Lawrence O'Donnell criticized the NYPD for their brutality and for defending their use of pepper spray that Susie wrote about here -- NYPD Spokesman: We Used Pepper Spray 'Appropriately'.

As O'Donnell pointed out, whether it's the current Occupy Wall Street protests, or just the day to day goings on in police departments across the country, when some of these officers use excessive force or resort to police brutality, the politicians and their departments are always going to circle the wagons and protect their own and there never end up being any meaningful investigations unless someone is really severely harmed or killed. And as he noted, you didn't see very many black people shocked by the actions of the police here because this type of treatment is sadly all too common in their communities and the police know just what line they can walk up to and not face any repercussions for their actions.

O'Donnell volunteered to "rewrite" this Rewrite segment and recant his statements here about the New York Police Department if we actually see anyone held accountable for their actions during the Occupy Wall Street protests.

What's also a shame that O'Donnell did not discuss here is the fact that it took the police brutality to get the media to pay any attention at all to these protests in the first place. They all run out with twenty cameras when five of these "tea partiers" show up somewhere, but if we've got hundreds or thousands in real grass roots protesters out there whether it be against Wall Street , anti-war protests over the years or protests against the union busting and horrible policies that hurt working people while benefiting the rich and corporate donors we've seen from these Republican governors across the country, they're going to ignore those.