So... how do we feel about this?

I'm sure we all have heard about and/or seen by now the video of the Seattle police officer who got into err... a bit of a scuffle with two Black teenagers earlier this week (and on Martin Luther King Jr Way, of ALL places. Why is there ALWAYS some violence going down on MLKJr. Street/Boulevard/Avenue/Way, no matter what city it's in??) Anyway, if you havent seen it yet, check the video below after the jump

 

Yeaaa....

Now I really want to know you all's thoughts on this one. First off, I don't know how they do in Seattle, but arresting someone for jaywalking?? REALLY?? I mean you'd have to be a serial jaywalker in NY with a splash of disorderly conduct to get arrested for it, and even then it's not that serious. But aside from that ridiculousness, how do we feel about the first woman, the arrestee in black, getting into a scuffle with the officer, and then the friend in the pink intervening, which led to the punch? I would love to be able to see how exactly the altercation first became physical, but since the tape begins with the girl already slapboxing, we can only speculate...

Still in all, I am always very skeptical when a client of mine is charged with "resisting arrest", but this damn sure constitutes the charge. Girl in black is doing everything in her power to wriggle out of the officer's grip while cursing and screaming at him, as he's basically trying to control her hands so he can cuff her. And then here comes her Superfriend to intervene, which is NEVER a good idea when you're brown skinned. WHY did she think this would end well for her?? On the legal side of things, I can think of at least 3 crimes she could have been charged with in the first ten seconds before the boy in blue pulled her back (attempted assault on an officer, disorderly conduct, and obstructing governmental administration). But then she went back for more and shoved the officer so hard he fell off balance. That's assault and harassment added to the list, not to mention seriously pissing off a beat cop. I'll paraphrase Chris Rock and say, "I'm not saying he should have punched her in the eye... but I understand."

The first time Superfriend tried to jump in should have just gotten her arrested, but the second time when she shoved the cop, all bets were off. In my personal opinion, he should have maced both of them, or even tased at least one of their asses (do they do that in Seattle?). Clearly though, he acted out of anger and stole on chick like the dude she was acting like. But I mean that's what happens, right? But of course, everyone around reacted to the punch as if the cop was wrong, whether because he's a cop/she's a civilian, he's white/she's black, he's a man/she's a woman, or maybe a combination of all three. But why are they seemingly dismissing the wrongdoing of the two teenagers just because it ended badly for the one who especially had no business behaving like she did?? And WHY werent there any back up police officers at the scene, or at least a partner? 

I gotta say though, I don't think Al Sharpton jumped out from under the hair dryer to rush to Seattle for this one...