Seattle recently addressed a controversy of police stomping on a man. Tensions have reignited in Seattle after the posting of this video showing a police officer punching a 17-year-old woman in the face after stopping people for jaywalking. Two very different views of the video have emerged. You be your own judge.
The incident began when the officer spotted a man jaywalking in the 3100 block of Martin Luther King, Jr. Way and then saw four young women jaywalk and called them over to the cruiser. It quickly escalated. The police insist that the women were being “verbally antagonistic toward the officer” and that one woman physically resisted efforts to bring her back to the cruiser — sparking the physical confrontation.
Seattle police are reviewing the matter.
The law may be on the officer’s side, and the police mantra of “never back down, never lose face” fore-ordained the outcome.
Having said that, this is the kind of situation that makes the police lose their legitimacy.
If the police don’t enjoy the support of the community, they become occupiers, not protectors, and all parties act accordingly.
Bad judgment all around. It’s part luck that this didn’t end with serious injuries, including gunshot wounds.
The cop getting himself into this situation while he is alone is certainly part of the problem. He’s lucky it didn’t get much, much more out of control. Maybe this is a good example to show to police who object to people recording them on public streets. There were so many cameras running that it turned into a game rather than a mob action against the officer. Plus, this produces a record that, under our current very low standards of conduct for police, will be used to exonerate him.
Running up and grabbing a police officer when he is struggling with someone else is a terrible idea. In this kind of situation it is asking for a much worse response from the officer than a punch.
So: under our current system of policing, this was probably “not bad.”
But: “Not bad” isn’t good enough. Shouldn’t we all be working towards a system of policing where people generally don’t behave this way towards police, and police don’t behave this way towards their fellow citizens?
I think a better approach would have been: “stop resisting or I will tase you. Do you understand me?” Taking into account the fact that tasers are used all too often, perhaps it could have diffused some of the tension. As far as the woman who got arrested, I have only one piece of advice: don’t punch a police officer. History and all those “Caught on Tape” specials show that cops have powers they are ready and willing to use and abuse.
Also, am I the only one who thinks this dude sounds Eastern European? If he is, the fact that he uses more draconian tactics is not the least bit surprising.
Good thing someone was recording ’cause a whole lot more could have happened on all sides of the confrontation.
I never heard of anything like that while I was in the military. Even if the military was doing something like that, I highly doubt they would have given him the credit so that he could retire 4 or 5 years early.
You know Chris, you might be right. Then again, I was of the understanding that the military was giving extra credit time to those ready to retire prior to Iraq and place a moratorium on the deployment rules at that time. So either or both of us could be right or both wrong or some area in between.
AY,
http://www.seattle.gov/police/jobs/hiring/default.htm
The Seattle police department requires that applicants pass a psychological and polygraph test as well as a thorough back round check. I have a few friends in the Sacramento area who also said this was a requirement for them to become city cops and that is the case for all California Police Departments.
Chris,
That is not what I said but you do bring up a point that should be explored. The Military has different training and techniques that they utilize than civilian trained police officers.
You also bring up another point that should be evaluated prior to employment in a Civilian Law Enforcement Agency. Usually the state Police when they hire someone they go through extensive psychological evaluation once they have even made the cut.
Most local law enforcement agency’s have absolutely no requirements to be an officer. What is even more frightening is they have no standard for accuracy in firing a firearm.
Thank you for your insight.
Popo was in a use of force situation in the middle of a potentially hostile crowd. However, because numerous people started filming the crowd chose not to attack the popo. Good work by popo in regulating his own use of force, and especially good work by camerapeople providing the surveillance that saved this officer from a horrible beat down by the crowd.
The article states that he is 39 and joined the police force in 2006. That would have made him 35-36 when he joined. If you are assuming that he joined the force at this age after her retired from the military, I think you would be wrong. Even if he joined at 18 and served the minimum 20 years to receive a retirement, that would make him 38.
Here’s a link to better quality video of the incident.
He must be then. Especially since all veterans are violent and irrational, so that makes sense.
I was surmising this as the officer was 39 years old and new to the department in November.
AY,
Was this cop a Veteran?
If the punchee tried to strike the officer, a punch back wasn’t necessarily the best choice, but I don’t think it was police brutality. An officer is allowed to use force commensurate with that used on him/her. This was clearly an ugly situation, but it doesn’t appear that the officer overstepped any kind of line. I only wonder whether he arrested the woman in pink too.
Bummer.
Foolish kid.
Moron neanderthal cop.
What does he think it accomplishes to arrest this kid and perhaps ruin her whole life? All this trouble started because of jay walking? Are you kidding me?
Arresting a kid this young and giving her a record is far worse than jay walking. What kind of punishment will he get? Cops escalate these resisting arrest charges by their own viciousness and hateful attitude of the public. They relish hurting the people. He has no guilt about ruining someones life.
The more people cops arrest the less income these people will make in the future and the less taxes can be collected from them to pay for these moron cops who demand high wages, expensive benefits, and pensions.
If the cop had any reasonableness he would have known how to handle the kids. You have to relate to kids and if you cannot you shouldn’t be assigned to work with them.
Maybe the cop should have called his mommy or a kindergarten teacher and asked them what to do.
I don’t know, it just seems to me that if I walked up to a cop and shoved him like the woman in pink does at 0:11, I would expect to be punched in the face. This could have turned very, very ugly, very fast, with the cop outnumbered, what, about 60:1?
Bad judgment all around.
It is hard to tell who did the first pushing. Maybe Wally could settle this for us. But the officer surely was out of line. He should have be trained to avoid physical confrontation at all cost. It appears that he threw the first punch from the Video.
Yes, there was pushing. Did the women throw a punch? Not that I saw. This would have been a time I think a taser should have been used.
You’ll see what you get when you put the army, navy and marines in police positions. A Standing Militia. Isn’t that against the constitution? Oh yes, eviscerate one right slowly and they will never know. Right?
But then again, people joining the states Army National Guard really never expected to be called to active, active duty. Weren’t they surprised when they were the first ready reserves called up for duty?
The article I read said that a third person (not one of the two woman confronting the cop) was the one stopped for jaywalking.
I think the officer’s actions are fine. These women were physically confronting him and getting in his face. When they started pushing, he needed to gain the advantage.
This cop escalates a jaywalking stop into an assault!??!?!
Even witnesses there couldn’t believe it.
The sad thing is that this abuse by cops is becoming rampant across the whole country.
In NY alone a half million people are stopped by police because of mandated ‘quotas’.
So this would suggest that MILLIONS of people each year are abused by the police.
The hardest thing is getting their superiors to even admit there is a problem, even when there is video proof.