The California Highway Patrol has agreed to a settlement of the recent case of a pregnant driver, Tamara Gaglione, 30, being hogtied by police after being stopped for talking on her cellphone. Gaglione will receive a $250,000 settlement.
The video below shows Gaglione weaving between lanes before being stopped. The officers claimed that she raised her arms in a menacing manner. However, the video shows Gaglione not responding to instructions to throw out her keys and put her hands on the van. Instead she just stares at the officers who have their guns drawn. One officer then kicks out her legs and pushing her to the ground. One officer appears to kick Gaglione while she is on the ground and before she was hogtied. Police told her lawyer initially that there was no video and her attorney says that he was only shown the video after he persisted in his demands.
She was charged with evading arrest and driving on a suspended license. Those charges were dismissed and Gaglione pleaded no contest to using a cellphone while driving.
Officer Daniel Hernandez says that he kneed the woman in an effort to distract her so that his partner, Officer Roberto Martinez, could handcuff her. The officers say that it was Gaglione who escalated the incident to violence by raising her arms in a menacing fashion . . . in front of officers with their guns drawn.
In watching the video below, I fail to see any menacing conduct at all. I do see a driver who is weaving into traffic rather than pull over immediately and then ignore the instructions of the officers. There is no apparent justification for taking down the woman and then kneeing her on the ground — let alone the hogtying. There is no indication that any officer has been disciplined for this conduct.
Source: LA Times
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The biggest challenge personal trainers face is locating new prospects to
become customers.
Gene, Then do you also reject it when we have a hot spell and it is attributed to a trend?
It would be so great if they would start putting these badge-wearing criminals in prison. Cops are such cowards they would be angels after hearing about a few cops getting screwed in prison.
Police have a difficult, dangerous and stressful job, and they do need procedures and guidelines to maintain their own safety.
Having acknowledged that, police often act out of proportion to a situation- because there are no consequences to their actions.
We need a truly independent organ to oversee police recruitment, training and job performance.
We need effective legislated civil and court mandated penalties that are directly aimed at crimes committed by law enforcement agencies and their officers.
We need district attorney’s who will build and prosecute offenders based on those laws, rather than ignore, cover up or cut sweetheart deals with criminals who happen to wear a uniform.
We need courts that have the decency and courage to demand better from the police.
As all this is reasonable, logical and fair to police and civilians- it’ll never happen.
Sling T, that five-year-old girl with the pink bubble gun will probably be on the sex offenders’ list too because of the well known symbolism of guns.
“When he saw the six pointed star on her shirt..”
So Jewish people get off more lightly? hmmmmmm 🙁
Darren,
Funny story. Youngest was coming home from work the other night, and one of her headlights had burned out earlier the same day. City officer pulled her over, as he rightly should have. He walked up and she already had her license out to hand to him. She commented that she knew the light was burned out but had just gotten off work. He asked her where she worked, but just as he asked her he shone his flashlight on her. When he saw the six pointed star on her shirt, he just clicked off the light, told her to drive carefully and try to get the light fixed ASAP. That is the way to handle things. He would only have given her a warning ticket anyway.
In spite of what you may see on TV police shows, many police officers and lawyers come from working poor and lower-middle-class families.
So, it is no accident that many police officers, city attorneys, & state judges have better pay, better benefits, and a better retirement plan than most other Americans. It is a deliberate attempt to segregate them from normal Americans, and thus, make them more pliable to do the bidding of government, which unfortunately means, the bidding of major corporations to keep their jobs.
We need to start taking authority away from these people because if the economy continues to falter and more Americans start to object, these government employees who perceive themselves to be privileged and elite are the ones that are going to protect the status quo.
“So, it is no accident that many police officers, city attorneys, & state judges have better pay, better benefits, and a better retirement plan than most other Americans. It is a deliberate attempt to segregate them from normal Americans, and thus, make them more pliable to do the bidding of government, which unfortunately means, the bidding of major corporations to keep their jobs.”
Roberto Allende,
I think you have a good point there, to which I would only add that this strategy is not a new one, but has been intrinsic in law enforcement throughout this country’s history.
Dorner wouldnt put up with this.
And this is why USA is and always be a POS country. Too much overreaction.
PIGS out of control. $250K for being idiots.
bet that shows up on their personnel files.
Yeah….. as if you would pull a gun on a cop NO matter what he was doing?????
See, that is just it…. LAW Abiding citizens just do as they are told by cops and other authority figures and we assume that it will all work out in the end….
That is why the BS about having guns to protect against teh government is just a bunch of MINE is bigger than your talk…..
and REALLY…. fact is… if you shoot a cop… the people will NOT come to your rescue….. You will only have the loons on your side…..
showing the cops you’re packin heat always gets their respect.
“And they wonder why we cling to our guns.”
Right on!
If that woman had pulled a gun, the cops would have gone away and left her alone.
And they wonder why we cling to our guns.
Another case of police brutality. The cop that threw her down and kneed her in the side should lose the right to police anything! If that was my wife, sister or duaghter I make certain that he swallow his own teeth. This lady should have never settled for anything less than 2.5 million. LA got off on pocket change and still allow idiots to protect and serve, disgusting.
Swis, I have been oblivious to a cop behind me for a while, too. If the radio is playing surround sound, someone has a dvd playing in the back, etc.
There was no excuse here for the cops to treat her in this way once she found a safe place to pull over. Not an easy task on our now crumbling infrastructure.