Thank you for your service. Not to take anything away from your experience as a cop, but yours was different than the experience of a city cop. If the Officer pulled his gun and shot this suspect I would have to agree that it would be excessive force.
Yes, once a cop has a subject in custody he is the cops responsibility. That was not the case here. The cop put his hands on the suspect to terminate the pursuit as well as to defend himself from whatever weapon the suspect may have been pulling once he removed his hands from his pocket. Once he is in custody after this, then yes, he is the cops responsibility. As the video shows, the cops ceased using force once the subject was down and no longer presented a threat. It is tragic that he hit his head, but it is not a crime, nor is it bad Police Tactics.
Then what force moved the victim by his left arm onto his stomach between :12 and :18, causing the the injured subject's head to hit the floor on the floor in the process? At :12 of the video the subject is lying on his back, his head having just dropped to the floor in that unmistakable, sickening way that clearly indicates unconsciousness, in full view of the cop that had just sent him hurtling backwards eight feet into the concrete wall.
And what what power exerted upon the unconscious subject with a head injury caused him to be moved upon his back again at 1:28?
Cordially,
As the video shows, the cops ceased using force once the subject was down and no longer presented a threat.
Bullsh*t. The kid never posed a "threat" in the first place, though he most definitely was threatened by the cop that smashed him into an inch of his own life.
To put it another, and necessarily blunt, way, it would NOT have been entirely unjustified in this situation had the kid used deadly force of his own in self defense against the thug who tackled him, knowing what was going to happen to him otherwise.
You're clearly one of those "Officer Safety Uber Alles" types, but it's a legitimate question to ask: why is this kid's life worth less than the cop who tackled him? And why should it be justified to smash him within an inch of his life to "protect" that cop from a threat that isn't real, but rather is only perceived on a hunch that later turned out to be completely and 100% mistaken?
The only valid moral answer is it isn't, and it shouldn't be.