+1 And for whoever said you'll do as they say when cop(s) stop you, you don't have to by law, you can question all their moves, and you don't have to answer their requests, of course I'm not saying run away but don't give up that easy and be scared just because they have a badge and a gun.
No just saying in my opinion I doubt the guy would punch a man who pushed him. Point being I think he only threw the punch in the first place because it was a woman and she wasn't going to come back and whoop his ass. He has to have some training in safely getting suspects to the ground. I can't imagine that punching someone is ever a safer way out of a situation than throwing someone to the ground and putting a knee in their back. I think he was more than capable of doing that to this woman. Was he technically within his right to punch the woman? Yeah it seems like he was. Still can't believe some of you guys would condone it though. She pushed him which is clearly a big no-no but to me a punch wasn't a proper response. It just seems like he lost his head and hit a woman IMO when I believe in that situation he had other courses of action to subdue that woman and arrest her. Plus its not like she punched him. She went up and gave him a shove to the chest with two hands. He reacted by drilling her in the face. He took it up a notch. Again, I just can't see the Seattle PD ever saying "if anyone touches you, just throw a right hook!". Seems like the complete opposite way to go about it unless you're really being attacked. The chick shoved him but she didn't keep coming at him like she was going to do anything else. I REALLY doubt he couldn't have thrown her to the ground and arrested her in a half a second if he wanted to. But like I said he was struggling with the other chick and seems like a moron in general so who knows. Maybe he is incapable.
I didn't see/respond to this the first time around, but I will tell you that I have been "pulled over" for jaywalking in Seattle. The cop said something super-lame like, "I've been out here, directing traffic all day... it'd probably be a good change of pace to write a citation for you guys..." (Another guy had been spoken to at the same time.) I didn't get a ticket, but I was respectful and just had to take whatever decision he made. I DID jaywalk, and I did so knowing that there was a chance (however small) that I was going to be cited for it. Getting to the video: I am confused as to why the struggles lasted as long as they did. I know that police are trained to take control of situations, and he definitely did not do that. It might be as others stated: he didn't want to hurt her and/or he didn't want to escalate the thing as more people were gathering around. The sad thing is that the crowd (at least early one) was telling the chicks not to resist. The cop was telling them not to resist. And yet they resisted. I'm not sure that a punch was appropriate, but I'm not sure what the PO coulda done there to deal with the situation. I'm glad I'm not a police officer. Ed O.
The options are not just "be scared" or "run away". There are few reasons not to answer questions that police officers ask. Just because you don't HAVE to, by law, does not mean that it's in anyone's best interests to be difficult. Ed O.
By her actions she requested a physical response. Is there anyone here who thinks they could interfear physically with a police officer attempting to cuff someone and not have something happen to them?
