I think these cops should just ask themselves what would Andy or Barney do?
Im not condoning what the old man did, but some sense of discrepancy should have played into his cultural differences, his obvious old age, and possibly mental acuity.
Your not changing anyone's mind here as I see it so just keep pounding your drum and see how well that goes lol.
Which is what the old man should have done, but he was trying to argue his case. Touching a cop isn't the tactic he needed to do, be it an aggressive move or as stated earlier a bad habit, but did the officer overreact or could he have easily just turned and cuffed him? A question just for you.
I've never disagreed from word one , I've said multiple times that the cop probably could have used better judgement. But I am not gonna be the cop lynch mob on this one either . Objectivity is being able to look at the facts here. No way to slice it the old man made every bad move and helped escalate things to places it didn't have to go though.
The world has too many feels now , and the fact is this is a lesson everyone here should have learned at 6 years old. Don't touch a cop and be polite while you're at it and no cops aren't more violent now than they were when I was kid.
When I was growing up attitude adjustments were given more frequently than now and with far less public scrutiny . Its not endorsement of right or wrong, it just is what it is.
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Furthermore, I wouldn't have done what the old man did, but I'm 55 and not 75 with any language barrier or other cultural differences that might make me not understand the situation. And no dementia (thank god).
The way you guys say "touch" a cop like it's some kind of cardinal sin is funny. Maybe rhat little thing is an arrestable offense, but slamming him is absurd. Just grab his arm and put cuffs on him like cops do all over the country everyday without slamming them into the pavement. This really isn't that hard to figure out.
I've called him on it, but I also understand why he'd react that way. It's almost reflex, and definitely muscle memory. Guy my size would still go down, and still get hurt, but probably not quite as badly. I'm just shy of 6 feet tall, and right at 250 pounds, and a lot of it cushion. It will probably end his police career. And it should. That sort of response is appropriate in a soldier in a combat zone. It's not really appropriate in a cop. Though the mean streets are a hell of a lot meaner than they were when I was younger.
I've worked wit a bunch of military cops, and a few civilian cops, and there were cops hanging out at my dad's house much oh the time when I was a kid. Run into more than a few with that sort of attitude. Also a lot of good cops, and a few really terrible cops. One AF cop I knew when I was still pretty young could not wait for her chance to actually kill someone. Fortunately those were pretty rare.
Basically, we agree with a couple of caveats.
I think the lynch mob has a point though. We all see the facts. It's on the video. The cop was overly aggressive when a de-escalation tactic would have been prudent. No amount of saying it's against the law can justify the actions of said cop.
It was indeed against the law and the officer had several choices to make. He took the wrong one.
The old man deserved to be arrested, but not at the level that could and did have to potential to cause death or permanent bodily harm.
Police officers are not judge and jury.
They don't get to determine the punishment for a crime committed against them, no more than a citizen does against someone who would tap them on the chest with the back of the hand in a bar or shopping mall which is also illegal if an act of aggression in some situations. Each scenario would get a verbal warning as stated earlier until the situation escalated, where the person being assaulted could respond legally.
I've had a run in with a cop in the recent past, while carrying my 1911. A guy called in on my in a restaurant, where I was legal to carry, and the officer walked up and told me to stand up and turn around. I did exactly what he said. He escorted me out without me knowing WTF was the reason. He told me in the parking lot and I assure him I wasn't using my weapon in any manner other than carrying. He simply said, I know but I had to check it out and he gave my gun back and uncuffed me, after running my clean record, and said, "if this had been a young cop, you'd be in the county lockup". I asked why, and he said because those young cops carry a chip on their shoulder.
Go figure
