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Close friend of mine draws down on a badguy (caught on surveillance camera)

Godscreation

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Mar 21, 2008
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This is raw footage taken from news 9 which shows a very good LEO friend of mine trying to escort someone off the train. The suspect had no ticket and refused to pay for his fare so he was forced to leave. He refused to cooperate and after my friend forced him off the train, everything broke loose. The news story that aired this video slanted the story to make it look like my friend used too much force. If you were a citizen and this happened to you, or you were a LEO, would you have done the same thing? Being that this is my friend who I see at church every week and hang out with I am bias so I want a neutral opinion. You will notice from the video my friend ducks but still gets punched in the back of the neck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssKHK8hzWN4
 

Grapeshot

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Without other comments - only answering the specific question - I see no use excessive force.

Yata hey
 

Dahwg

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I see, a huge disparity of force- that guy is huge. He appears to be trying to fight the cop (resisting arrest). Dunno if that makes it a felony where you live or if a felony is even necessary for a cop to draw down. Here in AZ assault against a PO is ag. assault and deadly force is justified IIRC.
 

GoldCoaster

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Your friend was lucky he didn't lose control of that situation, that guy was huge and was swinging pretty well at your buddy. He's lucky he didn't get tazed or whacked in the knee with an asp. At the very least he should have been put down on the ground flat until he was cuffed. I'd say the perp got away lightly. It's true what they say about the gun being the equalizer. Once he saw the muzzle facing his way he gave up the fight right then and there.
 

TheyWeRight

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I do not consider that an excessive use of force. The guy was illegally riding the train and refused the conductors order to leave. When your LEO friend showed up he likely could have just got his stuff and walked off the train with no repercussions. Your buddy was completely in the right to drag this bum off the train, and completely justified in drawing on him after the bum assaulted the LEO.
 

Dreamer

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Looks like a completely justifiable, and well-controlled and appropriate use of force.

The attacker is lucky this happened in NC, where the police are generally pretty good at getting control of a situation without actually USING force. Had this happened in NY, or CA, or IL, this guy would have been tazed and batoned as a matter of course...

Your buddy did a very good job regaining control of a situation that could have gotten VERY bad very quickly.
 

OPS MARINE

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I see no use of excessive force. give the odds, the locale and the situation, I would have done the same thing. You cannot fight a Peace Officer in uniform and expect to get a hand slap or free pass. The aggressor was bigger, and although he probably wouldn't have won the fight, there is no reason to continue to take this person on and draw out the incident.
 

Judge.410

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Media strikes again! :cry: This guy should feel very lucky your friend had control. Looks like he got up BEFORE being cuffed.....not sure about that one...at least the B.G. took orders swiftly....no shots fired.....good job!
 

eye95

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I don't know the law in this instance, but common sense says that the officer took the necessary action to protect himself.
 

LadyGreenEyes

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NOT excessive use of force; the guy was fighting with him. Your friend had no way to know if this man was armed or not, and being under attack is a good reason to draw. That suspect wasn't thinking clearly, IMO. Maybe he was protesting being pulled off the train because he didn't collect his things, but if that was the case, he should have done so and exited when told. In a case like this, an officer that failed to draw could become a victim all too quickly.
 

HankT

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Godscreation wrote:
The news story that aired this video slanted the story to make it look like my friend used too much force.
What did the news story have in it that slanted the story to make it look like excessive force?


Force used looked reasonable to me.
 

LadyGreenEyes

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HankT wrote:
Godscreation wrote:
The news story that aired this video slanted the story to make it look like my friend used too much force.
What did the news story have in it that slanted the story to make it look like excessive force?


Force used looked reasonable to me.
Maybe they did the same thing that most of the media did with the Rodney King tape; edited it to the point where all you saw was him being hit, and taking out all the many, many times he got up and attacked ALL of those cops. ONE station where we lived at the time showed the whole thing, one evening only. King was a BIG fellow, and was continuously getting up, and swinging, quite effectively, at the cops that were trying to arrest him. Yet most of what we saw on the news (all that some saw) was him being hit, with no explanation, because of selective editing. In that case, the media promoted rioting, by misrepresenting the facts, and thus causing extreme anger when those cops were, rightly, acquitted. If the news in this case showed the cop grabbing the guy, with no conversation before, and then drawing on him, it could be slanted fairly easily, especially with the right dialogue from the talking heads.
 

Ivan Sample

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I agree with others on this one. There was enough force needed to bring the situation under control. You have to be careful of the media, they want to turn things ugly when it wasn't at all. Hell if I was a citizen I would have done the same thing. Good video by the way. One for the good guy :exclaim:
 

sccrref

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I too must agree that appropriate force was used. I would go further to say that I think the officer showed great restraint in his use of force. As far as the media goes, they always seem to exaggerate things (usually the wrong way) to get more viewers.
 
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