Video of arrest sparks investigations

[Frank Booth]

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[BrickCop]

"NEWSFLASH" I just saw another police/beating tape played on CNN. I think it was in Oklahoma (?)

It shows 2 white cops striking a black suspect.

As a white police officer I hope our media "friends" will not racially profile these officers in their stories.

[FLLawdog]

This makes things a bit more interesting...

One of our local Sheriff's called into a radio station this morning. Yesterday he called the Inglewood PD to get some additional info. It turns out that this poor, oppressed, racially profiled ute got 'hold of the officers "jewels" as he was being put against the trunk of the car.

That's something you won't see from the angle shown by the amateur cameraman.

[JRT6]

Last year I struck a handcuffed male who was leaned over the trunk of my car. Why? because the A-Hole had just kicked the cop behind him in the balls and was trying to go ballistic. The whole time I was hoping no one was videoing us. The BG wasn't injured in any way.

Hindsight is 20/20 and I have no problem with the Brentwood guy htting the arrestee if he indeed have someone by the nuts, but realizing we were on a busy street I probably would have used an alternative way or place on the body to apply physical force.

[ 07-10-2002: Message edited by: JRT6 ]

[Pigskin]

I have never condoned the hitting of a handcuffed subject but having someone in custody & having them in control are two different things. It has also always been my belief that an officer should stay in control themself regardless of what physical force may have been used against them. But the main issue I have here is what the media elects to show.

We recently had a situation with a man resisting search & arrest. Officers used force escalating up the use of force scale to include strikes to the thighs & buttocks with a baton. The car video captured the whole incident but when it came to airing on the 10 o'clock news, only the strikes were shown. And they were shown repeatedly so that it appeared that the officer was striking the man dozens of times when only six strikes were given before the man complied with officers' orders. The man lost his criminal cases, his appeals, & his lawsuit but because he was Hispanic & the officer was white, we went through quite a bit of hassle from the media & the public.

[Plaso]

I have read many of the posts regarding this topic. The truth of the matter is not a one of us was there, so we should not be Monday morning quarterbacking! Let the system do its job and let the IA's flow. If these guys screwed up up then they have to pay the price. If they did nothing wrong then lets get back to the business of putting bad people in jail, where they belong.

I find it interesting that people are saying this thing was motivated by race when only one of the four Inglewood officers is white. It is just another tactic by certain people to cast a shadow on all LEOS.

You know it seems to me that LEOS have the only job in America that everybody else can do better and knows more about than the folks that do it everyday. Can you imagine a newscaster, mayor or politician telling a bridge builder how to build a bridge.

Remember:

PERCEPTION IS NOT ALWAYS REALITY!

[555]

Originally posted by Plaso:
Let the system do its job and let the IA's flow.

Unfortunately I don’t think the system will do its job. For the most part public opinion will decide this officer’s fate.

[kd5hqd]

You all know me to be very pro police, and one of the first people to defend a cop for any reason.

That said, I have to say that after seeing the video, I am apalled at what that officer did. When the kid was slammed on the hood, he didn't appear to be resisting (the officer had control of the kids pants and was pulling those up enough so the kid couldn't move) Now, the camera view when the kid is punched doesn't show whether or not the kid was resisting. I can't see all that well. However, being slammed on the hood, there is no excuse for that.

However, that all said, all this NAACP racist bullsh*t that's being said on the media etc..., I say to them "I can see at least 1 black cop on the video" and the mayor of Ingelwood himself (who, by chance, happens to be black) said even he thought there was no racial motivation behind it.

my 2 cents


Tex
KD5HQD

[ateamer]

You weren't there and haven't been there to know that someone can be actively resisting without using their upper body. Per one of the posts above, the suspect was grabbing the officer's family jewels when he was leaning over the trunk. Given that fact, a strike would be perfectly appropriate to force him to let go IMMEDIATELY. I recommend reading the book "Official Negligence" by Lou Cannon, about the Rodney King video, trials and riots. It details very clearly, and without bias, what the video really showed and why the officers reacted as they did (in that case it was training and department leadership).

They showed very little of the OKC video here. It just showed a small officer arresting a huge suspect. The suspect fought and the officer was forced to deliver two foot strikes to the chest as he was trying to keep him on the ground. I heard he then had to escalate to ASP (not sure using an ASP can really be called force - poor excuse for a baton) and it took a few strikes to end the fight.

Jim Burnes, what is the reaction in Oklahoma?

[ 07-10-2002: Message edited by: ateamer ]

[jellybean40]

i agree that NOBODY that wasnt there or involved can know what really happened.

we all know there are bad cops just like bad *everyotherprofession*

sometimes they cant take the stress. i heard that the kid assaulted an officer, i'm sure that would be hard to take, either by the officer assaulted or the others. i can understand that. sometimes cops arent allowed to be human.

i just hate how this pumps up all the *******s who say "SEE i KNEW police used brutality" or "SEE...i told you how i was treated that time." it just fuels their fire.

i'm not saying it was right, i'm just trying to understand it.

[ 07-10-2002: Message edited by: jellybean40 ]

[Masai]

Listen everyone...I work for the Inglewood P.D. I'm a black officer and am very supportive of Jeremy Morse.

What I'm gonna ask any of you is if you have any uses of force on people who have resisted while in handcuffs, would you be willing to send me the reports. I am trying to do what it takes to get a good officer out of trouble. People are saying that once a suspect is in cuffs the fight is over, and for those of you who have fought people in cuffs (which I have) let another officer benefit from your experience.

[HNDLC3]

If what FLLawdog said is true (which I am tending to believe) then that would explain a lot. I think that most males anywhere would have responded a lot more violently to having their gonads crushed.

However, things don't look good if it isn't mentioned in the report from LASD: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...d10jul10.story

You can tell that the lawyer is thinking $$$ the whole way when he said this: "We believe this is a seven-figure case," said his attorney John Sweeney.

For those that don't know about Inglewood, it isn't exactly the pride of LA County. The Lakers used to play there until LA built them the newer & nicer Staples Center a few years ago. It says a lot when an NBA team says they would rather play in a run-down section of downtown LA than stay in your city. It is directly adjacent to LAX, has a casino, a horse racetrack, and more "economical" motels than you could shake a stick at. One block group has had concrete barricades installed to deter drive-by shootings. Those guys in Inglewood are very busy. Considering how busy they are, they rarely, if ever, make the news for anything, until now.

As for the investigation into the incident a few weeks earlier: don't believe it. That guy (he was the one that "met" Inglewood PD near the park) was drunk and thought that hitting a few officers would be fun. This, of course, earned him a trip to the local ER.

I am very surprised at how Mayor Dorn responded to this. I always thought of him as pro-cop, especially back when he was a judge. He was known for his creative and effective sentencing decisions. He was really no-nonsense. I think he should have held back until the full story was out. Now that he's a politician, though, I guess he bent to the political pressure.

I, for one, am reserving judgement until the full details (if ever) come out. I also know to believe half of what I see and none of what I hear.

[FLLawdog]

I'm going by what I heard from a very reliable department head on a local radio show. I know to an already inflammed community that answer won't hold up because the officer has already been tried, convicted and sentenced in the media. Any other outcome besides "guilty....off with his head" will just be another "...blue line...", "...cover up..." "...racist...", etc ad infinium.

If the lawyer can see a "7 figure settlement", what do you think the community should see after the inevitable riots if he is cleared? I mean, I'd think that the mayor should bear some responsibility since he's got everybody fired up over this.

[jarhead6073]

Originally posted by HNDLC3:
You can tell that the lawyer is thinking $$$ the whole way when he said this: "We believe this is a seven-figure case," said his attorney John Sweeney.

SEVEN FIGURES?!?!?! For what? One glancing punch to the face? GGRRRRR... I hate opportunistic, money grubbing, POS's like that. Keep in mind that not only are they pushing the race card and trying to get the officer charged with everything from Assault to hate crimes. They are suing no only the department, not only the city of Inglewood (wonder how the mayor feels about that), they're also suing the county of Los Angeles. WTF did LA county have to do with anything?

*Hopefully* They don't rush the investigation and actually give everyone time to find all the facts. Hopefully by the time the hearings come around they will take "everything" into account. It's obvious that there is some time between when the kid is on the car and when the officer thows the punch. The officer was definately calming down and assessing the situation then 'something' (possibly getting his [email protected] smashed) happens to cause him to throw the punch.

BTW, what civil rights were 'infringed upon' here? What exactly are they suing for? Due process?

[ 07-11-2002: Message edited by: jarhead6073 ]

[ateamer]

The officers' actions are perfectly appropriate. Beginning with the suspect being shoved against the trunk lid, refer to "The Tactical Edge" from Calibre Press or any non-Koga defensive tactics training. The move is a stun technique to stop resistance. Resistance comes from more than hands. If the suspect is trying to get up when prone, squirming, pushing with his legs, he is actively resisting.

When the suspect was grabbing the officer's 'nads, a strike to the face is reasonable and appropriate force. It is critical that the suspect release his grip IMMEDIATELY. Striking his arm or hand could make him grip harder, with obvious consequences for the officer. A single strike to the face would not only distract the assaulter, but could also reasonably be expected to make him loosen his grip.

Masai, have you contacted Calibre Press? They have some of the best experts in law enforcement on staff to defend officers in court. They or any of the leading defensive tactics trainers should be able to articulate the reasonableness of the officer's actions along the outline I gave.