I think another poster had it right. The cops could have easily just ticketed him and been on their way. If he refused to show in court then justice can escalate. That said, I think the notion that government is so intrusive that selling a cigarette is a crime worth physical altercation with the government is just tyranny.
Others will have to verify this, but I believe a citation must be signed. A parking ticket doesn’t, but if you’re pulled over or sited on the street, I believe you have to sign the promise to appear.
If you refuse to sign the promise to appear, you’ll be taken into custody. That’s the only way they can be sure you will appear, if you refuse to simply say you will with a signature.
This guy was mildly combative. He was swatting the officer’s hand away. I’m thinking that this may have happened after he refused to cooperate by signing a citation. Or perhaps this was the XXth time and he was required to be taken into custody.
We can agree or disagree regarding this type of activity, what the laws should be. The thing is, the officers don’t make the rules or decide which laws they will or won’t enforce.
If they observe an infraction, they are required to take action. First timers may be simply warned at an officer’s discretion. Once the guy has been in trouble before a number of times, he’s already made it clear he won’t abide by the law, and the officers will definitely take action.
This escalated because the guy had priors. He had refused to comply. He got combative. He resisted arrest.
There is a debate about how out of line the officers became. I don’t think there is a legitimate beef with the officers merely enforcing the law.
If people don’t like those laws, they need to contact their local officials and network to get the laws changed.
Officers shouldn’t be blamed for doing their job.
Right now officers across the nation refuse to enforce our immigration laws. That’s not working out very good for us. I don’t want officers picking and choosing which laws they will or won’t enforce.
But it wasn’t selling a cigarette that touched this thing off. It was the fact that he had been cited eight times previously and then resisted arrest on the ninth time. If it were his first time, then yeah, cite him and move on. But at some point things have to escalate. There has to be a line somewhere. The cops drew the line at the ninth time and opted to arrest him. He resisted, and their somewhat bungled use of force plus his health problems did him in. It’s a tragic result but he’s no martyr for some higher principle here.