Comments

1
What the fuck?
2
Don't forget: Police officers can do no wrong since they are trained professionals who have to make split-second life and death decisions to keep us safe.

4
That cop should be fired immediately.

We all know Ed Murray won't do that, since he's bought and paid for by SPOG.
5
That was bizarre. All the other cops seemed chill, but she was batshit crazy with no provocation.
6
Christ all mighty. The police have gone totally insane in this country. What do they do now? Only hire from the pool of psychotics that were rejected from being high school wrestling coaches or something?

I used to train with a lot of SPD. They were usually really decent people. They were my friends. But those guys all left or retired.

Since 2005 nearly every Seattle cop I've trained with or run across seems either insanely and violently rightwing or suffering from undiagnosed PTSD.

I sometimes wonder if the Iraq War (A huge number were reservists) fucked these guys up... or crippled the hiring pool to what would've been rejects a decade ago. They seem to have no perspective or people skills at all and operate on Condition Red 24/7. Jesus.
7
All the other cops seem fine, but this one just goes nuts and starts spraying and spraying. WTF?
8
@5 exactly. But whats interesting is she only gets shrill after she starts spaying. I think what's happened is she realized quickly that the force she applied was an overreaction but had to 'commit' after she'd already pulled the trigger (manufacture the situation & level of tension which would have made her actions appropriate).
9
I think every participant in any public demonstration needs to wear their own body cam.
10
This perfectly demonstrates the flaw in the argument that most of the police are good, decent people. While none of the other cops are being actively abusive, they're also blithely ignoring the problem rather than stopping her.
11
Officer Cynthia Whitlatch?
12
I agree with our dear tkc. I wonder how many of these cops are messed-up veterans.
14
The. Entire. System. Is. Broken.
15
@10: exactly Erica. This is the chilling aspect of so many of these incidents: it's one officer going whacko and all the others standing around and not intervening. The infamous "Mexican piss" incident is a great example of this. Until other officers tell the crazies to chill the fuck out and stop we're not going to have change.
16
Fucking awful. @10, 15 You got it. I still believe that a small minority of officers are responsible for the vast majority of this racist, aggressive bullshit but if their fellow officers are witnessing this behavior and not speaking up they are absolutely complicit.

The counseling and additional training that we currently prescribe to the offenders should be the bare minimum required of the cop witnesses who don't speak up.

This cop probably, and definitely that other cop who lied about the senior citizen golf club carrier, should be FIRED. If anyone, in any other profession, were to screw up as bad as some of these cops they would be fired without question.
17
"The SPD declined to comment"? Is anyone even half-awake there? You barely need to be conscious to see that this officer is off her meds. The other officers should have arrested her on the spot. And duh, SPD, fire her. Immediately.

Plus, goddammit, apologize.
18
Time to water the hippies!
19
I think most of the comments here have it right, for a change.

There's a huge group of cops, mostly behaving professionally... but then one outlier, going off the handle and assaulting civilians.

This is the "Culture problem" in SPD that us citizens keep complaining about. Dozens of officers that could have stopped it, or at the very least, reported it. But "No Snitching" is every bit as strong inside SPD as it is on the streets - so SPD has no comment. Ever.
20
@4, the mayor can't fire a police officer. No one can fire a police officer, in practice. The only thing we can do is hope for a DoJ takeover.

The cop seems mentally unbalanced to me. Literally bonkers, screaming "SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT!" over and over while spraying. Just completely unhinged. This is not the action of a "bad cop" but of a mentally ill person pushed beyond the breaking point.

These officers feel like THEY are the victims. That's ridiculous on its face, but that's the reality. I don't know how to address that; I don't think anybody knows. But you can't have people that fucked up in charge of public safety, you just can't.

It's going to get worse before it gets better, too. Look at Albuquerque. Their PD is turning into an organized gang on a crime spree, threatening to kill prosecutors and so on. I think before this year is out we will see a police officer somewhere completely lose it and hose down a crowd with bullets, not pepper spray. How can we stop it?
21
Also, anybody know the name of that officer? Want to google them, see if there's a pattern.
22
"All the other cops seem fine, but this one just goes nuts and starts spraying and spraying. WTF?"

You mean the smaller, female officer who pepper-sprayed a man ? She was on the corner near people so she feared for her life, especially with that hoodlum male teacher with a smart phone.

Does SPD training include being hit with pepper spray ?
(just for lols : http://www.military.com/video/forces/mil… )
23
My guess was that officers had orders to act if they saw Mr. Hagopian try to use his phone during the demonstration. Who knows how many protesters he has at his command? ;-)
24
She lost it--then doubled down. Could've been a gun.
25
If you want a higher quality police officer than you need to pay them more. Police officer is an unglamorous job with high stress and only moderate income. If you want a higher quality officer than you need an incentive like higher pay to broaden your pool of potential candidates. Nobody wants to hear that though, they want to pay minimal wages and expect the highest performance.
26
Cops seem like Pain-driven addicts sometimes, like this loony goofball peppering citizens from behind her badge. And here's my theory: video games made 'em treat people like targets. Video games helped them convince themselves that whatever they do is okay. It's like the guy with a hammer who sees only nails. Batshit-crazy, badge-bearing SPD on Martin Luther King Junior Day cuts loose on evil characters like feisty firefighter on wind-blown blaze.
27
@23, no she is not nearly sufficiently under control for that.
29
#5: Right on. If most of the cops are good cops--as so many people like to tell me--there wouldn't be any bad cops.
30
Crap. I meant that for #10. Although #5 is not wrong.
31
@23: She's out of control, spraying totally indiscrimately. Doubt she knew or cared who Hagopian was.
33
Fnarf dear, I disagree that "no one can fire a cop". Cops can be fired, especially in a town where a lot of the population is appalled by their behavior, and where there is not a residency requirement. The problem is political leadership. Seattle's political elite have some old-timey reluctance about messing with unions, thinking that there is a strong voting bloc for organized labor here, which shows that they don't understand the city in which they operate. They're afraid of losing votes and media types like Dori Monson, who represent only a fraction of the citizenry (mostly angry old white men).

And they have a point, to an extent. If the outraged don't vote, no one cares about the outrage. The angry old white men never miss an election.
34
SPD is on my radar.
35
The video is astonishing. Out of nowhere the cop starts spraying. Weird. Obviously not qualified for a job with that kind of (low) pressure.
37
From the Seattle police manual:

10. Officers May Make Individual Decisions to Deploy OC*

a. Officers Shall Deploy OC for Specific Objectives Consistent With Manual Section 8.100 - Using Force. The authorized use of OC in demonstration situations involving violent activity shall have as a primary objective at least one of the following:

Defend oneself

Defend someone else

Prevent significant destruction of property

b. OC Will be Directed at the Specific Suspect(s) who are Posing a Threat

Officers deploying OC will attempt to limit collateral exposure to non-involved parties.

If there is probable cause to arrest for a crime, it is a priority for officers to arrest individuals against whom OC has been deployed.

c. Officers Will Provide Aid to Subjects Exposed to Chemical Agents and/or OC, if Feasible

Officers will request medical response or assistance for subjects exposed to chemical spray and/or OC when they complain of continued effects after having been decontaminated, or they indicate that they have a pre-existing medical condition (e.g. asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, heart ailment, etc) that may be aggravated by chemical spray and/or OC.

d. Officers Must Document Uses of Force

Officers shall individually justify and document all reportable uses of force consistent with Manual Section 8.300 - Use-of-Force Reporting and Investigation.

http://www.seattle.gov/police/publicatio…

* from Wikipedia: Pepper spray, also known as OC spray (from "oleoresin capsicum"), OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent (a chemical compound that irritates the eyes to cause tears, pain, and temporary blindness) used in policing, riot control, crowd control, and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears.[1][2] Its inflammatory effects cause the eyes to close, taking away vision. This temporary blindness allows officers to more easily restrain subjects and permits people using pepper spray for self-defense an opportunity to escape. Although considered a less-than-lethal agent, it has been deadly in rare cases, and concerns have been raised about a number of deaths where being pepper sprayed may have been a contributing factor.
38
@6 - agreed. That cop was having a total meltdown. You have to wonder what her background is that triggered that insane behavior.

39
It's time to give the Seattle police department an enema and toss the police union for a new contract overall without out all the protections for the cops that not only cost the taxpayers millions of dollars in lost law suits, but also remove the officers from the police department in such a way they will never be on the streets again to victimize the public.
40
Completely agree with @10.

Yeah, crazy cop sprayed Hagopian for no reason. But WTF. What about all the other cops standing around her? Where was the good cop to tell her to calm the fuck down and stop spraying people for no reason? She's cray-cray, but all the other cops around her condone her actions by their inaction. They are all fucked up and useless, and none of them deserves to be police officers.
41
Have police in this country gone insane. These people were not even approaching the police. Walking away on an American street, chatting and talking on the phone and some cop pepper sprays you in the face! This stuff is just getting unbelievable. Just five minutes ago Im watching a video of another American veteran..a man of 70, walking down the street with a golf club he uses as a cane and a Seattle cop, falsely accuses him of swinging it and arrests him .Enough is enough.
42
Something nobody seems to have noticed: Monday's video provides a second viewing angle of the same event.

It's in the far upper-left of the screen at 0:32.
43
The cops near the clearly unhinged pepper-spraying officer aren't "standing around," they're holding positions in a line.

Someone ordered them to do that, and they'd catch hell from their bosses if they abandoned their position to deal with with a an out-of-control coworker.

Someone else in the police department definitely should have done something about that out-of-control officer, and should be held accountable: her commanding officer at the scene.

To blame her co-workers for not doing anything, you have to pretend they're not under orders of their own, and don't have any other professional obligations to deal with.
44
OK. I've calmed down now. I don't know that she's a see you next Tuesday, but this video is truly shocking. It looks like she was itchin to spray, and when the speaker walked by that was too much for her.
46
Is this a different view of the incident here?

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…

If so, see again one officer, seemingly out of control, repeatedly spray a man who is clearly already incapacitated by pepper spray -- he's attempting to leave the area, stumbling along blind, before an officer pulls him back into the street and sprays him again.
47
Oh, and I should have said it before: The lady officer? That's what we used to call one crazy bitch.
48
@42: good catch.

@46: yep.
49
Buhahahahaha.
The left keeps begging for more government. Well this is what more government gets you. Throughout history and round the world. 'TIs as it ever were. The installation of "The State" breeds arrogance and paranoia over what the State must control: people and their ideas. And every time It's only truly fucking stupid people who think "Now is different. We can harness this."
50
@49- In the meantime there are all those wonderful stateless societies... which all have higher murder rates and personal freedom that extends as far as you can kill.

Civilizations have governments, it's up to the people to control them.
51
This crazy person should not be a cop - talk about being off kilter!!
52
When Bertha hit the pipe, I said, cancel the project immediately. You guys said no, that would be silly, we're not going to run into the sort of problems we saw in other cities, this is just a setback. But now what's the growing roar? Kill the tunnel!

So I'll say it again, and someday, perhaps it too will resonate through the streets of Seattle: FIRE ALL THE COPS. Every single one. Fire the chief too - she has shown to be of no effectiveness. Start entirely from scratch. The pool is tainted, and there's no filtering that can be done. Empty the pool, and fill with fresh water. That's the only way to get the disease that is endemic to the police departments in Seattle and Ferguson and who knows where else.

You don't take out one moldy piece of bread from a loaf and call it good. You toss the whole loaf and buy a new one. The mold is already in there and there's nothing you can do to get rid of it other than getting rid of all the bread. Otherwise it will continue to spread. You can add new bread to the bag, but the mold will only spread to those pieces too.

54
She is clearly scared and scared has absolutely NO business in PROTECTION she's a pretender... unlike me.
58
@53: we sure have had all the crazies lately
59
@45

"they were following orders" is a bad argument when the people in question were ordered to do clearly immoral things, but the police officers near the out-of-control officer were not ordered to do clearly immoral things.

We're not going to improve things much by taking ethics that apply in situations where loosely organized groups of autonomous individuals are acting together, and then trying to apply those ethics to people acting as part of organizations that are by necessity strict hierarchies.

The out-of-control officer has obviously done something wrong. And her superior officers are responsible for her behavior as well, and should be held at least equally accountable, if not more so.
60
This same officer (and the officer to her left) assaulted me on the sidewalk for being part of the march only two minutes before this happened. I was rammed with a bicycle and pinned against the streetlight post. When I fell to the ground they slammed a bike down on top of me. I ended up with bruises on various parts of my body, but the worst was a large black/blue/purple bruise on my thigh (which is still looking pretty gnarly). After I was able to get up and move away from them I was pepper sprayed with a group of others…for no reason…
61
Yes, by all means, let's fire the entire police department. We'll just bring in Academi (previously known as Blackwater) to keep the peace. But why stop there? We could get Halliburton to come in and take over all the municipal departments. What could possibly go wrong?

62
What about the older woman next to him? What happened to her? She got it too! Fire this cop and the other psycho bitch cop who arrested the old man pronto! Maybe SPD hates old people????
63
Hey, officers everywhere: Good Cops don't protect Bad Cops. If you don't have the balls to call out blatant brutality in your peers because of some bullshit us-vs-them close-the-ranks blue-shield mentality, then you're not actually a Good Cop, you're part of the problem.
64
I would not be surprised if the officer spraying the pepper spray is a reserve police officer. Often times during events where a large police presence is needed, they use a lot of reserve officers, who DO get the same basic training in tactics, but usually have much less "street experience". They are also not paid - just volunteers. Not saying this is an excuse, but simply suggesting it may be why her actions seem so out of line with other officers. Washing your eyes with baby shampoo will help get pepper spray out FYI :)
65
Take the Cops directly to jail -- don't pass go!
http://www.pat-works.com/MLK/cops2jail.G…
66
Who is the cop seen shooting OC spray like a lawn sprinkler? Who is her supervisor? Who was commanding officer on the scene at the time of her violations of SPD policy and of basic human rights? Why are reporters not either telling us this or telling us that the police refuse to say which staff were involved? These are public employees. They're public employees with the extraordinary privilege of using weaponry against the public on the job. There should be no secrecy surrounding this matter.
67
I like how she's shouting "Seattle Police Department!" as though that a) were not self-evident, and b) explained what she is doing (well, it does explain - "WTF, I just got sprayed by pepper spray, why..? Oh, it's just the SPD, I see" - but it doesn't excuse it).
68
@ 49, NO, we demand good government as opposed to the military police state we now find ourselves in thanks to a meaningless and unnecessary war in the middle east. Don't worry my friend there will be others and soon.

It is a fact that after 9/11 we as a society in America began to lose personal freedoms once thought sacrosanct. The Gov, now spy's on us by collecting info on every aspect of our lives. I don't blame this solely on the Bush Admin as it began decades before he took office. Think McCarthy era.

What I do know is that not only are many thousands of new police recruits, vets from the Iraq/Afgan war, they are retrained in facilities once owned by Blackwater and CA. is one of the states most likely to use those facilities for police training. They come from a military background and are retrained in military fashion.

Look at it this way, If I took a job at a Psychiatric Hospital but had a background in law enforcement, I would enter that new job with the "do as I say" or else mentality. There are different rules when dealing with the mentally ill as they are considered patients not inmates.

If I don't decide to retrain myself to work in that environment or if the training isn't available it will not be long before I'm fired or worse.

@ 20, If a cop screws up they are brought in front of the civil service Board and it is they that determine whether the cop was derelict in his/her duties. Depending on the outcome of their investigation along with internal affairs a cop can be fired, suspended with or without pay, demoted, placed on probation, etc. But yes, they can be fired and the Mayor has the final say in most cases.

I read one post that suggested the DoD get involved and can't find it now. Really? You want the DoD involved or taking over the duties of the SPD? You do understand that would be a military action on US soil? Trust me, you do not want the DoD, Homeland Security, National Guard patrolling your streets, you really don't.

@ 25, you can pay an idiot a grad an hour and all you have is a thousand dollar an hr. idiot.
69
This makes me so fucking angry. What's with this bitch? He was walking fucking parallel to you, cunt. You fucking step back.
70
I don't want my tax dollars paying for a police officer like that one.
71
Wow: An awful example of a community police officer. Its absolutely outrageous. If Cynthia Whitlatch doesn't lose her job then the police chief should be replaced. Good Lord; if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.... its a duck.
73
That lady needs to get laid
74
@ 66; THANK YOU.
75
jklj;
76
@72

I am doing no such thing, and you know it.

My focus is on punishing this sort of horrible behavior, and preventing it in the future. This is naturally not going to square with people who are more interested in condemning All Cops As Bastards.

My position is anti-brutality. And people who are instead vehemently anti-police really tend to hate that, ironically.
77
Wheres the full clip? Watching a 15 second clip, with no context and making a snap decision that the SPD are assholes, is like watching a James O'Keef ACORN video and saying "OMG ACORN EMPLOYEES ARE SCUMBAGS!!".

78
People are posting that the other cops seem "chill," or "fine." If none of the other cops intervened, then they're as screwed up as the one with the spray.
79
@71: Eastsider, that's the wrong rogue cop. Cynthia A. Whitlatch #6229 is the racist, Darren-Wilson-supporting cop who in July of 2014 put a 69-year-old man in jail overnight after he allegedy shook his walking stick at her menacingly, then refused to put it down after she slowly circled the block as if there was no danger to deal with (on video), then met him on the other side, left the safety of her steel shell and harassed the man about his walking stick (on video).

The cop who on MLK Day 2015 indiscriminately sprayed chemical irritants at a variety of demonstrators, then sprayed it around in the air for good measure, in violation of SPD policy (and probably Geneva Conventions), has yet to be identified.
80
The police police. This unstable cop is costing citizens their rights, taxpayers their dollars, and the police their reputation. I hope the other officers took their policing seriously and reported her bizarre aggression to get her off the streets.
81
@77: Kinison, this was noted @42. The overhead view shows this incident top-left at about 32 seconds in.
83
This dumb ass needs to be fired IMMEDIATELY!
84
If I am paying for my police force I want more control over who I am paying. This psychotic woman is NOT someone I want to pay for "safety".
85
That clip shows a man near center frame who is literally arrested because he was pepper sprayed and could not see well enough to leave. If you watch him early in the clip he does NOTHING. Literally nothing. He gets pepper sprayed while near some dudes who run past him, and then ends up being pulled onto the ground and arrested.
86
Oh and my best guess on the short SPD officer is that it is #6765 Gallegos, Michelle M. But that is only based on past pictures of many demonstrations in Seattle and not specific knowledge of the police reports in this case.
87
@ 85 ~ yup re; that guy, and so far as I know he still hasn't gotten his wallet back. They sprayed him and he couldn't see, then the took him down, booked him, and now SPD claims they can't find his wallet to return. I would like some reasonable answers to some reasonable questions. NOW would be cool...
89
@87, @85: I'm acquainted with the guy who was sprayed, then sprayed again as he walked away blindly, then dragged back, thrown down, arrested, and jailed overnight. He's not Mohawk Kuzma, whose wallet is missing. Mohawk was wearing beige pants in this video.
90
@63 is right. Being a cop should be about professional behavior and as a group, they should work to get rid of anyone who does not meet the standard. They should get a due process, shape up or ship out.

This is a problem for both police and teachers unions; protecting people who should not be cops or teachers. Thankfully, it's a small group in both professions but it needs to be addressed (not protected).

It demeans the profession to have people like this.
91
@89 I'm very sorry I've confused the issue and thank you for clarifying it.

Heh...truth-be-told, I can't get my video player to play today. I assumed [incorrectly] that was Mohawk in that particular video. There was A LOT of pepper spray on MLK Day and it caught a lot of people.

Hoping for Mohawk to get his wallet back and some sort of explanation about what happened from the powers-that-be [I know].

Thank you again for clarifying and I'll wait until I can get my player [and brain] retuned before I comment again!
92
@87, @85: I'm acquainted with the guy who was sprayed, then sprayed again as he walked away blindly, then dragged back, thrown down, arrested, and jailed overnight. He's not Mohawk Kuzma, whose wallet is missing.
93
@ 92 ~ I'm the person that didn't catch that one [please see message above...ummmm...@91. And thank you again for clarifying.
94
Finally; an incident where no one can say," it was because he was a black thug"
95
Finally, An incident where nobody can say "It was because he was a black thug". the only one breaking the law here is the "Crazy" Police officer
96
Seriously?!?! No one was doing ANYTHING life threatening or against the law. She needs to be fired. What is wrong with the female police officers on SPD?? This is the 2nd one to be brought to the light recently.
98
She's screaming "Seattle Police Department!" as she hosing peaceful people down with pepper spray. Maybe she's having some kind of flashback.
99
From the Seattle police manual:
10. Officers May Make Individual Decisions to Deploy OC*

a. Officers Shall Deploy OC for Specific Objectives Consistent With Manual Section 8.100 - Using Force. The authorized use of OC in demonstration situations involving violent activity shall have as a primary objective at least one of the following:

Defend oneself
Defend someone else
Prevent significant destruction of property

b. OC Will be Directed at the Specific Suspect(s) who are Posing a Threat
Officers deploying OC will attempt to limit collateral exposure to non-involved parties.

If there is probable cause to arrest for a crime, it is a priority for officers to arrest individuals against whom OC has been deployed.

c. Officers Will Provide Aid to Subjects Exposed to Chemical Agents and/or OC, if Feasible
Officers will request medical response or assistance for subjects exposed to chemical spray and/or OC when they complain of continued effects after having been decontaminated, or they indicate that they have a pre-existing medical condition (e.g. asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, heart ailment, etc) that may be aggravated by chemical spray and/or OC.

d. Officers Must Document Uses of Force
Officers shall individually justify and document all reportable uses of force consistent with Manual Section 8.300 - Use-of-Force Reporting and Investigation.

http://www.seattle.gov/police/publicatio…

* from Wikipedia: Pepper spray, also known as OC spray (from "oleoresin capsicum"), OC gas, and capsicum spray, is a lachrymatory agent (a chemical compound that irritates the eyes to cause tears, pain, and temporary blindness) used in policing, riot control, crowd control, and personal self-defense, including defense against dogs and bears.[1][2] Its inflammatory effects cause the eyes to close, taking away vision. This temporary blindness allows officers to more easily restrain subjects and permits people using pepper spray for self-defense an opportunity to escape. Although considered a less-than-lethal agent, it has been deadly in rare cases, and concerns have been raised about a number of deaths where being pepper sprayed may have been a contributing factor.
100
This article is quite misleading and inflammatory. Yes, the police officer seemed aggressive. However, she did not appear to be targeting anyone, and especially not the black man/teacher. It was a wide spray, and when she pressed it was not pointing towards the person this article is about. This is chicken $hit. If you want to say the use of tear gas was uncalled for, fine. But the evidence you supplied in the video clearly shows you're just race baiting.
101
@25 (coastie). Minimum wage? Here is the SPD pay scale: http://www.seattle.gov/policejobs/benefi…

$80k base for an officer on the job less than 3 years.
102
@25 (coastie). Minimum wage? Here is the SPD pay scale: http://www.seattle.gov/policejobs/benefi…

$80k base for an officer on the job less than 3 years.
103
@100

it's funny to see a person call someone chicken shit while being afraid to actually spell the word out because ________.

I didn't see the previous video from the other angle until just now. the cops just bathed that man in pepper spray. he was awkwardly trying to get away from them, but wasn't moving fast enough due to pain/disorientation/temporary blindness so they kept dousing him before throwing him on the ground. these people are nothing but bullies with badges and guns. it would take massive reforms on multiple levels of government before I would ever view a police officer as a station worthy of respect.
104
If you are attacked like this, are you allowed to fight back?
105
@100 Actually, she first points it at the black man in a ball cap that appears to be recording video. Then she pans across an older woman to Hagopian. Then she sends one final spray, aiming at the black man in the black sweatshirt to her right.
106
I had to undergo a psych evaluation to get a job at the post office... So I could deliver mail, not safety to the public. Plus, my wages were paid by the sales of stamps and the likeness - not tax dollars. Why aren't these cops being mentally evaluated prior to "protecting and serving" the public?
107
I had to undergo a psych evaluation to get a job at the post office... So I could deliver mail, not safety to the public. Plus, my wages were paid by the sales of stamps and the likeness - not tax dollars. Why aren't these cops being mentally evaluated prior to "protecting and serving" the public?
109
@99 ~ thank you for that info. I'd forgotten the protocol for using OC. Well...Gosh...seriously, I'm still a bit in shock. Sure caught a lot of people with that stuff [comment @66 describes it well] and I can say right now; I was genuinely hoping Chief O'Toole was going to help us in Seattle. Well, color me wrong.
110
What is the name of the officer flipping the fuck out? Someone needs to put her batshit ass on administrative work and keep her away from the public.
111
That cop needs a spanking...she was out of control. Did you notice the cop next to her? I think he was thinking WTF?
112
25: Wrong. Aside from what 101/102 pointed out, the best incentive to prevent police brutality is to actually punish police brutality. If you physically harm someone who was obviously not a threat, you have just committed assault. If you commit assault, you go to prison just like anyone else. No paid leave, no unpaid leave, no mere firing: prison. Cops feel free to abuse their power because they know that other cops and sycophants will excuse this behavior, and that the consequences will either be nonexistent or light.

A badge does give you the right to take actions that civilians cannot take, but there are limits. It does not give you carte blanche to beat, spray, or shoot anyone you feel like the second you become stressed, annoyed, or pissed. It should not serve as a get-out-of-jail-free card for violent criminals. In incidents like this, a badge should only serve as a reminder to the police department that unqualified people are slipping through the cracks in their screening process, and that these cracks need to be closed.

I have no problem with police officers using force, even lethal force, against somebody who they reasonably perceive as a threat. I just don't include "dark skin" or "disobedience" on my list of things that qualify a perceived threat as "reasonable."

Too many people refuse to hold cops to an actual standard in what they are allowed to claim constitutes a reasonable threat, or in how violently they may react to non-threatening situations. Too many people take it as a "given" that cops will harm you if you merely piss them off, and that somehow the cop is the last person who should be responsible for their own temper. This is why we, as a society, fail to hold cops accountable for their actions, to our own detriment. If prison time were as real a possibility for cops as it is for the rest of us, I'd bet hard cash that we'd see cops become a lot more careful about when they turn violent, raise or no raise.
113
The SPD bike cops (forced to act as riot police because Seattle doesn't want the image of cops in riot gear but they make the bike cops do things only riot cops usually do) all know Mr. Hagopian quite well. They've stood, using their bikes as barriers, at dozens of events where he has spoken since Occupy. They've stood, bikes as barriers, while he has spoken at Westlake, GHS, etc. They KNOW him. He'd just given a speech criticizing them. You think it was an accident that HE was sprayed? I certainly don't. This was a malicious act, pure and simple.
114
@89: The wallet would have gone with his property to the jail. Checked jail lost and found? It's full of phones, etc. seperated from the property bag of the owner.

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