In my ever-more-depressing scan of my Facebook feed the other day, I came across the following video purporting to depict police brutality. The 58 second version is as follows:
Even in those 58 seconds, how a police officer sees this video is likely going to be very different from how a civilian–especially one with anti-police sentiments–sees the video. But before we launch into the blow-by-blow, I did manage to dig up a much more complete video.
The following video is from YouTube user TJ Sotomayor (TNNRaw2). I’d rather give you a pure, commentary-free version, but this is all I could find. Please note that I don’t endorse everything TJ says in this video, nor have I spent enough time on his website to have an opinion on him, but he deserves credit for supplying the footage.
So, the more complete video immediately makes obvious some things that aren’t apparent in the first video: the very low-use-of-force struggle that went on before the second officer arrived, the continuing attempts by the arrestee to assault the arresting officers, and the patience and restraint shown by the officers once they had established control.
So let’s start at the beginning. Or rather, before the beginning. Genele Laird, the woman seen in this video, was reportedly confronting a Taco Bell employee about a phone she said that person stole. At some point during this confrontation she brandished a knife, and police were called.
I want to interject something here, since I so often hear people say, “He only had a knife! Why didn’t they (disarm him/tackle him/Tase him/shoot him in the arm/leg/talk to him)?” Please remember, a knife is a deadly weapon. (If you watch Blue Bloods, you may have recently heard Tom Sellick’s character claim a knife wound is three times as likely to kill you as a gunshot wound. I’m not convinced that’s accurate.) Here’s another thing I’d like to post more about at a later date, but let’s just note here that when it comes to things that can kill us, we’re going to be aggressive. I don’t know what happened to the knife as of this video, but the fact that the call involved a deadly weapon ups the ante from the beginning.
As the video starts, we see Laird struggling with a police officer, refusing to put her hands behind her back. The officer is being very gentle with her–in my opinion, if anything, he was being too gentle. That’s not a sleight on him, as hindsight is 20/20 and I’d probably be doing the same thing as him, but any cop can tell you that the longer a confrontation is allowed to continue, the greater the chance there is that someone is going to be seriously hurt. It’s better the end a situation decisively than to let it drag on. (On the other hand, maybe he’s dragging it out because he knows backup is coming.)
The second officer arrives, and honestly I think his actions are spot on. You have someone who has brandished a deadly weapon, actively resisting arrest. As noted above, just grabbing their arms and getting in a tug-of-war is dangerous; strikes are underrated and underutilized as a control technique.
They get her to the ground, and she’s still struggling (I can’t tell if the officer is saying “stop kicking me” or “stop pinching me”). One officer continues to deliver blows. I will acknowledge that punching her in the stomach looks bad, but combat is fluid and dynamic, and anyone who has ever been in a fight can tell you it’s not reasonable to expect you’ll have the presence of mind to pick the most reasonable targets. A TASER is deployed, and then…
Laird becomes compliant, and the police immediately cease their use of force. Pay a lot of attention to that. Again, have you ever been in a fight? How easy is it to lose control? Even police sometimes do (and they will be disciplined or face criminal charges for it). These officers used force as long as they needed to, and no longer. They didn’t let emotion take over.
Laird continues to struggle, spitting on an officer. Again, the police show restraint. Then she starts yelling that she can’t breathe–a ridiculous claim, since she’s yelling–and the officers immediately summon an ambulance (that’s what “get fire started” means). Eventually they pick her up and place her into a squad car–again, not showing any kind of brutality.
The bottom line: Yeah, to the untrained eye, this video looks bad. But the truth is, use of force looks bad. It’s harsh. It’s ugly. Good cops prefer not to have to do it. But if force is necessary, it’s better to be quick and decisive than to go halfway because of a fear of what the camera will think.
Those are my two cents. Of course I have a pro-police bias, but I’m not bending over backwards trying to excuse behavior; I’ll always try to be as objective as I can, and call it as I see it. So if you have any specific incidents or videos you want my commentary on, I’ll take a look and post it here. Just let me know in the comments.