The person taking the pics didn't see what happened beforehand so I could care less what their judgement is. Other witnesses, who saw it, didn't see to think so. If shes being combative and trying to assault him, no its not excessive IMO. Not at all. Looks like hes trying to keep her pinned down while he cuffs her (and judging by her legs, looks like she is being less than submissive). Not a better way to imobilize someone than to pin their face to the pavement with your knee.
1990. Pretty sure, no, positive I didn't write it here. I have no idea what happened to him. He was led down a hallway, bleeding profusely. When you're in there, you don't exactly get to ask questions. The entire ordeal was not only despicable, it is a memory I will never forget. You do realize that all convicted DWI's pay their own prosecution fees, right? Taxpayer cost? Nothing. Then, the typical fine above the court fees is $500. That is above and beyond the court costs. Then, just implemented in 2001, every first offender pays $2,000/yr. for three years. Repeat offenders spend more. That's $6,500 per drunk driver above court costs that they pay. In fact, it has gone over so well, that the courts have gone into the suspended license business. A court can now suspend your license for any late fee owed to the gov't INCLUDING a parking ticket and an overdue library book. So, to your question: Your taxes never paid anything to prosecute these people. Question to you: Where is this newly found $6,500 going? And my logic is about keeping people who are drinking off the road. Harsher fines have hardly put a dent in DWI death related cases since 1990. (roughly) Maybe it is time to look at other forms of solutions. Hell, I'd even be fine with all of the harsh penalties if their was an alternative being created to combat the problem. Fair enough. Considering the avg person can ingest a beers worth of alcohol every two hours, you only had around two beers in your system when you went home. Having three in your system, and you're considered legally drunk, though. These are stories I have seen with MY own eyes. I've heard countless others, and I'm sure you've heard horror stories, as well. I'm still not sure why you're defending them so fervently.
Im going to bow out at this point. My whole point is, yes, there are bad people in law enforcement, just like there are in any profession. With this subject on my mind, I casually asked my friend who use to work for the OIG about this and his off the cuff thoughts (he no longer has access to raw data) were than probably less than 2% of law officers in this country have been subject to a formal complaint and/or criminal investigation. Don't let a few bad apples cause you to lose respect for lawmen, especially knowing that they all put their lives on the line everyday to protect us, working crummy hours and receiving pay thats sometimes not enough to raise a family on.
"Heck, in my day, I tended to drive a lot more safely when I had had a few." http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=87878&page=2&highlight=drunk+driving Thats why I say that I would want to know what happened afterwards. The investigation. Six 1 half dozen and the other fatty. In some way, taxes pay something there. Whether its for the officer that arrested you, his vehicle, his time or whatever, stuff like that is not included in your court costs. They should pay more the first time and even more for every time after that. Sounds fair to me. You think after that, you wouldn't have repeat offenders. Those that do, are just dumb IMO.
Here is an idea to get drunk drivers off the streets: put one of those brethalyzer things that is connected to the ignition in every car. If no one can start a car when they are drunk, that is going to put a serious damper on druck driving.
codell, Thanks for fighting the good fight. I can only speak from my experiences but I have never had any problems with cops. Does that mean that I think they are all angels? Hell no, I know that a lot of them are going to be assholes but reading some of the posts here makes me think that our police force is the second coming of the Gestapo. Talk about being melodramatic... And as for this case, no one will really know the truth here. However, if this woman was intoxicated and she was resisting arrest and/or causing a problem, then she should be subdued. And I don't care how small she is and how big he was, when someone is intoxicated, you really don't know what they are capable of doing. That's her fault for being so stupid to get in that conditon and then being even dumber to resist arrest and/or causing a scene.
Back to the eyewitness testimony from the police officer... "She was scratching him and kicking him with her roller blades." Saying a cop can't tell the difference between a roller blade and a skate is like saying that a mountain bike and a road bike are indistinguishable. Also, how can she kick him with her 'roller blades' when she's laying flat on her stomach? Since many police departments have a roller blade unit - cops are very familiar with the bladez ~ I for one am quite suspicious of his 'story'. _________ FREE MUFF THUMPER
the court of law also found OJ Simpson not guilty...what's your point? juries don't always get it right. they convict people of crimes they didn't commit. just watch A&E every once and while and you see shows on cases of people being wrongly convicted and spending years in prison for something they didn't do. so trusting a jury's decision isn't fool proof either. you need to wake up and realize that the police dept., government, and courts aren't always correct and they do make mistakes and lie to cover them up. it may not happen all the time but it happens enough where you should question decisions every once and awhile. stop putting such blind trust in an imperfect system. and don't believe whatever someone in a high position or an agency tells you, just because they are who they are. not everyone can be trusted.
Hakeem06, I hear what you are saying. Obviously you've built up quite a well of bitterness against police based on your personal experience and things you've read. At the same time, please realize your opinion of police is quite jaded and doesn't reflect complete reality. When my relative (who works for HPD) tells me the bad stories, I could react the same way you do, but I also know from him the vast majority of patrol officers are good men (and women). The rotten apples get a lot of publicity because the everyday stuff doesn't generate headlines and revenue for the media. My wife and I were teaching a Bible study to a couple a few years ago. He asked me if a certain policeman he observed beat someone up very badly could go to heaven. I told him if the person repented and got saved, yes he could. After I said this, the guy stormed out of his front door and SLAMMED it behind him. He was so angry he exploded and couldn't contain it. There are a lot of people like him. A few years later, he got saved and was a totally changed man. The change in his life and attitude was miraculous by anyone's definition, Christian or non. Those of you who hate police, nothing anyone here says will change your opinion suddenly. Just realize there are a lot of good things patrolmen do every day that isn't publicized. Everyday stuff like this doesn't make the newspapers. But if a rotten apple gets recorded telling an immigrant cab driver he should leave this country, everyone in the city hears the recording. In the media, negative and sensational always trump mundane and common. Most police are fine people. Some of them are rotten, but the rotten ones don't spoil the whole barrell, unless you allow yourself to believe so. If that's what you choose to believe, fine. But your views don't reflect reality. Some of you should spend time in an undemocratic country. To avoid offending anyone, I won't name any of the several I've been to. Then you will learn something about corrupt and abusive police. Until then, you will never appreciate the law enforcement we have here. So be it.
This is a dangerous sentiment, my friend. We should judge ourselves on our own moral ideology, not in comparison to others. A lesser wrong is still wrong, even if greater wrongs are committed elsewhere.
Any man who bloodies up a woman on roller-skates is a p.o.s. in my book. Yeah, I read the circumstances.
No no no. Duh, of course a "lesser wrong" is wrong. I expect our law enforcement to be better than other countries because of our constitution and democracy. But people who feel most police officers and police departments in the U.S. are evil and corrupt need some perspective. My point is if someone saw what truly corrupt and abusive law enforcement really was, they would realize most police offers and police departments here are NOT that way. Did you even read my whole post or just that paragraph? I'm not excusing bad police at all.
I completely agree with this. We're supposed to be better than these third-world non-Democratic countries. It's not enough to say we're better than them, so quit complaining. The United States should be setting the standard in the world. From the way we treat the poor, the elderly, the children, the accused, etc. I think this is a broader example as to why some people feel the way they do about police officers. IMO, one corrupt police officer is too many. They're in too powerful a position and can cause one person so much grief due to that power. Look at the undercover officer in Tulia, Texas. One bad apple tried to ruin the lives of 46 people and probably did for some of those. While I'm not one to paint a broad picture when it comes to law enforcement, I can certainly understand why others do, even if I disagree with it.
ALERT Fox 7 news in Austin is about to have a Muff Thumper update. ALERT /she looks [edit] NOT hot walking into court... Cop has been investigated 27 times for various forms of physical abuse.
Let this be a lesson: We should always trust what the police and their police friends say. As I said, police take care of their own. And it is the largest problem with them today.
