More police tomfoolery in the land of the free.
 

What kind of police force hires these goons? Just hired thugs who passed the "rigorous" training process hiding behind the shield. If I were the chief of one of these districts, I'd be fucking embarrassed.

Tragic accident?

How is slamming somebody against a wall with brute force a tragic fucking accident? The Schutzstaffel would be proud.

Re: More police tomfoolery in the land of the free.
 

Cops that do that kind of shit should at a minimum loose their jobs and depending on what they've done should serve time in jail.

Re: More police tomfoolery in the land of the free.
 

In reality, this hardly ever happens.

Re: More police tomfoolery in the land of the free.
 

how fortunate for the US to have such keen eyed eagles as their protectors...

*brownie points if you get the referance*

Re: More police tomfoolery in the land of the free.
 

While that is true, this kind of behavior by the police should be punished when it does occur to send a clear message that it will not be tolerated.

Re: More police tomfoolery in the land of the free.
 

Warhammer dawn of war? So the good Inquisitor senses no Chaos on Tartarus. How fortunate for the Imperium that such keen-eyed eagles stand vigil over her gates." 'Under Siege'



anyways...


America land of the free, free to the people in uniform!

Re: More police tomfoolery in the land of the free.
 

I don't find that so very surprising, to be honest. Police officer isn't exactly the best-paid job in the world and it often doesn't require a whole lot of education either (I think in Germany you can join the police with the lowest form of school education available).

The surprising thing is perhaps how many good police officers there are under these circumstances.

Re: More police tomfoolery in the land of the free.
 

1st one shouldn't have run.

2nd one we have a lot of talk from the guy with the camera about what's gone on but no real evidence. We don't know what the EMT is supposed to have done or what's going on.

3rd one I remembering being on TV with a gun involved or something like that.

And any of these I could have just dubbed the audio over to make things look entirely different. The camera may not lie but it's certainly selective with the truth.

Re: More police tomfoolery in the land of the free.
 

What Nemmerle said.

Here is the complete video footage from the incident.


I think the situation looks a bit different now.

Never trust a single youtube clip alone. Too many people know how to use video editing software...



Depends on the hierarchy level and the German state.
In some states (i. e. Lower Saxony) the three-level system has been replaced with a two-level system.

All police officers in these states need at least Fachhochschulreife/Abitur to study at the police college/university.

Re: More police tomfoolery in the land of the free.
 

Looks painfull but there is no footage of just before the incident (did the man react aggresively? did he indeed run? In which manner did the polite tried to attract his attention?

Having said that, it's unfortunate that the officer jumped on the man in such a manner with the outcome as shown there (guy gets in a coma).

It's a bit unclear what happend here before the incident... the camera of the patrolcar (and ambulance, if it was equiped with a camera) would be useful. The video discription says (which may be true or false, can't verify it myself) that:

"the policecar (lgiths on, sirens off) tried to pass the ambulance (no lights, no sirene). The ambulance didn't gave way (didn't see the policecar?) so the officer said over the radio that the ambulance driver should check his mirrors more often. He pulled the ambulance over, the officer says the ambulance driver/paramedic assaulted the policeofficer, the paramedic denies this and says he didn't do anything till the policeofficer grabbed him forcefully by the arm. Some arguments go on, guy gets arrested."

So we'd need to know:
- How long did it take for the ambulance to notice the police car? it's not like you check your rear every minute but if it's more then 10 minutes it would show bad driving skills of the ambulance driver)
- Is it plausible that the ambulance didn't gave way on purpose?
- Did the policecar had right of way (if US law is the same as Dutch law that "emergency vehicles only have right of way when if sirene and lights are both on" (just lights or sirenes do NOT grand right of way) then the answer would be no.
- Who acted aggresively first be it through words, grabbing, pushing etc?

Again, misses the start of the incident. But it looks painful regardless (thi guy coulod have ended up wiht bad injuries). Were there no other, better options like a tazer, pepperspray or other?



This shows that the guy was not an innocent passer by. But still, as above what other options were tried (available) before they decided to knock the guy down with a car (which could mean the guy would hit the curb and break his neck among other possible injuries).

But indeed, a video can't be trusted as telling the whole story due to possible manipulation, poor timing (not taping the start of the incident or what triggered the incident), the view point etc. It can however raise attention and awareness about potential abuse which need further investigation. Tapes can be used as evidence in combination with eye withness reports and the like (if the reports are trustworthy and it seems unlikely the tape has been editted in any shape or form).