http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20008037-504083.html
Check the rest of the article, as well as a longer version of the video that starts earlier in the incident, after the jumpSEATTLE (CBS/KIRO/AP) Apparently they take jaywalking very seriously in Seattle.
The Seattle Police Officers' Guild is saying Patrol Officer Ian P. Walsh was justified in punching a 17-year-old girl in the face after she shoved him during a dispute over jaywalking. Rich O'Neil, president of the Officers' Guild, said that Walsh used "appropriate" force when he punched the teen during a struggle with the teen and another woman, 19-year-old Marilyn Levias, according to local station KCPQ.
But many community groups are outraged over what they call an example of police brutality. Seattle Urban League CEO James Kelly says the cell phone video of the incident brings to mind an April 17 video of Seattle police kicking a Hispanic suspect.
"Force never looks good. It's never pretty," acting deputy police chief Nick Metz said of the jaywalking incident. "We do train in the use of punching [but] we do have a number of concerns about the tactics the officer used and employed at the time."
Seattle police are conducting an internal investigation into the incident, but Metz has said the women bear much of the responsibility for resisting arrest. Levias was arrested and booked into the King County Jail for obstructing a police officer. The 17-year-old was handcuffed and booked into the Youth Services Center for investigation of felony assault.
According to court records, Levias had previously been arrested for assaulting a police officer while resisting arrest last year at a youth center where she was a resident at the time. The documents say that Levias kicked a King County Sheriff's deputy in the stomach during the confrontation at the Ruth Dykeman Center in Burien, Wash., about 15 miles south of Seattle.
So this isn't the first time this girl has resisted arrest and assaulted a police officer. And did anyone notice the woman who stood close by the entire time and didn't react ONCE to anything that happened (except to move out of the way)??
Wow......it's very interesting though..the video turns my stomach..I do wonder how things started from the very beginnning. Punched in the face? Ummm...kind of no excuse for that one? If you were defending the cop, can you come up with one?
ReplyDeletelucky it wasn't NY. The cop woulda shot up the crowd.....sad but true. Ooooo, maybe even mowed her down in the patrol car as she jay-walked. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteHmm a defense... I mean on the surface, no there is no defense for punching a 17 year old girl in the face. The only angle I could offer up is that the officers in Seattle are trained to use a punch to the face, and other hand to hand combat moves, to deal with perpetrators resisting and assaulting them. I'm paraphrasing but that is one of the explanations offered by the Seattle police force in defense of this officer. Does that mean he should have used it against a 17 year old girl (whether or not she was coming at him like a dude)? Perhaps not. But he did revert back to what he was taught in the academy as opposed to taking more extreme and/or deadly measures.
ReplyDeleteAs I stated, I dont know if the officers carry tasers in Seattle, but would we have been so offended by his actions had he tased or maced these two girls? Or hit her in the knee with a billy club?? Those are also fairly valid actions to take when the officer's safety is being compromised, I think. But yes, NYPD officers are much quicker to draw their guns in a situation such as this. Sad indeed.