I saw a story featured on Yahoo! about a police “brutality” incident in Seattle, and after watching the video, I was surprised that the police officer’s actions are even being called into question. In my opinion, the situation called for harsher methods, such as using mace or a Taser.
How I saw it, and how it should be seen, is a civilian was aiding the escape of an offending party from police custody. Although the crime was minor — jaywalking — the offender should have acknowledged the fact that an officer of the law was going to cite the jaywalker for breaking the law.
If a driver is speeding and doesn’t pull over when an officer tells them to, then there is reason to suspect that the driver has something to hide. This could be the same reason why this girl didn’t acknowledge the officer. Her cousin being punched in the face was a direct response to her actions toward the officer. She tried to push the officer away from the offender. You can’t expect to get away from that, and the girl should have just cooperated.
Although police brutality is still present in today’s society, we fail to acknowledge the fact that most of the law enforcement officers are kind people and help citizens out on a daily basis. I have personally experienced an act of kindness from a police officer.
A few years back, my cousin’s transmission failed, and we were pushing his car out of the road. A police officer pulled over, asked if we needed help, and drove behind him, pushing his car all the way to our destination. I’ve also seen California Highway Patrol officers give rides to people who’ve run out of gas to gas stations.
Just because a small percentage of law enforcement abuses its power, doesn’t mean that the entire agency is to blame. We should thank our civil servants and give them the respect they deserve.
If the female he was trying to restrain would have just gone along with the program all she would have gotten is a citation for jaywalking. When you have a group gathering and there's only you, sometimes you have to resort to physical tactics to gain control. If it meant hitting someone to get their attention, so be it.
One other thing, being in shape doesn't have any bearing in this incident. He probably assumed that some people in the crowd had a cell phone and was taking video of them. He appeared to be treating her with "kid gloves" when in fact he should have just grabbed her hair and thrown her to the ground if all else failed. In this case you're right, it would have been over in less than 20 seconds.
I, too, viewed the video and thought the same thing. A police officer trying to restrain a person who is trying to walk away from a jay walking citation is delayed by another trying to break the offender free. No other officer in sight, just gawkers standing around shouting taunts.
The officer only did one thing wrong. He didn't hit that person hard enough.