See, if it were only "a few bad apples," his partner would have stopped him right there and arrested him--or at least reported him afterward. But instead, this type of evil is systemic, and unless caught and exposed by outsiders, is just the way things are. I'll bet if the partner had done the right thing, his life would have been made hell--if not actually put into perpetual danger. [Watch]
And here's the other thing: Once this badged thug made it clear he was prepared to commit perjury to take away a citizen's freedom, with the understanding that he would kill the detainee if he resisted, all bets are off: the victim would have been perfectly within his rights--legally and morally--to use lethal force against anyone using terrorist threats and attempting to kidnap him--and that includes using it against their violent criminal accomplices.
[Via Jeet]
I would love to see video of the entire incident and the verbal exchanges between the officer and the suspect.
ReplyDeleteThe suspects did run from the officers, for reasons I haven't quite figured out yet. The alleged victim of the assault supposedly ID'd them as the suspects, but later decided not to pursue the matter.
Now, I can tell you from first hand experience that it can be fun to screw with a mouthy arrestee. Many moons ago I chased down a car thief who ran his mouth the whole time I had him in a holding cell. He shut up when I told him I had called the Secret Service and informed them he had threatened to kill President Clinton while he was in the cell. He was being a smart ass so I poked him with a stick.
As I have said in comments here before - I don't mind calling out officers when they do stupid or downright criminal stuff, but I think this one is much ado about nothing.