The Police Brutality Thread

[wuapinmon]

That's pretty outrageous. Tasers are used way too often.

Not only that, but the brutality in ripping her out of the vehicle like that for not following his instructions is, in my opinion, an egregious misuse of power and authority. You can tell from her body language that she is scared, confused, and not threatening at all.

[RobinFinderson]

Yet another example of why I don't trust cops.

[YOUTUBE]VQtCC-ggZic[/YOUTUBE]

I wonder if she had trace amounts of THC in her bloodstream.

[edward777]

"We must always remember that the police are recruited from the criminal classes."

--Gore Vidal

There was also a recent story about police departments not wanting to hire people with IQs above 100.

[edward777]

Woman tasered into brain death by fat Florida cop:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/227981.html

Oh, and she was handcuffed at the time.

[San Juan Sun]

Memo to self: do what cops say

Obviously, very sad regarding the girl in the coma.

[UtahDan]

Yet another example of why I don't trust cops.

[YOUTUBE]VQtCC-ggZic[/YOUTUBE]

This one seems okay to me. Police officer is confronted with someone getting out of a vehicle he has stopped who does not comply when asked to get back inside and is arguing with him about the ticket. She has almost certainly broken the law at that point and the officer is trained that people who get belligerent and won't comply with basic commands that are there to keep the officer safe need to be arrested and cuffed. Failing to secure a person like that is how officers get killed. From our computer desks we can say "well that is just some mom with her kids" but at that side of the road he has someone who is out of her vehicle and not complying. You can't tell by looking what you might be dealing with and she is at that point obstructing justice or something similar. Officer has a right to tell her to stay in her vehicle and she is not obeying a lawful command.

Once he tells her she is under arrest, she gets back in the vehicle. So now he has someone who has failed to comply twice, who he is trying to arrest, behind the wheel of a lethal weapon. Again, he does not have any clue at this point who he is dealing with other than she is non-compliant and attempting to avoid arrest at this point. He is not going to tell her she is under arrest and then let her sit behind the wheel. So at the point he drags her out he can taze her or get on top of her with his knee in her back. I'm not a huge fan of tazers because they can kill people. So I can argue whether that is what this officer ought to be armed with. But if that is what his department his issued to him and told him to use when someone is resisting, I don't think he did the wrong thing. The other option is to try to subdue her at that side of a road with cars coming by. That is not safe for either of them.

[dabrockster]

This one seems okay to me. Police officer is confronted with someone getting out of a vehicle he has stopped who does not comply when asked to get back inside and is arguing with him about the ticket. She has almost certainly broken the law at that point and the officer is trained that people who get belligerent and won't comply with basic commands that are there to keep the officer safe need to be arrested and cuffed. Failing to secure a person like that is how officers get killed. From our computer desks we can say "well that is just some mom with her kids" but at that side of the road he has someone who is out of her vehicle and not complying. You can't tell by looking what you might be dealing with and she is at that point obstructing justice or something similar. Officer has a right to tell her to stay in her vehicle and she is not obeying a lawful command.

Once he tells her she is under arrest, she gets back in the vehicle. So now he has someone who has failed to comply twice, who he is trying to arrest, behind the wheel of a lethal weapon. Again, he does not have any clue at this point who he is dealing with other than she is non-compliant and attempting to avoid arrest at this point. He is not going to tell her she is under arrest and then let her sit behind the wheel. So at the point he drags her out he can taze her or get on top of her with his knee in her back. I'm not a huge fan of tazers because they can kill people. So I can argue whether that is what this officer ought to be armed with. But if that is what his department his issued to him and told him to use when someone is resisting, I don't think he did the wrong thing. The other option is to try to subdue her at that side of a road with cars coming by. That is not safe for either of them.

Are we watching the same video

[UtahDan]

Are we watching the same video

I think so. I just rewatched it. What part of what I said to take issue with? She doesn't get to not comply when he tells her to get back in and her non-compliance continues from there.

[Indy Coug]

No matter how wrong the officer might be, comply with his commands. Problem solved. If he was wrong, take it up in a court of law, not on the side of the road.

[UtahDan]

No matter how wrong the officer might be, comply with his commands. Problem solved. If he was wrong, take it up in a court of law, not on the side of the road.

I think we all agree with that. But I am focused on whether he did something wrong.

[dabrockster]

I think so. I just rewatched it. What part of what I said to take issue with? She doesn't get to not comply when he tells her to get back in and her non-compliance continues from there.

I see abuse of power and an escalation on the part of the officer. I can say I have gotten out of the car to ask a question etc and I have not had a officer reach for his gun or tazer while doing so. Based on what we know (From her side) she requested to see the dashboard clocking her at the speed (Which she has a right to ask). I have asked this and the officer showed me with no such issue.

It looks like she got out on that impression and he then requested her to get in the car and she requested to see the dashboard... It escalated from there.. I have seen video's of cops being more flexible with people that were even more aggressive then this person..

[Indy Coug]

I think we all agree with that. But I am focused on whether he did something wrong.

The biggest unanswered question, IMO, is what he based the pullover on. She demands to see his video, but we don't get any information on that part of the story.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I would like to hear the arresting officer's voice-over before rendering an opinion.

[UtahDan]

I see abuse of power and an escalation on the part of the officer. I can say I have gotten out of the car to ask a question etc and I have not had a officer reach for his gun or tazer while doing so. Based on what we know (From her side) she requested to see the dashboard clocking her at the speed (Which she has a right to ask). I have asked this and the officer showed me with no such issue.

It looks like she got out on that impression and he then requested her to get in the car and she requested to see the dashboard... It escalated from there.. I have seen video's of cops being more flexible with people that were even more aggressive then this person..

Does she have a right to ask that? I don't know. She doesn't in my state. He pulls the tazer after the second request to get back in the car is not complied with. If she has a right to see that and he refuses, then I would probably change my tune. Though does she have a right to see it right then on her terms, or does he have to show it some time during the stop when he is ready? I don't know. I can agree that maybe a more experienced cop would have spent more time reasoning with her. Just keep in mind that when they train these guys they show them video after video of an officer getting killed while they are reasoning and cajoling someone. I've got more reason than most people to be skeptical of police and I abhor police brutality. But police are entitled to reasonable measures to keep them safe too. Requiring a person to stay in their vehicle and comply with basic commands that are officer safety oriented are something I think we can all agree are necessary.

So here after she doesn't comply with the second command, he can either take control of the situation and make sure she doesn't escalate it or he can keep rolling the dice on what she might do next. Like I say, maybe a more experienced officer de-escalates this, but I have really hard time asking someone to take that risk.

[old_gregg]

Woman tasered into brain death by fat Florida cop:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/227981.html

Oh, and she was handcuffed at the time.