Texas Police Officer Pulls Gun On Teens

Update on it here from one of the local residents

http://imgur.com/UVNXsWr

Gatling wrote: »

Don't see a lot wrong really, yeah one gets a bit heavy handed cuffing a girl but other than that they get called to a disturbance (possibly violent) cops arrive out numbered by gangs of teenagers.
It's all well calling for a nice and soft approach without anyone really knowing the exact details here .
But I'd rather be heavy handed and showing you mean business rather than waiting for the crap to hit the fan and find yourself on the ground getting danced on by 10+ teenagers

???????

Yeah teenagers - especially black teenagers - are so freaking dangerous when they're concealing sawn-off shotguns in their bikini bottoms. **** sake. There were at least 3 cops first on scene and they were at that point shown to be the ones acting the most ridiculously. There wasn't a mob when the cop decided to whip his handgun out and scare off a bunch of kids. Add to that, there were a lot of calm, adult neighbors around bearing witness to everything - one is seen advising the tackled girl not to resist even though they both know it was wrong - he knew it was being recorded.

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

The trouble with people recording with smartphones is you only see one side of the story, having said that though in this case he seemed a bit heavy handed with the kid.

Better than no side at all. The police are as always strongly encouraged to get their officers wearing body cameras for their own protection for this reason. More than a few instances of a police body cam providing the decisive evidence in their favor. Rest assured however, there are also case where cops with cameras have them "unfortunately" switched off for the occasional high-profile-high-controversy bust.

How do you know what the resident is saying is true though?

I dont doubt him. He doesn't try to defend the cop, he's trying to defend the side-text: which is this is some kind of elitist whites only neighborhood and the cops were called in because black kids were out in public being black. Don't doubt there was a huge crowd from the video shown, but it still doesn't justify the cops barrel-rolling, expletive dropping, girl-stomping antics.

MathDebater wrote: »

Young Irish people love bitching about America but would take the hand off of you if you offered them a H1-b/greencard.

Maybe the US stands out as the biggest and most important democracy in the world, and what happens there - politically, socially, economically - has ramifications for the rest of the world, and that's why we pay so much attention, and get upset when we see things like cops brutalising people.

jackofalltrades wrote: »

The girl that was pushed to the ground was told to leave the area several times from what I can see in the video.

She's also wearing a bikini. She doesn't have anything to use to harm the officer. She's also smaller than him.

The two young guys sitting on the grass were being respectful.

If it was a situation that there was a huge party, the cop could have waited for backup and they could have had a collective effort to quell it. He was there to get his rocks off.

He also should have not have pulled out his gun. Why not go for a taser or pepper spray. It's because his gun is more threatening and empowering. Cops have a tough job. Particularly here, where there's such a blatant class system and everybody has a gun but I would bet 99.9% of the calls they answer and scenes they go to, do not escalate and\or warrant agression.

This one did not warrant it either.

Wompa1 wrote: »

She's also wearing a bikini. She doesn't have anything to use to harm the officer. She's also smaller than him.

None of which excuse her behaviour of not leaving the area when asked and possibly being verbally abusive to the officer, which is what led to her arrest.

If it was a situation that there was a huge party, the cop could have waited for backup and they could have had a collective effort to quell it.
He was there to get his rocks off.

From reading reports on this, nine police units in total had to be sent to the scene.
Security guards and the initial police units were ignored and had no effect.

He also should have not have pulled out his gun. Why not go for a taser or pepper spray.

Did he have either?
A taser also has one obvious disadvantage in dealing with two people.
Pepper spray could affect the other people in the area causing panic and inflaming the situation.
Also one of the guys looked like he was trying to reach into his pocket or take something from around his waist.

Foxtrol wrote: »

Pulling the gun is a separate issue, and when you watch the video it's understandable, he turned to see two guys running at him, one reaching for his pocket. There's a reason why the other two cops chased these two. You're an idiot and asking for what you get if you run at a cop.

What is a normal reaction for when you see a full grown man drag a girl in a bikini along a pavement? I'd like to think I wouldn't stand idly by seeing that either. The cop over-reacted with the force he used and then over-reacted by drawing his gun.

Wompa1 wrote: »

Drawing a gun has never caused a panic

Had the desired result while causing minimum panic in this case.

Also, where's the proof that she was verbally abusive, I didn't see that in the video. In fact at the beginning she does walk away.

I claimed she was probably being verbally abusive.
She comes back and looks like she says something to the officer.
At which time he decides he's had enough and arrests her.

She comes back but I don't know her side of the story.

Here it is:

The girl who was restrained in the video, Dajerria Becton, told KDFW-TV (Channel 4) that she followed police orders. “He told me to walk away and I did. Next thing I know I’m on the ground,” she said.

No mention of her not leaving immediately, coming back or resisting arrest.

She could live there, her brother may have been one of the guys in cuffs on the grass. If a family member of mine was in cuffs, I wouldn't want to leave them either.

At no point does she talk to any of the guys on the grass.