Video shows Oregon officer repeatedly punching homeless man as he shouts 'I'm not resisting'

Just saw this video this morning posted by KGN News in Oregon and it was disturbing. It shows a homeless, mentally ill man getting repeatedly punched in the head by an officer after he had already been subdued by 4 officers on the ground. I honestly did not see any evidence of the man resisting arrest, which makes the ensuing actions by the cop even more shocking. On most of these types of videos I can usually see the victim was doing something stupid to trigger the cop but I did not see that here. Although the guy had a knife on him, I could see no evidence that he was attempting to use it.

What do you all think? Were the officer's actions justified?

Those"officers"are animals.Excessive force seems the norm now.

Could have sworn I heard the man say "NO!" when asked. Sticking your hands out is resisting by not putting them behind, just another form of resisting. Swing them like a butterfly in hopes they cant get them type thing. Now I do think the cop may have been able to do something different.

The question becomes what did he do and were they justified in an arrest.

As usual, the video is cut and don't show the first part....

Yeah, roided officer definitely didn't have to wail on guy's head like that...

With that said, just because someone is yelling I am not resisting doesn't mean they are not resisting nor does it mean they aren't a threat.

The issue is that there are plenty of people who will feign like they aren't a threat and still attempt to do bodily harm. This is why officers always seem to go over board.

a reply to: CosmicAwakening

I get what you're saying about him sticking his hands "out" instead of behind his back, but perhaps he was startled at getting grabbed by the cops? In any event, once three stout officers took him to the ground and laid on top of him I saw no way for him to even move his hands. All of that being said, if the guy got tackled to the ground fine, but to sit there and punch him repeatedly in the head? Granted I don't know the entire context, but the whole thing is on tape.

a reply to: jburg6

What do you all think? Were the officer's actions justified?

Disturbing the peace, the guy shouldn't have been shouting and kept quiet while receiving his beating.


Don't citizens know, I guess he was homeless so he gets a pass or passed over to the next cop with itchy knuckles.

Police repeatedly punch man in the head.


This is a link to a video of something very similar, it seems that your "freedom" actually means the Police are "free" to do as they please like repeatedly punching people in the head, and that the Police can treat people like enemy combatants.

I do think it was excessive for sure. Maybe people need to start suing individual officers. Sure, the payout wont be much, but until a few lives are ruined financially, they will never learn as long as the state keeps bailing them out.

Well the officer is under investigation and been pulled from duty. The officer let his emotions take over the homeless man kept coming in to a task force office and was actually messing with the police. This officer let his anger take over and needs to be punished for his actions.



www.kgw.com...

a reply to: jburg6

Hard to tell if he was resisting or not. They always scream that they're not resisting while they're resisting. Who knows.

He was resisting that's not the issue the officer shouldn't be punching him in the head even if he was resisting.

originally posted by: manuelram16
As usual, the video is cut and don't show the first part....

As always.

originally posted by: CosmicAwakening
I do think it was excessive for sure. Maybe people need to start suing individual officers. Sure, the payout wont be much, but until a few lives are ruined financially, they will never learn as long as the state keeps bailing them out.

Why can't people start complying instead? Why is it always the cop's fault when he's initially showing up because that's his job?

originally posted by: dragonridr
He was resisting that's not the issue the officer shouldn't be punching him in the head even if he was resisting.

I'm not saying he should. But maybe the resister will learn to comply next time.

a reply to: jburg6
The cop was certainly in the wrong with punching him, but he was resisting but more importantly the arrested man seemed to be shouting out a script for whoever was filming it, to be used as evidence at a later date.

Looked to me like this homeless person's actions could be construed as resisting arrest. He wasn't following the directions of the officers trying to arrest him. I think that satisfies the definition.

However, according to the link listed by dragonridr, this man's actions prior to this video were a pretty clear indication that he is mentally ill.

Once again, we need to make sure that there are trained and designated officers who should be handling these types of incidents. Bear in mind that some forms of mental illness skew the afflicted person's view of reality. And what seems to be clear and straightforward instructions from the authorities could be construed by the mentally ill person as some kind of attack.

However, in the officer's defense, I would say that he could have done some severe damage if he had been so inclined. Anything from some seriously broken bones to a dislocated skull could have resulted if he was really pissed off.

-dex

a reply to: jburg6

You know you'd think people who walk around in groups with guns, basically have immunity to the law and are supposed to be generally trained and equipped....wouldn't be a bunch of huge pussies that need a group of officers, all about twice the size of that guy, to take a mentally ill homeless dude down then feel so threatened they need to repeatedly punch his head into the pavement.

Bravo tough guys

a reply to: jburg6

Why the HELL would a homeless man have to be treated in this way, simply disgusting, even if resisting what stupid law is present which allows an officer to use more force than required, the homeless man was about half the weight of the oaf who assaulted him, yes IMO the officer assaulted the homeless man.

a reply to: jburg6

It is possible to resist and simultaneously shout "I AM NOT RESISTING!"

When youre under arrest, you MUST comply with orders. Period.

Youre not allowed to fight your arrest in any way.

Also, you dont get to make your phone call while youre being arrested. That comes much later on in the process.