Printable View
I'm putting this here because I would like to hear public opinions about the incident.
Article HERE, including a link to the video. Essentially, a couple of NY Transit cops tried to arrest a group of 4 teenage girls for fare evasion, and they because assaultive and resisted arrest, until quite a few cops were on scene.
Wow... watched the video, they were very restrained... maybe too restrained. When they started swinging at officers, its no holds bar... a teenager with a full grown body can do as much damage as an adult. Not only that, but they were outnumbered, I would say feel free to defend yourself and start decentralizing them to the ground, and apply bracelets. I commend the officers from holding their cool considering the chaos that ensued.
I agree with you, Johnson. Not using enough force is more dangerous for both parties than using too much. The problem is, the liberal media tends to sway the facts so that it looks like the officer(s) is in the wrong and used excessive force. Think about the incident in Seattle last year. That girl was 16, I think, and was hitting the officer. He punched her two times to get her off of him and he's called out for being excessive. I had to arm bar and take to the ground an 8 yr old once. The other officer that was with me tries to make jokes about it, but what would have been said if I hadn't taken control of him and he would have gotten hurt? This is a perfect example. One officer takes one of the girls to the ground while the other covers him. Get her cuffed, then repeat. I am not, and will not be, a punching bag for the public! Does this mean that we should tase a 5 yr old who is acting up at school? No. But we should take control of the situation.
That's the problem I have with it. The cops did do an excellent job of staying calm -- but they never escalated their force when it was appropriate. You have a girl/woman hitting you with a purse, and that can be a serious assault. In high school, a girl playfully tapped a buddy of mine on his head with her purse, and damn near knocked him out! And I wouldn't put it beyond some folks to deliberately load a purse down for use as a weapon...
You see the one officer engaged in a tug of war essentially with a girl, like a parent with a stubborn toddler. Except the parent has the ability to simply pick up the toddler. When the officer pulled his baton -- he should have actively employed it.
I don't know if this was a case of fear of press response, of lack of confidence in the weapons and tactics, just less than ideal tactics, or presumed compliance. But I do think it's a great teaching video...