I TOTALLY disagree. I think he was MORE than justified.

He's a cop. If he's wrong and harrassing people, then you take the warning or the ticket he writes and you file a complaint.

At NO point do you EVER grab a police officer and wrestle with them. Under law, He TECHNICALLY was justified in SHOOTING her. She should be lucky she ONLY got a punch in the face.

Good point.

I don't think he should've PUNCHED her, but it's not like that girl was just standing there and he punched her, either. She PUSHED him away, so his first reaction was probably to defend himself. But at the same time... he wasn't defending himself against a grown man -- it was a girl!

I think if I were a cop and I felt like I was being attacked, I would try to hurt my attacker before they hurt me, so maybe that's what the guy in the video was thinking.

Do you guys think this would be so controversial if a 17-year-old boy had pushed the cop? What about a 40-year-old man? A 30-year-old woman who's just as large as the cop?

I agree that it should have never gone down like it did. the problem did NOT lay with him though.

SHE turned a 5 minute, simple situation into a FELONY! How was he to know that she wasn't going to grab for his gun? Or that she didn't have a weapon herself? If you watch the WHOLE video...it's ONE cop surrounded by a VERY large group of people.

Erm... I watched the whole video (did I post my first response -- the longer one -- as a reply to yours? I meant to post it to the thread).

I didn't say the cop was to blame, and I don't think the girl in the video was just an innocent victim. I can see why people would say the cop is at fault, but I also understand why his reaction would be to punch someone.

I was just wondering if people would be so disgusted by the way he handled the situation if the person he punched had been older, a male, the same size, etc.

To me, personally it would depend on the size of the guy. He had alternative means of restraining this girl. He was clearly stronger than her. He chose the aggressive option instead. I'd feel the same way if it had been a small skinny guy. But with a big muscley woman or man, they may have been harder to restrain by other means. Although i'd argue it would always be best to at least attempt other means first. He didn't even try to restrain her in any other way, just went straight for her face.

Exactly.

I'd have to see more about what was going on. But typically, cops should show more discipline. But there are circumstances that force would need to be shown. I dunno.

It's NEVER justifiable to go socking someone in the face. I don't care if they hit you first. They're a bitch.
As a cop, they should be even LESS inclined to just go punching someone in the face - regardless of what they're doing.
This is why I lack respect for a lot of police offers. The whole "I own the world" shit is overrated.

So I have a question, how would you have handled the situation? I've been through the police academy, and I know what the directors and chiefs expect of you out on that field. He couldn't have the mace because 1) she was manhandling him and 2) there were other citizens walking by the confrontation. Are you saying it's ok to assault a police officer? And I highly doubt that if someone was handling you like that, you would be less inclined to punch them.

Yes because if YOU were in his situation you would just sit there and take it? *eye roll*

Never say never. It is legally justifiable in many situations. If you hit me first that's legal justification if I ever saw one. Now, I don't know any exact laws or anything, but I'm pretty sure this wouldn't hold up in court: "Well, of course I punched them first..but that doesn't mean they can hit me back. So I'm suing for [x amount of dollars]."

Now it being personally justifiable depends on the person. If that is what you're speaking of, then you can say it is never justifiable to you, but not as a flat out statement.

In regard to law enforcement, I don't know the laws, I don't know the whole situation and I don't know police protocol, etc. That's why I said I dunno. If it were a personal confrontation, I would've just walked away, got in my car and driven off..but I'm assuming the cop didn't really have that choice.

She shouldn't have grabbed him like that but he totally should not have punched her in the face. Totally unjustified. He should be charged with aggravated assault on a minor.

And she should be charged with assaulting a police officer. I'm going to say its better off to not put the girl in prison for a felony and drop the whole situation than punish both of them for being stupid.

Without a doubt she was at fault, too. But it wasn't serious enough for him to use that much force. I guess I can see where he would think that he needed to with the both of them getting physical but really, they shouldn't be allowed to punch people in the face: man or woman. It used to be considered police brutality...you know, Don King and all.

I think you meant RODNEY King...

Don King is the boxing promoter...LOL

It's hard to be objective here, man. You worked at Piper. You know that 17 year old girls can be a major problem, and situations like that can NOT be downplayed because of their age, and him going by the books to defend himself would have done the girl more damage than a simple punch to the face. Imagine if he maced or tased her. Eye damage or heart problems are far worse than a bruise on your chin.

I work at Piper again! You're right, it is hard to be objective and I do know how 17 year old girls can be a major problem. It wasn't her age I had a problem with really. It's the fact that police have to resort to physical force like that to subdue people.

Yeah I meant Rodney King lol I was really tired when I wrote my last post!

Endless Love, it depends on the state you live in. Some states still consider 17 year olds minors. Like Florida.

At 17 they would consider her an adult.

I think the punch was a bit much. He should of mased her so he could of had some sort of defense in case the friend tried to double team him. It was stupid for those 2 girls to be fighting with him in the first place. Fighting back always makes it worse. The only time I can see defending yourself is if the cop attacked for no reason.

How would he have grabbed his mace, though?
He had two girls grabbing at his arms.

You really think mace would have done less damage than a punch to the face? Have you ever been punched in the face? It's really not that bad, and I can tell it wasn't nearly as bad as mace seeing as she was able to keep enough of her composure to continue fighting with the officer. Mace is serious shit. Back when I was in high school, there was this chick who brought mace in, and she sprayed it in the middle of the cafeteria, and the entire place had to be cleared out, what with EVERYBODY in the room coughing and rubbing their eyes.

And tazing is some serious shit as well. We had to go through that in Basic. No matter HOW much you prepare...when them probes hit you...It's like...BAM! down you go.

Exactly. The results would have been much more dramatic had he broke out his taser on the girl. In fact, this thread would have read, "HOLY SHIT COP TASES A 17 YEAR OLD GIRL," as opposed to the relatively calm, "Cop punches 17 year old girl." And I would have been in this thread along with everyone else, saying, "Wow, he tased her? Jesus Christ, dude, you're like a foot bigger than her in every direction, punch her in the face or something."

Well, also, I know people in the Academy that were tased and actually had to be hospitalized due to Kidney stones. I agree, either a taser or mase would have been much more damaging than a simple punch to the face.