Inappropriate Police Conduct at the RNC

To Whom It May Concern,

I would like to express my dismay at a few actions taken by police during the 2008 Republican National Convention. I ask you to please help this commentary find the right ears.

I live in Connecticut, and did not attend the convention or the protests. However, I have followed them closely on the web, and in particular on youtube.com.
One video particularly disturbs me deeply :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j51_9e3a8ak
Update: video taken down - but someone else reposted it :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA6V1JE1zbM
Additionally, here is some media coverage and a different angle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGupCjUaht8

- In this video a girl can be seen non-violently facing off with a line of riot police and bicycle police who are trying to clear the street. Her hands are clearly visible displaying a two finger peace gesture.
- Several bicycle police (4 or 5) repeatedly ram her with the front wheel of their bikes. The girl stumbles back but keeps her hands in the air.
- An officer in riot gear sprays a chemical agent at her from roughly 10 ft to her left. This does not effect her defiant, yet peaceful stance.
- The officer standing directly in front of her then sprays her directly in the face from about 1 foot away.
- The girl then grasps her face in pain and turns / is shoved by another officer away. People in the crowd scream at the police.
- The girl is sprayed repeatedly by several officers even after she is clearly pacified, in pain, and has her hands up posing NO immediate threat to any of the officers.
- Several laser sights can also be seen to be directed at her person.
- The girl is sprayed, shoved, and rammed with bicycle wheels several more times even as she is turned away from the officers grasping her face in pain with one hand and holding the other up with a peace gesture.
- The girl is finally tossed to the ground by the officers. She sits up and raises her hands again in a gesture of peace.
- At this point an officer reaches in and pushes her once more but backs off leading me to believe that no attempt is being made to cuff her.
- A few officers ram their bikes into her legs once more as she supports herself on the ground with one hand while displaying the peace gesture with the other.
- The police can be heard to shout "Leave The Area!" though it is unclear if it is directed at her or the crowd in general, which is all but entirely behind the camera and not directly interfering with the ability of the police to take charge of the situation.
---end of video---

My concern is that the use of power by the police, in my opinion, far exceeded what was necessary to gain compliance. I understand they are trying to clear the crowd, however the crowd appears to be mostly subdued. There seems to be no reason why a few officers could not deal appropriately with this one passive resistor. A few officers could have taken hold of her and forcibly guided her off the street. Failing that, they could have placed her under arrest for interfering with the police. Her behavior in the video seems to indicate that this would have been possible without injury to the officers or herself, without the use of chemical agents, and without abusive treatment that only angers the mob that the police are trying to subdue.

The girl is clearly not physically resisting or fighting back at the officers, and her treatment by the officers is absolutely excessive and abusive. This is not supposed to happen in America and especially not right outside a convention to elect the next leader of the country! This behavior is shameful and I hope that those responsible will be held accountable for their actions.

Thank you for your time,
Dylan Riordan
Citizen of the United States of America