Texas police officer grabbing a high school student by the throat

****ing hell.

If this is the only good that comes from cell phones -- police accountability -- then they were worth their otherwise horrific effect on us.

 

Austin is the most segregated metro area in the US. Do the math here.

 

I just don't get it. Cops like this aren't doing others in their profession any favors with this kind of crap.

Just sad.

 

Good that there's video proof of the tactics, but I don't know what that student did to get in that situation compared to any of the others there.

 

You could at least post an article that describes the nature of events rather than only embed a clickbait video that gives no context to the situation.

http://kxan.com/2015/10/09/round-rock-high-police-incident-caught-on-camera/

Basic summary, the kid in the video asked a friend to hold his goggles earlier. During lunch, the kid asked his friend for the goggles back and his friend said he didn't have them. The kid started digging into his friends backpack, they got into a fight, teachers tried to break it up and had to ask school police to help. Police stop the kid and corner him, both parties talking in each other's face, kid tries to walk away and brushes the officer's arm aside and then the cop overzealously takes the kid down.

The cop was too quick and aggressive to take the kid down. He should have more patience dealing with teenagers. The kid seems a bit of a hothead, too, getting in a fight with his friend and being noncompliant with the officer. Both can learn from this.

 

I don't have a problem with what the Cop did. It looked to me like the Cop was trying to talk to the kid, and the kid put on his backpack and was trying to leave. The Cop didn't want him to leave and was trying to stop the kid from walking away when the kid reached out and grabbed or pushed away the Cops arm. At that point the Cop took the kid down.

Do what the Cop tells you to do, and don't put your hands on the Cop.

I couldn't hear what they were talking about. I don't have the details of the conversation or what the Cop wanted him to do. So all I am going on is what I can see in the video.

 

Should cops have this kind of operational discretion in a campus environment, as non-administrators, dealing with non-criminal issues?

 

It sounds to me as if it was a possible criminal issue. Teachers called the police to help break up a fight. The kid was allegedly digging through another persons backpack. Yes, I do believe Cops should have this kind of operational discretion in a campus environment. The kid needs to follow instructions from the Cops and not put his hands on the Cop.

 

Many people think it's an overreaction by the cop. The kid is being a snarky teen who probably never learned to listen to authority, but his dismissive attitude didn't warrant an aggressive takedown by the cop.

In another incident where a 16 year old black male jaywalked and was stopped by an officer, that kid was very resistant, had his knees and feet up against the officer, kept pushing the officer and grabbed his baton. That was justifiable force. This one, I think the cop was too excessive.

 

You are entitled to your opinion. In my opinion, when the kid reached out and grabbed the Cops arm, the Cop had the right to restrain the kid. I know some people will disagree with me. That's fine. It's only my opinion. I'm also going on only what I saw on the video. I have no idea how long the Cop was talking to the kid or what they were talking about. All that could enter into what eventually happened. Was the kid making threats to the Cop? I don't know. What is proper police procedure when someone places their hand on a cops arm? I don't know.

I believe people should follow instructions given to them by Cops. That's what I always do, and I would never reach out and grab a Cops arm.

 

The cop initiated the contact and escalated the situation. If he was going to arrest the kid then do it. Clearly the cop didn't like the responses he was getting from the kid and got frustrated imo. Don't just grab someone by their throat and throw them down. That was nuts. Him and his partner had the kid cornered and they could have simply cuffed him. That kid was like 130 lbs and the cop was like 260 lbs.

 

Are they school assigned cops??

Just from the video, kid looks like he picked up his backpack and wanted to leave. The tall cop took a step backward as if giving space for kid to leave. However, short cop moved slightly forward to the kid, pushing and holding onto kid left bicep with his right hand. Kid reacted to that, LIGHTLY grab onto the hand pushing him - very normal reaction to me. Cop immediately grabbed onto kid neck, twisted him 180 and pushed him down onto the floor.

I didn't see anything that could pose any danger to anyone, except for that maneuver and take down. I think that's excessive and unnecessary force.

As for "order", there is no words to be heard, so it's hard to know what was the conversation about. If the cop wanted him to stay and talk more or what. Seems to me, if kid wanted to leave he should be able to leave as long as he's not posing a danger to anyone and haven't broken any law. School policy then kick in (e.g. suspension). If he is a danger or have broken law that is arrest-able, then he should be arrested. I didn't see any sign that he was to be arrested prior to the take down.



There were no cops in school during my time. Any and all fights were handled by the staff and counselor. Most of them seem well trained to handle those situations. Sometime, other kids help them out when it comes to needing to subdue someone. It's all pretty standard and everyone pretty much know everyone else and there is a level of engagement at all time, even between fighting parties.

Don't know how it got to the point of needing cop to handle a school fight. Seems like that shouldn't part of their job duty, but that of the school. Unless the cops in school have been specifically trained for handling school kids, they should stick with police work. If school has gotten so bad that school cops are needed, they should be part of the school staff and trained well in handling all type of kids, including those with mental conditions.

 

Cop grabbed the kid's arm first. Whatever your opinion, be honest about the account of events.

 

I see nothing wrong with the Cop trying to stop the Kid from walking away. Yes, the Cop grabbed the kid first. That is within his right in my opinion. That's what I would expect him to do. The kid should have just stood there and answered all of the Cops questions, and not try to walk away. If the Cop is trying to do an investigation, and trying to get information, the kid should comply. I'm not sure what you want the Cop to do if the kid won't cooperate, and then decides to leave the scene without he Cops permission.

Remember, the Cops were called by the teachers because they needed help. Cop was just doing his job.

 

Is throat punching someone SOP for Police nowadays?

 

The Cops got involved because school administrators felt the fight was more than they could handle themselves.

From the link that Duncan McDonuts posted.

So, the police were just trying to do their job and the kid would not comply with the administrators, or with the police.

 

The administrators were wise to call the police, because anytime an administrator or teacher touches a student there is potential for a lawsuit, loss of employment etc.

The problem was that the police were overly aggressive in their actions. Sure the kid should have followed instructions.

The appropriate reaction to a kid not following instructions isn't for law enforcement to grab the kid by the neck and slam him on the ground. If it was your son who didn't follow instructions, you wouldn't be okay with a cop grabbing his neck and slamming him to the ground.

It was handled poorly.

 

This shouldn't even be in the D&D. There is no debate here. The cop was way overzealous and out of line, and did no service to himself, his profession or his colleagues.

The end.

None of the other information here mitigates that fact. It paints a fuller picture of the story, but doesn't mitigate the clear overuse of force by the police officer at that point in time.

 

I don't know how High School are these days, but that's a problem. I'm not sure if Cops are trained at handling students mishaps. To me, there should be a clear line of responsibility and Cops responsibility in school should be very narrow. This seems on the surface, School pushing some of their usual responsibilities (at least 30 years ago ) onto another party. Maybe this is the norm now due to current school system?

There was also a recent case, in Houston I believe, where Cops shot a mental patient in a hospital who was there seeking mental treatment. Apparently the hospital staff felt that they couldn't control the patient and called in Cops there to handle the situation. That to me, is also passing on responsibility that they fully own to another party.

The problem is that other party are Cops, which I'm very doubtful has been trained to handle anything much outside of their police work. I think they lack the education to detect and effectively handle mental illness and students. Their training, with how they can face very dangerous criminals, aren't suitable to both situations above. I place fault in the systems (school and hospital) for using Cops to do their job; or at least to fully train them.

If Cops are to be part of any system, they should be well integrated in the system with full training for that system. E.g. School cops should be under school responsibility for school-related training.

Perhaps these cops do have school-related training and in that case, their training is either inadequate or the cops failed.