That’s a risk she assumed when she chose to be forcefully restrained. She was given plenty of opportunities to resolve things without violence and she turned them all down.
That’s the company you keep when you claim the power of telediagnosis.
She doesn’t connect, it appears to be more like just flailing with her hand once it gets free.
Looking carefully at the third video, it appears that the officer had his left hand under her left leg after the initial contact, and at least assisted in turning it backwards, if not doing it mostly or completely by himself. It appears to me that she is struggling against him in any way she can rather than intentionally tipping her chair backwards onto the ground.
This officer is in a difficult position, having been called in to remove the girl from the class, when she is not a small person and she is in a school desk/seat from which it is difficult to remove her. At the beginning of the third video he appears to have both hands on her left hand, which presumably contains the phone, so if he could have been satisfied with removing the phone he should have been able to do that. Instead, he moves his right hand around to her right side in the apparent attempt to wedge her out of the seat, and it is against this move that she struggles so strongly.
So much in this situation depends on exactly what the officer was told to do, and how much leeway he might have had to handle it in a manner differently than what he did. If he was told to remove her from the classroom, it’s not clear how else he could have behaved other than not do anything*. There has been a lot said online about how this officer has a history with black students, but I don’t see the relevance of that. With or without such a history, the incident has to stand on its own.
In short, the videos on their own do not tell enough of the story, and the fate of the officer (and the student) should wait for a fair investigation, if such a thing is possible.
*It does appear that he uses unnecessary force at the end, when he drags her free from the chair and throws her along the floor a couple of feel before getting her in the handcuffs. I wish more of that part of the incident were visible in the videos.
Do we know the girl’s age? Can a minor assume that risk, legally, or are you talking out your ass?
Is there a certain age below which people are immune to arrest?
Depending on the state, there are ages where assumption of risk might be a problem. IANALawyer, neither are you, I’d be interested in hearing from one. You, sir, used “that’s a risk she assumed” and I’m wondering if a minor can assume that risk.
And she quite obviously did assume that risk. Whether she was legally empowered to do so by the state is irrelevant to the facts of the situation - she refused the peaceful option and left the officer no option but to restrain her with force.
Why can’t a Pennsylvania ten year old sign a waiver and assume the risk involved with bungee jumping then?
Well, clearly he could have shot her but he exercised restraint. This is where you’re going right?
So you’re saying that no police officer may use physical force to restrain a minor unless they have signed parental consent.
I’m sure that’s going to go over great with the courts, to say nothing of the union.
No, that would have been excessive. He used the appropriate amount of force necessary to extract her from the classroom.
Latest from CNN:
Ask
Tell
Make
That officer followed those steps perfectly. He may have been a little rougher than needed on that third step but he damn sure accomplished it.
That cop wasn’t requested to have a heart to heart with that student. He was called to remove her from the room.
You want hugs and kisses then you call a guidance counselor. You want someone removed from your class NOW you call the police.
She was removed…/the end
Why is that a law enforcement situation? Is he a cop, or a bouncer?
Get
The
Fuck
Over
Yourself
Tough
Guy
Nope, I’m saying that you may have worded your statement incorrectly re: assumption of risk.
The perfect message for anyone who’s ever thought they didn’t have to listen to a cop.
I just heard a student state that the officer is known as “Officer Slam” around the school.
That doesn’t sound good.
Looks like a bouncer here. It used to be that schools just went and got the football coach to deal with it (or any other big male on staff), nowadays some schools have a cop on site for problems. The teacher tried, the Principal tried, so they called in the cop it sounds like.
Female student says she was arrested for videoing the incident.
Another student says the girl was kicked out of class for chewing gum
No idea how accurate these stories are.
The guy’s own boss has said there was no justification for his actions. He’s been suspended without pay and may be fired.
Once again, the job is not to escalate all situations. It is to de-escalate and diffuse the majority of situations he faces. No one (other than monsters like you) wants a tough guy cop fighting and injuring students over crap like this. It isn’t only incredibly inappropriate and unnecessary, but it is a huge font of pissed away tax money in trying to defend the school, pay medical bills and settlements, and pay higher liability insurance.
Ya know, I’m no law enforcement training guy, but you’d think they’d get some direction on this–de-escalation a situation, rather than acting out their tough guy validation fantasies. I think most officers would have handled this more adroitly.
What Smapti and others don’t seem to recognize is that there is a small percentage of bullies in blue–and I’m willing to bet they’re the majority of the stars in these videos.