Police confuse speech impediment for "disrespect" - Tasered teen

[PeacanPie]

Awful, but I can't say that I'm surprised. The U.S. is a police state. Power-mad high school dropout pigs with too much power, too many toys, and too little oversight.

Because of course the actions of these few represent the majority. Perhaps if you substantiated these wild accusations they would carry more weight. I personally know most of the cops in my town and they are decent hard-working people. You need statistics otherwise it becomes a battle of anecdotes.

It may not be that the actions of few represent the majority, however there are some points to consider:
a) There are far to many 'few'. These are meant to be defenders of the public, not offenders.
b) Every group is judged by the worse.
c) Most of the police I know are good, hard working people, that doesn't mean to say there aren't more than necessary that just abuse their power for funsies.
d) No matter, people who abuse the system and the power given to them shouldn't be tolerated. They should be stripped of their responsibility (and consequently power) to ensure that their reputation doesn't leak into the good members of their profession. Because let's face it, the fact that people like this are allowed to still be police, is what gives them a bad reputation.

 

[Mechanix]

Just another example of police officers abusing their power. That's what it's about, feeling powerful, like you have control over someone else. This is yet another story of police showing just this kind of mentality.

 

[boringanarchy]

Just another fucking stupid incident that shows that cops in America attempt to solve any incident, no matter how minor, using violence. They need to fucking wake up. Sickening.

Read this article before you jump to conclusions.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/family-sues-city-over-sons-arrest-1198555.html

Having been in law enforcement myself (The Coast Guard is a military branch, and a Maritime Law Enforcement agency), these situations are sticky. Everyone knows that if you run from a cop, it is a crime. The Mother fought the officers to prevent the sons arrest, which is itself a crime. Then a neighbor got involved. Another crime. Plus, the one thing the cop feared, that the kid was going inside to get a weapon or back-up, came true. Sorry, but the mother was asking for it. She escalated a situation that was still salvageable, until it became necessary to utilize extreme force.

Regardless of whether the officer recognized the kid or not, he was duty-bound to speak to the kid about his traffic infraction, even more so if he DID know the kid was in mortal danger because he was mentally handicapped (which a Speech Impediment most definitely is not). No, while the cops may have used excessive force (I doubt it, seeing as three people were getting violent, according to the police report), the civilians were definitely in the wrong.

I had already read that report, read it again and found no mention of the kid or the mother drawing a weapon as you suggested.

Let's look at the facts.

1) The kid was riding his bike incorrectly.

2) Cop tried to pull the kid over in order to explain this, and issue a CITATION.

3) Kid either didn't understand or didn't want to understand, and took off. Conflicting reports on that.

4) The mother alleges that the cop knew who this person was, so to me it's quite likely that the cop would have been able to find out where he lived, or already knew.

5) The cop chased the kid to his home, and proceeded to hit him with fists and a nightstick, tase him and pepper spray him, not in that order.

6) It took several officers to subdue the kid and get him into a cruiser.

7) The mother has been convicted of various offences as a result, and so has the kid, including resisting arrest, violence against an officer, etc.

Now look at all these facts and get a picture of the scene as it happened, and while you do that remember that this entire incident began with a BICYCLE CITATION.

What do you get? You get the picture of a situation where use of excessive force and aggression on the part of police officers resulted in a whole lot of excessive force and aggression on the part of the kid and mother.

Do you see where I am going here?

The problem with policing in America is that these situations are often judged on a purely black and white basis with no leeway for context. Looked at out of context, the 'crimes' of fleeing an officer, resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer, obstructing justice, etc are very serious ones. Viewed in the context of an either scared or pretty stupid (probably both) kid running to his mom to escape a BICYCLE CITATION, those 'crimes' aren't so serious. Just a combination of misunderstanding, misplaced indignation, and a poor respect for officers of the law. But when they act in this manner, who can blame them for the latter?

Or...you could blame the kid for doing what the rest of us seem to have no problem doing: follow the law and when you break it, yield to the police. Is that really so hard? No, no it isn't.

 

[Fwee]

The police are just the United States' largest, most widespread, and embarrassingly tax funded gang. 80% of police activity in today's society is completely unjustified waste-work to keep as much funding as possible, population harassment, racial hostility, and terrorism tactics used against the public in order to make the rich feel like their stuff is safe.
Every cop on the street is filled with Authority Syndrome, thinking that anyone who doesn't immediately see the badge and drop to their knees in respect is a hostile element.
I got put in an armlock by a cop for trying to walk into a sandwich shop with headphones on. I was on my lunch break from my job and didn't hear him try to talk to me, because he was standing five feet behind me. He was looking for someone named Phil, and decided I looked Phil enough. Instead of following me into the store or waiting for me to take my (highly visible) headphones off, he slammed me into the front window of the store and used his club to pin my arm behind my back.
After finally showing him three (3!) forms of ID, I was finally allowed to get back to work. When I criticized his methods, he threatened to ticket me with obstruction and resisting arrest.
No apologies, no explanations. Just "Get the fuck out of here before I arrest you (paraphrased)." I reported him, which only means that no action was ever taken against him.
And this wasn't the first or last time the police have fucked with me. They "lost" my $750 bike after I was in an accident last year.
I wish to live in a city that regularly has groups of anonymous citizens ambush police and beat them senseless, just to remind them that they're only as powerful as we allow them to be.

 

[Deleted]

I'd like to hear the teen so I can decide if it really sounded like a "mocking voice", in which care the cop's actions would be just a tad bit more understandable.

 

[Dags90]

Or...you could blame the kid for doing what the rest of us seem to have no problem doing: follow the law and when you break it, yield to the police. Is that really so hard? No, no it isn't.

According to the one article, the boy is sufficiently disabled as to not be able to even stand trial for what he did, ?Jesse was declared incompetent by the Montgomery County Juvenile Court and the charges against Jesse were dismissed,? the lawsuit states.

The kid did nothing legally wrong. The cops need better training to recognize and deal with disabilities and more training on appropriate taser use. This is almost as bad as that time cops tasered that guy in a diabetic coma. Oh wait, there's more than one of those!

Taser companies push their products on improperly trained police officers and encourage their widespread use, when they should be used much less frequently. My state operates fine without police using tasers.

 

[Poptart Invasion]

"Jesse was charged with assault on a peace officer"
What the fuck?! Unless the story here is incomplete, there was no assault or obstruction in any way. And since those two charges are bogus, the kid couldn't be arrested for resisting arrest (obviously).

I sincerely hope those incompetent fucks will not only be fired, but also criminally charged.

At the end of the article, it says that all the charges against the kid were dropped and the cop is being prosecuted/sued for: "false imprisonment, false arrest, malicious prosecution, assault, battery, excessive use of force, infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy. "

Awesome! I mean, not really. It shouldn't have ever happened. But it shows that, in this case at least, the system still works.

Throw the fucking book at him.

 

[Dags90]

Its kind of hard to argue that the kid didnt break the law because every single story says that yes he did and then he fled from the officer. The only thing the court decided is that the kid is not competent enough to be held responsible for his actions not that he didnt do anything wrong.

The courts decide when laws are actually broken, not the cops. And they said he can't even stand trial, much less be held accountable. End of story, he didn't actually break the law. The police apprehended him thinking he did. They were mistaken and should be better trained to recognize people with disabilities and how to handle them.

 

[Dags90]

That is true but its not relevent in this case. Nobody not even the kid or his mom is denying that he broke the law, because he did. They 100% admit that when they say he ran from the cops.

They admit that he did what the police said he did. The boy isn't prosecutable in juvenile court, which is specifically designed for people with less capacity to appreciate the law.

And it is relevant. You said we should "blame the kid for doing what the rest of us seem to have no problem doing". He's not 'the rest of us', and he shouldn't be blamed if he can't substantially appreciate his actions.

 

[Liudeius]

Police officers are absurdly brutal. Even on COPS, when they know they are on camera, they will throw someone to the ground and curb stomp them (ok, just kneel on their face) just for asking what they did wrong.

It makes sense, their lives could be on the line so they really can't take chances, but even if you trip while following their directions word for word you can expect to be gangraped then jailed for a assault of an officer.

 

[Le_Lisra]

Fun fact:
If a patrol cop would bring sth like this were I live he can pretty well just hand in his badge. The idea is pretty much inconceivable.

If a riot cop does that, nothing happens.


Sad every time how people (from the 2nd article it seems also the neighbours and family) freak out in stress situations, but what can you do. Except hope for some sort of justice afterwards.

Edit:
I find it fascinating that the mother and the friend were actually found guilty. Either that was a very strange judge or they didn't explain their story very well.. I mean, they didn't act quite right, but circumstances, man, circumstances.. bias? Perish the thought.