Jury Delivers Verdict In Police Excessive Force Trial

**TXCharlie** · 04-20-06, 06:47 PM

This was a marginal case that could have gone either way, seems to me, but looks like the jury was sympathetic with the officer... I guess the "victim" needs to learn English and how to behave at a traffic stop.
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/8861580/detail.html Dashcam Video on web site

POSTED: 4:11 pm CDT April 20, 2006
UPDATED: 4:52 pm CDT April 20, 2006

DALLAS -- A jury Thursday delivered a verdict in the trial of a former Irving police officer accused of using excessive force during a traffic stop.

Dallas County jurors found Dan Miller not guilty of the charge.

Prosecutors said Miller unnecessarily used pepper spray and beat Jose Palomino during a traffic stop.

However, Miller's lawyers defended his actions as being consistent with police training.

**121Traffic** · 04-20-06, 09:43 PM

I'm glad the officer got off, but that could have gone either way. Just from what I can see, the dude wasn't acting overtly agressive towards the officers onscene. So what's he got...verbal noncompliance? Not all intermediate weapons are created equal. Pepper spray not working? They've got two officers there, the guy is already on the ground....maybe the baton wasn't the most intelligent choice. At least TRY some empty hand control. Just MHO, but Language barriers are definitely something to keep in mind when dealing with citizens. Not saying the officer is wrong, but personally I like to reserve stick time for those truly deserving of it. :thumbs:

Again, not saying the force was excessive, and I believe the acquittal was the correct court finding, BUT I think this guy needs some more training in his force paradigm.

**slamdunc** · 04-21-06, 05:18 AM

Originally Posted by 121Traffic

Not all intermediate weapons are created equal. Pepper spray not working? They've got two officers there, the guy is already on the ground....maybe the baton wasn't the most intelligent choice. At least TRY some empty hand control. Just MHO, but Language barriers are definitely something to keep in mind when dealing with citizens. Not saying the officer is wrong, but personally I like to reserve stick time for those truly deserving of it.
Again, not saying the force was excessive, and I believe the acquittal was the correct court finding, BUT I think this guy needs some more training in his force paradigm.

Well said, I agree 100%. I haven't carried a baton since 2001; the public perception of officers deploying it is not good. I have basically handicapped myself and eliminated one of my options; I really have come to trust O.C. and empty hand control tactics. The only opportunity I really saw to deploy the ASP, turned to a potential deadly force situation in seconds.

Those who aggressively resist deserve the stick; I watched an officer use a bad baton technique once. If John Q Public had been there, I'm sure there would have been a case. I have found that if you encounter resistance and have to get physical, your words can save you or doom you.

As long as you keep shouting "sir, please stop resisting" you can beat the crap out of someone. If your initial orders are "sir, if you do not comply with my directions, I cannot gurantee your safety", instead of "do what I say or I'll kick your ass" most bystanders will see things from your point of view. The first "motherfu%*#r" out of your mouth during resistance, you can be viewed as the bad guy. I quote from a witness statement from a use of force report: "The short cop kept begging the guy to stop resisting and Kevin kept yelling F-you, you're going to have to kill me". "It took three of them to get him down, he was going crazy".