I’m not going to play this game.
Perhaps it would be best if cops just preemptively peppered sprayed everyone they were intending on detaining or arresting? That would seem like a very rational, well thought out “in control” thing to do. Then cops wouldn’t have to let themselves get bitten and then worry about their reflexes.
My father was a policeman for 35 years; I could never understand why some people argued with a man who wore a badge and carried a gun. He was pretty proud of the fact that, after all those years of arresting people, he never once let one “get away” and he never once actually hurt anybody arresting them.
If she were your daughter, she wouldn’t have been in that predicament in the first place. Every kid pushes the limits, but somehow I don’t think any daughter of yours would pick a fight with a cop. I have to wonder whether she was more afraid of what her parents were going to do to her; in this day and age, that can indicate some pretty serious stuff going on at home.
Are you kidding me? THIS is your explanation in “Great Debates?”
You ask the opinion of a REAL LIVE black person and report your findings?!? Golly gee, did you find her out in the wild or is she a raised in captivity black person?
You don’t even realize how your arguments and “proof” makes you seem cluelessly prejudiced with each comment you make.
No actually that is really sort of a silly policy. However, pepper spraying some hysterical fool that’s biting you is totally acceptable.
If the cop made a conscious decision to hit her, if he set his feet and unloaded a full-shoulder swing that put her into next week…
… she still woulda deserved it.
Oh geez :smack:. So in other words, you’re saying that the police officer may suffer from a psychiatric disorder that prevents him from making rational decisions on the job? And that his disorder makes it OK to punch a kid in the face? Do you extend this logic to other jobs of importance like judges, parole officers, or child advocates? This is precisely why I believe federal government need to force States to stop arming these slathering, GED-holding ingrates with guns.
If this officer was in permanent fight-or-flight mode due to stress then he should have called for backup, saw a mental health professional, or perhaps took a break from the force. If he is suffering from any type of mental health problem, he should not be on the streets with a gun. Period.
- Honesty
Smacking someone who just bit you is not an indication of a mental health problem, unless being a human being who doesn’t like to be bit is a mental health problem. It’s Ok to punch anyone who bites you whether you’re a cop or not, or whether the biter is a pro boxer or a fifteen year old.
That is interesting.
I notice that people here aren’t swayed by the fact that she is fifteen. You don’t seem to be moved, either. Would your opinion change if she was 9? 10? 11? 12? 13? 14? What if she just turned 15, two days before the incident? What is the arbitrary, magical number? What if she suffers from a mental handicap? Is it still good?
- Honesty
Let’s hope you don’t have children or work with them.
- Honesty
But she’s not 9, 10, 11, 12. And he didn’t hit her twice. What’s with all the what ifs?
She’s fifteen, yeah, but I don’t think that’s the issue. The issue is that she was rowdy enough to warrant being pepper sprayed. No, ideally, he wouldn’t have hit her, but he did have to subdue her, fifteen or not.
never mind, it’s not worth it.
When he punched her, that was clearly a natural reaction to the bite, to hit whatever is biting you. I don’t think he handled the situation wrong at all, in fact, I think he did a great job and purposely moved the girl in front of the camera, which was a good idea. This isn’t to say that cops don’t abuse authority, because they do. But not here.
Honestly, I think the “15 year old kid” was fucked up on something myself. Her speech sounded slurred, well beyond the crying factor.
…and what if your mom had balls, would she be your dad?
…and what if frogs had wings, would they still hop on their ass?
Who cares? She was old enough to know the consequences of her actions, she bit the cop, and he reacted in a perfectly understandable manner. She wasn’t 10. She wasn’t 4.
It’s amazing that rather than addressing the issue you bring up hypotheticals in order to justify your stance. What’s the matter, can’t your argument stand on its own merits?
I think you know the answer to that, otherwise you wouldn’t be resorting to absurdity with your "what-if"s.
Nice stawman, but no. I was just curious to see whether opinions would change if she was younger or if she had a mental handicap. The argument is that she was “old enough” to know better is kind of arbitrary. I am trying to understand what the precise cutoff for being “old enough” is. It was a rather simple question - Yes or No. It wasn’t meant as an intellectual curveball. I tell you what, let’s pretend I never asked it and continue on with the discussion.
- Honesty
Would your opinion change if he’d slapped her, or pushed her firmly with his hand on her forehead to keep her from biting him again? If there’s some magical arbitrary age value where something moves from acceptable to not acceptable, where the magical arbitrary violence level where police response moves from okay to not-okay? Feel free to take several minutes composing your response; the cop who made his decision in under a second will understand.
No that’s a straw man you’re pushing forward because you can’t form a cogent argument. You purposely misconstrue what people are saying because your own stance is downright silly.
Shouldn’t you at least try to live up to your handle?
Jesus Christ Doors would you get this right? The correct question is: If frogs had wings, would they still bounce their ass all over town? 
I think the cop showed great restraint. If she had bit me I would have bounced her head off the hood of the car so hard it would have left dents. Several dents. As in more than two. Or three.
She was clearly out of control. While the pepper spay did not bring her completely in control, it allowed the officer to get her cuffed.
The age of the girl doesn’t matter. Age is usually relevant because it implies something else that does matter. What I think matters is if the girl is capable of knowing that what she was doing was wrong. The younger a child gets, the more likely it is that he or she isn’t capable of understanding right from wrong. If the child isn’t capable, then force becomes useless and immoral.
The age of 12 is where my sociology textbook says that people are capable of understanding why things are wrong. If I had to make a blanket rule using just the age of the individual, the age of 12 is where I would draw the line. However, if I know that a ten year old girl has a good understanding of why biting a cop is wrong, I’m OK with a cop hitting her back if she attacks the officer. By fifteen, you are certainly capable of learning that bitting an officer is wrong. If you did not learn this buy know, a good smack on the head and some pepper spray is what you need.
If she was mentally retarded, and hence incapable of understanding her actions or learning right from wrong, then I would say the officer went too far with the punch.
There needs to be a reason why hitting a 15 year old is wrong other than the fact that she is 15. What is your reason?
Because all police officers, in Honesty’s world, are “slathering [sic], GED-holding ingrates with guns.” :rolleyes: