The accidental criminal

Arrested, beaten and jailed by police in Atlanta for crossing a road in an illegal manner, the British historian and writer reflects on his shocking ordeal – and what it reveals about the US.

Witnesses say that up to ten police officers were involved in the brutal take-down and arrest of a mild-mannered, frail, and elderly academic from the U.K. — in a city with a horrendous crime rate.

Though my own misadventure was trivial and – in perspective – laughable, it resembles what is happening to the world in the era of George W. Bush. The planet is policed by a violent, arbitrary, stupid, and dangerous force.

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