Yet a jury of those Mesa people saw differently & acquitted him. It's always easier to make decisions in hindsight, but a much different thing to do in a split second.
Not siding against or with your statement, just stating facts.
Since I do not know if I have all the facts, I cannot 2nd guess them. There is no sure proof way to ensure only the guilty get convicted & the innocent walk free. We are after all imperfect humans, thus the systems we create contain flaws.
All I know is that I will never be in a position that he (the policeman) was in because I would never be a policeman doing a thankless job that is 2nd guessed by everyone & their brother.
Is your analysis correct, my emotions say yes. But then again my emotions are probably wrong about 50% of the time, whether I know that to be the fact or not.
I have no problem second-guessing him since I’ve found myself in similar circumstances. I know what this kind of thing is like. Instead of exuding calm professionalism while assessing the situation, he bellowed and screamed, escalating it every step of the way. I frequently held short conversations with people I detained while I was detaining them. What harm can it do? We’re all alert, looking for threats. Maybe he’s trying to clarify something that will help later on? Not this one. He’s way too badass for that kind of thing.
As for the jury, I imagine most of them held the same opinion that you do—I wasn’t there, I have no idea how I’d react if I was in his place, etc. I’d be very interested to see what a panel of Iraq/Afghanistan Infantry veterans would have to say about it.
Daddy was a big-wig in Mesa PD Internal Affairs (very recently retired), so that casts doubt on the other officers’ reports and testimony, too. Cops should be held to a very high standard. That they immediately close ranks to protect trigger-happy buffoons like this guy does them no favors.