well i am. thats how we do it in one of the most dangerous cities in the u.s ive never waited to see what happens and i will not take disrespect from some kid. are you leo? and if so i have some training you can learn from.lol
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Here’s how I saw the video.
Cop 1 and Guy were polite during the following (and Guy wasn’t “posturing up” in the slightest).
Cop 1: “You live here?”
Guy: “Well, I was living here for about three days now.”
Cop 1: “Ok. Are you injured?”
Guy: “Uh yea. They punched me in my face. They choked me out. Ripped my clothes. Tried to steal thousands of dollars worth of my stuff. It’s all out in front of the house. They’re waitin’ in the house to talk to you guys.”
Cop 1: “How many people are in the house?”
Guy: “Two people.”
Cop 1: “Ok.”
Guy: “One of ‘em held me down while the other one punched me in my face and they tried to steal my stuff”. [Drags from his cigarette] “And you guys took 45 minutes to get out here.”
Ok. So at this exact moment, nobody has been a smartass or raised voices. The guy stated a fact and made the fact that it took 45 minutes to get cops on scene known, although he wasn’t really rude about it. This is in NO WAY a threatening situation for either officer. If you see it as such, you are wrong or have really piss poor judgment of what constitutes a threat.
Now Cop 2 won’t stand for that. He IMMEDIATELY takes the smartass attitude and shows a complete lack of respect.
Cop 2: “Ok. Listen to me. First of all, I’m not on your time watch.”
Guy: [Responding to the smartass attitude of Cop 2] “I know. I’m on you guys’s time watch cause you guys take for fucking ever to get here.” [So is this where the threat appears? Because he said “fucking”? If so, grow a thicker skin. Again, still zero threat and no need to start going Billy Bad Ass.
Cop 2: “Second of all…” [Starts approaching Guy with a clear intent of letting it be known talking to him that way is a no-no and is also the one to “posture up”] “Second of all…”
Now, do you think maybe, just maybe, instead of going the route he did, that perhaps saying something like “I’m sorry it took so long to get here.. We are here now and want to get the situation resolved.” might would have been the better approach? No, it doesn’t give Cop 2 the chance to show his manly Marine skills. But I am thinking it would have DEESCALATED the situation quiete a bit, made the call last not very long and probably avoided a media report, complaint filing for excessive force and made the entire situation as a whole turn out for the better. But no. There’s a “threat” and now we must have a dick measuring contest.
So, Cop 2 postures up (for no good reason) and Guy 2 makes one step toward the cop indicating he doesn’t appreciate it. Now, I will grant you this wasn’t the best of ideas. However, I would think the duty to calm the situation here lies at the feet of the officers dispatched to the scene, not the guy who has just been assaulted and was likely still pissed at the situation, and then thereby made to feel even more disrespected by the people he called for assistance.
Guy: “U.S. Soldier. Bro. Know who you’re talking to. Know who you’re talking to.”
Cop 2 “Ok. Are you getting in my face?”
Guy: “Are you getting in MY face? You stepped forward to me. I did not step forward to you.”
Cope 2 “Ok. I’m tired of talking to you. (Maybe he said something different here, but that’s what it sounded like). Then followed by the slap. “I know who I’m talking to. And you’re down. Do you understand that? You’re talking to a United States Marine. Do you understand that?”
Guy: “You’re taking to a U.S. Soldier.”
Cop 2: “Ok. You’re talking to a Marine. So I suggest that you NEVER step up and get in my face again when I’m talking to you, do you understand me?”
And it goes from there. With more little remarks like “Do I need to further introduce myself? You sure I don’t need to further introduce myself?” and so on.
Now was the kid 100% right? No. I never once said that. But the entire thing could have gone down differently had Marine Cop just given the attitude a rest from the time he opened his mouth the first time.
To answer your question, no, I am not an LEO. But thanks for the offer on training. And before it's stated that my opinion on how this was handled is null since I am not an LEO, several close friends and family members are police officers. They have seen the video and oddly enough, they agree with me.
As far as where I live, it ranks in the Top 20 (# 14) of the Top 100 Most Dangerous Cities In The U.S.
http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/neighborhoods/crime-rates/top100dangerous/
So I would say the officers here have a decent grasp on how to handle situations in "bad areas" of the country.
At the end of the day, we can agree to disagree. And I will also say (in case it's not obvious) I am FAR from a cop hater. Overall, I think it's one of the toughest, most thankless jobs out there. And it comes with a LOT of BS. And unfortunately, the few bad cops give a lot of the good ones a bad name. Also Oliver12, I am in no way saying you fall under the "bad cop" title. I don't know you in the slightest, so please don't take it the wrong way.
All of that said, do you see my point at all? Or was this simply how situations like this should be handed, as opposed to attempting to be more proactive with a less "let me show YOU who's boss" method of operation?