So my former stomping grounds has made the national news once again, and of course it's nothing that paints Seattle in a good light. A cop trying to give a jaywalking ticket found himself in a situation that seemed to escalate wildly and ended up punching a 17 year old girl in the face.Of course this has brought up interesting discussion on the officer's actions. Most I've heard believe the man had no reason or business to strike the girl in the face, or any female for that matter. There are a few that believe the girl had it coming. If you don't want to get hit don't strike someone is their philosophy.
Surprisingly I'm torn over this. Looking at it from a cop's perspective he's surrounded by a bunch of people with those resisting arrest. He attempts to detain a person when another shoves him. This is a guy carrying all sorts of weapons (gun, tazer, baton, mace, etc) and his main priority is to keep those out of the hands of citizens. If anyone gets their hands on me means my safety, and of those around me, are compromised. Immediate reaction is warranted. Sure maybe a punch in the face was a bit much, but then again isn't it better than being tazered or clubbed? Simply pushing back will often only incite more reaction
But let's get to the real issue at hand. Because this mammoth 17 year old is a girl people have been crying foul, but would we pay any attention if it was a boy the same size? I mean shouldn't we all be looked upon as equals under the law?
I'm not one to blindly give my support for law enforcement. They are often under paid and worse have training that is sub-par. The actions of this officer prove why it's important that police should spend more time in the dojo. Still this event could've been avoided if the girl had simply kept her hands to herself and accepted that she will have her day in court to fight whatever charge she was going to be tasked with. For all of you let this be a lesson. If you don't want to get punched, don't hit people. It's just that simple.
I used to live a few blocks from where this happened. Yes it was a great neighborhood with upstanding individuals.
"One could laugh at the world better if it didn't mix tender kindliness with its brutality." - David Herbert Lawrence
2 comments:
I feel sorry for police being constantly in danger, yet criticized when something goes wrong, usually when someone is not complying. It's amazing more people don't get killed by accident.
I think it looked worse than it was, but punching her was not the right approach. If that officer had practiced his defensive tactics enough, he wouldn't have needed to do that.
You make a good point about having to keep others from getting his weapons. That was one of the things drilled into us in our Officer Survival class - as my instructor would always say, "Every fight a police officer gets called to is a gunfight, because the police bring the gun."
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