When cops mess up.

[massgrunt]

Sounds like the Inglewood thing. That officer may or may not have done anything wrong, but his partnet DEFINITELY didn't, and he got nailed for lying to cover his partner.

I'm talking about the slammed on the hood tape, I'm sure you guys saw it.

[Lawson]

I dont mean to be the one to argue...


...but...

The video was choppy [looks like a camera that takes a picture every couple seconds] His attorney says the video shows him laying her down, then there are 2 witnesses that seem to be "vouching" for him and supporting his case. What the video does not show was her reaction on being told to move. Was there any possibility she was telling him to "F*** off? " and was getting a little hot tempered? Though the hit may not have been intentional, there is a chance with her reaction, if she was verbally abusive then caused him to get hit by a mirror he may have truley thought it was an intentional hit as she probably could have waited a second for him to back up. I think there is a possibility she was a little hot headed and just wanted to hurry up and move as to "appease" the officer and maybe did it a little too quickly causing him to get hit. Now Im sure this may come off to be quite a stretch, but with all of your experiences in Traffic stops, could you actually see this happening? I think this should really be investigated thoroughly.

[Group9]

The video is certainly evidence, but just from watching it, I still have no idea what transpired between the officer and the driver other than he went up to her car, she backs up, appearing to possibly hit him with the mirror, and then a few moments later, is dragged from the car, body slammed and arrested.

I can imagine it was one of two scenarios.
a. Officer tells woman to move car, she politely agrees, backs up, accidently hitting him with mirror, apologizes, and is then dragged from car, slammed and wrongully arrested.

or

b. Officer tells woman to move car, she tells him to get the hell out of her way or she will run over him, puts car in reverse, hits him with mirror, tells him to get out of the way or she will do it again, then is dragged from car, slammed and justifiably arrested.

or somewhere in between.

[Victorunit]

Why would the officer have to use a metal bar?

[Norm357]

Why would the officer have to use a metal bar?

Cause that big old man was having problems with that little bitty woman.

[Victorunit]

Cause that big old man was having problems with that little bitty woman.

:rolleyes:

Okay, so she moves the car (which I can't see an officer saying yes you can move the car back), one puts her down, another uses a bar and the last part of the video she is sitting up and there are three cops there.
She should have never moved the car back.

But on the on the flip side do you think at least two of them messed up?

[Norm357]

:rolleyes:

Okay, so she moves the car (which I can't see an officer saying yes you can move the car back), one puts her down, another uses a bar and the last part of the video she is sitting up and there are three cops there.
She should have never moved the car back.

But on the on the flip side do you think at least two of them messed up?

The video on the link is not the same as the one shown on the news, it has been cut up a little bit. The big black cop slams the lady to the concrete and then prys her arm with the ASP.

[Victorunit]

It looked like a different cop used the bar.

[Toeknee112]

I'm sorry but I will not condem a fellow officer based on news reports and bits of video.

[Norm357]

I'm sorry but I will not condem a fellow officer based on news reports and bits of video.

Tony, I go out of my way to not condem a cop, but this one is bad news. I saw the whole security vid and this guy was wrong.

[Group9]

Tony, I go out of my way to not condem a cop, but this one is bad news. I saw the whole security vid and this guy was wrong.

The problem with this video is that it gives you only half of what happened, the video half. There is no audio so you have no idea what type of verbal exchange is going on between the officer and the woman from it. I imagine that what the officer says, the woman says, and uninvolved bystanders say about what that exchange was, will be the determining factor in whether this was a justifiable and proper arrest.

And, as far as using a bar to help put someone's arms into a handcuffing position, that in and of itself is not improper. Sometimes it is harder, and takes more people, to handcuff someone who does not want to be handcuffed, without hurting them, than it does to go ahead and hurt them. A woman who does not want to be handcuffed can be more trouble than a man.

Again, I am not coming to any conclusion here except that this video does not tell the whole story, and for the obvious reason I stated above.

[Deputy757]

The only thing that really makes me wonder WTF happened is why the powers that be decided to let her go without any charges. I'm not saying that this means he did anything wrong, just wondering how in the world they thought that would be a wise thing to do..especially after viewing the circumstances of the arrest.
I have to believe that they know more about what actually happened than any of us hazarding a guess on this forum based only on the sketchy video. Norm, your comment about the "big old man was having problems with that little bitty woman" is contemptuous and shows that you really know little about police procedure. As Group9 mentioned, it's not uncommon to use a straight baton for leverage to get someone's hands behind their back. The smallest of persons can be excessively difficult to handcuff if they don't want to be. That's not to say it can't or won't get done...just that the things you have to do to accomplish it may appear excessive in nature.

[vbgecko]

Sounds like the Inglewood thing. That officer may or may not have done anything wrong, but his partnet DEFINITELY didn't, and he got nailed for lying to cover his partner.

I'm talking about the slammed on the hood tape, I'm sure you guys saw it.

This was an incident in Minneapolis ... Not the Inglewood gas station incident ...

And to comment on Group9's comment, you are correct about the individual perceptions that come from a video ... At MoA they train the security officers how to "gesture" when interacting with guests ... from always looking to be on the defensive and never being on the offensive, down to the way you point when giving directions ... Cameras don't tell everything, you are correct ..

[Norm357]

The only thing that really makes me wonder WTF happened is why the powers that be decided to let her go without any charges. I'm not saying that this means he did anything wrong, just wondering how in the world they thought that would be a wise thing to do..especially after viewing the circumstances of the arrest.
I have to believe that they know more about what actually happened than any of us hazarding a guess on this forum based only on the sketchy video. Norm, your comment about the "big old man was having problems with that little bitty woman" is contemptuous and shows that you really know little about police procedure. As Group9 mentioned, it's not uncommon to use a straight baton for leverage to get someone's hands behind their back. The smallest of persons can be excessively difficult to handcuff if they don't want to be. That's not to say it can't or won't get done...just that the things you have to do to accomplish it may appear excessive in nature.

Two things if I may:

Two different DAs from two different jurisdictions refused to bring charges against this lady. The Clayton County DA is a friend of mine, a damn good guy, and he said he wouldnt touch this case with a ten foot pole. That should tell you something. If you have any specific questions about this case, and why he wont touch it, I would be glad to ask him.

Second, I happen to know a lot about police procedure, when I made that comment, I was being a smartass. Excuse me for not throwing in the rolling eyes smiley. :rolleyes:

Blindly supporting someone based simply on their profession is foolish.

[scott715us]

I believe I have good insight on this as I am an airport officer and deal with these situations almost on a daily basis. I will answer a few questions I have seen posted.

#1 - The officer wanted to press charges, but seems he was not allowed to by other forces at the time of the incident. I'm assuming that's why he went to the DA's office at a later time.

#2 - I have seen this scenario before where someone intentionally hits one of our civilian traffic guys with their mirror. You will not believe how aggressive, stubborn, or just plain dumb people get when the come to an airport.

#3 - I have court Tuesday on an incident similar to this. I didn't slam anyone on the ground, but I'll give you the scenario. Driver of vehicle refuses to move for civilian traffic officer. Traffic officer radios for police officer. Three officers show up (including me). Driver becomes irate still refuses to move and one officer acquires his driver's license and runs check on DL and license tag. At this point, driver attempts to go inside the airport (with three officers telling him to stay). Driver gets in my face with fists clenched. He is given three warnings to back down, then gets cuffed and stuffed.

#4 - Maybe this guy was excessive in how he handled the situation, but how do we know he didn't tell the lady to exit the vehicle several times? It looks to me she resisted the whole time he tried to make her exit the vehicle. I have had to yank people out of a vehicle as well. Even if the officer was wrong, you would think the lady would come out of the vehicle peacefully and quietly if told to do so by a police officer (a big guy at that). I think there is more to the story and the DA's/Upper rank didn't want to press charges because of the way she was brought to the ground.

I don't excuse his past record, and I was quick to judge on my first post on this thread, but after watching the video, it definitely reminds me of some instances at our airport where things got hairy.