Marine Takes on 30 New York Cops at Occupy Wall Street and Backs them Down

Thomas is a 24-year-old Marine Veteran who served 2 tours in Iraq. Fiery, loud and determined, he currently plays amateur football and is in college.

United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas

(NEW YORK CITY) - "How tough are you?"

"There's no honor in hurting unarmed civilians."

The Marine screamed at New York Police who are accused of injuring protesters in increasing, needless acts of violence.

United States Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas from Roosevelt, N.Y. said, "I saw them beating people, people who had nothing to do with anything, just grabbing people out of the crowds, there's no honor in that."

As we learn in this YouTube video, he went toe to toe with the New York Police Department at the Occupy Wall Street protest this week, wearing his uniform jacket with the medals he earned in service of his country, his act was a hard one for the cops to attest, especially with so many video cameras rolling.

The 24-year-old Marine Veteran served 2 tours in Iraq. Fiery, loud and determined, he currently plays amateur football and is in college.

Marines on Wall Street

We recently carried a story about U.S. Marines heading to the Occupy Wall Street protest that gained a great deal of attention.

This was not an official deployment of Marine forces, but the response of a number of active and former Marines who believe that their presence is warranted and even essential to protest U.S. demonstrators from police in New York. Believe me, this is sufficient as we learn in this video.

A NY cop who also served in Iraq.

Media pundits like Bill O'Reilly call the protesting American activists derogatory names and suggest that they are hippies like the war protesters of the Vietnam War.

But we learn in this story that some people in this movement are anything but hippies.

Their complaints are against a police agency whose reputation is falling by the day as the NYPD interferes with demonstrators, while financed by a recent sizable financial give from J.P. Morgan Chase.

The dreaded 'white shirts' with NYPD are known for increasingly acting violent toward Occupy Wall Street activists.

An activist in the movement, Thomas voiced his opinions of the NYPD police brutality that continues to plague the OWS movement. He asked why they were armed and in some cases, assembled in riot gear to deal with people simply asserting their rights. He addressed the officers without flinching, screaming, "This is not a war, these people are not armed".

Shamar Thomas comes from a long line of people who sacrifice for their country. His mother is an Army Veteran who served in Iraq, his step father is in the U.S. Army and is currently on active duty in Afghanistan.

Shamar's grandfather is a Vietnam Veteran who served in the U.S. Air Force. His great grandfather was a U.S. Navy sailor in the Second World War.

If that isn't a dignified American military pedigree, then I don't know what one is. In World War Two, when his great grandfather served his country with honor, the U.S. military was still fully segregated!

This is just seven decades ago, in this so-called free country where police are treating Americans like criminals for speaking out against the banking and financial institutions.

Special thanks to Joy Graves, Jim Davey, and the other great people who sent this clip to our newsroom.

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Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Silver Spoke Award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (2011), Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Tim was a member of the National Press Photographer's Association for several years and is a current member of the Orange County Press Club.

Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 91 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can write to Tim at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com