By now, there’s a good chance you have seen a brief video of three Arkansas cops subduing a suspect.l The insidious thing about sharing video on the internet is you see a slice of what happened, not the whole loaf.
And judgments are made on incomplete evidence.
It seems to me banging the man’s head on the roadway is excessive, along with the kneeing of his legs. What the video does not show is what led up to the confrontation, and that is important.
The cops were investigating an earlier terrorist threat made by suspect Randall Worcester, and the police claim that he punched one of the officers in the head while they were questioning him. The cops were not wearing body cams.
What you can see is that the suspect continued struggling and resisting arrest even as the cops were busting on him. The cops have been suspended. Worcester walked out of jail Monday under his own steam.
There will be a trial, and I will go along with the jury’s verdict.
But one thing I believe is this: If you don’t resist arrest, you don’t get your ass kicked in most cases. From Rodney King on forward, it’s a simple truism — resisting arrest leads to an ass-kicking.
Here’s an instructional video by Chris Rock. https://youtu.be/uj0mtxXEGE8
Tell me that ain’t the truth.
Absolutely true Stu! Months after the George Floyd incident, we finally got to see what happened beforehand – and it painted an entirely different picture. Frankly, the way he was acting, I’m shocked they didn’t shoot him because he was acting very strangely and was completely non-compliant throughout. Of course, afterwards, they’re always angels, the best person in the world, so peaceful, wouldn’t hurt a fly, etc. etc., which always turns out to be a complete crock.
On the other side of the coin, it never ceases to amaze me how often the cops don’t have cameras, or the camera mysteriously “wasn’t working” for that particular arrest. America needs to stop coddling both the criminals and the cops.
All cops should be required to wear them, and that will happen someday. Maybe Biden ought to do a body cam giveaway instead of erasing college debt.
I recently saw a video where a cop had pulled over a driver, when another driver pulled up and leapt out of his car wielding a hatchet. The cop pulled his gun and shot the guy dead. It happened so fast it was unbelievable to see it in real time. The video is available and should be watched by all. The cop did the right thing, but it was a split-second (literally) decision that probably saved his life. If you want to see the video, type in ‘hatchet wielding driver attacks cop.’ That should do it. The pantywaists may have removed the video of the actual shooting and merely showed the beginning.
My point (which I failed to make) was a dash-cam in the cop car caught the whole thing.
And I screwed up my own reply! It was the cop’s body cam that caught the whole thing (I just watched its again), enforcing Stu’s point that ALL cops should wear body cams. BTW, the cop was found to have been justified in using deadly force and will not be disciplined in any way.
The Chris Rock routine was a classic. But we clearly do need more mental health professionals working with the police. I think that would be a big help to those guys in cases where they are dealing with mental illness.
More mental health professionals working with the police is the conventional wisdom and the programs that have worked with police in partnership to defuse situations when there are psychiatric issues involved have been successful and mutually beneficial to all involved from a safety and fiscal perspective. BUT these projects involve more than just sending out a social worker with the cops. In my experience there are precious few “mental health” professionals who can evaluate and de-escalate potentially violent situations. This kind of reminded me of what the Philadelphia PD was proposing. My professional hair stood on end when they talked about this and I am glad they abandoned this ill advised project. Professionals working in these situations need training and education in the nuances leading up to the crisis situation as well as knowledge about how to de-escalate them successfully. All of this takes money and more than lip service by politicians. Money and thoughtfulness are rarely forthcoming when it comes to helping those who suffer from addiction and/or psychiatric disorders. They tend to be poor and they don’t vote.
This was not a case when cops were called with someone acting nuts. This guy was aggressive and threatening and started out by calmly talking to the cops, then hitting on. I understand dash cam video may be available.
HAPPY MONDAY !!!
pallie,
You probably personally know more law enforcement officers than I. It sure doesn’t look good for those three. Excessive force comes to mind. Problem with charging officers with committing crimes is complicated. We ask above average people to behave as superhumans. I would say that 99% of the population can not do their job. Most people have never been in any circumstance even remotely similar, except the obvious – WAR.
It has been proven in other incidents. Training makes a difference. Body cameras are not cheap. They cost more than body armour. My town recently bought both.
As for you and Chris Rock. We learned early in life, not to give the cops a hard time. Apparently, that message has not gone out to everyone.
Tony
It DOES look excessive and I don’t condone that. To be clear, the point is DON’T resist. That leads to trouble. As to doing the job, few of us could.
I was interested in law enforcement, as a detective, but was told I would have to be a street cop first and I knew I did not have the right stiff.
Stu,
As you mentioned. When you’re dealing with ‘crazes’ peoples, the rule book goes out the window. It really is a struggle for your life. This I was told by my relatives who were in law enforcement. Philly Mounted was a part of them.
sidebar: I was going into a township office to start my day as a code official. A police car was sitting there. Not to many windows were left in place. The steering wheel was gone. When I saw the chief, I asked if the car was down in Philly ? He laughed. “that’s what pcp will do to you”.
Tony
And I screwed up my own reply! It was the cop’s body cam that caught the whole thing (I just watched its again), enforcing Stu’s point that ALL cops should wear body cams. BTW, the cop was found to have been justified in using deadly force and will not be disciplined in any way.