked much worse than it actually was. Scalp/Forehead wounds bleed. They bleed a lot even if the wound is shallow. This is why professional wrestlers cut their foreheads to make the match look bloody and more dangerous.