Pixiq

Huntington Beach PD would have filled that lady with lead. http://www.ocweekly.com/2007-03-15/news/inside-the-kill-zone/
This Whitehall officer seems to have responded in a civil manner. Doesn’t seem like the place to lay down the hate.

Was that “mental health” quip in regards to the ROBOT ASSISTED TORTURE this afternoon in Los Angeles that i watched live on a helicopter feed?

They had a robot hand deliver 3 (out of four total) Tear Gas Canisters into a volkswagon beetle that a 56 year old man was in with “needs for medication that he sometimes stops taking and goes off the chain a bit”

The SWAT team also inserted a tear gas canister, sprayed him with an entire can of the “fire extinguisher” style pepper spray/mace. The robot also shot a beanbag through the car to break out the passenger and driver side windows.

The streams were all really laggy because it was one of the first times that robots had been used to deal with a suspect, and that automagically means it’s slashdotted or digged or whatever people do with their free time.

But the people that were discussing it as we watched all felt the same way… a little sad for the guy inside the car, choking, gagging, and wiping at his eyes as entire canisters of tear gas enveloped him in the confined space of a coupe.

A bit harsh final sentence there.

There was definitely better ways to handle – did you hear everyone gasp and see everyone run to the old woman’s aid?

“Otherwise, she would have been pumped full of bullets” – while it happens, it is not a blanket statement.

The burden of proof is on us that we won’t kill a cop.

It’s in the Constitution.

I wonder if the cop knew she had alzheimers? and that alzheimers patients can posess incredible strength. I am ashamed to be an American when I see stuff like this.

xdamousex,

Would you please explain to us where in the Constitution it states that the burden of proof is on us that we won’t kill a cop? I’m no constitutional scholar, but I’m just not familiar with that section.

@Huck Finne

I’m pretty sure xdamousex was being sarcastic.

I have to wonder if the officer even realized how easily the woman would go down.

unnecessary hip toss. that’s a pretty stupid call by the cop.

I suppose it would have been more acceptable if the woman had cut someone in the parking lot? Did you notice the clueless shoppers just walking past her? What if she had decided to attack someone? An old woman with a knife is still dangerous.

The officer actually put herself at risk by even going up to her. If you watch the video instead of foaming at the mouth, you will see that the officer tried to just take the knife at first but then the old woman started to struggle. At that point there was a blade being waved around and the officer had to do something.

Sorry folks but cops don’t have to let themselves get cut as part of the job. If all those concerned bystanders were sooo worried about the woman, maybe they should have disarmed her then. For some reason they didn’t seem so concerned until the cop made it safe for them to rush up like a bunch of morons.

Good job on the part of the officer. She was put in an unwinnable situation and did the best she could. Hey at least she didn’t taser her. I know how that gets you guys so upset.

I’m all for exposing and holding accountable those officers whose their behavior violates the law.

And while there’s plenty of examples of cops doing that posted on this site, I cannot say that this particular incident qualifies.

From this particular video, I don’t find the officer’s actions crossed a line. She appears to use the least amount of force necessary short of repeating a verbal request to drop the knife. That’s certainly a valid point to discuss: should the officer should have maybe tried a little harder to convince this lady to drop the knife, given that the old lady did not appear to be an imminent threat?

But overall I don’t really see police brutality, abuse or racism in this video.

I have to agree with Nik. B #10 here. Yes, the female cop probably slammed her to the ground too hard, but the woman had a weapon, was not compliant and was clearly altered.

I agree with Carlos that perhaps the cop could have talked to her from a distance for a longer time, but that’s a “boots on the ground” decision and with all the other moronic lookieloos gawking (and possibly actually interferring unlike a lot of that BS we see) anyone could have gotten hurt if the woman broke into a charge at someone. The crowd didn’t help matters either.

I’m glad the cop actually got involved instead of tasing an old woman. A broken bone, IMHO, is preferable to potentially inducing cardiac arrest.

If you’ve read my comments for other things, you might be surprised that I think the cops did a good job in this sitch. Legit police work isn’t always nice and tidy.

I don’t think these cops did anything wrong.

We’ve seen it before — the woman could have a been tased or shot, easily.

Having watched again:

Yeah, I really don’t think the female officer meant to hurt the lady taking her down like that. She seems to do her best to get her under control without hurting her or getting hurt, and really seems kind of upset that things got that bloody.

On another note, the guys doing the recording sound kind of like asshats to me.

Well, I do agree she had a knife. Officers are trained to think and it is obvious this Officer failed on that level. The first critical decision was what law/s is she violating? OK, she has a knife, is this violation of the peace? Is she verbally combative? Yes. Was she acting physically towards any one? Not that I witnessed on the video? Was the Officer in harms way, NO. There were two Officers present and she decided to play Rambo on her own. She nearly set of a major and unnecessary civil confrontation by her action. Had she used common sense, she would have utilized the other Officer and called for back up and a supervisor. Using restraint and common sense, the 87 year old lady could have been detained without injury and the Officer never tried. She put herself in arms way unnecessarily and slammed her to the ground. Just think how much the lawyers will get from the Whitehall city.

JohnnyLaw,

I think the cop handled it pretty well, all things considered. The video is pretty choppy – it looks like she went down pretty quick, but hopefully not too hard.

I would rather see officers trained in take-down, grappling and disarming technique, than see tasers used where the situation doesn’t warrant it, or there’s risk to the suspect (e.g. old people.)

Yes, police face risks like no other members of society, and getting close to suspects can be very risky.

On the other hand, Taser use has unpredictable outcomes for the tasering target, e.g. death. Doesn’t matter what Taser Inc’s defensive press releases say, the numbers indicate that death rates following taser application are way above the norm.

Okay shantee, let’s ay they called for this magical backup and supervisor. Then what? Someone will still have to get that knife. Are you serious in implying the pole should had just left her alone? What would you say if they did then the woman attacked someone?

It looks like the woman somehow fell on a white styrofoam package of beef and knocked some blood out of the package. * Looking again the police are clearly concerned with immobilizing her head. So she has a head injury. *

Maybe she knocked her down a little too hard but it’s not like she’s trained in grandmother wrestling. I am willing to bet this is that policewoman’s very first hand to hand combat encounter with an 80 year old.

Johnny Law

That’s what you get for sending a lady cop to do a man’s job.

A baton to the forearm would be better for an old person than a judo takedown and a head injury-that’s for damn sure.

I worked for a home oxygen company for a year and a half and I had to deal with all kinds of crusty old bastards and bitches-there’s no way I would have taken down someone like that.

3 people with shopping carts could have hemmed her in-think outside the donut!!!

Watched the video again.

Why was this cop going 1 on 1 anyway? The lady had a cane too-fer crying out loud. That’s some Jet Li shit right there son.

That lady wern’t no aunty Esther.

3 cops, three shopping carts, hem her in and tap the top of her hand with a baton.

Even a hammer knows that there are different sized nails.

#5, Cops aren’t the most educated bunch, I doubt they knew that. While it is true that Alzheimer’s patients can possess a lot of strength *for their condition*, there’s nothing about the disorder which magically compensates for being 84 years old.

If her demeanor was “allegedly” so threatening, why did those women feel comfortable walking so close to her? Once again, we see cops with zero people skills use maximum force first .

I’m glad they’re getting those phone calls…

While I am the first to call cops on any behavior over the line, this one isn’t quite there.

One of the other posters said something about not seeing the lady be aggressive to others. On this video yes, we don’t know what she had done before. It was reported that she was cutting herself. So threatening others is within the realm of possibility. The same poster also made some statements about the knife not being a danger. Total bullshit, the female cop was very lucky she didn’t get cut. Take that “it is only a knife” attitude and you will get cut and killed, even if you have a gun.

As for the calls for baton use, a baton is a deadly weapon. I trained in the use of the side handled PR-24, Aside from various holds and take downs, the only places we were trained to strike were the arms and the legs or if things were really bad, the collar bone. Maybe a better option, instead of buying officers M-4s, we supply the patrol cars with some prison issue anti stab gear.

this is why the USA frightens me, when we cross the border on the train we are instructed to not even make eye contact with the officers, do not give them any reason to beat/taze/shoot us, I stay in Canada as much as possible now since it is a free country. The cops that commented on “good job” are part of the problem, an 84 year old woman is not too much of a threat to anyone.

Police have the right to shoot someone coming at them with a deadly weapon, especially if they refuse to drop it and continue coming at the officer.

See those crack heads loitering in the parking lot, told to get back, they should be arrested for interfering with police business, their only purpose was to instigate.

Why doesn’t large places such as this, have their own security in these area’s? Why should my tax dollar’s pay for the entertainment of an old drama queen & a parking lot full of crack heads? Think about it…