RAW: Video of Monday's SPD incident

loversniper said on June 17, 2010 at 10:48 PM

These gals are darn lucky they didn't get a face full of mace or tazed during this altercation!! When is it ever right to push a polics officer?? I guess I didn't get that memo...

johni58 said on June 16, 2010 at 11:41 PM

Essentially, yet another case of R.A.W.B. (Resisting Arrest While Black) It is sweeping the country. Seems to be some disconnect with the ability to weigh the outcome of a jaywalking warning OR going to jail for violently resisting a dully sworn Police Officer representing the city where the offense occured. Amazing to me -

jerrysorensen said on June 16, 2010 at 9:39 PM

Comment to alandysert- Your right, well said, if the NAACP had any balls they would apologize for their action and commend this young man who was man enough to do the right thing.

alandysert301974 said on June 16, 2010 at 7:55 PM

I have left several comments, all of which put every ounce of blame on the two girls. There is one person who is not getting much attention though, and should be COMMENDED for his actions. That would be the young man in the aqua blue shirt that pulled the girl in the pink away from the officer and other female. He did it not once, but twice. He seems to be the ONLY one that had any idea of what right and wrong are. Who knows what further mess was averted by one young man with a conscience that understood what is and is not acceptable behavior. Someone should thank him for having the moral character to do what is right. And young man if you are reading this now..............YOU are the one that should be thanked for helping to get this thing calmed down. Folks like you are what make our society better off. Girls like those in the video are an embarrassment to all of us!

thekingisdead1 said on June 16, 2010 at 12:51 PM

So explain to me again how punching a teenage girl in the face is acceptable by ANY police department? As an officer, he is trained for these types of situations and slamming/ punching a girl not even half his weight/ strength is not something that people should be ok with. Also, about the man with the supposed gun in his hand - that could have been ANYTHING! Let me see the superimposed image that shows it's a gun but then again I guess you don't need evidence when you're the police, you make it up as you go. This is a sad day for WA.

smileysnwbrdr said on June 16, 2010 at 12:36 PM

White, black, male, female, 17 or 71...none of this matters. There is a law for jay walking, resisting arrest, and assulting an officer. This individual broke all three, and then her friend jumps the officer for him trying to do his job. Hopefully they get the max and learn a lesson early in life. Bravo for this officer maintaining his cool through the whole thing. An interview of another officer from the SPD explains that punching is okay if required. If you don't like the repercussions of breaking the law, don't break them.

olynutritionist said on June 16, 2010 at 12:25 PM

Nice "young ladies"... They deserve what they got.

gpsnnw said on June 16, 2010 at 11:39 AM

What we have here is a simple attempt, by two girls, to emulate Henry Louis Gates, in getting a free beer.

tacomasteve said on June 16, 2010 at 11:26 AM

Freeze the video at -1:16 and look at the lower left hand corner of the frame. The man on the left behind the officer is holding a snub-nose revolver at his side. Between -1:16 and -1:14 it is clearly visible in his right hand. That officer was in a dangerous situation and had to retain control and end it as soon as possible. I see no unjustified use of force here.

jimmyd123 said on June 16, 2010 at 10:22 AM

Once again, the blacks are screaming racism and police brutality. If this had of been a white kid, nothing would be said. Blacks need to get over it. There was no problem with this arrest by the white cop. He was doing what he had to do to protect himself and effect the arrest. The blacks were 100% wrong.

daily_grind said on June 15, 2010 at 10:19 PM

I was ready to condemn the cop. After watching this video many time, the girl in the pink was completely in the wrong - she didn't justt touch him, she SHOVED him (and she wasn't a little woman either). She is lucky he didn't use more force - there wasn't even blood. I think her pride got hurt more than anything else. The woman fighting, spitting, cussing and using the "N" word is lucky she didn't get maced. I think the cop showed a lot of courage, trying to talk her down and not minding the cameras and the jeering from the crowd. he showed professionalism and grace under pressure. Those girls need to be schooled on how to act in public.

doug276614834154 said on June 15, 2010 at 8:40 PM

I watched the viudeo for the third time and want to make another post. If I were there I would have helped the officer. All these people around not helping in my opinion helped escalate the problem. There was one guy who grabbed the one woman but she pulled back to continue her aggresive behavior with the officer. In no way was this racial, in fact, it was more racial towards the officer! These girls have no respect. I am glad to see the officer was not concerned with all the camera phones. Here are all these pople with their phones thinking they will get their 15 minutes of fame thinking their video will be on tv instead of doing what citizens should do and have concern about the officer's safety. Evertime this tye of thing happens and you get the Urban League or NAACP reacting taking the side of the scum buckets it is a step back when it comes to racial relations.

repetivity said on June 15, 2010 at 7:31 PM

Azi-I think I see what you are talking about. Pretty convincing for an old school revolver. This tape will see many years on the training circuit as "what not to do". Lucky cop.

repetivity said on June 15, 2010 at 7:18 PM

If someone was holding a gun and the cop failed to notice that merely underscores my point that he lost control of the situation. He let himself get drawn into a mano-a-mano scrap with two women, then, when he felt threatened he panicked and punched the girl. He's lucky not to have lost the crowd at that point any more than he did. He should have employed Taser or Capstun or merely "tactically advanced to the rear" until reinforcements arrived. Unsafe cowboy tactics.

aziza said on June 15, 2010 at 7:10 PM

repi? Your thoughts on the bystander who is obviously holding a gun? Watch the guy in the black hat with all the white blobs on it. He appears twice, second time he is holding a gun. This could have turned out SO much worse.

seattleswimmer said on June 15, 2010 at 5:44 PM

I hope that these types of video situations don't result in a hamstrung police force afraid to enforce the law for fear of a camera-phone capturing only part of a crime. repetivity - why do you use racist symbolism for a situation that has nothing to do with race? if a couple of white teenage boys had done the same thing, that officer would likely have been much more aggressive in regaining control of the situation.

repetivity said on June 15, 2010 at 5:19 PM

You're all right. He should have called the fire department and had them sprayed with hoses. Or had dogs there to bite them. Idiots.

seattleswimmer said on June 15, 2010 at 5:12 PM

When are people going to learn that they must respect law enforcement officers and take their case to a judge instead of arguing with the officer? He is definitely going to arrest someone that pushes him. Those woman sealed their fate by resisting arrest, interferring with police duties, and everything else that went on. Actually, I thought the officer was pretty gentle on those women considering what they were doing. Resisting arrest in some cities will get your shoulder dislocated, or arm broken, and more than a few bumps and bruises too. The officer tried very hard and successfully to walk a fine line of respect for the woman that was handcuffed while resisting. And getting a light punch from the officer after that other woman's aggressive push showed restraint on the officer's part.

jethrobodine said on June 15, 2010 at 4:59 PM

What is wrong with all the people standing around watching? Are you stupid? Someone should have manned up and helped this officer get the situation under control. That stupid, inorant little b**ch deserved to get punched, too bad he didnt knock her out. I believe the officer showed tremendous restraint. There is NO excuse for these people not helping this officer. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

repetivity said on June 15, 2010 at 4:35 PM

Actually, kplist, the baton, taser, or pepper spray would have been appropriate. Punching was not.

repetivity said on June 15, 2010 at 3:37 PM

Not only did the cop respond inappropriately with an aggressive action not justified by the threat of force continuum, HE GOT OWNED! His punch was weak and could have gotten him killed by the crowd. When he punched her, he showed that he had lost control of the situation and of the moral authority that he must maintain for the public's support. This was not only an over-aggressive response to an admittedly "difficult" suspect, it was a stupid error that could easily have resulted in the crowd turning on him and ending badly.

kplist said on June 15, 2010 at 3:16 PM

responding to tawhitcombe66809 - the officer is not a mind reader, so he doesn't know and can't assume someone is not going to try for his weapons- also, he is already having trouble subduing the first woman, I doubt he could have handled two with force. They were lucky he did not use a baton, taser or pepper spray.

dantev said on June 15, 2010 at 2:57 PM

Wow so removing comments = censoring? If you don't want your comments removed follow the guidelines of posting. Which obviously includes a lot of negative racial remarks that are being plastered over all 3 articles. Basically don't post stupid stuff and it won't get deleted. Have the common decency to discuss like adults and leave the racial slurs out of it.

taxed said on June 15, 2010 at 2:12 PM

People, I love ya. I thought I,d see all the cop did wrong stuff when I started at the bottom reading. Instead we are seeing through it. Make a big comotion and you can,t touch me is the oldest trick in the book! It dosent work. Some one comes at you and your going to stand there and take it? He reacted, he didnt hit her hard or she wouldhave gone done. She stuck her nose were somewere she shoudnt have. It got poped. On the street it can be alot worse when you put your nose where it shouldn't be. No blood, she got easy. I'm glad it was recorded. Sorry the cop had to get put through it. Good job!

tawhitcombe66809 said on June 15, 2010 at 1:27 PM

I don't believe the police department has the right to use brute force, particularly punching someone in the face, unless they are facing a physical assault in which they believe they could be overpowered. Do they expect us to believe that this 200-pound plus officer was afraid of being overpowered by a much smaller female? People, where are your critical thinking skills? Where is you ability to discern fantasy from reality? Was this woman really attempting to take his taser or other weapon? Clearly not. She was attempting to help her friend. There are less violent ways to diffuse the situation, but our culture seems to value violence as a means of ending disputes or conflict. And anyone who cheers on the actions of a police officer who feels it is okay to strike a woman with his bare fist in the face, merely because she was tugging on his arm, is the same kind of person who would cheer the lions in a stadium to eat the gladiators.

sjean said on June 15, 2010 at 1:23 PM

She deserved to be tazed or at the very least pepper sprayed

tthot said on June 15, 2010 at 12:54 PM

this site is being CENSORED by the news media of all people. comments are being removed

justplainoldme said on June 15, 2010 at 12:05 PM

that girl only got what she deserved! everybody knows that you cannot interfere with an officer as he is making an arrest.

cnhbradley said on June 15, 2010 at 11:56 AM

The lead should be - "Seattle Police Officer defends self after being attacked!"

maddave12 said on June 15, 2010 at 11:36 AM

Remember, too, the police officer has weapons on his belt (taser, handgun) which he cannot allow to be grabbed by the people around him, so he needs to defend his space effectively. The girls were wayyyy out of line, and I think he acted correctly. Their failure to comply with his lawful request was illegal and very stupid.

onlyonetruth said on June 15, 2010 at 11:28 AM

I agree. I usually feel as though the the police are in the wrong. But in this case the Police Officer did exactly what I would have done. What the heck is wrong with these kids? There is no excuse for those girls to act that nuts. I don't think that "cosmo20" watched the entire video or the same video.

luciano0690 said on June 15, 2010 at 11:18 AM

Sorry for so many post of the same message. Each time I tried to post it came back as error. Even after I refreshed my page several times there was nothing. Now 10 minutes later each attempt gets posted.?????

luciano0690 said on June 15, 2010 at 11:09 AM

I can't help but notice that king 5 changed the head line after all the criticism of the first one. Had they just kept their pie holes shut, and not resisted, the cop probably would have just warned them. Everybody says, "all this for jaywalking". Then why don't we just stop enforcing jaywalking laws, and let them get hit by a car (with no legal repercussions to the driver, of course). Let them get hit; it would help rid the world of fools. Mean while, I'm sure the cop will be accused of being racist.

bill94 said on June 15, 2010 at 11:05 AM

She got exactly what she deserved! Young people just have no respect for any authority of any kind. They need to be taut that they can not do just anything that they want. The laws do include them and everyone else.

luciano0690 said on June 15, 2010 at 11:03 AM

I can't help, but notice that King 5 has changed the head line after all the criticism. Had they just kept their pie holes shut, and not resisted, the cop probably would have just warned them. Everybody says, “all this for jaywalking”. Then why don’t we just stop enforcing jaywalking laws, and let them get hit by a car (with no legal repercussions to the driver, of course). Let them get hit; it would help rid the world of fools. Mean while I'm sure the cop will be accused of being racist.

luciano0690 said on June 15, 2010 at 11:01 AM

I can't help but notice that King 5 has changed the head line after all the criticism of the first one. Had they just kept their pie holes shut, and not resisted, the cop probably would have just warned them. Everybody says, "all this for jaywalking". Then why don't we just stop enforcing jaywalking laws, and let them get hit by a car (with no legal repercussions to the driver, of course). Let them get hit; it would help rid the world of fools. Mean while I'm sure the cop will be accused of being racist.

brmil76 said on June 15, 2010 at 10:31 AM

i believe that if the state didn't have parents so scared to discipline our children stuff like this wouldn't happen. these kids have no respect for adults or authority. if that was my daughter i would have punched her myself. that is called no home training. i hate sea police but if that was me i would have done allot more than punched her. on the other hand why didn't he call for back up before takin on rainier valley. this is my area and i know one of them kids was probably packing. he is a bold man

bertadoll8715140 said on June 15, 2010 at 9:21 AM

Resisting arrest and assaulting an officer. Pity he wasn't able to get ahold of his pepper spray or his taser. This video will come in very handy to prosecutors in the trial against these 2 women.

chrismac88 said on June 15, 2010 at 8:44 AM

If those women had just complied with the officer there would have been no issue. For the woman in pink to try to interfere, that was just plain stupid and the officer's response was appropriate. The officer was actually quite patient and lenient with the woman he was trying to arrest. When she was still resisting arrest later, he could have been much more forceful and slammed her face into the hood of the patrol car and that would have been justified......but instead the officer is seen talking to her and trying to stop her squirming. I also wonder if this was a set up. If you notice, before the woman in pink intervenes, she looks over at the camera, as if to make sure the camera is ready before she goes in......

pinkfloydsdr said on June 15, 2010 at 8:14 AM

when i see these kind of videos i usually get very angry at the police. after all im seeing the video in the news because its showing one of the times when a cops actions are beyond what is acceptable to most citizens. this is not one of thoes times. instead im angry at the ignorance of the 2 girls and many of the bystanders. here is what they are ignorant of - 1: if a cop is giving you a ticket that you dispute, you are gonna have to take your dispute to the judge. arguing with a cop will not help. 2: the cop wants to do his job that day and go home at the end. he dosent want to arrest anybody. dont give him a reason to. 3: STRUGGLING AND FIGHTING WITH COPS IS A CRIME.you never get to fight or struggle with cops.if a cop wants to arrest you, youre under arrest. it dosent matter if you think he is wrong. it dosent matter if you are a man or woman. and if you fight with a cop, you will get hit and they will have done nothing wrong.

d81840 said on June 15, 2010 at 7:38 AM

I completely agree that the woman is darn lucky to have been only punched. The first woman was causing a huge problem when the second woman came up on the cop clearly going to cause more trouble. Number two is lucky the cop was so engaged with number one he only had time to punch her instead of tasing her. And shame on the crowd for causing more trouble. Not a single one of them helped that cop. All they did was cause the situation get worse. Shame, shame,shame. Hang your heads in shame, all of you.

wicca4200 said on June 15, 2010 at 7:18 AM

That’s what you get when dealing with ghetto! The officer was actually pretty patient.

wicca4200 said on June 15, 2010 at 7:12 AM

She deserved the punch and more….she should have not been interfering in the officers job. I hate that the news (King5) focuses on the punch and not why it got to that point. Show the full story and not what is just convenient for ratings. You guys are starting to be like Kiro7…extremely dramatic and showing whatever is convenient.

turblumber said on June 15, 2010 at 6:04 AM

Agreed with nocknut, She's lucky a punch was all she got.

zenmonk said on June 15, 2010 at 5:41 AM

Once you cross that line all bets are off. People have to understand that when a law officer tells you to do something you better do it. If you put your hands on a officer you will suffer the consequences, it really a very simple concept to understand.

cosmo20 said on June 15, 2010 at 12:45 AM

This is disgusting!!! Is this the community that we want to leave our kids. Come on people, stand up and help. This cop is truly out of line and did not follow protocol. But to see more than 2 dozen people stand around and film a situation out of control. Shame on you. This should be a another wake up call to our city leadership to step up and address the issues with SPD. Another waste of our tax dollars defending another million dollar lawsuit. McGinn get a clue and reverse course with your police department, a good start would be a chief in place to train these guys!!!!!

cmeeverett said on June 15, 2010 at 12:18 AM

ALL OF THIS... over a "jay walking" offense. Please!

brooksj78 said on June 15, 2010 at 12:16 AM

This obviously looks bad, I for one from what I see on the video believe this got a little out of hand. Having said that, was the video on just at the right moment to make it look worse than it was. Coming from someone who wants a career in law enforcement I would have though the training the officer received he would have backed off, called for addition officers and diffused the situation in that matter. The officer was pretty careless continuing to struggle with the women with that crowd around him, he should have used better judgment. I saw her attack him however he has tools to use other than his fist, he should have stepped back and pulled his taser and again asked for the women to listen to his instructions, bottom line is officers need to protect themselves but this does not look appropriate.

seascorpio82 said on June 15, 2010 at 12:05 AM

Woman got what she asked for...which is usually the case in any situation.

ariesgirl75 said on June 14, 2010 at 11:58 PM

wow! seriously? the two women got what they deserved, so glad to see that there are still some decent ppl around to stick up for out law enforcement. good job officer! i would do the same thing by the way.

nocknut said on June 14, 2010 at 11:29 PM

You put your hands on a cop and you are lucky that a punch is all that happens to you. I agree with the first two comments.good job SPD. You either yeild when told to, or suffer the consequences. This will be blown way out of proportion when a little common sense would have diffused the situation. I'm sure this will be called a act of discrimination, but stupidity isn't bound by race.

r_goodtwin said on June 14, 2010 at 10:34 PM

"Are you serious?" "Are you serious?" "Are you serious?" He was probably dead f***ing serious the first time he asked her to calm down and place her hands behind her back. Then she and another woman attacked him. It is unfortunate that everyone there was too blind to see that this officer had to defend himself against rage. From the minute the videographer starting filming this his intent was to enrage viewers and smear this police officer. Shame on all bystanders for not recognizing your own hate. This city is beyond making me sick. What a disgrace.

hammonda said on June 14, 2010 at 10:21 PM

I feel that this is a set up! A man just happens to have a video camera handy, and records this incident. I think it was all staged to try to give the seattle pd a bad name. If you notice, when he gets the woman on video at the end; when she is in the patrol car, she is calmly smiling, as if acknowledging that they got the footage that they wanted. I think what they are hoping to show is Who cares that the woman initially assaulted the officer; however, shame on the Officer for defending himmself. What too many people are trying to acheive is that they should be able to do whatever, and hollar race, discrimination, or assault, so that the police force cannot do their job, and the people get away with breaking the law. I applaud the officer for defending himself, non leathally. Since the woman decided that she wanted to assault the officer, I feel that he had every right to defend himself! Keep up the good work SPD! Some of us still stand behind you!