# Shreveport Officer Wiley Willis reinstated **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 13, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283 "2009-08-13T13:45:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pantheon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@pantheon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantheon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/21 "2009-08-13T17:48:16Z")
She admitted back then that she tried to leave the room again after the camera was shut off. He says she fell in the struggle of preventing her from leaving the room, she says he grabbed her and slammed her face in to the door, and then in to the large black filing cabinet visible in video. A camera in the next room caught the audio of banging and crashing on metal, but again is circumstantial enough to fit either story. > **[La. Woman Admits to Attempting to Leave the Booking Room](https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/WaterCooler/Story?id=4309643&page=1)** > > A woman says officer beat her after he turned off camera. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/22 "2009-08-13T17:50:34Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Interesting side note: > I Googled “Wesley Willis Shreveport” and the fifth hit was a S\*\*\*mfront thread entitled, “Law Enforcement Brutality Against Aryan Woman”. I guess they figured Wesley Willis sounded like a black guy. [Well, yeah.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Willis) ROCK AND ROLL MCDONALD’S! ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/23 "2009-08-13T17:50:45Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Nor does the officer in question seem very agitated or upset when the camera is turned back on - if he was angry enough to beat the crap out of this woman, he calmed down quite fast. I have no real opinion on who is telling the truth, here, but just wanted to say that in my experience, the above does not necessarily indicate that he didn’t beat the crap out of her. I’ve seen a person angrily beat the shit out of their kid (not just a spanking; I do mean beating) and then act calm and normal the second they’re done. I don’t know if it’s compartmentalization, or good acting, or what, but it happens. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/24 "2009-08-13T17:52:49Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I don’t know if it’s compartmentalization, or good acting, or what, but it happens. The sobering realization that you’ve just [del]lost your job[/del] earned 18 months’ paid leave? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/25 "2009-08-13T18:02:43Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > In [an appearance on Good Morning America](http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/WaterCooler/story?id=4309643&page=1) she did, apparently (well, close): Thanks. I didn’t see any blood on the locker, or the inside of the door, but perhaps it doesn’t show up on video. FTR, the woman also denied that she was DWI, so at least part of her story is not credible. With the presumption of innocence, the cop walks without a doubt. Based on the balance of the evidence, he still walks - the woman was clearly obstreperous, admits she tried to escape, and resisted efforts to put her in the chair. It seems more likely she fell on her face, being drunk and enraged, in the course of the cop restraining her. But like I say, we will never know. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/26 "2009-08-13T18:30:39Z")
The default position is the cop was probably guilty of abusing her. It is not rare. They are pros and know how to cover their tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/27 "2009-08-13T18:46:05Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > [Well, yeah.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Willis) ROCK AND ROLL MCDONALD’S! Fixed link. I WUPPED BATMAN’S ASS! ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/28 "2009-08-13T19:03:11Z")
Thanks, **Biffy**. Rock over London, rock on Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/29 "2009-08-13T21:54:40Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Absolutely true. she was gaming the system and deserved to be beaten. She planned it all along to get 400k ,which she knew she could get just by getting her face smashed up. How she got the cameras turned off ,i don’t know. she was really good at it though. Find anywhere where I said she deserved to be beaten or that she planned it all along. You can’t and so you won’t. I was responding to \*\*Really Not All That Bright’s \*\* really not all that bright statement that Tipsey McStaggers’s injuries were inconsistent with a fall. The profit part was a joke, sort of like you. Since the officer’s conduct in the footage appeared appropriate, I assumed that \*\*Really Not All That Bright’s \*\* conclsuion that the cop was obviously guilty was based on suspicion resulting from a gap in the footage, so I offered an explanation for the gap in the footage. Of course, this should be pretty clear to anyone reading this thread. Then again, someone who thinks that whenever there is an accusation of abusive police practices, the presumption is that the cop is in the wrong, is not exactly the type of person with whom I’d expect to have a reasoned discussion. From you posts in this and other threads, I assume you’re politically liberal. As another liberal allow me the following: Please, stop talking and writing. You hurt us; really, you do. ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/30 "2009-08-13T21:58:11Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Fixed link. I WUPPED BATMAN’S ASS! I said cut that mullet dammit ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/31 "2009-08-14T04:51:14Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Interesting that, for all the blood that was spilled, none of it got on the officer who allegedly beat her. Nor were there any marks on the knuckles of his right hand, if he punched her with that hand. Nor does the officer in question seem very agitated or upset when the camera is turned back on - if he was angry enough to beat the crap out of this woman, he calmed down quite fast. > > I guess we will never know for certain. > > Regards, > Shodan It strikes me also that in the case of a beating, the blood would be/should have been smeared all over the place. Instead, there’s just a pool of it with no ragged edges in a spot where she very likely kissed the floor. And it isn’t apparent that every surface of her face was damaged by individual blow. Her nose and lips were likely damaged when she kissed the floor, and her eyes were blackened by the broken nose. My verdict: the officer was trying to subdue her, she slipped/fell/was perhaps forcibly assisted on her way down by an exasperated officer. Who knows? But what I am reasonably sure of is that there was no “beating” administered. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/32 "2009-08-14T06:03:33Z")
I’m perfectly comfortable with finding beyond a reasonable doubt that a woman in the care and custody of the police who suffers harsh injuries had them done by the cops. Now that’s just my opinion, I’m not twelve people too dumb to get out of jury duty. The fact that the officer went and turned off the camera isn’t necessary to me except if someone wanted to argue premeditation and malice aforethought. It only changes the degree. Just my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/33 "2009-08-14T12:03:29Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I’m perfectly comfortable with finding beyond a reasonable doubt that a woman in the care and custody of the police who suffers harsh injuries had them done by the cops. Every drunk who falls down while in custody was abused by the police? That’s idiotic. Just my opinion. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![whole\_bean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@whole\_bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whole_bean)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/34 "2009-08-14T14:57:06Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I’m perfectly comfortable with finding beyond a reasonable doubt that a woman in the care and custody of the police who suffers harsh injuries had them done by the cops. Based on that fact (police custody) alone? Really? [QUOTE= The Second Stone] I’m not twelve people too dumb to get out of jury duty. [/QUOTE] Assuming, I correclty understand the statement quoted at the top of this post, “too dumb” might just be the reason you would get out of it. ---
**Author:** ![pantheon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@pantheon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantheon)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/35 "2009-08-14T16:35:02Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > My verdict: the officer was trying to subdue her, she slipped/fell/was perhaps forcibly assisted on her way down by an exasperated officer. Who knows? But what I am reasonably sure of is that there was no “beating” administered. Forcibly assisted is very possible. She, and the blood, are awfully far in to the room (toward camera, away from door) for her to have fallen trying to struggle _out_ the door (which her and officer both agreed is when whatever happened)and falling. At a minimum, it almost had to involve another spinning struggle which resulted in her pointing _away_ from the door and landing on her face in an opposing direction some distance from the door. Otherwise, you would think she would have fallen in to the hallway/doorway, or at least pointing towards it (since they both testified/agreed that was her goal when it happened). OR he smashed her face in to the door&/locker, and then helped her fall a couple stumbling steps away back in to the room. Obviously broken noses bleed copiously…I guess I’m wondering if it’s a near instantaneous explosion of blood, or if it takes a second or two (all it would take to be shoved/spin away from and slip, etc.) back towards the center of the room. Also note, the door was closed, and she was handcuffed. He could have as easily stood there and laughed at her until she moved so he could _let her out of the room_ to go to processing, which was the next step and supposedly why he shut the camera off. I guess I have to defer to his captain who watched the entire video and then fired his ass. At a minimum, why the hell did he not have another officer (preferrably female) present if he had such a drunk, combative person to deal with? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/36 "2009-08-14T16:38:36Z")
> [@pantheon](#): > > OR he smashed her face in to the door&/locker, and then helped her fall a couple stumbling steps away back in to the room. Obviously broken noses bleed copiously…I guess I’m wondering if it’s a near instantaneous explosion of blood, or if it takes a second or two (all it would take to be shoved/spin away from and slip, etc.) back towards the center of the room. I’ve broken my nose twice; the first time I was hit in the face with a cricket bat (accidentally) and more or less instantaneously deluged blood; the second, I hit my face on a door, and gradually produced a puddle. ---
**Author:** ![pantheon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@pantheon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantheon)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/37 "2009-08-14T17:08:36Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’ve broken my nose twice; the first time I was hit in the face with a cricket bat (accidentally) and more or less instantaneously deluged blood; the second, I hit my face on a door, and gradually produced a puddle. Which, of course, fits with either/both stories. :smack: A violent faceplant and faucet on the spot, or being slammed in to door/locker and then being “helped” back towards center of room before/as flow starts. From the comments on another site from time of original incident (I can’t get either to work, or search up the stories on root url/page, much to my chagrin): Here are links for two updates that have come out since this story broke. The first one is where after she’s wheeled out of that room, a police officer hands another one his camera phone and says, “Here, take a picture of me layin’ in the blood so I can freak my kids out.” [http://www.ktbs.com/news/Second-police-officer-joked-about-Garbarino’s-injuries-9685/](http://www.ktbs.com/news/Second-police-officer-joked-about-Garbarino%E2%80%99s-injuries-9685/) The second one is the video from the other room where you can hear the slams against the wall. [http://www.ktbs.com/news/Second-camera-records-sound-of-collisions-where-Garbarino,-officer-were-struggling-9794/](http://www.ktbs.com/news/Second-camera-records-sound-of-collisions-where-Garbarino,-officer-were-struggling-9794/) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/38 "2009-08-14T17:29:10Z")
> [@pantheon](#): > > Officer Willis was reinstated today by the Civil Service Board (with a year and a half of back pay) because his rights were violated by the polygraph (during investigation) not being recorded (or videotaped, as required by the Officer’s Bill of Rights). The operator hired to do the 'graph says he was not made aware of the requirement to do so. The interesting thing is that they allow the use of a polygraph, which is about as accurate and scientific as palm reading. :dubious: So, apparently he was fed on the basis of the Polygraph, which is BS to start. If it was so clear that he assaulted her, they would not have relied on a polygraph in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/39 "2009-08-14T18:37:48Z")
I thought I read in one of the articles that the officer was fired for failing to render first aid. But he was not informed of this, which was another violation of his rights. I imagine the polygraph was because there was no other evidence - as several have pointed out, the circumstances fit both stories, whether she fell face-first because she was handcuffed (and drunk), or was slammed face-first. On reflection, I no longer think it at all significant that there was no blood on the locker or the officer’s hand. I think it has been established that she incurred her facial injuries from hitting the floor. The woman continued the behavior she showed in the video of screaming and trying to get away, the officer tried to take her down and subdue, and she banged off the locker and door before finally hitting the floor, and she couldn’t break her fall with her hands (as one generally does) because she was cuffed. To which I have to reiterate, who gives a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut? If you want to avoid the risk of injury from being subdued in the course of a lawful arrest, then don’t resist. If a police officer gives you a legal command, you don’t get to say No. If the officer tells you to sit down and take a Breathalyzer, you don’t get to start thrashing around the room. And if you start thrashing, it is the correct course of action for the officer to **make** you sit down. And it is extremely difficult to subdue someone without hurting them. All the restraint holds I know (and I used to teach H2H) can break your arm. If you Taser them, people go nuts. If you use a nightstick, they go nutser. If you just try to wrestle them to the ground to pin them until they stop struggling, sometimes they fall and break their noses. And there will always be some pin heads whose default assumption is that the cops are wrong, even without evidence. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283/40 "2009-08-14T19:07:26Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > On reflection, I no longer think it at all significant that there was no blood on the locker or the officer’s hand. I think it has been established that she incurred her facial injuries from hitting the floor. The woman continued the behavior she showed in the video of screaming and trying to get away, the officer tried to take her down and subdue, and she banged off the locker and door before finally hitting the floor, and she couldn’t break her fall with her hands (as one generally does) because she was cuffed. She’s a small woman who was cuffed. _I_ could take her down with a minimum of fuss, drunk or sober, and my martial arts training began and ended when I was about nine. I’m not really sure how you reached your conclusion here. I was all set to retract my assertion that he was definitely guilty (since, on reflection, it appears that the injuries are not clear-cut evidence) and then you posted the video with the audio of her being slammed into the wall. 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shreveport-officer-wiley-willis-reinstated/506283.md?page=3)