Excessive force

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I defend cops who are doing the right thing, and I call cops who are not doing the right thing out for what they have done. In this post, I want to take a look at body cam footage from Fort Worth. The relevant action begins at about 1:45.




The woman speaks to the cop in a "disrespectful" tone, and cop attempts to arrest her, deploys his Taser, and then does the same to the woman's daughter. The charges against the two were dropped, and the cop suspended for ten days AFTER someone leaked the body cam footage. The police chief claims that the timing of the footage being leaked, the dropping of charges, and the suspension are all coincidental.

Officer Martin, a 10-year veteran of the force, received a 10-day suspension because of the arrest. Chief Joel Fitzgerald said his violations included neglect of duty, discourtesy and inappropriate contact with two females. The officer has a record of doing this before, where there was a previous complaint against him for excessive force back in 2013.

How does the police chief respond? Not with criminal charges against the officer, which is what SHOULD have happened, but with an investigation into who leaked the video and the officer's record.

Watching this video made me angry, and made me want to approve of a law allowing people to resist illegal arrests with force.  This man is a criminal, a bully, and I would have applauded a citizen who used force to stop him. A criminal is a criminal, even if they are wearing a badge.

This is why there is such a big movement from groups like BLM. Police need to clean up their own ranks, or they will continue to be painted with a broad brush.