UPDATE: Police said he died in a car crash... FINALLY ... charges files against officers

You have no idea.

I could have slammed on the brakes a few times and thrown him face first into the plexiglass and metal protector. He was cuffed behind his back.

I even though about telling the jail deputies to get him really good if he resists while being processed.

And the kicker was he was tear gassed out of his house. The gas stays in your clothing for a while. My eyes were burning all the way to the jail. My nose was running. It was summer and I had to ride with my windows down sweating my ass off wearing a hot vest under my shirt.

I never heard what happened to the guy.

 

Kudos to you for a great post (now two) and your great restraint.

I’m sure it’s not easy, but courts mete out the justice in our society, not law enforcement. Unfortunately not everyone on this board understands that.

 

You’re an excellent human being. That did take restraint. But I’m glad you’re conscience is clear on it

 

Can you post a link to the high speed chase? Perhaps it is in the same report as the one indicating he crashed into a tree.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Not conservatives. Parents who raised their kids with this warning: “You do what I saw NOW or I’ll tear your ass up!” Those kinds.

 

Tip of the cap to you.

 

Except for one, the responses to this thread show my “Gator friends” here are good people.

 

Your story is awesome and you probably have several more. This is the reason I try to pick up the tab for cops whenever they’re in dunkin line with me.

 

This is for sure a race issue.
I'm white and the last time I committed a crime, ran from the cops at 120mph, and crashed my car the cops just laughed and told me not to do it again. Then they shook my hand and turned me loose all the time ignoring the 15 felony arrests on my rap sheet and the fentanyl I was high on.

I guess it helped that I claimed to be scared. I mean I wasn't scared to drive over 100mph on a public highway but I was scared because the cops stopped me.

 

I watched the video posted in the link AP article in the OP.

2:15 seconds, including stoppage to hear opinion commentary.

I did not see the cops beating the guy to death. I saw them wrestling with him to get him out of the car, and to get his arms behind his back--AFTER tazing him a couple of times (point being, they didn't have him subdued, then taze him, and kick the shit out of him while he was handcuffed--in case the significance of the AFTER was not effectively communicated).

IOW, active, forceful resistance throughout.

The part about leaving him unattended face down, seems to be a substantial and unjustified deviation from protocol; pushing him back down with foot (not letting him get on side), also sub'l deviation, even worse, but not by miles; and the dragging by the feet for like a foot total distance, while disturbing, not horrible (seemed like callously adjusting the sub's positioning).

Beyond that, I fail to see what's so compelling about the video.

No where near the bludgeoning captured on tape for Rodney King, nor the knee on the neck like with Floyd.

Don't misunderstand--not saying the cops are fine here--just saying what little the video shows, doesn't pack a 10th of the punch that seems to be promised by the AP article, and of course, NSMBC boy chick (whatever his/her/its name is), going off the rails over-dramatic.

Disciplinary action is definitely in order, and a substantial settlement will surely be paid, but I'm not seeing the gut wrenching vomit inducing abuse that's been suggested above.

CAVEAT: again, this is based only on the 2+ min video embedded in the AP article linked by the OP. If there's more, there's more--but what that video shows...I've seen worse, and had client's experience worse, than what that video shows.

...and to reiterate/clarify, lest there be any doubt at all--I do not condone the deviation from protocol, nor find any of it justified--just not seeing quite the gravity or malicious violence, that some other seem to.

JMHO/FWIW.

 

Do you think there's going to be video released that shows us a calm: "Sir, can you please step out of the car?" That is the first thing that caught my attention. The driver seemed passive when the doors were open, why not try to peacefully encourage him to exit the vehicle?

I think the point that so many are trying to make is that some police seem to go from a level 1 to a level 10. Sometimes they take things personally and feel the need to exercise an over-aggressive authority to show up the accused (was it ever revealed what he was initially accused of to even be pursued?).

What's the point of all the shouting and barking at somebody, is that part of their training, or just a part of being frustrated that somebody was trying to get away from you?

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Ok...at your prompting I re-opened the AP window to re--watch the vid--turns out there's more than one. But the vid showing him getting out of the car...cops could have shot him on the spot and been justified.

"SHOW ME YOUR HANDS! SHOW ME YOUR HANDS, MF!!!"

His response????

He did exactly the opposite--turns AWAY FROM the cops, and conceals his hands--moving them towards the center counsel.

That's shoot my ass in police-ish, all day long.

The part where they get him out of the car is frankly even less compelling than the other video I saw.

As for the shouting and barking--that's called asserting authority, and after a high speed chase, its clearly presumptive that the driver is not particularly respectful of authority, which means authority must therefore be asserted.

 

Was he?

I didn't see that in the vids I watched--though it's certainly been characterized as such.

(If I missed one, please direct me to it--I'll be happy to re-assess my position).

 

That's exactly what I'm talking about. I believe there's a better way to do things. If there's not, I think we should have data that shows this is the best approach...maybe it exists, but if it does, the LEO community is doing a terrible job of effectively communicating this with the rest of society.

I think you are confusing fear with not respecting authority. That's part of the problem, in my view, for all we know this guy is legit scared and thinks he's going to die. You can own the authority, keep the potential to exercise it if needed, all while attempting to de-escalate a situation. I respectfully disagree with your conclusion: " which means authority must therefore be asserted."

In the future, we'll have this stuff handled better with in-car communications. This will remove the "fear" from the accused as well as the "fear" from the police officer who might not know what kind of weapon he'll encounter. I wouldn't be surprised if one day certain roads allow for cars to be disabled by the police to eliminate high speed pursuits. We're still a few years off from some of the tech stuff helping us out, but people skills, man, people skills. We can do better than this.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Do me a favor JMDZ...set your SJW hat off to the side for a minute.

Put your lawyer hat on; make like Im a juror...

Tell me where you're seeing what Madcow or this AP article claim to see--the part about the cops beating the guy to death.

As far as I can tell, COD had something to do with lying on his stomach, not any kind of ass whooping (which in turn, seems to suggest that something else might have been in his system, which interfered with his breathing...but we'll table the assumptions for now...).

e.g.--the 'expert' says the dude's acquiescing; that ain't what I saw. Dude was resisting, until they finally got him cuffed.

e.g.--AP article says '...while's he apologizing/saying he's sorry'. "I'm scared" =/= "Im sorry", and actively resisting, is patently inconsistent with apologzing.

But I'll sincerely consider what you post.

 

The one common denominator in all these cases is.......If the man had obeyed the law and not ran from the police he would 100% of the time be alive today. When you run at over 100 mph that sort of escalates the situation a bit more.

It is sad to me that when an innocent bystander gets killed in one of these high speed chases it gets minimal coverage. When a thug dies it is 24 hr news coverage.

 

DISCLAIMER: Ignore the legal conclusions in this post, they are not based on a valid legal analysis.

 

92 said it’s what he saw. So no kidding.

 

@ the bolded--look, there's a time and place for cops to be Andy Griffith and table Barney Fife.

After a high speed chase...Andy Griffith get's tabled. Period.

...and fear vs. respect?

High speed chase is a dangerous blatant disregard of law and safety. Screw his feelings.

Unlike the movies, cops take high speed chases VERY SERIOUSLY.

Don't take my word for it--feel free to find out for yourself, at will.