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
I have to agree that contempt of cop was punished on the street, but what incredible contempt. She had every opportunity to do what any self-respecting honest citizen would do. Pull over to the right. As soon as safe. She decides to pull an ‘OJ’, evading in slow motion. Citizen drivers in our culture have an agreement to be conscious while driving. This woman had no idea what was going on around her. Did she speak English? If not, there may be ‘some’ excuse for her dumbfounding invitation of the cop’s anger.
Another quarter Mil. that won’t do the citizens any good. With the money that pitiful woman could hire a driver, that would be a community good.
These officers should be so proud of their service that day. 6 officers to pull over a 30 year old woman for using her cell phone. And on top they were able to block traffic and create a modest traffic jam in the process. This was a great example of prioritizing crime. But hey, they are just following the lead of prioritization the Feds give them. Instead of going after bankers that committed fraud taking $ Billions plunging the country into recession when the rest of us suffer, they go after a man selling a product (marijuana) to those that ask for it. Yep, great prioritization guys.
Pete9999 updated us about the Elk shooting by Denver police:
~+~
I’m glad they’re gone. I wonder if this was a condition to a future plea arrangement where if they resigned, the book won’t be thrown at them.
@Mike Spindell
11:52 am Said:
“There were four officers, with at least two guns drawn. Wasn’t that adequate control of the situation?”
Men who feel inadequate, no matter the number in size, will tend to compensate through aggression and violence.
Mike,
Been lurking for a few years, commented once or twice before. I especially enjoy reading your views. I can appreciate “fresh” perspectives. Keep up the great insights.
Police State tactics.
Arrest, rough up, kick, and sometimes call names first…
… Deal with the consequences after they formulate the coverup.
And here, Native Americans protesting figure out how to foil the police who want the drumming to stop:
some good news though
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22426373/boulder-police-officers-resign-elk-shooting
all of the people in this country working minimum wage jobs that are expected to pay any underages in the till from their pocket at the end of their day/shift but these guys can make their employer (the taxpayers) pay a six figure settlement for their screwups without even a slap on the wrist.
sometimes contempt of cop is well deserved.
I have seen two cases now (one in Virginia and one in Vermont, of all places) where the cops pulled over a woman, harassed her, pushed her around, beat her up, cuffed her roughly, threw her about, and then took her down to the station house, cuffed her to a pipe in the one case and a bar of a cell in the other, and left these women for a few hours while they discussed what was to be done with them, and then — let them go. In both cases the “special treatment” was “ordered” by one of the cops in a neighboring police force, to show a wife or girlfriend what she was going to get if she turned in a complaint (in the one case) or asked for a protective order (in the other case). The point was that cops did a favor for someone in a nearby jurisdiction, and then threatened the women that if they complained about it, they would be arrested on big-time charges. In the one case the woman was fighting for custody (against a copy in the next county) so she shut up and put up with the terrorist behavior on advice of her lawyer, who knew who was doing what to whom. In the other case, the woman got really lucky. Her husband (who was not a cop but who had influence through a mortgage company) suddenly got arrested by the FEDS and couldn’t beat the rap so her problems miraculously vanished like the mist. She never did try to bring a civil suit against the cops who beat her up because her mother was elderly and lived in another state, and she relocated soon after the events.
I can’t say that this figured into this situation. But the bizarre concerted effort on all the cops’ part to terrorize this woman for no reason does look like a pre-arranged “lesson” being taught to someone. And $250,000 sounds like a low figure to me.
Did she understand the officer’s commands? Was she verbally responding and it was not picked up on the recording? She seemed confused and when they rushed towards her she froze.
After several demands, the female exited her vehicle. The officer then commanded, a number of times, for her to turn around.
Whether or not she understood the demands, the officer’s actions was way out of line. I think the officer’s should be prosecuted.
Jude is right. The police were frustrated or upset that the woman didn’t respond to their command quickly enough. That seems to be the underlying reason for police brutality.
Until police officers who engage in abusive behavior like this are prosecuted as the criminals they are, this behavior will not change. We are all at risk.
Okay she didn’t react very quickly and didn’t respond to the officers commands. It took her over three minutes to pull over. But, after she exits the car with her hands empty there isn’t any reason to throw her to the ground and get that little kick in around the four minute mark except the cops were po’d. As others have stated there needs to be some punitive measures for the police as well.
Seems like some angry guys who were just mad that she didn’t pull over right away. Most cops just hate it when they can’t be in control, so they’ll escalate it to violence.
Waldo – It is not one cop behaving badly, it is all of them. You can not sit by while your colleagues behave like this. I can not/will not in my line of work sit by while a colleague does something unethical and, a sworn law enforcement officer should behave to a higher standard.
MikeS, I initially thought the same about her weaving, but it you listen to audio, the siren doesn’t sound until after her weaving, so I don’t think it was an attempt to find a place to pull over. She seemed to delay a bit after the siren sounded before trying to pull over, but when cop gets on speaker and orders her over, she responded promptly enough. I don’t see why cop ordered her out of car, why cop came at her with drawn gun (seems really egregious), why cop did the violent take down (also bad), or why he kicked her (I don’t think there’s any way they could spin that one). One thing no one else comments on, but it looks to me that after the cop had her arms handcuffed behind her back, he was bending her arms back. That looks like it was intentional and quite painful, and I don’t see the reason for it. Also, no reason for hogtying her. Just lots of unnecessary actions from what I can tell. Maybe I’m wrong, but it looks like it’s just the one cop who does all the wrongful actions, except for the hogtying.
Mike Spindell – I agree with you regarding the settlements. When the settlement is paid by someone else (the taxpayer) there is little or no incentive for these officers, or others, to change behavior. When someone else pays for your bad behavior, there is no deterrent effect.
Some amount of the settlement, should be recoverable from the officers if there is sufficient evidence of wrong doing. If you have to pay $1,000 per month for the next 10 years, you may alter your behavior and, others may decide to alter theirs as well.
shano and Blouise,
that is an interesting point asking if abusive officers family’s are also being abused.
JT “In watching the video below, I fail to see any menacing conduct at all.”
Of COURSE you do, Professor. They’re wearing police uniforms.
EastBroadwayLong Beach
A picture for you.
http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt256/otteraylens/Pushingyourluck_zps8f71e30f.jpg