Motorist has window smashed by gardai

listermint

What do you all think of this, I thought the approach of smashing the window was over the top. I dont believe it was handled very well. Yes the guy was totally passive aggressive. But im not sure he did anything that would allow gardai within their powers to perform such an action.


Thoughts

bfocusd

A little too late

http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056557634?page=1

listermint

bfocusd wrote: »

A little too late

http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2056557634?page=1

ah, i tend to stay out of after hours for the most part.

Guy:Incognito

Adding comments disabled. Wouldnt want anyone derailing a bit of good anti Gardai/establishment etc propaganda now would we?

neilthefunkeone

Was his door handle broken too!!

I know some people are mad for going on about not having to tell the guards where your going or not giving a name.. But to take 10 seconds to say i live down the road im just heading home.. He would have been off on his way!

But the guard did go over the top.. In his statement the driver said they offered him no assistance after the incident even though he had cut himself from the broken window..

Drivers statement:

“This occurred at lunchtime on Ash Wednesday, 22nd February, 2012, on a small local road, L1202 in Glengad, Co Mayo. This is close to Shell’s haulage route and about 70 metres from Shell’s compound in Glengad. This is a few kilometres from Shell’s refinery site at Bellanaboy.
“You can see that two female Gardaí approached the car. When the third Garda, a man, approached the window, he had his baton drawn before he knocked on the window. After he smashed the window, I got out of the car. The Garda told me I was under arrest. I was surrounded by Gardaí with batons drawn.
” ‘Are you refusing to show your licence?’,” the male Garda said. I thought I was in for a beating.
“When I took out my driver’s licence and he looked at it, the atmosphere changed instantly. They all backed away and suddenly I wasn’t under arrest any more. The only conclusion I can draw is that they assumed I was an outside supporter, from the Rossport Solidarity Camp. I assume that when they saw my name and a Rossport address address, that is what changed their approach.
“So, I was left a bleeding hand from the broken window and with a car with a broken window on the side of the road. I phoned Belmullet Garda station to complain and to ask for assistance. They refused to send anyone.
“Following that refusal, I phoned the Garda Ombudsman’s office in Dublin. They said that as there was no complaint to investigate, they would not investigate until a formal complaint was made. They told me I could make a written complaint or visit their office (which is in Dublin).
“So I felt the best thing to do was to release this footage, so that people can see what life is like on the roads here close to Shell’s operations. This kind of thing is happening to varying degrees every day here. People need to that this is happening, that it could happen to them and that they will receive no protection.”

Max Power1

You get good and bad in any job, however Gardai are in a position of (almost unopposed) power so can really abuse their situation.

Much like the d!ck of a Garda in this clip. He should be above such a scenario and act responsibly as they are required to.

Case for the Ombudsman this one. I'd love to see the garda fired (but as its the civil service he'll be put on desk duty for a while, if even that)

:mad:

Max Power1

neilthefunkeone wrote: »

Was his door handle broken too!!

I know some people are mad for going on about not having to tell the guards where your going or not giving a name.. But to take 10 seconds to say i live down the road im just heading home.. He would have been off on his way!

But the guard did go over the top.. In his statement the driver said they offered him no assistance after the incident even though he had cut himself from the broken window..

Drivers statement:

Most gardai would take that as threatening behaviour. In most countries, its an offence to open your door when stopped by police.

Gary ITR

Very very poor show from the Guard tbh. He should have taken more time to try and reason with the man. In saying that the man was clearly looking for a confrontation but the Gardai gave him exactly what he wanted

I've never been anti-Guard or whatever but a video like this makes it very hard for a person like me to maintain respect for those charged with protecting us.

Guy:Incognito

Max Power1 wrote: »

Most gardai would take that as threatening behaviour. In most countries, its an offence to open your door when stopped by police.

Lets call a spade a spade here. He wanted confrontation. The Gardai are not a bunch of mercenary soldiers with M16's threatening to murder him. He could have do plenty of other things including opening the door, any of the other windows etc. Why didnt he pull in when instructed at the start?

thebiglad

Again someone goes out of their way to be beligerent to Garda and films the consequences which of course 'are none of their fault' - this is just typical of the shell to sea protestors.

Just answer the questions and be on the way, if electric window really is broken, open the door - when they pull up to a car park ticket machine do they just sit there? Must have a way to deal with the non-opening window.

No sympathy, good on the Garda

justsomebloke

meh, driver is asked to pull into the side of the road and makes no effort, then doesn't try to open ANY of his windows or produce his driving licence, given the trouble that has happened around the Shell site I'm not surprised what happened

mickoneill30

The driver wants the ombudsman to investigate but when they ask him to make an official complaint all he can do is post it on the internet. What's to stop him making the official complaint too.

The Gard seemed to be a dick. So's the driver.
Opening the door to say the window is broken is not hard.
Saying I'm going home or wherever takes a second.
Making a written complaint takes 15 minutes.

He's going to have a tough life if he wants to do everything the hard way.

seagull

He should have pulled in when he was instructed to. He could also have opened the passenger window, so that his comments about the driver window being broken would be more audible. I think he was looking for trouble, and got more than he expected. If he'd pulled over when he was first told to, the gardai would probably have been far more relaxed in their approach. Either that, or open the door a crack, so he'd be audible outside the car.

Why didn't the guy pull into the side of the road when the Garda gestured for him to do so?

All of us can go out right now and antagonise a member of AGS very easily, the vast majority don't.

Gary ITR

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Lets call a spade a spade here. He wanted confrontation. The Gardai are not a bunch of mercenary soldiers with M16's threatening to murder him. He could have do plenty of other things including opening the door, any of the other windows etc. Why didnt he pull in when instructed at the start?

thebiglad wrote: »

Again someone goes out of their way to be beligerent to Garda and films the consequences which of course 'are none of their fault' - this is just typical of the shell to sea protestors.

Just answer the questions and be on the way, if electric window really is broken, open the door - when they pull up to a car park ticket machine do they just sit there? Must have a way to deal with the non-opening window.

No sympathy, good on the Garda

There is no doubt that that the man in question was looking for a confrontation but that Guard got very angry very quickly as can be heard. He then threatened to pepper spray the man? As far as I can make out the man posed no physical threat so pepper spray should not have been mentioned.

The Gardai should have handled the situation in a calm collected manner rather than resorting to smashing a window and threaten the use of pepper spray.

Is this the society we want to live in? I certainly don't

johnos1984

Take them to the cleaners.

Sad to see that a few bad eggs are let get away with giving the Gardaí a bad name who in fairness do a difficult job under difficult circumstances.

There was no need for that

Big Nasty

If he wasn't acting the cock he would have been on his way in less than a minute. He asked for it IMO.

johnos1984

MCMLXXV wrote: »

If he wasn't acting the cock he would have been on his way in less than a minute. He asked for it IMO.

Not enough to warranty his window putting in.

Most Gardaí would explain or give some reason. He wasn't being aggressive and they had no reason to assume he was breaking the law in any way.

Some people are twats but it doesn't make it ok to put their windows in and to loose the cool instantly. Neither does it allow you to use threatening behaviour

Max Power1

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Lets call a spade a spade here. He wanted confrontation. The Gardai are not a bunch of mercenary soldiers with M16's threatening to murder him. He could have do plenty of other things including opening the door, any of the other windows etc. Why didnt he pull in when instructed at the start?

RoverJames wrote: »

Why didn't the guy pull into the side of the road when the Garda gestured for him to do so?

All of us can go out right now and antagonise a member of AGS very easily, the vast majority don't.

So it was acceptable to break his window?

I would have been delighted if a gard did that to me and I had it on tape tbh.

Ligitation and compensation here we come!

Big Nasty

johnos1984 wrote: »

Not enough to warranty his window putting in.

Most Gardaí would explain or give some reason. He wasn't being aggressive and they had no reason to assume he was breaking the law in any way.

Some people are twats but it doesn't make it ok to put their windows in and to loose the cool instantly. Neither does it allow you to use threatening behaviour

Who drives up to a checkpoint with their camera activated?

Troblemakers that's who. Bet there's more to this story than meets the eye TBH.

Cionád

Max Power1 wrote: »

So it was acceptable to break his window?

Not at all, but the guy did tick all the boxes in trying to escalate the issue.

johnos1984

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Who drives up to a checkpoint with their camera activated?

Troblemakers that's who. Bet there's more to this story than meets the eye TBH.

I would if I thought I was going to be dealing with a cokc of a cop

Zubeneschamali

"Would you pull in for me, please?"

"No."

Asking for trouble, got it, deserved it, and then posted it on youtube. What an idiot.

Kenny Logins

Is that the Hardy Bucks?

seagull

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Who drives up to a checkpoint with their camera activated?

Troblemakers that's who. Bet there's more to this story than meets the eye TBH.

If you have a dashcam that can record in a loop, you just leave it running whenever you're driving

EPM

Max Power1 wrote: »

I would have been delighted if a gard did that to me and I had it on tape tbh.

Ligitation and compensation here we come!

That's the mindset the driver went into this with it seems from that tape.

The Gardai over reacted too however.

Both are as bad as eachother, but if the best the driver can do it release this online rather than make a formal complaint I have no pity for him.

PrettyBoy

Guards acting like pure ***** in this situation, driver could have had a better attitude but the guards could have been more informant and less ignorant. Hope the idiots in this video are disciplined accordingly but it's unlikely.

Max Power1

Max Power1 wrote: »

So it was acceptable to break his window?

I would have been delighted if a gard did that to me and I had it on tape tbh.

Ligitation and compensation here we come!

Gary ITR wrote: »

There is no doubt that that the man in question was looking for a confrontation but that Guard got very angry very quickly as can be heard. He then threatened to pepper spray the man? As far as I can make out the man posed no physical threat so pepper spray should not have been mentioned.

The Gardai should have handled the situation in a calm collected manner rather than resorting to smashing a window and threaten the use of pepper spray.

Is this the society we want to live in? I certainly don't

johnos1984 wrote: »

Take them to the cleaners.

Sad to see that a few bad eggs are let get away with giving the Gardaí a bad name who in fairness do a difficult job under difficult circumstances.

There was no need for that

Just wondering lads but can ye see the driver in this video? Because there's a lot to be gleamed from body language etc so we really are only seeing one side of this. I wouldn't be the type to automatically side with AGS either to be quite honest.

He didn't pull the car in when directed, ignore a blatant reasonable request made to you by the AGS and you have to appreciate they start thinking the worst.

kollegeknight

I got stopped by the guards once. My window didn't work. I opened the door slightly and said that. The guard then went to the other side so as not to open the door on a main road.

She was grand about it and didn't threaten me.

Also, I don't drive around with a camera on my dashboard.

The driver of the car was setting them up.

How hard would it be to say my name is Joe Bloggs or show his license through the window.

Our man in Havana

Licence might be a forgery.

This has all the hallmarks of freemen of the land tbh.

Tallon

Two complete retards...

Driver was pushing for a reaction, garda gave in too easy

Both are in the wrong, and at least now he has an excuse to get the window motor fixed

keithclancy

Can see the report now:

Stopped individual, he was wearing a balaclava and had a machette on the drivers seat covered in a red substance, suspect masturbated profusely while asking myself to calm down.

Guy:Incognito

Gary ITR wrote: »

Is this the society we want to live in? I certainly don't

A society where idiots get put in their place? I'm happy to live there.

Max Power1

RoverJames wrote: »

He didn't pull the car in when directed, ignore a blatant reasonable request made to you by the AGS and you have to appreciate they start thinking the worst.

Point still remains. There is NO excuse for the vandalism perpetrated by the (embarassment to the force) AGS member in this video.

You should be able to be a d!ck to a gard (acting within the law) without fear of violent retribution. How would he like to have his car window or his nose broken because I was having an off day?

Im very much someone who respects the Gardai, and they all get a "yes Gard" or "Yes sir" responses from me, but start acting the bollox and that will change.

yourpics

Why didn't the guard try opening the drivers door??

This amounts to assault and criminal damage against a law abiding citizen.

AGS spend too much time policing for the wealthy elite rather than for every citizen.

EPM

Our man in Havana wrote: »

Licence might be a forgery.

This has all the hallmarks of freemen of the land tbh.

That's the first thing that came to mind before I even hit play.

Satanta

RoverJames wrote: »

He didn't pull the car in when directed, ignore a blatant reasonable request made to you by the AGS and you have to appreciate they start thinking the worst.

+1

Agree with RoverJames here completely. They guy was absolutely non compliant with ANY of the requests made. I think any law enforcement personnel from any country would react the same.

johnos1984

RoverJames wrote: »

Just wondering lads but can ye see the driver in this video? Because there's a lot to be gleamed from body language etc so we really are only seeing one side of this. I wouldn't be the type to automatically side with AGS either to be quite honest.

He didn't pull the car in when directed, ignore a blatant reasonable request made to you by the AGS and you have to appreciate they start thinking the worst.

I don't for a second mean to say the driver is blameless but sadly the Garda's reaction is over the top and aggressive in this situation. The guy wasn't resisting arrest.

Ash.J.Williams

In fairness there are more developed countries than hours that would have shot the driver for not co-operating.

amacachi

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Who drives up to a checkpoint with their camera activated?

Troblemakers that's who. Bet there's more to this story than meets the eye TBH.

Is it ok to operate a camera while driving? I certainly wouldn't want to be seen fiddling with a camera when approaching a checkpoint.

Cionád

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

In fairness there are more developed countries than hours that would have shot the driver for not co-operating.

You wouldn't try this in USA anyway!

ratracer

yourpics wrote: »

Why didn't the guard try opening the drivers door??

This amounts to assault and criminal damage against a law abiding citizen.

AGS spend too much time policing for the wealthy elite rather than for every citizen.

You can't see on the video whether they tried to open the door or not, (funny that). Amazing how only the editors audio can be heard until it suits to throw in the subtitles. A set up from the star it seems, I wonder did the driver target select the garda from a previous incident?

Gary ITR

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

A society where idiots get put in their place? I'm happy to live there.

Dude, you live in Tallaght, as do I and if the Guards were to react that way to every clown that acted the way this man did there'd be glass and blood everywhere.

I'm sure Guards put up with this kind of behaviour on a daily basis and I would hope that they have a procedure in place for dealing with this kind of situation and that should have been followed

@RoverJames, sorry i didn't quote you there but unless the man driving the car was harming himself or somebody else then body language shouldn't have mattered

Reg'stoy

I'd like to hear an unabridged version of the video, most of his speech at the begining is unheard, apart from what he wants us to hear. Being so close to an area of known trouble and copping an attitude is just plain stupid.
We don't know if he had prior contact with the Gardai at the checkpoint, I'll reserve judgement untill the ombusman's office (if contacted) completes it's investigation.

Tallon

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Who drives up to a checkpoint with their camera activated?

Troblemakers that's who. Bet there's more to this story than meets the eye TBH.

Epic facepalm...

Its an always running camera!!!

amacachi wrote: »

Is it ok to operate a camera while driving? I certainly wouldn't want to be seen fiddling with a camera when approaching a checkpoint.

Who said he was operating it?

yourpics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSMF4GgnC_I

Gary ITR

EPM wrote: »

That's the first thing that came to mind before I even hit play.

Doubt it, he'd have spouted Freeman stuff like asking the Gardai to stand on their oath etc and wouldn't have been taxed/insured or handed over a license

Atomic Pineapple

yourpics wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSMF4GgnC_I

Bit different, throwing someone out to cause a fight with the Gardai into a ditch is fine by me.

Cionád

yourpics wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSMF4GgnC_I

That was comical.

johnos1984

yourpics wrote: »

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSMF4GgnC_I

SNIGGER

Guy:Incognito

Max Power1 wrote: »

Point still remains. There is NO excuse for the vandalism perpetrated by the (embarassment to the force) AGS member in this video.

You should be able to be a d!ck to a gard (acting within the law) without fear of violent retribution. How would he like to have his car window or his nose broken because I was having an off day?

Im very much someone who respects the Gardai, and they all get a "yes Gard" or "Yes sir" responses from me, but start acting the bollox and that will change.

Is ignoreing the instructions of the Gard "acting within the law"? He was asked to pull in and didnt.

Maybe he should go on holidays to AMerica and try the same crap, see how he gets on.