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guest3 months ago

The man was not simply just standing there. This all began when the person ran from the police. He was with a group of friends, officers approach and identify themselves and this fellow ran. He ran because he had drugs with him. At the end of the video you can clearly see him throw down a baggie and turn toward the officer who was already running at him. After realizing that he has essentially run himself into a corner (the building) he throws down his dope and is now ready to give up. If he would have had more area to run he would have kept running. The original call was for a person stabbed, so the officer must assume that this person may be armed with a knife and takes reasonable means to subdue the suspect.

Does something tragic happen, yes. The officer thinks he is chasing an armed suspect. He does not know nor does he have time to determine that this person apparantly ran because he “only” had drugs on him. If you are not commiting crimes to start with, you have nothing to worry about. This guy knew it was police who were approaching him. If he didn’t why didn’t the rest of his buddies run with him—because they didn’t have drugs on them. Also, other people heard the officers ID themselves and say something to this person. Just because ONE person didn’t hear the officers doesn’t mean the ID did not happen.

The application of force by police almost never looks good, because it is just that—force. Most people do not want to see the ugliness that truly happens. But the reality of our country is that people commit crimes and attempt to escape or harm police because they don’t want to be caught—ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY for their wrong actions. Our country will continue to slide down with the prevailing attitude that people are not accountable for THEIR OWN ACTIONS and try to blame others, especially those in charge or tasked with doing a job that most people don’t want to do but are “experts” at reviewing at home because they watch TV and think they know how it should be done. If you are so concerned and think you can do it better, then join up and do it better. But you will probably quickly learn the difference between reality and what people “wish” would take place.

Absolutely there are bad cops out there and should be purged from the ranks. But, this is not one of those cases. This is tragic and some may think it is a cold statement, but the person who ran from the police needs to accept his responsibility for what he did. With that, I hope he does get better over time.
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/01/christopher_harris_still_unabl.php

There are FAR more bad cops out there then anyone wants to acknowledge.

The general competence level has been dropping steadily for several years.

Lots of possible reasons, the “Wink” at established civil rights law encouraged by the “Patriot Act”, departments hiring thugs who have had their records expunged, hiring so many ex-servicemen who have not truly fully adjusted back into civilian life, etc.

Sad to see, and I doubt the end result is going to be to the liking of those of us who truly value traditional American freedom.

Reports of cops involved in criminal enterprise, child porn, rape, DUI, etc. have become daily occurrences.
Despite this we are to assume all cops are some sort of special breed, superior to the average citizen!

So much for, “We hold these truths to be self evident..........”.

I read both stories and neither mention drugs. I find that very suspicious because if what he had thrown down had been drugs, they would have certainly said something about it, if for no other reason but to justify the arrest.

I saw the video and was utterly appalled. Given what that kid was doing, running, there was absolutely no need for that level of violence. And I say that even if he KNEW he was being chased by a cop.

If you think that the amount of force that “officer” applied was reasonable or prudent, all I can say is I hope I never live in any city where they give people with your viewpoint guns and badges.

Just one question: Let’s assume your interpretation is 100% accurate. Why would the county pay $10,000,000 to settle?

Possible answers:

(1) This was righteous but unfortunate. However, given the officer’s history of use of force, the county’s lawyer said “settle, period.” Well, that shows poor judgment keeping this officer on the force. Or maybe they have no choice. After all, he’s union, and they don’t pay, the taxpayers do.

(2) This was a thugcop who enjoyed giving a beat down. Still has his job, though, and the taxpayers are still out $10,000,000. And the union couldn’t care less.

Next time, it will be more. Or someone will die. And given the history, there WILL be a next time.

PS Most of the time you see this: “He was arrested for obstructing an officer, but he was never charged,” it’s a thugcop arresting someone to try to cover their @@@...

“If you are so concerned and think you can do it better, then join up and do it better. But you will probably quickly learn the difference between reality and what people “wish” would take place.”

Your statement contains much wisdom. People should keep this in mind before judging law enforcement. I had this proven to me about three years ago.

I don’t know if you have seen the movie Wyatt Earp starring Kevin Costner.

There is a scene where Earp is training Bat and Ed Masterson to be deputies. Ed is trying to talk a cowboy into going to jail for drunkenness and Earp comes in and hits the cowboy in the head with his gun.

Masterson can’t understand why Earp has to use such excessive force until Earp shows him that the cowboy has a hidden gun.

I work part time as an unarmed security guard at a large retail store.

I got a call from store management that there was a gentleman outside the main entrance harassing customers. They told me to go and ask the man to leave the premises.

I did, and the man told me to go f**k myself. I called back inside and reported to management and they said they would call the police.

I stayed outside keeping customers away from this guy and I kept asking him to leave.

About 5 minutes later a police car pulled up. One of the officers jumped from the car, ran up to the guy, grabbed him and slammed him into the the side of the building and then took him down hard to the sidewalk.

My initial reaction, and the reaction of some bystanders, was that it seemed that the police used excessive force for the situation.

However, when the officer took him down to the sidewalk, a knife fell from the guy’s hand. I had not seen the knife the entire time that I had been trying to get the guy to leave.

I also found out afterwards that the officer knew the guy and had dealt with him before and knew that he could be violent.

Are there bad cops? Definitely?

But I know that they are put in positions that I would never want to encounter.

KING-5 in Seattle had about ten minutes of coverage about this this evening.

They investigated through FOIA requests over 2000 pages of the history of the guy involved.

He has a LONG history, both before and after, of what most reasonable people would call excessive use of force.

If the County settled for ten mill, you can bet the lawyers for the county were telling them “If this goes to court, you’da wished you spent the ten mill, because the jury will give them so much more it would make ten mill look like piggy bank pennies...”

Sorry. I disagree with your assessment. Sometimes we get to the point where the “I vas jus doink my job” bs don’t cut it anymore.