Except when they show the small examples of cop privilege and frame them as positives.
Edited to remove an unhelpful word.
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Don’t you understand. His lawn was in danger.
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Obligatory:
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I don’t get the “identify himself as a cop” angle. Some say he did others that he didn’t. But who cares? What about being a cop makes it OK to be more aggressive, abusive, and willing to use a gun on unarmed children?
Stable people do not aggressively confront children with threats of violence for the offence of walking on the grass. What we the public expect from police (off duty or not) when they see trespassing or property damage is to have a citation to appear in court issued. That’s it. No other action is needed or tolerable from the police. Physical and verbal insubordination towards underaged citizens from the police is not justifiable in any case of walking on a lawn.
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My wife’s cousin went to jail on felony charges and received a hefty fine for firing his gun into his front lawn in order to scare off some kids vandalizing cars in front of his house - so yes, the fact that this guy’s a cop is the only reason he got off scott free.
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While the two unarmed minors were arrested and charged.
Go figure.
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It’s always odd when you try to compare the charges to the accounts/footage of what happened and inevitably the charges reflect the idea that the cop did nothing wrong. You don’t get to attack someone without cause and then charge them for responding like human beings do.
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That tune is easily re-purposed:
Bad Cops, Bad Cops! What you gonna do, what you gonna do when they screw with you? Bad Cops, Bad Cops!
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There is so much wrong going on in this video - including backwards police procedure (cuff the kid first, then saunter up to the guy with the gun to have a simple chat) - I feel like someone who asks for a Dixie cup of “wrong”, but gets drenched by the entire cooler.
So much racial privelege going on here, I wonder if I could have just walked right through that scene (after the arrival of cops) without a care in the world?
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I don’t feel like the adult v minor angle is valid at all. Even if it were adults walking on the cops lawn, there is no need for aggression from the cop. Just issue a citation to appear in court for trespassing and go on with your day. Rational people do not enter in to a physical confrontation over lawn walking. The ages of the people involved are irrelevant when it comes to how the police should behave. If the police treat everyone with the respect due every citizen then age becomes moot.
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I think it’s time to resurrect Robert Peele’s initial requirement for the Metro Police – officers must be in uniform at all times, except when at home and in their pajamas, or in the bath. They must always be visible, identifiable and accountable. We must be able to watch their behavior at all times, in all circumstances, whether on duty or not.
The Peelers earned this rule because their predecessors were so untrustworthy and corrupt, and early Victorian London was extremely ambivalent about a law enforcement agency, despite early Victorian crime levels (which were near modern failed state levels). That requirement held for several generations, by which time a culture of accountability and responsibility had been established. Modern US police have squandered their legacy of accountability and responsibility, so it’s time for them to earn it back.
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I don’t either. Not only do I not get it but I’ve dealt with assholes who tried to intimidate me by claiming they were cops only to back down when asked to prove it. Whether he was a cop or not is irrelevant.
Also there’s always the very scary possibility that asking someone who claims to be a cop to prove it will just make them more aggressive.
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If he had identified himself as a cop, showed his badge, and arrested the kid, rather than dragging him around the yard, then it would have been a bad arrest, rather than a melee.
still shitty behaviour, but legally different and less prone to turning into a riot
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I agree on that point; however, the adult specifically cited “you said ,this> to me” as if the words were what triggered his response. Additionally, if an adult acts in a physically threatening manner then it is easy to understand anyone especially an officer acting with physicality as well. But when it is a child who acts physically threatening, the adult should know to not respond similarly. More still is the fact the child is half the officer’s size. So we aren’t seeing some 300lb “teenager” we see a truly adolescent teen,
I think simply put we agree…the adult didn’t act like an adult at all.
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Here is more of the incident before the video we see starts
EDIT: Better vid source, Shows both vids sync’d up
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Hm. Interesting take on the CA penal code with regard to trespassing. (CA Penal Code 602, for reference)
You did not “occupy” the property:
For the type of trespass that involves occupying someone else’s property and/or refusing to leave the property after being asked by the owner, if you did not actually occupy the property, you did not commit this type of trespass. To charge you with this type trespass, the property owner has to claim that you deprived him/her of the use or enjoyment of the property and did so for a substantial period of time. Therefore, if you can show that your stay was only brief or that your presence on the property did not affect the owner’s use or enjoyment of the property, you will not be guilty of this type of trespass.
Crossing a lawn is deeply questionable as trespassing, especially without fences, gates and posted No Trespassing signs. It doesn’t interfere with the owner’s right to enjoyment because it’s brief. And if it’s the median sidewalk strip, it gets even more questionable, since the sidewalk is public (usually an easement granted in the deed) and the median strip exists to serve as a buffer between pedestrians and traffic. (In some developments, the median strip is actually part of the street per the survey and deed contract; in others, it’s part of the deed, but is a public easement.) When a sidewalk is too narrow for the pedestrian traffic, which is often true in mid-century suburban development, walking on the grass of the median strip or the lawn is not violating the right to enjoyment.
But at most, even if a citation is issued in this sort of scenario, it’s a code violation, not a misdemeanor and definitely not a felony. This is the equivalent of pulling a gun on your neighbor because they didn’t deal with their invasive weeds fast enough, or because they left their car on the jackstands in the driveway for more than 72 hours. It’s so out of proportion.
Shorter: When one feels the urge to demand people get off lawns, just don’t. It never works out well, and there’s no point.
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Nonviolent protest is certainly going to work, that’s why this stuff never happens anymore.
/s
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That doesn’t matter. You can have two wrongs in a situation.
ETA - lets see if the charges stick. If it wasn’t clear he was a cop, the charges of assaulting an officer may not stick. There has been a case where a SWAT team did a no knock bust in the WRONG house and the home owner was cleared of wrong doing for shooting at them because he didn’t know they were cops.
Was it clear this guy was a cop? Even if he said he was a cop, did he show an ID. Personally I don’t just believe people if they say they are something like that. Just like the guy in the van giving out gynecological exams might not be legit…
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Identifying himself as a cop has legal implications. There are all kinds of laws applicable after someone has identified themselves as a law enforcement officer; failure to obey a lawful order, resisting arrest, assault of police officer… all of those are contingent on the officer being known. Certainly identifying himself as a police officer doesn’t automatically make any of his other actions lawful, but it is a prerequisite to having any authority at all to lay hands on this kid.
Also, from a practical standpoint, anybody who is confronted by another person who identifies himself as a police officer should be immediately cease any aggressive posturing and stop any resistance, then follow the procedures typically outlined in something like the ACLU pocket rights card. Whether or not an officer is acting lawfully, you’re much more likely to end up in jail or dead if you try to resist a police officer who has identified himself.
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How much “proof” is needed? A badge I think is good proof. Some bald guy in a plaid shirt saying, “I’m a cop” doesn’t seem like enough proof to me.
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