'Copwatch' activist catches Chicago officer roughing up bus passenger

'Copwatch' activist catches Chicago officer roughing up bus passenger

rawstory.com

In the video, after the man refuses to get off the bus, the officer confronting him appears to strike the man and begins swearing profusely. Several people moved away from the confrontation before law enforcement backup arrived.

"The officer's body was partly blocking the view from Thayer's camera, but the cop started to repeat, 'You want to fight me?' as they struggled," said the Tribune. "'Get off this [expletive] bus right now!' he shouted as he knocked the man against the window again."

(visit the link for the full news article)

Okay, this is one video I would like to hear both sides chime in on.

On the officer's side of things, this guy was asked to be removed after apparently not paying his fare, and appears to be intoxicated, as well as not cooperating with commands to get up and get off the bus.

On the arrestee's side of things, this cop appears to not be in control, nor acting professional whatsoever. He keeps yelling "you wanna fight me?" like some juvenile bully on an elementary school playground, then slams the guy's head into the window, and appears to punch him as well.

So, we've got a suspect who is uncooperative and in need of being removed, but did the officer take matters too far?

Watch the video and decide for yourself...*WARNING for language content*



rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 20-2-2009 by DimensionalDetective]

Lovely. At least he wasn't shot. Must've been a really bad day. Whoever taped this was lucky too as it seems they didn't notice they were being filmed. Good going cameraman

Policemen make me sick! They go into the profession because they're power hungry but weren't born well-off enough to become politicians!

Nah I don't think this one was wrong.
I don't like corrupt crappy unprofessional cops.
But that guy was giving that cop a hard time on purpose.
Wouldn't get off the bus and was fighting him.
All he had to do was get off the bus.
If the driver wants you off the bus, then you get off the damn bus.
End of story.
The cop gave him 5 chances before he would take no more crap from him.
He seemed like a fair cop to me, before he purposely pissed him off.
And even then he didn't tase the guy or hit him with a baton or spray him or anything.
Which he could have done as soon as the guy touched him.
The guy was clearly drunk or on drugs and had caused the bus driver problems.

if this was the UK .. wouldn't the cameraman would be paying a worse penalty than the victim of the violence.?

-

Yep good point.
The camera man would be in jail.
Probably serving more time than the drunk.

Except for the cursing and not tasering the drunk/high perp, I don't see anything wrong with what the cop did.

Originally posted by stevegmu
Except for the cursing and not tasering the drunk/high perp, I don't see anything wrong with what the cop did.

Oh so you don't like cursing?
Yet you wanted the cop to tase someone?
Have you seen a doctor lately?

Originally posted by BorgHoffen

Originally posted by stevegmu
Except for the cursing and not tasering the drunk/high perp, I don't see anything wrong with what the cop did.

Oh so you don't like cursing?
Yet you wanted the cop to tase someone?
Have you seen a doctor lately?

Not a big fan of cursing, especially when kids are around. Watching a drunk vagrant get tased would have been a good lesson for the kids, however.

Not quite sure what you mean by the doctor comment. If you mean it as an insult, it isn't a very good one.

reply to post by stevegmu


"Watching a drunk vagrant get tased would have been a good lesson for the kids, however. "

Trauma-Based Mind Control...

You Endorse it.

Originally posted by Exuberant1
reply to post by stevegmu

 

"Watching a drunk vagrant get tased would have been a good lesson for the kids, however. "

Trauma-Based Mind Control...

You Endorse it.

You ever hear of those programs where at risk youth are taken to a prison for a day, and the prisoners get in their faces and scare them straight? From what I understand, such programs do have some success.

reply to post by stevegmu


Some success in traumatizing kids who already come from traumatizing backgrounds, you mean.

reply to post by stevegmu


You said:

"Watching a drunk vagrant get tased would have been a good lesson for the kids, however. "

Both this and your newer statements depict actions that are traumatic - one more so than the other.

You think both are 'good'.

What else do you think is 'good'?

*Do you have children?

Originally posted by stevegmu
Not a big fan of cursing, especially when kids are around. Watching a drunk vagrant get tased would have been a good lesson for the kids, however.
Not quite sure what you mean by the doctor comment. If you mean it as an insult, it isn't a very good one.

Oh so certain words in the English language, are no good?
But others are ok?
Who decides this?
Torturing someone with electric shock in front of children is ok.
But saying certain words is not?
I don't think I need to insult you, you do a good enough job of insulting yourself.

Here in Chicago we know the truth about this guy. Reportedly he has a reputation of boarding buses, not paying and threatening the drivers and passengers. Usually a cop is not around to witness his crimes, this time there was. I don't blame the cop a bit for roughing up this a-hole.

reply to post by BorgHoffen


Here in England, using those certain words in public can get you arrested for public disorder.

I do not know if it is the same in America, but if I could be arrested for shouting out expletives in public, the police should not be using them either.


However you decide on whether this policeman was right or not, don't tarnish them all with the same ideas that all policemen are pigs and digusting... 9/11 was an extreemly good at showing that simply isn't true.

The only thing wrong that I saw in that video is that apparently the cop didn't notice the drunk guy reaching into his pocket with his right hand. The cop is lucky the guy didn't have a gun or a knife in that pocket.

reply to post by BorgHoffen


Good points, although I'm still on the fence about what looks like him punching the guy, and slamming his head into the window.

I have no issues with the guy certainly needing to be removed, just some of the unprofessional behavior (cursing and "you wanna fight me" juvenility) and / or perhaps excessive force, which I'm still on the fence about.

this was not excessive by any means. The guy didnt pay the fair and needed to be taken off the bus. Earlier in the year a cop tried to get a women off a bus and she reached for his gun and shot the cop in the head and he died. That could have easily happened here also. What would you be saying then. Many of the negative comments about the cop are based on the steroetype that is given to cops (especially chicago cops) of using excessive force, which is sometime the case, but not this one. If i was in that situation i would have have dragged the guy out by the collar of his coat. Chicago cops have real things to deal with and this was a waste of his time and i applaud this cop for not tasing or beating him.