NYPD Rude
An Indian man, Uday Menon, says four New York cops roughed him up when he went to a Broadway theater to see "Kiss Me, Kate." It was a case of mistaken identity; a Telecharge operator had been suspicious of Menon when he called to order tickets for "The Producers" and, told that the show was sold out for months, started inquiring about other shows. Reports Rediff.com: "The operator's report to the police said she believed that Menon did not care which play he saw, as long as it was a crowded theatre and he sat in the middle of the hall. Her interpretation: Menon, with his foreign name and accent, was going to blow up the theatre."

After realizing that it was a mistake, Menon says, one of the policemen told him: "Don't get uppity with me now. I can put you away." None of the cops apologized; Menon quotes one of them as saying: "You are afraid? Well, I was also afraid. I was afraid that my five-month-old daughter would not see her father tonight. I was supposed to grab you from behind and if you had an explosive, I may have blown up with you. These were the thoughts going through my mind."

Fair enough. Cops have a difficult and dangerous job, and mistakes happen. Under the circumstances, police can't be faulted for treating Menon as a suspected terrorist. But having established his innocence, there is no excuse for their subsequent rudeness. The NYPD owes Uday Menon an apology.