In what world is a fifteen year old a child? Minor, sure but hardly a child.
I’d agree that the officer reacted in surprise and anger and punched her when she bit him but it did happen a split second after the bite and then he went right to the spray. IMO that’s well within the bounds of understandable human behavior for a trained police officer. She, physically assaulted a police officer while resisting arrest. The officer has every right to protect himself and make sure she cannot harm him. He’s under no obligation to allow himself to be injured by someone resisting arrest because she’s a skinny girl. Your ideal of what a police officer should do is totally unrealistic IMO. We’ve had some posts indicating what can happen to an officer who underestimates the person he’s dealing with. What the hell was he supposed to do with her while he was calling for backup smart guy?
Moderator’s Warning:Hamlet, you need to either cool it with the personal insults here or take it to the Pit.
Was there some point to this post?
Everyone, please remember to debate the issues, not attack the other poster. If you feel you can’t do that anymore, step away from the computer or open a Pit thread about it.
I have read this thread without being moved to comment, but I do want to assure you that your are not alone in your viewpoint, here. I agree with the above statement.
Lets say the cop did punch the girl with a decent amount of force after she bit him, is there any real reason why he shouldn’t have?
I don’t see a problem with cops giving spoiled brats a little taste of reality if they ever try to attack a police officer. Fifteen is old enough to know that bitting a cop is wrong and that is enough.
The fact that she is a weak little girl doesn’t matter, the cop didn’t do any serious damage. It looked like he wanted knock her out cold after she bit him but instead wisely opted for the pepper spray. Can someone tell me why is it alright to hit a guy attacking a police officer, while it’s not alright to hit a girl. Why does the gender make a difference?
The officer here chose take a beating instead of stopping a dispute that had the potential to cause more damage. That is a great policeman. :rolleyes:
A policeman voluntarily injured by suspects is becoming part of the problem, therefore not an acceptable decision. If they were truly beating the shit out of them, he has every right to defend himself with lethal force if need be. If two people want to attack a cop, I would expect at least one to end up with a couple bullets in them.
The police officer did the right thing. He reflexively punched her after she bit him. He was very nice and professional. He was worried that if he pulled her arms hard enough to cuff her, her tiny little elbows might pop.
It seems like a bunch of armchair police experts think this is excessive force, I would ask what level of force is acceptable to cuff a squirming, biting, hysterical loon?
I’m as wary of out of control authority as the next person, but neither this case (the teen being pepper sprayed) nor the case that you just mentioned are violations of rights. Are you saying that a police officer should let himself be beaten up just so long as he’s reasonably sure that the people doing so won’t hurt other people?
Yes, but then I’ve had this problem with “fairness” since grade school. As I posted earlier, I am naive.
Wish I had a cite for the incident. It was local news several years ago. I may be misusing the term “field strip”. The news story said “took his gun apart”. I took this to mean like the old Beretta my Father owned; all you had to do was pull the slide back with the safety on, slap the barrel and you the frame, slide, barrel and a couple of smaller pieces.
Carry on.
I think he would have been all right if he’d have tased her, although I understand why he might have tried to avoid it. The pepper spray looked bad, but it was also justified. The punch after she bit him? I’d have hit her harder.
If it was a 92FS or the like its not quite that simple as the slide has to be aligned with a specific point and flip the slide release lever/button before it can be released and disassembled. Dad may have had it down to a couple quick motions, but there were several steps happening quickly in there. Its not something you will be able to do consistently under pressure unless you drill it alot more than the average cop. The last thing the cop wants to practice doing under pressure is disabling/discarding his weapon.
You’re unaware of the fact that people lash out when they are subjected to sudden pain? Really? Because I thought most people became aware of this when they were two.
Cite? Like I informed the previous poster on this subject, if you can provide a peer-reviewed scientific article that endorses this opinion, then please post it. I suggest you click here and take a moment to understand how the brain handles a sudden, painful stimulus.
Clearly, however, the preponderence of evidence suggests that reflex responses -both CNS and PNS - to pain is to withdraw the affected limb. Which can be seen in this study where scientists examine the efficacy of a pain-reducing agent via anociceptive assay called a hot plate test. If you’re still convinced that nociception reflexes cause the affected limb to lash out or move toward the source pain, try clicking here, here, here and, if you enjoy pictures and wikipedia instead, try here and, for good measure, here.
The idea that “people lash out when they are subjected to pain” would rest squarely under conscious control. In other words, the officer hit the kid because he wanted to not because of some imaginary, unnamed reflex many posters are trying to “will” into existence.
This seems almost like a parody of a straight dope post. “Cite?” “Peer-reviewed article?” No. I will put absolutely no effort into proving that people who are bitten tend to lash out.
If you bite someone they’ll punch you. end of story.
“A 15 year old girl won’t hold still, and bit me.”
“For fuck suck Algher, we trained you to take down criminals and you can’t handle a 15 year old girl? Pepper spray the bitch, cuff her, book her for resisting arrest and assaulting an officer along with everything else, and when you are down report to the chief for meter-reading patrol since you can’t handle a simple arrest.”
There’s a difference between what you’re saying and what we’re saying. Human reaction is to withdraw from something that causes pain. In this case, the policeman could not withdraw. He was forced to subdue.
There’s a reason why fights happen. There’s a reason why people “see red” when they’re attacked. There’s a reason why the courts acknowledge “crimes of passion” as mitigating circumstances. That reason is that people that can’t run fight back instinctively. That’s what this was, and your assertion that it was calculated is based on your attempt to find fault with the officer under any circumstances.
