Posted on 10/08/2014 7:18:38 AM PDT by walford
[Note that the author is a bigot, but intelligent and articulate. My response below.]
Why Not Just Identify Yourself and Avoid Possible Death?
Lisa Mahone and her boyfriend Jamal Jones were driving on Sept. 24 in Hammond, Indiana, with Mahone’s two kids in the back seat when Mahone was stopped and ticketed for driving without wearing a seat belt. The stop was caught on cellphone camera by Mahone’s 14-year-old son.
“Thank goodness Joseph took the video, because the video stands for itself that these officers engaged in excessive force,” attorney Dana Kurtz said in a news conference with the couple Tuesday. In the video, officers ask Jones, who was in the passenger seat, to show his ID. However, he did not have his license on him. Officers then appear to draw guns and order him out of the car, prompting Mahone to call 911. The video shows police shattering the passenger window and using a stun-gun on Jones. Lawyers say the two children suffered minor cuts from flying glass. The lawsuit alleges excessive force, false arrest and battery.
In a statement earlier Tuesday, Hammond police said, “Police officers who make legal traffic stops are allowed to ask passengers inside of a stopped vehicle for identification and to request that they exit a stopped vehicle for the officer’s safety without a requirement of reasonable suspicion. When the passenger displayed movements inside of the stopped vehicle that included placing his hand in places where the officer could not see, officers’ concerns for their safety were heightened.” Mahone said since being pulled over, “I’m really in a state of shock.”
It seems like more and more people are refusing to comply with the pigs, creating a more violent scenario for themselves. We know they hate and fear us, so if a pig is violating your rights by all due respect, film him. Film him, but comply with the request and then use that footage to sue the hell out of him for violating your Civil Rights. But brothers, please please stop challenging them as if they will not shoot to kill us….THEY DO SHOOT TO KILL US. We need to stop making ourselves easy targets and victims. Why the hell did they all not have on a seatbelt? You are breaking the law by not having it on in turn you were stopped. I am in no way excusing the actions of the pigs, but I am saying lets be logical, it could have all been avoided. Say what you will, but if you have your family in the car with you, that is not the time to act like a martyr. This behavior and mentality scares me.
Be smart, stay alive, then SUE!
“Try to put away your personal biases, give the officer the benefit of the doubt and do your best to imagine the officer’s perspective when you are being contacted by a LEO.”
****
That perspective is always “Here’s another citizen that will pay the ticket that will help pay my salary.”
The police arbitrarily enforce the law based upon ability to pay. My city is filled with illegals who drive unlicensed and uninsured with unregistered Meximobiles. The police won’t pull them over because there’s only paperwork and no money in it.
Then there are the women in Islamic garb with no license that weave back in forth between lanes while picking up their kids from school.
The Chinese immigrants who sit 3 car lengths back from the line at a stop light (no depth perception) and won’t go when it turns green.
My favorites are the Indian immigrants who never met a traffic law they would obey, including which side of the road to drive on. They’ve also never heard of using a turn signal or headlights after dark.
All of these are invisible to Mr. LEO who is looking for the gravy train to milk to pay for his @ss to sit in a cruiser. Public safety has nothing to do with it.
As for your “clearly against the law” standard for noncompliance with an LEO order, that’s absolute b.s. Too often, it’s a gray area where the facts are doctored after the fact to make the officer’s action look legal in the reports that are filed.
The best thing that could happen to restoring any trust in law enforcement would be mandatory video recording during all stops.
The second best thing would be to repeal all civil forfeiture laws where police departments get to keep assets confiscated for certain alleged offenses, sometimes when there isn’t even a conviction.
“Here in MO a passenger would not have to show ID.”
We don’t get to see that part in the video.
“Thank goodness Joseph took the video, because the video stands for itself that these officers engaged in excessive force,” attorney Dana Kurtz said in a news conference with the couple Tuesday.
...
If he really had a case, he’d try it in court rather than the media.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why he was asked to exit the vehicle. After all, SHE was the one being ticketed. He had no part in the transaction. Yet, the cops decided he had to comply with their orders. Looks like he has grounds for a law suit. Of course, I am basing my statements on what was shown from the video. What persuaded the cops to act the way they did?
You missed the earlier parts leading up the confrontation.
The Lady was pulled over and it seems that she refused to cooperate and copped a very bad attitude.
It is beyond dispute that the stop was legitimate for not wearing seat belts with kids in the car, bit things obviously deteriorated from there
You can hear her an the phone with some one complaining. about the police and how she was refusing to comply
.
When we're going out on an errand, and I'm driving, my wife often doesn't bother taking her purse with her ID.
They were pulled over for a seat belt violation. Why should they get out of the car? Especially when the cops start fingering their weapons? The cops looked like two goons itching for a fight to me.
“There is absolutely no way the officer’s actions can be justified in that gas station case, none.”
You don’t want to do things that will make an officer nervous. Err on the side of caution when contacted by the police.
That perspective is always “Here’s another citizen that will pay the ticket that will help pay my salary.”
The police arbitrarily enforce the law based upon ability to pay. My city is filled with illegals who drive unlicensed and uninsured with unregistered Meximobiles. The police won’t pull them over because there’s only paperwork and no money in it.
That still doesn’t make it a good idea to mouth off to the police and dig in a bag rather than open the door when ordered. It’s a good way to get shot, much less tased.
I would like the same criterion of "reasonably taken as threatening" to apply to police officers during a traffic stop as to citizens involved in self-defense shootings. If jerking one's torso is good enough for one, it should darn well be good enough for the other.
Give a cop an attitude, get 10 cops with attitude back!
More than ever you see Blacks refusing direction from law enforcement, getting all jiggy with attitude.
Then are surprised they are tased and/or get arrested.
Pennsylvania vs mimms. And Maryland vs Wilson. They have the ability to ask you to get out of the car. Maybe they should have just showed them their license
Not to mention that she tried to leave if not for the spike strip they deployed.
Also no verification that her mother was in the hospital and dying. This is actually a common excuse and although it may be true, the officer is under no obligation believe anything presented by the driver or passenger without verification.
From my piece “Things I’ve learned from watching COPStv:”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3197654/posts
“If you are on the phone when pulled over by the police, by all means keep your window rolled up and continue your phone conversation for as long as you like. By law, the police are expected to wait patiently until you are darn good and ready to talk to them.”
I have seen several instances of this and so far every time it was a black woman who found herself dragged out of the vehicle and tased.
“I have seen several instances of this and so far every time it was a black woman who found herself dragged out of the vehicle and tased.”
Sounds racists.../sarc LOL
Let me guess. The cops ask for her license, he starts mouthing off, or gets jittery, and one thing leads to another.
Probably had warrants or just his refusal to identify himself in some manner is enough to arrest. He does not have to present an ID per se, but he does have to identify himself.
Play stupid game, win stupid prizes.
Actually, before cops were so unionized and came to own city government, I saw it work with California cops.
Coming from Houston to Los Angeles I witnessed how the citizens kept cops in line some by standing on rights and writing down badge numbers, demanding certain procedures be followed, something that in Houston, was unheard of in the 1960s, in Houston they just did whatever they wanted, that included beatings as a routine and even killings, like Joe Torres.
Not all of us want to make a statement in a traffic stop, but these guys with the video cameras are bringing on change for the better, cops are out of control.
Dashcam Video of (White & 72) Grandma Being Tased
Rule #1 -- Always Comply (without attitude)
Rule #2 -- Never/Ever dare a cop to taze you!
Rules of the police state....
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