Before moving to Iztapalapa recently, I was walking home in Tlahuac of Mexico City where I caught a funny image to see.
Well, it was only funny to me.
There were a few others watching with concerned and curious looks on their faces.
Where, as I entered one of those "grey block zones" of Mexico City that I wrote about here, there was some incident where a homeless looking man was getting into a fist fight with a police officer.
Near the OXXO that was closest to where I lived at the time, there was always some police officer standing around right in front of it.
I never liked it personally because just one experience of a cop trying to steal from you (as I wrote here) never makes you like seeing too many cops in your area.
Still, the dude in question -- who almost always looked to be the same cop whenever there was one standing there -- never did nothing bad from what I saw.
But on this day, it seemed to be the case that the dude pissed off some local resident somehow.
Or maybe the homeless dude was on drugs and was harassing him?
No idea how it started.
I was simply walking home after being dropped off by Metro Olivos and saw this incident of two guys going at it.
An actual cop -- with no gun, taser or baton -- going at it with fists against some homeless looking dude.
Eventually, some other cop showed up to the scene and the incident ended shortly after.
I carried on home.
But the incident in question in not unusual in Mexico and, if I'm being honest, has made me wonder if it happens in other Latin American countries also.
Cops actually getting down to a fist fight instead of just using some weapon or having an entire team of 20 cops or some shit descend on the motherfucker.
That's how cops in the US do it.
Or at least what we see on social media as I've never pissed off a cop so much to shoot me, tase me, call in more cops or beat me with a baton.
Of course, you do have incidents in the US where cops use their fists but, at least from what I see on social media only, it seems to be when they are in a group and already have the dude out powered and on the ground.
Like what you see here with Rodney King.
Still, that's very different than a cop in the street going at it one to one with some random civilian and without using any tools to win the altercation.
There's a few other incidents I remember online of this happening also.
Mano a Mano with the Illegal Immigrants
For those who don't know, there was a video that went viral well over a year or two ago that you can see here.
African Migrants Invade Mexico! Hodgetwins
Where basically a shit ton of illegal immigrants from all over the world were trying to get past Mexico into the US and you had agents in Mexico trying to stop them.
While doing so, as you can see in the video included, some of them got into little kung fu fighting matches with some of the immigrants.
The Kung Fu Fight to See Grupo Firme in CDMX
As I edit this, I just saw another example online that I felt like including here before publishing this article with all the rest.
You can see the example here.
From what I understand, it seems that the people are fighting the police as access is denied to the free concert in Mexico City held by Grupo Firme.
For those who don't know, Grupo Firme is some popular band (I never heard of them until recently to be fair) and they held one of the biggest concerns in the Zocalo of Mexico City in a very long time.
Anyway, the fist fight apparently happened on 5 de Febrero street.
And, as you watch the video, it does kinda appear (if I'm not mistaken) that the police used or threatened to use some type of weapon at the 16 second mark.
I'm not entirely sure but I do see some blue light and am wondering what it is.
Anyway, after that point, the police seem to forget that they have weapons (if they do anyway) and get back into kung fu fighting the civilians again.
Final Thoughts
Above all, it just seems like cops down here are relatively "less professional" than ones back home.
Or, in other words, they take their own safety seemingly less seriously than an American cop.
American cops are very strict on keeping themselves safe and, as we know, that can sometimes result in using a certain amount of firepower in an altercation that results in extra criticism of their practices (justifiably or not, we all have opinions on that).
Personally, I think it makes more sense for a cop to just whip out a taser instead of going into a fist fight with a random dude on the street.
I can remember other incidents where cops down here were not very smart compared to cops back home.
For example, as I wrote here, one time a cop was extorting me for money in Mexico and, as he had me get into the back of his vehicle, he didn't handcuff me.
While his reason for detaining me was bullshit as he was literally trying to steal my money, he also didn't know if I was armed or not.
And I went into the back of his vehicle right behind him driving with no handcuffs.
While guns are harder to legally get in Mexico, you have no shortage of people who do own one illegally and also there are other weapons like knifes, tasers, etc.
He didn't even check me for weapons before I got in.
An American cop, as far as I am aware, isn't doing that.
Among other oddities to the practices or behavior of some of the Mexican cops I've seen down here where it just seems the cop puts his own safety at unnecessary risk.
Like getting into a fist fight with a random person and not just using a taser or some form of weapon.
Of course, one could argue that maybe using a gun in a fist fight like that is excessive.
After all, a random wanting to punch a cop isn't likely to kill said cop (unless the random has a weapon) and so why kill someone over that?
I'm not arguing necessarily for Mexican cops to use guns.
But a taser or at least a baton?
You never understand, as a foreigner, why the cops down here don't use their advantages they have to end an altercation more quickly and take control of the situation with less risk to their own well being.
Strange.
Anyway, that's all I got to say.
Above all, it ultimately is just more funny to me seeing a cop do kung fu fighting down here.
Especially when it's a cop -- like the one I saw close to Metro Olivos -- who looks like he eats one too many tacos al pastor and has a bit too many tecates on more days of the week than not.
Given how ridiculous it is, it almost makes you think that Mexico should turn it into a betting game.
Everyone in the neighborhood take bets on who will win -- the gordo police guy or the crack addict homeless guy.
If you got anything to add, drop a comment below.
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And enjoy this music here that happens to be the theme song of the Mexican police.
Carl Douglas Kung Fu Fighting (Original Music Video)
Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt
SONG HERE