Officer claims he kicked teen in the face because of "nationwide threat to police"

It is a good thing the kid made it to the convenience store where there were cameras to tape it.

Kids defense= I was at a heightened state of awareness due to the repeated excessive brutality from police across the country so I ran to an area I knew had cameras.

originally posted by: 3danimator2014

originally posted by: WeRpeons

-Criminals should know by now the deadly consequences which can possibly happen if they resist or run from the police.

This is in NO way, shape or form acceptable. And should not be considered as "normal"

I think he meant to say "citizens should know by now the deadly consequences which happen at random when encountering the police"

originally posted by: DJMSN
So does this mean with the heightened threat towards citizens with the increased number of questionable shootings by Officers around the Nation that citizens can take action when they feel threatened ?

I support Police Officers as there are some good ones out there but this is stupid. I promise you that there are defense lawyers currently working on just that type of defense for one of their clients who crossed the line..."Well your Honor and members of this esteemed jury, my client felt threatened that Officer So and So was to do him harm and because of that threat he reacted based on the actions throughout the Nation".

Sadly it is coming down to this, and it is time for a rework of our Justice system, before it is too late and we lose it all to the Department of Homeland Security patrolling the streets, and since they already display bad manners in airports, I can only imagine what it will be like on the streets.

It's actually common procedure in police departments for them to say that if a cop tries to apprehend you and you for some reason don't feel safe, that you should run and head to a spot that's safer while the officer follows you.

I think this kid could use that as a pretty solid defense, though it's possible his local PD has never made that argument.

originally posted by: rockintitz
a reply to: Aazadan

It is brought up in court daily amongst thousands of cases.

Not successfully.

a reply to: alienjuggalo

Kicking a kid in the teeth, who is already on the floor and cooperative, is about violence against the police? Not even close!! More like a catalyst for more. Is the cop trying to give rioters more excuses????

originally posted by: Aazadan
It's actually common procedure in police departments for them to say that if a cop tries to apprehend you and you for some reason don't feel safe, that you should run and head to a spot that's safer while the officer follows you.

Not sure if this is true or not but it sounds reasonable.
Only problem is I guarantee if you do this and manage to not get shot in the back, they charge you with evading arrest or some s#it.
Same as they charge you with assaulting a police officer just for touching them.

originally posted by: ShadowLink

originally posted by: Aazadan
It's actually common procedure in police departments for them to say that if a cop tries to apprehend you and you for some reason don't feel safe, that you should run and head to a spot that's safer while the officer follows you.

Not sure if this is true or not but it sounds reasonable.
Only problem is I guarantee if you do this and manage to not get shot in the back, they charge you with evading arrest or some s#it.
Same as they charge you with assaulting a police officer just for touching them.

That's the tough part, indicating that you're not running and are just trying to get to a safer location. Given that most of us have cell phones these days I wonder if you could call 911 on yourself while a cop is following you so that you could communicate what you're doing.

a reply to: alienjuggalo

Hmmm...glad he was fired, but his assertion that people are out to hurt cops as a justification for his actions is just as bad as all of the people who claim all cops are bad based on the few like this guy, and therefore act like dicks to all cops.

Turnabout is fair play?

(no, I'm not condoning his behavior--my point is just the opposite, that neither stereotypes should be latched onto as a justification for anything, as all LEOs and suspects are individuals and should be reacted to, not approached with a proactive scenario in your mind based on the worst apples in the bunch)

originally posted by: SlapMonkey
Turnabout is fair play?

Fair play would be the cop facing the same charges I would, had I committed that crime. And being convicted at about the same rate. Being fired is not enough. Once it's determined that the act is outside the proper behavior for an officer, then the qualified immunity should fall away and the prosecutor should jealously pursue charges against the man.

Only they won't, because the prosecutors' office is kept in business by cooperative police. And even though the other LEOs know it was improper, if the guy was charged you'd see the unions and the LEOs rallying 'round the face kicker. So nothing will happen, and the guy will go down the road to the next town and do the same thing again.

When he ought to lose his certification, permanently. THAT would work, in lieu of the prosecutor doing his/her job properly, but you never hear of it happening.

originally posted by: Bluesma
Paranoia pandemic in America.
Makes me sad.

Perhaps you could specify.

Paranoia of the cops Oh please they are reveling in their sovereign immunity to the most criminal of actions (as long as they don't steal from their masters)

Paranoia of the non cop/non masters - Flap yes tell us why we should not be paranoid of people who can kill with impunity and walk away from it with no more thought than if they hit a low flying bird on the highway.

originally posted by: ShadowLink
If this cop thinks things in the "nation" are bad now just wait.
I think in the not too distant future people are going to start killing cops at a much greater rate and for different reasons than they do now.

Such as proactive self-defence?
Tell mw how different Amerika is from the dystiopian society in 1984, Brave new world or V for Vendetta?
Only in the last did people stand up and fight back.

A Pheonix cop is claiming he kicked a teen in the face knocking out several of his teeth because "he had a heightened sense of awareness of violence towards police because of what’s happening across the nation,”

Pardon my comprehension skills...

an officer of 'law enforcement' kicked someone's teeth out? because dude didn't immediately submit to 'his' authority?

Was the perp swinging wild punches, spitting in his face...how was his authority being disrespected so much that he had to soil the whole police department?

Oh, it's nation wide, this policy of submit or die?

If you can not do a job without soiling yourself, you make yourself an invalid, imagine how it makes the department that 'supports' these antics look like.

should I watch the video?

originally posted by: Bluesma
Paranoia pandemic in America.
Makes me sad.

LOL...Dont be too sad, it is hardly a pandemic.

originally posted by: ShadowLink
If this cop thinks things in the "nation" are bad now just wait.
I think in the not too distant future people are going to start killing cops at a much greater rate and for different reasons than they do now.

It won't be shootings in an attempt to maintain ones freedom as it currently is in most cases, it will be shootings cause one feels threatened due to "a heightened sense of awareness of violence towards citizens because of what’s happening across the nation"

We all know there are good an bad cops, but it's getting to the point where even the good ones are almost as guilty as the bad ones cause they turn a blind eye all the time.

The judges aren't much better either when you see so very few cops actually being punished for their transgressions in relation to the total number of cases we hear about.

Also, before anyone starts pointing it out, I know about the recent case where the cop lost his job and was threatened for arresting the rich drunk guy. I'm sure there are many more cases just like it.
Cops May Lose Their Jobs For Arresting Rich Guy
Just goes to show how corrupt the system is and how far up the chain it goes.

If the cops story does turn out to be true that he was investigating a homicide suspect AND the person DID run so that does change things. The person arrested (in this case) just seems like he got nervous, for no reason to warrant running and that is where the probelm came in. The cop does not know what he is dealing with at the time WE KNOW NOW...but he didnt at the time. To me honestly did not seem overly excessive. So, if you run away, are reaching, squirming around etc. it changes things. Basically they dont know what they are dealing with.

For one thing, it is not exactly normal behaviour to run from police for a small infraction and from what i am aware of what that cop did is not out of the ordinary and this was true even when i was younger (decades ago) as i seen it with my own eyes. A friend and i were in an illegal club, in a big city. The place was known as a potential trouble spot. We were not doing anything illegal, btw.

At some point a friend asks me for a cigarette so i tell him to go to my car and get cigarettes from my car. He exits the club and walks to my car, he said - as soon as he put the key in the door a van jumps the curb and around six plain clothes cops get out and really work him over. I dont know what was said or done because tbh, this guy turned out to be a real creep so would not put it past him to cause some kind of trouble. The police came back to get me and asked me - "can you talk to your friend, he is in the hospital"

The reason for all of that was my car had been stolen previously and i got the car back. I did everything i was supposed to but apparently the plates still came back as stolen. So to them they were watching a stolen vehicle. But like i said this place we were at was a real rough place and in a bad area. The point is this happened in the early '90s and there were extenuating circumstances and the cops were, as far as i recall, all or majority Hispanic.

Other than that, personally, i had all good experiences with police because i know how to act and what i should and should not do. It is very simple really just use common sense and usually there will be no problem. I dont blame the police as a whole because what they are doing is simply going by what the laws are. Some laws even the police would rather not, imop, deal with.

a reply to: Harvin

Did you not watch the video? He kicked the kid in the face as he was getting down....How is that not excessive??

I don't give a # that he ran before, he was clearly giving up and listening.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Harvin

Did you not watch the video? He kicked the kid in the face as he was getting down....How is that not excessive??

I don't give a # that he ran before, he was clearly giving up and listening.

I did watch the video. It looks like he kicked him on the shoulder or to the back of the head and to me it it looked (key word - LOOKED) like a light kick. Common sense is that someone running from the police is running so not to get caught for a more serious crime. I only watched the video but apparently his department fired him so just going by little information and what i saw in the video.

originally posted by: VforVendettea

originally posted by: Bluesma
Paranoia pandemic in America.
Makes me sad.

Perhaps you could specify.

Paranoia of the cops Oh please they are reveling in their sovereign immunity to the most criminal of actions (as long as they don't steal from their masters)

Paranoia of the non cop/non masters - Flap yes tell us why we should not be paranoid of people who can kill with impunity and walk away from it with no more thought than if they hit a low flying bird on the highway.

This is old, and my comment is clear and not worth arguing about. Everyone in America has become scared.
You may be scared of the cops, the cops are scared of you, men are afraid of women, women afraid of men, blacks and whites afraid of each other, all afraid of terrorists, of the government, the list goes on and on.....

I watched my hippy liberal pot smoking parents suddenly become extreme conservative right wing Christians overnight, after 9/11. Every american became conscious that they are vulnerable, just like the rest of the world, and now evil and danger is around every turn...

a reply to: Harvin

If you think that looked light, then you want it to look light.

He had no reason to do what he did, if this kid made him feel threatened as he was getting on the ground
then he needed to be fired.

Common sense does not say that some one is running to get away with a more serious crime.

a reply to: Sremmos80

Some people still believe if a person is being arrested then they deserve any punishment done to them by police. Supporting the police doesn't require supporting brutality.

So the officer exercises brutality because he is a afraid of what citizen's will do to them because of their brutality.

WeRpeons :

The more I see videos like this, the more I can see ignorance on both sides of this issue. Cops are using unnecessary force on unarmed criminals, and criminals are escalating a situation when they should just submit to being arrested. Criminals should know by now the deadly consequences which can possibly happen if they resist or run from the police.

Are you for real? I bet you actually think you are being logical. So, this is your mindset? Okay.

Suppose I am a criminal. I can't be an innocent member of the public, because in your mindset, cops don't mistreat innocent members of the public, only criminals. So, I'm a criminal, and I know by now that deadly consequences can ensue if I resist or run from the police. Remember...I am a criminal (a rather wide catch-all term).

Why don't I, as a criminal, just shoot the cop dead the instant he appears on the scene. I am not law-abiding, I am a criminal, killing a cop means nothing to me. It's just an escalation in the means to survive my criminal lifestyle. I am never going to submit to being arrested, I am going to resist, because I am a criminal, it's what I do. In fact, it has become widely-known and seen that to follow a cop's orders is to put yourself at potential risk of being executed, tazed, and soundly beaten...innocent or not.

Submit to authority? Didn't you go to war against we Brits because you wouldn't submit to authority? Have your police become the modern-day Redcoat, killing and battering as they see fit? Seems to me many members of the public are well programmed and conditioned to kneel before authority.

The excuse this cop uses to justify his brutality can also be used by the general public, the door swings both ways. I shot the cop dead, not because I am a criminal, but because of the rampant and nation-wide police brutality and killings by police of members of the public and I feared for my life. Yeah, I know, I called the police because I was being burgled, but when the cop arrived, he became the greater threat, so I shot him.

The argument is circular, it just goes round and round going nowhere. Police brutality is not to be accepted or condoned in any way shape or form. There is no reason why it should be, there is no argument or debate about it...it is unacceptable in a civilised society.