Remember this?
Remember the hue and cry over this cop punching a woman trying to intervene when he was making an arrest.
THIS is why maybe we should re-think our outrage, from Sun News:
Two Calgary men have been charged in the vicious beating of a Lethbridge Regional Police constable Wednesday morning.I work in downtown Lethbridge. Day in and day out I see how our local police treats our less fortunate citizens with respect and consideration. To read that probably within a stone's throw of my office this officer was beaten by some scumbag pieces of garbage makes me sick.
Const. Norman Smith, with nearly two years on the force and three prior to that with Edmonton police, suffered a broken nose, broken cheekbone and serious head injuries in the attack about 2 a.m.
Lethbridge police spokesman Staff Sgt. Zealand Leavitt said the officer saw two men walking on a south-side street when he approached them.
It's unclear why the men were being arrested, but Leavitt said the officer managed to handcuff one when the other one, who initially fled, returned and launched a vicious attack.
Maybe it's time that Canadians got off of the "excessive use of force" bandwagon and really considered the reality of the potential violence that police officers face every day, and how easy it is for us to criticize them from behind the curtain of safety that they provide us.
Maybe THIS is why we should give our police the benefit of the doubt when they believe they need to use force in securing an arrest:
2 comments:
Your logic escapes me. Because one police officer is beaten up, we should excuse the actions of any other police officer?
We had a case here in Kelowna a few weeks ago that's all over Youtube and the international TV Networks. The RCMP officer is one of the bad ones,a rogue that should be booted off the force. Kelowna RCMP have officially apologized to the victim.
Then there's the infamous Dziekanski case,another case of bad cops vastly overstepping their authority.
One case has no connection to the other,a cop gets beaten up,let's see the perpetrators do real prison time when they're caught,and if the cops are a bit rough when they arrest them, I have no problem with it.
This video is impossible to make a judgement on,as there's no context. Who are these women?
Are they chartered accountants out for a walk on their lunch break and being harassed by a cop for jaywalking? Are they hookers and drug addicts known to police? Did they just hold up a liquor store?
I always give the benefit of the doubt to the cops,but we've had too many cases where bullying thugs have made their way into the ranks of the police departments,so every case has to be judged on it's own merits.
Here in B.C., we've had too many mysterious deaths or beatings in police custody,and too many police officers have shown a propensity for lying to protect their career.
btw,my family has had several members serve as RCMP officers, so don't get the idea I'm one of the knee-jerk reactionaries who hate cops, far from it!
DMorris
DM..
Watching the video, we see the officer making an arrest.. clearly.
Now.
Whether or not that arrest was for lawful purpose (ultimately, it was determined that it was) the issue is in an insecure situation, if someone else begins to physically intervene with an officer dealing with one individual - that can quickly get out of hand and officers can be injured or killed.
So.
The "he didn't need to punch her" liberal scree doesn't carry much weight with me watching what happened to our local officer and the officer in the bottom video.
And as far as Dziekanski goes - I still don't lose much sleep over that situation.
We can all second-guess officers, but the bottom line is when you see someone in uniform with a gun in this country telling you to stand still or lay down - you just do it.
And if you don't - tazer away.
Now.
That being said - I'm a former defence lawyer.
I've had my run-ins with officers who haven't been honest.
But I'm not about to suggest that they put their welfare at risk to "measure with nicety" the response to those who refuse to comply with a direction to stop, be still, hands on the wall... whatever.
And.
In fact, some 30 years or so ago, I accidentally walked into a riot going on in Penticton.
I was approached by three riot cops with full riot gear walking through a park in early evening following a riot on the beach.
As I walked towards them, they told me to stop and turn around.. I walked towards them to ask what was going on and recieved a riot baton in my solar plexis.
I turned around.
And to this day I do not fault them for their response.
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