Quote:
Originally Posted by fiddler
As far as the video goes, this officer was way out of line, but not only that so was the guy who reported it. The kids were just having fun. At least they weren't shooting up drugs or selling dope or knocking over a liquor store.
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This is why I'm leery of weighing in on things like this. I'm not a cop, I don't know the regs, I don't know what it's like to go into any kind of situation a cop might have to go into, and so it's arrogant of me to assume that I know anything about anything.
On the one hand, the dude definitely looked out of control compared to his fellow officers, but without them to compare him against, it would be hard to know how justified his reaction was. For all I know, those kids could have been threatening him, or all but attacking him before the camera came out.
I'd like to think that the kind of training an officer receives would make him mentally prepared to deal with something as seemingly innocuous as a pool party in what seemed like a gated community, but if it were me, and I was surrounded by what looked like hostile teenagers (when it comes to physical confrontations, teenagers ≠ children), I can't honestly say that my fear response wouldn't lead me to react inappropriately by the standards of police regulations, and cops aren't infallible supermen either. Especially since it looked like the other police didn't show up until at least some time later, leaving him the lone officer dealing with the situation at first.
Slamming a young girl against the ground definitely looks unnecessary on its face, but the video pretty much starts with that, so for all I know she might have just struck him, or thrown something at him, and with the atmosphere in his direct proximity, ending that specific "problem" may have seemed the more pressing concern than showing more restraint. That's hypothetical of course, but I'm just pointing out that the video clearly doesn't tell the whole story.
I'll defer to 5-0 (i.e. fiddler) when it comes to when it is acceptable to pull your weapon, but the way the two guys antagonizing the officer were carrying on, he could clearly be justified in considering it provocative to some extent, and without the context of the entire incident, it's impossible (at least for me as a civvy) to know if the level of antagonism between the two parties had reached a point where pulling a weapon of some sort would fall under regulations.
Doesn't look like it to me, but I'm ignorant of both specific police regulations and the context of the entire incident, so I'm not willing to come down on either side ATM. Either way though, the officer definitely appeared to have been handling the situation poorly. In that sense, it seems comparable to Ferguson, since, no matter how poorly the subject in question may have handled the situation, that doesn't mean that he then has no right to defend himself, like he should be punished with possible death just for being an idiot.