Suspect puts drugs in his mouth; cop breaks his neck

Is it bad that the man died ? Sure. Was it dumb as sticks for him to try to swallow the stash right there infront of the officer ? Yes it bloody well was. You dont do that infront of a cop, because you know what you are going to get , and if you cannot accept that eventuality , if you insist on making a genuine arrest more difficult than it has to be, then really and honestly what is it that you expect?
The officer cannot be held responsible for that.

reply to post by TrueBrit

I think everyone can see that it was pretty dumb to try and swallow the stash,especially now that we know you will be assualted and could possibly get your neck broken.Assualted in this manner is not what I'd expect to get if I done something stupid like this guy did.And the officer is obviously accountable for his actions police are not above the law.

reply to post by grimreaper797


Been reading through the thread and considered disagreeing with you (and others) many times but on this point, I must. Here is a link you might consider: www.druglibrary.org...

An excerpt: Contradicting the "unproductive drug user" stereotype, while the National Household Sur- vey on Drug Abuse [1] finds that 71% of il- licit-drug users are employed, U.S. Depart- ment of Labor statistics [2] show that only 65% of those 20 and over are employed. From the data we can extrapolate that the aver- age illicit-drug user is more likely to be employed than the average person [3].

The evidence suggests that, while not favor- able to police-state mega profits, the most true-to-life stereotype could be: "The pro- ductive and motivated drug user."

Why might this be so? It's possible that the desire for the reward of drug intoxication acts as astronger incentive to work more (in an effort to earn the money necessary to purchase the drug-reward) than non-drug rewards act as an incentive for nonusers to work more. Such is Economics 101: the higher the reward, the higher the output to acquire it; or, the sweeter the carrot on the stick, the faster the horse will run after it.

There are plenty of links there backing up the information.

An anecdotal bit: I'm a very healthy, active and fit woman who has, in the past, used every illicit drug (have NOT used a needle though due to personal limits) recreationally without harm or addiction. I've always been gainfully employed until now. These days I spend my days on the golf course at our country club. My husband, an Ivy League educated medical doctor, has experimented with illicit drugs in a responsible fashion and without addiction or harm. These days, he touches nothing stronger than a good scotch while I will occasionally smoke pot or have a mushroom. Both of us use the drugs of our choice at home or (in my case) in countries that are less pernicious about jailing non-violent drug users. Side note: We do this even as we pay ~$100k yearly in federal income tax alone- money that could very well have me sitting in jail, or apparently worse, for avoiding arrest over a plant.

Oh, and I grew up not far from Livingston Parish (St. Charles) and I know how aggressive cops can be in LA.

I do hope you will read the link(s) provided, do your own research and reconsider your position based on the evidence provided. The drug war is a failure on every level and hysterical claims do nothing to deal rationally with the very small, but real cases of abuse and crime.

edit to add: While the officer indeed killed the victim, I don't believe it can be called murder. That of course will likely depend on which legal dictionary you use but I don't think anybody can say killing the victim was the officer's intent. I think my viewpoint on the officer's action can probably be gleaned from my above comment and would rather not get into a "you hate cops" argument.

edit after watching >8 mins. provided by smurfy: This was clearly excessive force. The "plastic bag of white powder" was likely < $150 street value considering the effort taken to pull it from the victim's clenched fist or mouth. Then there were a couple minutes that the cops simply asked whether he was breathing (@ 5:19 & 5:46- and one answered, "I don't know, I didn't ??? him.") Again the question was asked @ 6:31 before they look down his mouth for more drugs and it appears that chest compression didn't start until 7:36- if that's what was happening.



[edit on 7/16/2009 by libertarianlady]

[edit on 7/16/2009 by libertarianlady]

It is just a tragic accident. They both fell and a struggled.

I have seen much worse across violence and "defensive" policing coming out of the US, particularly around what I would consider to be the unnecessary use of pepper spray and tazers.

Regards

by no means an expert but that video cleaarly showed that the cop didnt do anything that seemed wrong. nothing that you or i or any other cop for that matter would have done. the only thing is that concerns me. the victim was caucasion and there isnt near the media attenton it would have if he would have been other wise. thats the messed up part, so flag me or ban me who cares but i bet all agree. dont blame the officer who did nothing wrong, blame the retard who was dumb enough not to get rid of his stash before he stopped. silly reason to go to jail or much less die for to me

reply to post by krazykajun425


Did you see the 8 minutes of the video posted by smurfy? Here it is again in case you didn't.

www.youtube.com...

It shows much more than the news station did. For whatever it's worth, I agree that it's a stupid reason to go to jail or die which is why I think the cops acted inappropriately.

Originally posted by skyeyes
reply to post by jeasahtheseer

 

There ya go pull the Race card!!!!! I should have known!!

Actually he said so full of hate, rage, racism and anger.

I think your the one who pulled the race card out mate.

Originally posted by deadoralive

Originally posted by skyeyes
reply to post by jeasahtheseer

 

There ya go pull the Race card!!!!! I should have known!!

Actually he said so full of hate, rage, racism and anger.

I think your the one who pulled the race card out mate.

Edit: I misread your post and I thought the above quote was aimed at me for some reason. But I am going to keep the following response anyways for others to read.....

I didn't pull out the race card. If you read my story about my innocent friends who were killed by cops, you'd see this is a subject close to my heart. I was simply trying to point out that he should read my whole story and attempt to see where I'm coming from. And people can argue all they want, but profiling is real and I've witnessed it 100's of times.I just happen to be a white guy and they hardly harrass me, but they do my black friends A LOT, coincidence? I think not. None of us are criminals either, we just happen to be from the projects.

There is a difference between pulling the race card and talking about FACTS. I don't like people who use the race card for every little thing either.

But whatever you guys can keep being cop lovers and deny all the corrupt stuff they do. I will be over here with my eyes open to what really goes on. Deny ignorance, right?

I however do apoligize for completely flipping out and saying all police are bad and calling them pigs, that was inappropriate. Just like people from walks of life there are good cops and bad ones.

And with that i am leaving this thread for good, its to depressing.

And by the way this has nothing to do with just blacks, police brutalize all people, especially poor people and its wrong. I am just using blacks as a example because I grew up around them and have seen this stuff happen to them.

Peace.


[edit on 17-7-2009 by jeasahtheseer]

This was an unfortunate outcome, but it appears that the officer was doing his job and was not subjecting the suspect to any undue use of force considering the situation. According to the posted interview with the lawyers, this guy was on meth, driving a car obviously, and had additional narcotics in HIS HAND!
This guy is tweaking , driving down the road, and a possible disaster just waiting to happen. After being pulled over, the suspect exits the car, which is a big no-no, and approaches the officer with a closed fist, which is apparent to the officer that he is holding something which he refuses to reveal.

I've seen a lot of abuse of power type of videos, but this one really doesn't fit into that category. Also, some of the posters here blame the "war on drugs" for this. Well, marijuana is one thing, but meth is a different animal altogether.

(note to self, don't approach officer with hand full of meth)

reply to post by defcon2


I cannot see how preventing a suspect from swallowing evidence of a crime counts as assault. As a copper , the fellow probably knew that the suspect could have been putting his life in severe danger by swallowing the stuff. Depending on the exact nature of the substance being swallowed, and the chemical make up of any container or wrapping, it could burst in the gut, and kill the suspect outright. It is nothing more than UNFORTUNATE that the officers actions resulted in the death of the suspect, but I would imagine that would have been on the cards anyway. Swallowing the stash is a big no no . Its about as lethal as a broken neck .

reply to post by jd140


Since when is rudeness assault? It was rude and thoughtless to knock the pen out of the cops hand, but how does that equal an assault charge?
Cops are human too...biologically speaking... but they are supposed to have had the training to keep their emotions in check so they don't over react. Their job is all about confrontation when most of us would rather walk away from it. It's their responibility to maintain self control.
So maybe you could actually explore the adventures of thinking before you call someone names and make knee jerk judgments.

Originally posted by missvicky
So maybe you could actually explore the adventures of thinking before you call someone names and make knee jerk judgments.

Gee, if only you and others would do just this when you bash cops the minute you hear about something happening involving one.

Originally posted by missvicky

and a star for you! A friend of mine was stopped in a routine traffic stop and when the officer handed him the pen to sign the ticket he was said no and flicked the pen out of the officers hand. He was arrested for assault because whatever is in the officer's hand is an extension of the officer's body.

Wow...so your friend breaks the law for a traffic violation and then is such an Ahole that he flicks the officers pen...so hes a jerkoff and you support HIS actions...but badmouth a cop when HE acts the same way....haha..people are seriously screwed up...

reply to post by star in a jar


I live about 3 miles from where this happened. The zeal to make a drug bust is just way out of hand. We need to stop the War on Drugs. It's just another typical Big Government flop. The war is not won. And it never will be. It's just an excuse to allocate huge amounts of tax money to who knows where.

I'm outta here. So much for any type of conversation that could possible result in mutual understanding. Not one answer to my question. If you as cops percieve yourself as being misunderstood and picked on and stigmatized the first people you should ask is yourselves.
I never defended my friends actions. I asked since when is rude and thoughtless behavior equal to an assault charge? No answers, just more crap.
Over reacting is over reacting whether it results in a bogus assault charge or a death.

reply to post by TrueBrit


"I cannot see how preventing a suspect from swallowing evidence of a crime counts as assault" In most situations I would agree,however not in this situation.When someone tries sticking their fist down your throat,takes you to ground and punches and knees you while defenseless,In my world thats assualt.As for the substance being life threatening thats based on the cops assumption(it may not have been life-threatening),I would guess that the cop could careless about what the substance was and was more interested in making an arrest (based on my assumption)however if he really did think he was helping the guy by elevating the situation to this level then it is pretty poor policing on his part.As an ex-cop said on a previous thread when the guy swallowed the stuff he could have simply cuffed him,arrested him and taken him to the hospital.I suspect had this happened then the guy might probably still be alive and we would'nt be on this thread.

[edit on 19-7-2009 by defcon2]

Originally posted by Horus12
Is it not easier to arrest the person and take a pee sample or blood test at some point, rather than break his neck?

No ... its easier to kill them and save on the trial

I'll offer a correction- the hyoid bone breaking does not mean that the neck broke. The back bone and neck bone--one in the same set of bones--are the vertebrae of the spinal cord. The victim in this case broke his hyoid bone. The hyoid bone does not touch the spinal cord at all. Breaking the hyoid bone would affect his speech.

I am not defending the victim nor the cop, I just feel that the facts deserve reiteration to overcome the misconception of the hyoid bone's relation to the neck.

An officer taking a life over suspecting the guy of having placed drugs in his mouth is a crime.

I suspect the cop deliberately dragged the guy to the hood of his care so the cam could record his words "spit it out" so he could use it as an excuse to cover his actions while he roughs up the guy. Why was the cop trying to twist the guys arm in the first place? Why did he even lay a hand on the guy? What defence do citizens have against thug cops like this guy?

I'll add him to my list of cops that need a good beating.

Every week there seems to be a story of how a cop either shoots, strangles, or tazers a man to death over something so stupid....

There is officially nothing stopping these gestapos-in-training.

They believe they operate at a higher power than the people who employ them and pay for them to patrol the streets.


No...god forbid they actually work for us and not against us.