posted on Apr, 23 2011 @ 04:14 PM
Having reviewed the tape there are a few things that can be stated:
The person making the video tape, may indeed have lived there on the property from which he was video tapping the police, however by lying to the
officer, when asked if he lived there, does give the officer probable cause to detain him. He refused to cooperate with the officer, and quite
possibly resisted arrest. While it is also evident that excessive force was used, the question is best asked as to why he lied to the officer in the
first place? While we can not condone the filming of the police, as the person is correct that it does provide some evidence of either the police
mischief, at the same time, as citizens we should show that we are prepared to cooperate with the officers when they ask what is a legitimate
question, such as do you live at a certain address. The laws are very clear cut in what an officer can and can not ask, and they are within their
rights to ask for things like an ID. But lets take this down to the most basic level, take out everything and start as if you are blind, like justice
is suppose to be, and lets take this from the point of view on both sides, starting with the police: You are called out to an area to investigate a
crime in progress or has happened. While there, you see someone with a video camera filming. Mind you that you do not know how long that has been
going on, nor do you know if the person lives at an address or not. What are you to think if you ask the person, if he lives at the address he is at
and he answers no, what are you to think? It is a valid question and if the person says no, then the question should be asked, why is he filming, is
he a suspect in the crime that called you out, is he armed, what is his purpose there, and is there evidence on his camera that may aid in solving the
crime or incident that you were called out for?
On the flip side, as a citizen, it is known that there are corrupt officers out there that will abuse their power, taking advantage of the situations
by using the badge to intimidate the people. The last thing an officer like that would want is video evidence of possible criminal behavior. If
anything what this is showing, is a deep and growing mistrust on both sides, the public no longer trusts the police to be reproachable and the police
no longer trust the public. It is a sad testament to the day and age.
As one poster stated, the neighbors did nothing, but that ultimately is societies fault and something way too common that happens more and more. It
is not uncommon, nor should we be shocked that people get hurt, killed or even ignore cries for help, as there are no Samaritan laws in the USA, no
laws that would compel anyone to lend a helping hand to someone in need. If anything, the laws often work against a person who would lend a helping
hand, and punish them for doing the right thing. All in all, this entire situation could have been avoided if the person answered truthfully to the
officer, telling him that yes he did live there, offer to give them a copy of the video and even cooperated with the police, instead of not telling
the truth, and resisting, and the officer should remember that there will be people out there with the means to record incidences as they occure and
to be a bit more civil.