Much controversy has arisen in Seattle, and the rest of the world, after an incident that occurred, when a police officer tried to give a girl a citation for jay-walking.
The incident got more physically aggressive as the young girl at first resisted being given a citation, and then fought being arrested. Her cousin was also punched in the face by the officer for trying to come to the rescue.
The questions on everyone’s mind: Is this police brutality? Excessive force? Who is at fault?
I believe everybody involved is at fault.
The young woman initially involved in the citation process should have yielded to the officer. As screwed up and as unfair as they can be at times, cops still have the “right-of-way.” Just about everything a police officer does to you after you get “unruly” is justified.
This brings us to the second young lady (pink shirt) who got punched in the face. You do not push a cop, under any circumstances. You cannot act aggressively with an officer and not expect them to act even more aggressively toward you.
Yes, she was trying to protect her family. That is understood. If this had been against any other random person, the cousin would have been doing exactly the right thing. Unfortunately, when we are talking about the police, the rules change.
Lastly, the star of the show–the police officer. His number one offense, in my opinion, is being a sorry excuse for a cop. The majority of the videos that have surfaced on the web show an account of about 2 minutes and 47 seconds, and it is clear that the very beginning of the struggle wasn’t caught on tape.
It should not have taken that long for this officer to contain the young woman. The amount of time he spent pointlessly tussling with her only heightened the situation. Yes she struggled, but it his job to know how to handle that kind of situation and repeatedly slamming her up against the car and pulling her clothes isn’t the way.
As for the punch, he was wrong, and yet, simultaneously justified. She should never have touched him or interfered, true. But did her interference warrant a punch to the face and pulled hair?
I think he could have handled it very differently. He was clearly out of his element, and if he anything, he should have called for back-up.
By trying to be macho and handle the young women on his own, he put himself, the women, and the witnesses in danger.
The women could have actually decided to fight back, and then the more than a dozen witnesses, who clearly didn’t agree with this situation (noted in their colorful commentary), could have jumped in on the officer. Then what happens? Either they beat him senseless, or he pulls out his gun and starts shooting, which once again, he would be justified in doing.
The whole situation was really sad, but more than that, it was stupid … on everybody’s part.
