Police Slam Wrongly ID'd Man Into Wall - He's Now In a Coma

[Facial_King]

Wonder if the guy in a coma was prone to rationalize any and every police action?
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Speaking of "prone to rationalize any and every police action".... here's Chef!

Ok, first of all, he didn't slam his head into the wall...he tackled the guy and he hit his head on the wall as a result from that. It's not like the officer grabbed the guy by his waist band and then spiked the top of his head through the wall.

Oh, okay, he didn't slam the guy's head into the wall, he slammed the entire guy into the wall - his head just happened to hit first. Now I'm no expert on football or combat terminology, but I always thought that "tackle" meant to actually lunge at the person, throw your arms around the person, and bring them down, usually with the tackler following them down. This cop didn't tackle him, he just ran up and, using his arms, pushed him VERY hard. Clearly, the man flies through the air.

Secondly, it looked like the guy was kiiiiind of trotting away from the police officer, which can be viewed as running from the police. I'm interested in seeing if there is any video footage that occured BEFORE this video clip started. From the looks of it, the man was trotting away from the officer, possibly trying to get away (who knows?). If that is the case, the officer had every right to take the guy down, especially since he was believed to be a suspect in an assault. If you are a suspect in an assault, the police aren't going to give you the benefit of the doubt and treat you as if you won't be a problem. They are going to take your ass down because you could be dangerous. In this case, the man wasn't the guilty party, but that officer was told by a witness that he was involved in the assault. So, the officer, taking full precaution, treated the man as being the suspect in the assault.

Ummm....if you've got a guy cornered with only a wall behind him, why not draw the gun and yell "Freeze!!" ?? They were responding to a stabbing - not a shooting - so drawing a gun seems like an effective method to get the guy to halt.

And, let's be honest here...

If this happened anywhere else, other than right next to a wall, this incident wouldn't even be an issue. It's unfortunate that this happened, but it was an accident. The guy's head hit the wall by accident; the officer didn't maliciously pound the guy's skull into the wall or anything, so why treat it as such? Oh wait, that's right...because he's a police officer. I almost forgot.

Chef, I think you've sunk to a new low with that one. "The guy's head hit the wall by accident" ???

You're writing as though the guy's head had a life of its own. The officer did something, and then the guy's head went and hit the wall, accidentally!! Simple cause and effect. Bigger guy runs up fast and (body-checks? I think that's the term) nails skinny guy with a wall 7-8 feet behind him. We see the predictable results in the video. To call it an "accident" is being obtuse. You should admit that is inaccurate and unfair. (Having watched the crucial seconds of the vid at least 10 times now, I'd say the guy's head flies at least 7 or 8 feet to hit that wall.)

If some guy ran up to another guy thinking that the other guy had been sleeping with his wife and some asshole in the bar had wrongly ID'd the other guy, and there was a video like this, you'd call the same act malicious. Wouldn't you? [Or would you say it's a normal, human, emotional reaction and therefore should be excused?]
The cop clearly didn't know who he was going after. Nothing about the guy in the vid looks so unique or unusual.

Here's a more detailed story on it. Yes, apparently (according to police), this guy had run from the cops (although they don't know clearly why) - although he's not even jogging by the time he's in this camera's range. He is now (or was) on life support, and the cop is on paid leave.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30712111/

Speaking of normal, human reactions to things - I think if someone is surprised by officers running at them when they haven't committed any crime, it might be an entirely natural response to flee... Clearly, it would be ill-advised, but it might be a normal human reaction...

 

[Hot Mega]

Exactly what can when cops take the law into their own hands on the curb side instead of focusing o delivering a suspect to the court system.

I hope the victim recovers...very unfortunate.

The cop should be disciplined.

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

The guy took a defensive posture after he appeared to be evasive which escalated the officer's reaction. In situations like this an officer will take decisive action to minimize the threat. I've seen people clothes lined numerous times with minor injuries and nothing comes of it because they were found to be resistant. In most cases, if a person assumes a non aggressive stance and keeps their hands in plain sight the worst thing to happen to them will be that they get handcuffed until the matter is resolved.

I sympathize with the "victim" and his family but if he'd not behaved suspiciously this would not have happened.

 

[ChefChiTown]

But it didn't. You and I and everyone else know damn well what's going to happen if someone's standing close to a wall and you push him/her into it at full force. It is what it is, the cop was wrong. You're trying to justify what he did because a woman who was assaulted gave the officer a description and it was the victims bad luck he just happened to fit it. Fitting a description is no reason for a police officer to assault someone like that.

Ok, then why don't you tell everyone how you would've liked to see the officer handle the situation.

I just don't get why people expect police officers to handle every single situation as if nobody is guilty of anything and nobody could pooooossibly be armed or dangerous. What if the police officer was polite, courteous and extremely respectful, but then the suspect pulled a gun out really quick and shot the officer in the chest? Would people be saying, "Well, at least he was polite and courteous"...??? No, they would probably be saying, "There are a lot of dangerous people out there. You can never be too careful!!!"

But, when an officer is being careful and precautious, those same people think that police officer is a dick.

Police officers, no matter what they do, can't ever win.

But if you had the bad luck to fit a description and the same thing happened to you you'd just say; "hey, the guy was just doing his job".....right?

I had a police officer pull a gun on me for trying to help a girl to her feet after she got punched in the face during a huge, idiotic fight. He mistook me for the person who hit her and pulled his gun on me, yelling at me to get away from her. Did it suck? Yup, having a gun pointed at you usually is. Did I get all bent out of shape just because the officer was being precautious? No.

Yes, this guy is unfortunately in a coma and I'm sure that a lawsuit will be filed, but no matter how anyone tries to spin it...it was an accident. The officer didn't purposely try to put this guy into a coma; it was an accident.

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

I keep trying to rep you, Chef but I have to spread it around a little.

 

[ChefChiTown]

Oh, okay, he didn't slam the guy's head into the wall, he slammed the entire guy into the wall - his head just happened to hit first. Now I'm no expert on football or combat terminology, but I always thought that "tackle" meant to actually lunge at the person, throw your arms around the person, and bring them down, usually with the tackler following them down. This cop didn't tackle him, he just ran up and, using his arms, pushed him VERY hard. Clearly, the man flies through the air.

Ok, he shoulder tackled him. Is that better? And, yes...that's an actual term.

Ummm....if you've got a guy cornered with only a wall behind him, why not draw the gun and yell "Freeze!!" ?? They were responding to a stabbing - not a shooting - so drawing a gun seems like an effective method to get the guy to halt.

Let's be honest...

If this police officer drew a gun, you would be saying the complete opposite of what you just said right there. Instead of "drawing a gun seems like an effective method to get the guy to halt", you would be bitching at how a gun being pulled was completely unnecessary, as the suspect didn't do anything wrong.

Chef, I think you've sunk to a new low with that one. "The guy's head hit the wall by accident" ???

You're writing as though the guy's head had a life of its own. The officer did something, and then the guy's head went and hit the wall, accidentally!! Simple cause and effect. Bigger guy runs up fast and (body-checks? I think that's the term) nails skinny guy with a wall 7-8 feet behind him. We see the predictable results in the video. To call it an "accident" is being obtuse. You should admit that is inaccurate and unfair. (Having watched the crucial seconds of the vid at least 10 times now, I'd say the guy's head flies at least 7 or 8 feet to hit that wall.)

So, if you are saying that it wasn't an accident, you would have to be saying that the officer was purposely trying to put the guy into a coma by slamming his head against the wall. That's obviously not what the officer was trying to do there. Spin it as much as you'd like; it was an accident.

 

[bustybbwlover]

The officer didn't purposely try to put this guy into a coma; it was an accident.

but how does that make the officer any less in the wrong? oddly enough slamming someone's head into a wall results in them getting injured. it's not as if he 'accidentally' slammed the guys head into the wall. he just accidentally hurt him more than he intended.

 

[Facial_King]

Ok, he shoulder tackled him. Is that better? And, yes...that's an actual term.

Possibly. How is shoulder tackle defined? I've always thought tackling involved the tackler going down with the tackled.

In any case, what I was trying to emphasize was that the guy went down and the cop remained standing. The guy was not fleeing in such a way that he required a tackle (as I know it).

Let's be honest...

If this police officer drew a gun, you would be saying the complete opposite of what you just said right there. Instead of "drawing a gun seems like an effective method to get the guy to halt", you would be bitching at how a gun being pulled was completely unnecessary, as the suspect didn't do anything wrong.

You're speculating, and you're wrong. If a police officer is chasing (what they have some (albeit indirect) reason to believe is) a stabbing suspect, it's certainly reasonable to draw a gun and yell freeze. I would say that, in this situation, drawing the gun is better than coming into direct contact, and better than tasering.

So, if you are saying that it wasn't an accident, you would have to be saying that the officer was purposely trying to put the guy into a coma by slamming his head against the wall. That's obviously not what the officer was trying to do there. Spin it as much as you'd like; it was an accident.

No, that is horribly flawed logic, Chef. A coma isn't the only possible result, but certainly one of several scenarios - all of them significant. I don't "have to be saying that the officer was purposely trying to put the guy into a coma." What I'm saying is that a push that hard, into a hard surface (the wall) will quite likely cause serious injury of some sort. People don't fly through the air (watch it yourself, the guy's HEAD flies at least 6 or 7 feet through the air before hitting the wall) and slam into walls without some kind of serious injury. You can't believe everything you see in a Steven Seagal movie... Even a well-muscled (haha) skull doesn't respond so well to hitting hard walls - heads are heads, mostly.
The officer probably (hopefully) wasn't thinking "Ok, I'm gonna put this guy into a coma." but he should have known that he would injure the suspect (who, importantly, had both hands in sight and was NOT holding a knife or weapon), possibly quite seriously, by ramming him that hard, with a wall behind him. He can't argue that he didn't hit him hard, that he didn't see the wall, that the guy was displaying a weapon, or that the guy was running away at that time - if anything, it looks as though he'd given up any chase.

 

[Boothbabe]

Ok, then why don't you tell everyone how you would've liked to see the officer handle the situation.

Like a professional. Keep some distance between himself and the suspect and pull his gun. To me that would be a normal reaction when trying to stop someone who's suspected of assaulting someone with a knife.

But, when an officer is being careful and precautious, those same people think that police officer is a dick.

Body slamming someone into a wall so he ends up in a coma isn't being careful and precautious. That's wanting to take someone down hard.

Police officers, no matter what they do, can't ever win.

Not if this is the result.

I had a police officer pull a gun on me for trying to help a girl to her feet after she got punched in the face during a huge, idiotic fight. He mistook me for the person who hit her and pulled his gun on me, yelling at me to get away from her. Did it suck? Yup, having a gun pointed at you usually is. Did I get all bent out of shape just because the officer was being precautious? No.

So now you're comparing not getting injured to ending up in a coma.

Yes, this guy is unfortunately in a coma and I'm sure that a lawsuit will be filed, but no matter how anyone tries to spin it...it was an accident. The officer didn't purposely try to put this guy into a coma; it was an accident.

And that makes it ok? You always find a way to justify what the police does. If a police officer shot an innocent person in the head @ point blank range you would probably find some way to justify it.

 

[24788]

After watching it about 10-20x it looks like the guy (suspect) is just trying to get out of the way. He probably had no idea the cop was running towards him at full speed. He was in no way trying to get away. He is barely moving in the video.

I hate when witnesses are unsure of something. I wouldn't of said anything if I saw the real suspect.

I hope the cop loses his job. I don't think anyone else should lose their job in this situation except for the one who made the stupid decision.

 

[dogbone27]

but how does that make the officer any less in the wrong? oddly enough slamming someone's head into a wall results in them getting injured. it's not as if he 'accidentally' slammed the guys head into the wall. he just accidentally hurt him more than he intended.

The cop was wrong because he over react but it was still an accident. I don't think the cop wanted to hurt him, he just over react.
alot of you guys trying to make it sound like the Cop was some kind of Bad cop, he was just doing his Job and someone got hurt.