Look, I despise cops that do this kind of work and that give speeding tickets for going 5 miles over.

 But unfortunately I have to be on his side here. I didn't know until Anna explained the situation prior to the video that he was just trying to write a ticket and not arrest them for jaywalking. 

 What he should have done instead of punching the woman in the face is pull out his tazer point it at both chicks and say "Drop to the ground and put your hands behind your back or you get tazed."

 The punch wasn't excessive force because the girl backed off and let the officer deal with the jaywalker. 

 The other thing I have an issue with is Cenk's words. I'm not sure if he meant it to sound sexist but he said "You don't punch a WOMAN in the mouth man" (with that intonation). So it would be ok if it was a guy? I feel like on this he is being a bit bias.

 I think he could have handled it a bit better buy pulling out a tazer and warning them with that but he definately shouldn't be suspended. Maybe they can teach them what to do in that situation. Like take a class that says hey in cases where it's not too violent but you can't gain control of the person do this...

 

Anyways that's my 2 cents. 

by Knitemare on 06/17/2010 03:49:51 PM EST

I have to side with the cop on this one. I mean, yes, jay walking is dumb, but under the circumstances, the girl acted a lot more thoughtlessly. When a cop tells you to do something (assuming it's not a violation of your rights), you should generally do it.

What did the girl think would happen? She'd push the cop away and he'd back off and they'd all go along with their day?

No. She pushed a police officer who was trying to ticket/arrest her, and she got punched in the face. As Cenk would say, sad day for you.

As a final comment specifically on the punch itself... that's probably the best and most non-lethal method for the cop to use. Tazing her, putting her in a choke hold, getting her in an arm lock; would have all had more risk involved. Punching her leaves her with a black eye. No one is going to die or get a broken leg/arm from a punch to the face.

by HundredThousand on 06/17/2010 04:10:22 PM EST

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