Comments

1
On this one I'm on the officer's side.
3
Good.
4
Have to agree with @1 on this one; SPD has plenty of other legitimate use-of-force problems without including what was clearly a case of an officer put into a position of having to defend himself from an increasingly violent outburst on the part of the young woman, who, as you indicate, has already plead guilty to an assault charge in the incident.
5
There are still people who felt like he should have done something else? Oh I forgot the fall the sword liberal to the end types, who reason that white cop deserved it cause he was part of the white conspiracy to oppress.

or something.

This case was tried in public opinion, and it was very difficult for people, after seeing the video, to find fault with the actions of the officer. If anything adding this case to the police misconduct case, weakens it, by being an example of an extraordinary circumstance where self defense *was* actually justified.
6
Based on the video, I've got to side with the cop on this one as well.

That said, I wish the annoying troll @2 would find some other corner of the internet to play in.
7
Good cop.

The girl? She'll never amount to anything.
8
Too bad there was no backup.

I guess there won't be next time, either.
9
You can argue that the situation never should have escalated, and you can argue that a well-trained cop should have been able to take physical control of a 17-year-old girl, but once the punchee elected to physically interfere with the other girl's detention, I don't know how the cop could avoid physical force. Considering the alternatives could have involved a taser or a baton, I think a punch to the face was pretty measured. I revile thuggish cops as much as anyone, but this guy, in this instance, doesn't look to me like one.
10
as someone who has always been highly critical of the spd and it's officers usual manner of dealing with civilians, especially young people and people of color, i am seriously on this officers side.
11
This is the least of our worries compared to the illegal home invasion of a medical marijuana this year, the Mexican Piss stomping, Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes getting beaten, the John Williams situation, or the fact that any OPA decision under the current contract can be overturned by the police chief (which HAS to go from the next labor agreement, even it has to come from an initiative barring the city from taking any deal without total OPA authority).
12
Yup, this cop did nothing wrong and the video proves it.
13
Cop was 100% in the right.
14
"young people and people of color"

Judging the way young colored people behave down by Pike and 3rd, I'd have to say the cops need to knock more heads.
15
Agree w/ 1 & 4. This is one time the cop was actually in the right to use force.
17
Wow. No, when a 17-year old girl touches your shoulder, the correct response isn't to punch her in the face as hard as you can. "Punching kids in the face" shouldn't even be an option for police officers.

I seriously doubt commenters #1 through #12 would have the same opinion if the punching victim was a small white girl, a large white man, or a large black man.
18
@17: Well, then, you'd be seriously wrong.
19
@17 - Give the straw man shit a rest. Just because a black woman was involved in the incident doesn't make this a racist or sexist incident. I hate to be the bajillionth person to say "non-issue" today, but this is a non-issue; someone assaulted a cop (you say "touch" it like she tapped him politely on the shoulder), the cop responded reasonably (you say "as hard as you can" like he pinned her to the ground and pummelled her), and there was no cause for disciplinary action. If there's a story here, it's that politicians didn't cave to pressure from reactionary hotheads calling for his head. There are legitimate cases of police abuse in Seattle. This is not one of them.
20
when a 17-year old girl touches your shoulder

If you want to pretend to be arguing in good faith, you're going to have to do better than this.
21
I'll be damned if I can see anything else that officer could have done. He did everything in his power to keep that situation from escalating, and given the stressors (people screaming at him, other kids taking runs at him), I think he did pretty damned well. And if you honestly think he "punched her as hard as he could" then you, my friend, have never seen a real punch.
22
ACLU would have been better off leaving this out of their complaint. Makes it look like they're choosing up sides based solely on race and gender.
23
@14, and the whites on that block are just the cream of the crop, eh?
24
@11 is correct. This was just one of a number of cases that made people north of the Ship Canal realize the SPD was out-of-control and targeting non-whites.

Still needed backup. Still does. Cops shouldn't let themselves be put in such situations in the first place. Someone hung him out to dry.
25
Well the good news is the cops won't harass black kids jay walking. Think of the savings to tax payers everytime a baby mama gets nailed. Win-win for liberals and conservatives.
26
@23 you mean the wiggas?
27
What is it about driving in the hoods that the natives just wander across the streets without ever looking? Is this a cultural thang? It's like playing Frogger driving in the CD and RV.
28
The comment about needing backup is real. I'm not a fan of bully cops or cops punching anyone, but the reality is that when a cop knows that there is no backup coming they tend to do one of two things... Either let crimes go or get more violent in an attempt to control the situation. Neither of these options are in our best interest. Seattle is grossly underpoliced and this is what we get.
29
Do you think cops would need back up to stop white kids jaywalking in Wallingford?
31
I'm way more social justice than I am law and order. Way more.

That said, this is the only case of Seattle PD abuse that I'm glad to see resolved with no discipline for the officer.

That kid was out of line and anyone else would've gotten the same treatment for behaving that way.
32
@30:

Have you actually WATCHED the video of the incident? First of all, the officer was in the process of detaining a non-compliant person, who continued to push, grab and slap at him. Secondly, the girl he punched attempted to interfere with his detainment of the first girl, by alternately pushing him away and trying to grab her friend, while a third person is attempting to pull her off the cop. So, not only is the first girl actively resisting arrest, but while that's going on the second girl actively attempts to interfere with him, ignoring attempts by other bystanders to stop her, and after several seconds of being shoved and slapped at by BOTH of them simultaneously, he finally takes one very measured jab at girl #2, at which point she FINALLY backs off, allowing him to deal with girl #1.

There's no "anger reaction" on the part of the cop whatsoever; in fact "measured response" is precisely what we see in the video.
34
The police department leadership should have known it was a bad idea to send a single white cop wthout support to enforce jaywalking on the last day of school in the valley.

The ACLU isn't asking for an investigation of each officer. They want an investigation of the department and its management, planning, logistics, etc.

This officer may or may not have been right in this case. The department was clearly wrong for putting him in this situation and not supporting him when his punch became public.
35
Good! The cop was totally in the right on this one. Bitch was being a bitch!
36
30-That you don't know what constitutes a preponderance is pretty telling.

I think the SPD is pretty damn thuggish, and it appears so even more against people of color, young and the poor. But let me echo the preponderance of commenters here that say the cop handled this the best he could, given the resisting arrest and all. Btw, citizen oversight needs *absolute* authority OR we need another civilian body with veto power (such as city council).
37
If the cop is a controlled, rational person, I don't care what force they use, as long as they know how to control that force so that nobody gets killed or damaged.

That said, cops are not hired for their controlled and rational prowess, so get on THAT SPD!
38
I'm about as liberal as they get, but when you fuck with a cop like that, I would think you'd expect to get punched in the face.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.