She was only riding a skateboard...

[onions!]

The "kids" weren't.The arrested were 19 & 21 years old.

& FWIW,I think that stupid can be applied to both sides here.

[roo_ster]

Problem is, one of the stupid's salary is paid for by the taxpayers and has the color of authority.

[Balog]

Being stupid, disrespectful etc isn't a crime. Cops using force when they aren't being threatened or physically resisted is unacceptable.

[El Tejon]

No, police can use force to make an arrest and there is no requirement to treat you with kid gloves just because you are white and spoiled rotten.

Of course, this particular officer was less than professional and is in need of further training.

[Nitrogen]

No, police can use force to make an arrest and there is no requirement to treat you with kid gloves just because you are white and spoiled rotten.

Of course, this particular officer was less than professional and is in need of further training.

So, would you feel alright if an officer used similar force to arrest you for speeding 10 MPH over the speed limit?  Would you feel that force would still be appropriate if someone argued with the officer about the ticket?
The law they broke was about as serious as speeding.
THAT's the problem.  Sure, police have the right to use force to effect an arrest, but considering the law broken, it seemed an overreaction.

[El Tejon]

Speeding is not a crime, criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and resisting law enforcement are crimes.

Although I've been doing this a long time, I cannot get over how people react not to the evidence against them but how the police officer treated them.  Must be something inherent in the human condition that people do not mind going to prison but hate being "mistreated."

"O.K., here's your video taped confession, a van load of nuns who witnessed you molest the child in the park, and your mother's statement that you are vile and should be imprisoned.  I say we take the deal for 6 months house arrest."

"But that officer was very arrogant when he arrested me."

I agree that the officer was acting the fool and he let the skateboarders make him look like a bigger fool.

[Harold Tuttle]

Cop Cleared of Wrongdoing in Skateboarder Choking Incident
Tuesday, July 03, 2007

E-MAIL STORY PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION
HOT SPRINGS, Ark.  A police officer who appeared to choke a skateboarder in a video posted online has been cleared of any wrongdoing by an internal review board.

The Hot Springs Police Department Internal Affairs Board found the use of force was within the police department's policy on non-deadly force and recommended "no changes to this policy." The decision was released Monday.

Officer Joey Williams stopped a group of skateboarders June 21 on a downtown city sidewalk. Skateboarding is banned in the area.

The video shows Williams apparently choking one of the skateboarders after forcing him to the ground, then later chasing and wrestling two others while holding them in a headlock.

"This was a minimal force issue," Police Chief Bobby Southard told The Sentinel-Record. "He didn't resort to anything above hand control techniques and handcuffing."

Southard said Williams, who had been put on administrative leave, will return to bike patrol downtown Thursday. Six skateboarders  two adults and four juveniles  have court dates pending.

[Strings]

>I agree that the officer was acting the fool and he let the skateboarders make him look like a bigger fool. <


DINGDINGDING!!! WE HAVE A WINNAH!!!!!

I don't know the whole story behind how these folks were acting before Officer Not-So-Friendly showed up. But I HAVE seen how a lot of the 'boarders act: they don't help their own case at all. That said...

 Officer NSF probably should have handled things differently. He came across VERY much as being pissed because the 'boarders didn't respect his author-i-tay. NEVER good: it often results in talks with supervisors, and complaints against the officer being filed, even though the scofflaws he was busting richly deserve to get busted. It also sends the wrong message to the public: not "Officer NSF is a professional, working hard to keep us safe" but "Wow... Officer NSF (and by extension, ALL cops) is a power-drunk bully"...