Comments

1
Um...duh. Push an officer trying to make an arrest after ignoring that officer, you're lucky all you get, physically, is a punch in the face.
2
What about additional training for the fat, "we don't use whitey's bridge" hos?
3
Seriously. If I acted like that I'd expect to get punched in the face.
And what about the guy in the background..."aw...hell naw". Really? You didn't see that coming?
4
if people videotape every time an officer is aggressive (which is part of an officer's job description, actually) and go batshit crazy about it, we're gonna have a bit of a boy-who-cried-wolf situation when there is actual uncalled for police brutality happening.

assaulting an officer is no joke. geez.
5
"We have questions about his tactics, so he's going to receive additional training"

We're embarrassed that this guy was unable to detain a teenage girl for two entire minutes, even after punching her friend in the face.
6
Officer is making an arrest and the second woman pushes the officer, whether you feel jaywalking laws are necessary or not...that's up to the courts but the jaywalker was not being abused. You push the officer it's third degree felony assault, plain and simple, and anything less would be a travesty of justice.
We cannot go around pushing police officers when we disagree with enforcment of petty infractions.
7
Damage control, and understandably so. The officer found himself in a tight situation, and despite showing considerable restraint, he ends up looking bad.

They'll reduce the charges on the teens as well. I think their biggest worry is SPD's relationship with the neighborhood, and are hoping this is forgotten as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: I've been thrown face down, and held at gunpoint, by overreacting and totally pissed-off cops—I was breaking the law at the time, mind you, so really, I just chalked it up to lesson-learned. Sort of.
8
That seems about right, given what appeared to happen on the video.
9
i've heard several people ask "couldn't he have tasered her, or pepper sprayed her?" can anyone attest to whether either of those options would be an improvement on a punch to the face? i have my doubts.....
10
I hope she gets the maximum penalty for 3rd degree assault of a police officer.

Stupid bitch!
11
Hey, I'm all for not letting police enforce the laws on black people, but on one condition: we can put fences up around these exclusion zones so we know to keep out.
12
@5,

Two minutes? ZOMG!!!
13
I'm already a little sick of all the attention this incident is creating.
14
@9, haven't experienced a taser, but i would rather be punched in the face than pepper sprayed any day, let alone pepper sprayed point blank.
15
"We're embarrassed that this guy was unable to detain a teenage girl for two entire minutes"

You're right, he should have slammed to the ground, knee in the back and cuffed her.
16
Why didn't the nice little girls get hate crime charges against them? I heard enough to warrant it in the original videos.
17
Interesting quote from there, which I think may be the heart of the whole disconnect here:

"Even if you think that contact from a police officer is unlawful, it is your responsibility to cooperate with it," says Metz.


In this day and age, a lot of people in certain neighborhoods are genuinely willing to defend themselves if they perceive the police to be out of line. Sometimes--SOMETIMES--the cops are indeed out of line. That's the crux of all of this, for better, or usually, worse.
18
The girl who got arrested with assault has been arrested for assaulting an officer before, though apparently those charges were dismissed. Guess you can only dodge a bullet so many time when you have them coming
19
Cue racism/male-on-female violence outrage protest march in 3...2...1...
20
you think he woulda punch the same girl in the same situation if they were white? hmmm.

"Even if you think that contact from a police officer is unlawful, it is your responsibility to cooperate with it," says Metz. "In the event that you do receive contact from an officer that you think is unlawful, there are mechanisms instated which you can go through."

Nobody trusts the SPD anymore, esp with all the aggressive incidents towards people of color these days. It seems folks have to get a beat down before they can go through the mechanisms Metz is reffering to - recall the DV One incident, girl in juvie, alley-barnes, and mexican piss beat down.

"(If I were president) I'd make it mandatory for any police officer to have lived in the neighborhood their patrolling." Murs

21
My guess is that the training will be in how to beat senseless other non-white citizens of our city and avoid being videotaped while doing it.

Cause that's what they do.

There's one rule for those of us who live in the white areas of the city, and another for everyone else.
22
First, you don't argue with cops. Find out what it is they are want to talk to you about first before arguing.

You stop when they tell you to. If those girls had, he probably would have said, "Look, it's very dangerous to jaywalk here and you could get seriously hurt." Girls "Okay, thanks officer." Officer "Have a good day". The end.

BUT NO. These girls were having none of it and decided to push and push. And it's one thing to argue and another to try to manhandle a cop (the one girl clearly shoved him). This is nuts. Who taught these girls to behave like this?

Was it shocking to see him jab her? Sure but he needed her to get away. These girls clearly brought this on themselves because they couldn't behave in a respectful manner.

And to the question about taser versus pepper spray versus jab, a guy called into KUOW and said he has had all three and the jab is the least painful of all.
23
So, according to the SPD - and most of the commenters here, punching a woman in the face is okay. A woman defending herself? Felony assault.

Awesome.
24
Wow it looks like a lot of Seattle's wimpy white-guilt progressives are finally getting sick of the never-ending onslaught of Typical Negro Behavior and monkeyshines from seattle's teenapers. Celebrate all the amazing benefits of Divershitttty issuing forth from these unevolved people of shit color.
25
@23: You didn't watch the video, did you? Awesome.
26
@25 ohh the irony of your name
27
@26: hahaha... I hadn't thought of that. I should get more aggressively pro-beat down in these threads, just for the lols.
28
#23: clearly you haven't watched the video.

Oh well, next time the cop will know not to attempt to try to just hold down her hands and turn her around to put the cuffs on. He'll just slam her to the pavement--or taser her--and put a boot in her back and handcuff her that way.
29
I'm a woman. From a legal standpoint, I don't think there should be a difference between punching a random adult woman in the face and punching a random adult man in the face. If a disparity ever exists legally between striking a man or a woman, it should be for cases where a woman has been socialized to be vulnerable. Ain't the case here.
30
Clearly the world will be better if we replace ALL school gym classes with martial arts. When everyone graduates from high school with a 4th degree black belt in ninja, everyone will be nice to everyone else.
31
The only training this officer needs is handcuffing training. Piss poor performance.
32
Where's the back up and what does this say about McGinn's PD hiring freeze for SPD? I can say from experience that a officer needs assistance call is top priority, and if there's no back up available on this one, that's a problem. Not a problem isolated to this incident, which I think we can all agree is pretty nickel bag, but int he aggregate when the cop hits that red button on his shoulder mic it puts out a "all units respond to the last known location of car X NOW" beamed across the cop universe. I've been in the back of a cop car that took the sidewalk to get to the Ross corner in downtown on one of those. They weren't fucking around then, and I'll assume that officer needs assistance call went out at some point during this incident. Next time it could very well be the real deal.
33
@ 23, will you please, please shut up already. You're in the wrong, and so was the girl.

There was nothing for the other girl to defend herself from. She and her friend were the only ones who were out of line.

Granted, felony assault seems too steep a charge to level at her, but I'm no expert so I don't know how the various levels of assault are supposed to be graded. But I wouldn't say either of the girls are felons because of what they did.
34
Both of those stupid girls got what they deserved... Everyone keeps talking about the lack of skills of the cop, however if you have a squirmy individual resisting arrest- getting belligerent and then having the suspects friend attack you too, well... Both are lucky a gun wasn’t pulled on them. Both are lucky neither of them are DEAD. And yes, they both got what they deserved.
35
@23,

So you think women have some sort of special immunity from defensive violence and prosecution.

Awesome.
36
@23: How is it defending yourself when you hit first? His punch could be seen as self-defence, hers was definitely trying to help her friend escape being arrested (aka Obstruction in addition to assault).
37
Personally, I'd be more than happy if the cops ENCOURAGED these thugs to jaywalk.

In fact, set up cameras on MLK & Rainier Ave and charge us to watch 'Baby Mama and Gangsta Frogger'.

Between the money you save incarcerating these kids and welfaring them for decades and fees charged to watch, we could have dedicated bike lanes on every street in Seattle. In fact, let the Indians let us bet on the jaywalkers.
38
"most of the commenters here, punching a woman in the face is okay. A woman defending herself? Felony assault."

Apparently you watched that video with your 'Blame Whitey' glasses on because most normal humans saw the bitches swinging, shoving and resisting first.
39
Folks, I just clicked on trstr's comment history, and it's clear that this individual is the sort of brain dead, anti-cop activist who can never see the police being right or anyone being arrested as being wrong. This person is only going to be a troll on these threads. Let's not waste our time.
40
The officer could have slammed either of them to the ground the entire time and didn't

Fair, next
41
Don't punch me, bro!
42
Well it's a good thing that the guy who shot the video turned it in. He was clearly doing his citizen's duty by turning in the evidence of these thug kids breaking the law. Frankly I'm surprised he would violate the no-snitch code. Where is the rest of the footage from the other phones seen in the crowd? YouTube?
43
What is with all these white-hooded whiners on SLOG today? Any news involving a black person and they come out in force whining about how a black guy beat them in a penis-size contest or something.
44
Matt From Denver you keep calling anybody who does not agree with your opinion. "Anti-cop." You don't seem to believe any cop can be wrong. Well, other people have different experiences. Cops have been shown to be wrong, to have lied on reports, to have lied under oath, to have assaulted people, to have raped people, to have killed people. Cops are not trusted because people like you try to explain away anything they do and other cops won't police their own force. If bad cops were prosecuted and removed from the force, good cops might be treated better by the general public. Since they don't do that, however, many people will not trust or respect cops.

And the cop in that video is a bad cop, maybe not purposely, but he is obviously incompetent. Now you will try to argue that he isn't, but his superiors have already admitted he is by sending him for additional training. If he wasn't completely incompetent and if it wasn't so obvious on the video, they would be backing him up. They aren't. They are admitting he has problems. He is a Barney Fife.
45
@43: Typical "muh dik argument".
46
Yeah, "additional training" is a great idea, he has his jab down, now to work on that left hook!
47
@ 44, I apologize to you for calling you that. But read tstr's comments and tell me that he isn't.

However, you're still dumb for your conclusions, and your barney fife comment isn't funnier the fifth time around than it was the first. Drop it.

For what it's worth, the cop that called me a fucking liar back when I was 16, and took away my skateboard, was wrong. So was the guy who wanted to kick the Mexican piss out of the homie by Lake Union. So were the ones who beat down Rodney King, or even wore the LAPD uniform when Gates was Chief. Cops are wrong a lot.

But not this time.
48
Oops, I skipped over a lot of your comment, but just saw your litany of anticop BS. So, consider my dismissal of your opinion reinstated, until such a time as you can admit that cops should all be judged as individuals, and that the wrongs of bad cops shouldn't mean that all cops have to be automatically distrusted and feared.

I understand that the experiences of minorities have historical precedents that make such mistrust justifiable. But white middle class liberals don't share that experience.
49
44, your comments about how this cop took several minutes to handcuff "a little girl" smacks of sexism. Women can be very strong, just so you know.

And the idea that his mandate to get 'additional training' is an admission of incompetence is pretty questionable. Police departments do it ALL THE TIME as away of appeasing the complacent indignation of the mob without actually assigning a demerit to officer's file. It's public relations. It shuts people up and allows them to make those comfortable, lazy conclusions that satisfy their biases, and really doesn't reflect on his skill or judgment. Pretty standard procedure.

50
your comments about how this cop took several minutes to handcuff "a little girl" smacks of sexism. Women can be very strong, just so you know.


Thank you.

Go fuck yourself, gttim.
51
@45: Really? It was? I was just making shit up, but did I actually get it?
Also, you fail at Ebonics. Pah.
52
"about how a black guy beat them in a penis-size contest or something."

Which would be depressing until you realize many also keep ether brains down there too.

Nothing like watching the 99.9% white Sloggers feeling for da' homeys down da Valley.
53
Anybody else get a weird flashback to that video of the North Carolina senator grabbing that white kid?
54
what i like most is the complete absence of any historical context in which this incident is being viewed. i could go on and on about the treatment of african-americans and other minorities by police officers across this country, the increased likelihood of violence being perpetrated by the police, and the insane level of contempt and mistrust that breeds.

it's easy to sit back and look at this one incident and say that only the women were in the wrong and they had it coming to them for one reason after another. fine. but until you have an understanding of how african-americans view law enforcement and why, you can't conceptualize the reasons for their behavior (the dismissive gesture after having been summoned to the cop's car for having CROSSED A STREET).

i mean how dare they not hop to and instantly respond to what no doubt immediately felt like harrassment. it was the same in the skip gates incident. how dare he defend his right to be in his own damn house, in the face of white authority figures telling him what to do.

perhaps more training is necessary to help this officer understand what he really represents in that community and how he is perceived, and why this escalated in the first place. if you ask me there is a little too much submitting to over zealous authority figures in this country and pretty soon, we will have no rights at all left.
55
#54 and your answer is for young people to ignore a police officer's request? And so we all get to decide which officer's request we can chose to ignore or obey?
56
@ 54, tell us a bit about your experiences in the African American community. I ask because I wish to have the proper perspective by which to judge your comment. Will you do that please?
57
no, my answer is there should be a little less venom about this whole incident. and there should be some level of understanding that perhaps the nature of the original offense should be considered when deciding to escalate a situation into something that it never warranted to begin with. it's not like these women had just robbed a liquor store.
58
"complete absence of any historical context in which this incident is being viewed."

Trust me, those beeeeaches didn't get 'As' in history. They wouldn't know a Skip Gates from a Dred Scott unless they were gangsta rappers.
59
@ 57, that's foolishness. Is there any reason - any reason at all - to think that the girls didn't do all the escalating?

I already stated elsewhere that it doesn't change things if you imagine that they were wanted for something serious. When the police contact you, you don't walk away. You and others seem to think, well, if it's just jaywalking, then yeah, cooperating with the police is optional. Why don't you spend a moment and clarify that for us?
60
"it's not like these women had just robbed a liquor store."

See if you're black, you just have to cut them slack. I mean, it's not like they have impulse control. Better we sit and listen to them and find out why they break the laws so many people follow day in, day out.
61
". and there should be some level of understanding that perhaps the nature of the original offense should be considered when deciding to escalate a situation into something that it never warranted to begin with"

So you jay walk, a cop stops you, you assault him. The logic is that you should get away with assault because jay walking is not a big deal to begin with. Fyi- I have gotten TWO jaywalking tickets, and I am white. And I know from the demeanor of the cop in one incident that if I had shoved him like this girl did I would have been lucky to still be alive.
By your "logic" if a cop pulls you over for speeding and you shoot him BUT you can prove you actually were driving only 5 miles over the speed limit your actions are someone forgiven due to the fact he really had little reason to pull you over to begin with.
62
Yay cop! He was being lenient, not taking their unthinking, two-year-old-like behavior personally. This cop should be the one doing the additional training: of the rest of the department!
63
54:
"(the dismissive gesture after having been summoned to the cop's car for having CROSSED A STREET). "

A street with multi-lane traffic (with a pedestrian overpass), near the local high school. This high school was so concerned about the safety of their jaywalking students that they had actually contacted the police and asked them to do something about it.......
64
While the officers reaction(punching) may have been exstream, YOU HAVE TO RESPECT LAW ENFORCEMENT! I would say anyone who argues, shoves, hits etc... a law officer is open game to get what's coming to them. If you feel you have been wrongly ticketed or arrested that's what your day in court in for, to protest it and make a complaint.
65
So, consider my dismissal of your opinion reinstated, until such a time as you can admit that cops should all be judged as individuals, and that the wrongs of bad cops shouldn't mean that all cops have to be automatically distrusted and feared.

The problem is that how I judge people and cops is not at issue. It is how the population does. Other cops will be judged by most people based on the actions of other officers. Bad police make all police look bad. It is human nature. It does not matter how they should be judged, that is how it happens. And to be honest, if there are bad, corrupt and/or dangerous cops on a force and the other officers do not work to get rid of them, policing their own, they deserve to be judged as part of the whole. They are all part of the problem at that point.

As to calling me dumb? You have shown yourself to be a world class cop-ass-kisser and a complete moron. You have argued from both sides. I hear you and your buddies arguing that the cop did not use too much force punching a girl in the face, and then argue that the cop was not incompetent because he did not use over the top force to handcuff the little girl. He is horribly incompetent in everything he did.

@49 & @50, yes women can be very strong and can make great police officers. However, this cop in the video does not make a fine police officer. It is not necessarily because he is not strong, it is because he was not able to restrain and handcuff a kid/young adult. The girl kept slipping away from him, not powering away. A competent officer would have had the technique to handcuff her and put her in the car, rather than running around like, yes, Barney Fife, with girls jumping on his back. A woman officer would have, and should have, been able to do that if trained properly.
66
Additional training is certainly in order.
He should have dropped that fat bitch cold with one punch.
She should be in recovery with her jaws wired shut.
67
Bitch got what she asked for.
68
@65

"The problem is that how I judge people and cops is not at issue. It is how the population does."

And judging from the responses from the very leftist Stranger readership the population seems to think this particular cop did nothing wrong. As a matter of fact you seem to be one of the few people who does think he was in the wrong. So it seems like this matter is settled then, the cop did a fine job, the girls were justifiably arrested etc.
69
Keep telling yourself all that, gttim. Why let facts get in the way of your prejudice? It's scary to let go of deeply held illusions, isn't it?
70
She deserved it.... Push and officer of the law and that's what happens. Clearly this officer was surrounded and being verbally abused by all of these folks. And to the point of why he didn't tazer or pepper spray her clearly he was trying to restrain the other gal and didn't have a hand free... That's what you get stupid... I hope they are both charged with assaulting an officer he is not the one who needs help they are. Anger mananagement for the girls and business as usual for the cop.
71
Oh an another thing... If these dumb dumb's would have been hit by a car and killed the familys would be sueing the police dept for not doing their job... Sickening... This is not a race issue it is an issue of idiots breaking the LAW!!!!!!
72
"'The race issue gets old after a while; it really does,' O'Neill said, adding Seattle and the community can lose credibility."

"He did nothing wrong," O'Neill said. "If anything, I think he maybe waited a little too long to engage in force because I think he was trying to defuse the situation and calm people down and it was obvious from the audio anyway of the two individuals that they were not going to be calmed down.

"They were not going to comply in any way."

If this doesn't provoke a political firestorm it will go a long ways to saying exactly how much racism exists here despite our shiny liberal facade.
73
I used to commute through this intersection and this sort of behavior was incredibly common. It was annoying but hardly merited the level of escalation seen here. In many other civilized places people don't get pulled over for jaywalking except in the most blatant of instances. it seems a peculiarly Seattle thing to be so incredibly, violently offended by a tiny breach of "THE RULES."

It's also worth noting that almost all frequent commenters have completely abandoned this thread. Good work enforcing ideological hegemony, pro-authority commenters!
74
Has anyone brought up the fact that it was the near by school that ASKED the police to enforce the jay walking issue at this very dangerous intersection?
75
@74

It has and post 73 apparently didn't read it. And fyi, 73, it wasn't the jaywalking that people are irritated over it was the resisting arrest and interfering with said arrest that people are offended and both of those things are more than minor breaches of the rules.
76
Remember, we have always been at war with Oceania.

Take your soma and act like a good citizen!
77
Kill yourself this instant, Will in Seattle. Even the liberal progressives here on slog hate you and want you to commit suicide.
78
Oh goody, here come these little honeys rap sheets: assaults, robberies, obstruction, punching a cop.


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