Cop hits woman....whaddaya think?

Well, the video doesn't show anything leading up to that point, which is unfortunate because we have a very vague idea of why the officer was detaining them. All we see is the one girl obviously resisting arrest, and another girl stepping in.

Okay, first of all, do I think that the officer over reacted? Yes. Absolutely.

I do, however, think that the girl was resisting arrest, which is a no no, and the other girl should not have approached the officer. I'm not an expert on police procedures, but I think he would have been within his rights to taze both of them. Punching the girl in the face seemed very extreme, but she did put her hands on him while he was trying to make an arrest.

I think this is a case of an officer abusing his power, overreacting to a situation, and then taking things to an extreme level that they should not have reached. He is at fault and I think he should be punished. I also think that the girl should not have resisted arrest. She should have let him cuff her and then sued the shit out the department for wrongful arrest. I also think that her friend was very stupid for trying to interject. I might be wrong, but I think he was well within his rights to protect himself given that he was surrounded by people, and they were closing in on him. He was alone, and he was struggling with a "suspect". I'm not sure what police procedure is, but I do know that they are allowed to protect themselves if they feel threatened.

 

She deserved it. If both of those idiots would have just done what they where told none of this would have happened. I wish he would have either maced or tazerd both of them.

 

While it's a bad idea to hit women, I can't imagine hassling a cop like that and not expecting the hammer to come down. You mess with the bull, you get the horns. Also, if it had been a dude, no one would've thought twice about the punch.

While I doubt the cop felt serious endangered by either of the two women, the situation was escalating and there's no telling where it would end. Channel 7 news in Seattle interviewed an expert in cop violence issues and he actually thought the cop didn't act with enough force -- he said the cop should've swiped her leg out, put her on the ground and put the cuffs on.

 

I'm not sure why there was such a big hullabaloo over jaywalking, but it is illegal I suppose. My thought is that if an officer pulls you over or stops you then you need to do what they say. She did push the cop, and at that point he has every right to punch her. What a lot of people forget is that the cop has no idea of her intentions, so he needs to proceed on the side of caution.


Cops do dumb things all the time though, and I think in this case he over reacted. I don't think that makes what he did wrong though. I feel worse for the kid who got crushed into the wall a couple of years ago in Seattle that is still in a coma. He was completely inocent.

These girls should have just shut up and did what they were told.

 

I added to your post because this is what I think

People still would be in an uproar if this had been a black male or a hispanic male.

 

He could have faceplanted her, but he didn't. It was obvious that the cop was a little nervous about the people surrounding him, and was trying to subdue her while injuring her as little as possible. The punch may have been a little bit of an overreaction, but it certainly did what it was intended to do.

I think she should count herself lucky not to have been punched by this guy...

[video=youtube;A1JzAyzXDjo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1JzAyzXDjo[/video]

 

I don't think the officer over reacted one bit. By all means I think he stayed pretty cool and calm throughout the whole incident. I'm shocked he didn't use a taser or mace. When an officer of the law asks you to listen, and stay calm, you listen and stay calm. Don't scream "get off me" several times until your dumb fat cousin comes over to help and grabs the officer, I hope both women spend a night in jail.

 

Pretty much what I think as well. When a police officer tells you tro do something, you do it. That way nobody gets hurt and then things can get straightened out. Otherwise, it's resisting and the police have the right to handle the situation with a certain degree of force.That lady should feel fortunate- in Portland she might have been shot.

 

That's why, whenever I'm ever pulled over by a cop, I do what they say.

 

Jaywalking!?!? Cop looks and sounds like a douche to me

 

For jaywalking. FOR JAYWALKING. Are you kidding me?

If the woman was fleeing with stolen goods, sure. But what we have here is a police officer overstepping his bounds, then overreacting to an overreaction. The woman should not have put up a fuss, true. But Officer Friendly there should never have put himself in that situation in the first place.

 

As a postscript, I understand and believe the SPD spokesman who said that "after looking at the police report he does not see anything that would suggest the officer handled the situation inappropriately." From a strict, letter of the law standpoint, police should be able to punch anyone impeding an arrest. However, from a spirit of the law standpoint, unless Seattle is going to really crack down on all the THOUSANDS of vicious jaywalkings that occur DAILY, this officer was just fishing for trouble by messing with them in the first place. The best way to defuse a situation like that is to avoid it altogether.

 

Pick the least offensive criminal offense, like maybe sitting on a sidewalk in downtown Seattle (admittedly, a ridiculous offense) . . . if a cop calls you on it, you do what they say. I'm not saying you have to like it, curse 'em silently or loudly after they've left, but if you get physical with them, you'd better expect they'll get physical with you. Shoot, you don't even have to have committed ANY crime. You mess with a cop, expect to get it back times 2 (or more).

A buddy of mine is in the Seattle Police Department and for some reason I get a kick out of how fast he can put me on the ground. Without effort.

 

I'm not saying I don't jaywalk some, but I always check for cops before I do. Right or wrong, SPD cracks down on it and they have for a long time.

 

Ha, ha -- if it was race motivated, they'd also have racial motivation for nailing geeky white guys in suits in downtown Seattle because I've seen a fair number nailed for jaywalking outside their highrise office buildings.

I've never seen anyone ticketed for jaywalking on first near Pike Place -- could be dumb luck, but my theory is they're not ticketing because the area is thick with tourists and the city doesn't want PO'd tourists.

 

Why does it matter that they got stopped for jaywalking? That's not what got her punched. I've got a ticket for jaywalking before. Yeah, it sucks, but I had no right to attack the officer over it. She deserved what she got and it's too bad the cop was there by himself because the other girl should have been arrested too.

Was anyone else surprised about how much difficulty he had restraining her?