A Female Rodney King?

Posted on Comments

Doc Washburn called my attention to this item at a liberal blog about a woman named Christina West who got arrested for drunk driving and got her face broken by the cops. The liberal blog makes this a case of police brutality, but what I’m seeing is a drunk woman who disobeyed instructions while police were trying to handcuff her. You can watch the whole video, but the key part starts at about the 7:30 mark. The cops ask her to get out of the car so that she can take a breathalyzer test. She has to be told four times, “Get out of the car,” and apparently doesn’t realize they’re going to put the cuffs on her before they give her the test. Problems ensue:

Now, you may want to click over to that liberal blog and see the picture of Christina’s face — it’s pretty bad. The blogger claims the cops made up the stuff about Christina trying to grab their crotches, but listen closely at 8:30 — “Let go of my hand,” the cop says — and then Christina says the cops are going to break her arm.

Ah, the uncooperative suspect!

Anybody who has watched “C*O*P*S” is familiar with this phenomenon: The perp who refuses to comply with police orders, who struggles when they’re trying to put the cuffs on.

Well, guess what, perp? Those cops aren’t playing around, and they’re experts at making perps comply with their commands.

The minute you start struggling, you inadvertently authorize them to employ Advanced Methods of Enforcing Compliance, which tend to be rather uncomfortable for the uncooperative suspect.

At 7:38, one of the cop says, “Stop f–king touching me.”

Yeah, bad idea, Christine. They had you wedged up against the car and now — 7:40 — you’re going to the pavement. Real hard.

Kinda painful, when you don’t cooperate with the cops.

Maybe some liberal bloggers will call this “police brutality.”

I call it, “By God, don’t mess with the Tallahassee P.D.”

To-may-to, to-mah-to.

 

74 comments

  1. Yeah, I’m not an expert on the laws about police brutality, but nothing there shocks my conscience. She struggles against them and slides down and hits her face on the street. That really sucks. But I was expecting some stick or at least fist action based on the description.

    I suppose the liberal blogger has no clue about fighting or human bodies to be able to understand that with her hands behind her back, the officer’s groins should be within easy reach, except for the officers’ ability to defend themselves.

    I guess you really shouldn’t crash into houses while driving drunk. That’s my take away.

  3. Christina is drunk. She wakes up all messed up. She wants someone to blame.

    When you are drunk and find yourself all bruised or beaten the next day…chances are you were a contributing factor with what went on. Especially if you blacked out and can’t remember what exactly happened.

  4. There’s plenty of wrong to go around here. The Cops have been indicted and although the persecutor’s heart isn’t in it, there was no excuse to mess up her face like that. Sorry to disagree (but not really).
    There is an old southern saying about the Police, “they’re just one group of thugs hired to keep the rest of the thugs in line.” The Police increasingly actually are just badged thugs. There was no excuse for what they did. I’m hoping they do time.
    Believe it or not, all of us are in danger from Police who act in that fashion. People have died because the cops “just want to be able to go home at night.” It’s dangerous work, and if the danger inspires you to act illegally, and too many times it does, then take the badge off and find a safer line of work.

  5. I don’t really follow your logic. Are you saying that that they purposefully tried to slam her down into the pavement? Maybe that’s the case, but it seems to me that if you have someone fighting against the handcuffing, putting them on the ground is the next logical step for submission. It’s unfortunate, of course, that she was fighting while her hands were behind her back.

    But a suspect grabbing around that area seems like a big danger, to me. Aside from the potential for easy injury to the groin area, there are guns and things like pepper spray in that vicinity. And if she gets ahold of the gun, more than the officers are in danger.

    I’m far from convinced that they acted improperly.

  7. From what I watched of the vidiot, I saw officers pretty calmly dealing with the suspect; there was nothing about the tape to indicate that they were angry. Why would they have started something, knowing that the camera is rolling, if the intoxicated suspect hadn’t been non-compliant?

  8. She has a black eye and a bruised nose. Was it police brutality or just a drunk suspect resisting arrest? It is actually a close call because it would not take much force to do that sort of damage to someone’s face.

    The cops should use the minimum amount of force necessary to take someone into custody. But when someone is drunk and flailing, things can quickly get out of control.

  9. Not really, however we can’t see what bumper stickers are on her car … if there is an “Obama/Biden” or “Lean Forward” sticker, that would be conclusive evidence of Special Snowflake status.
    I am open to other suggestions as to bumper sticker clues, such as the assclowns favorite one: Coexist

  10. I tend to agree with you on this one. There was no reason to let that situation escalate to the point that she wound up the way she did.
    I’m still trying to understand why it went from a subdued, cuffed person securely placed in the back of the squad car to taking her outside in the first place, let alone getting her worked up again (seemed to be something about her husband and kids, which may have been in her own mind, but hey, drunk person, play along and defuse the situation before there is one) — the woman was clearly resisting arrest, but really shoddy police work there.

  12. “there was no excuse to mess up her face like that”

    You’re asserting it was on purpose and thought out. From the descriptions others have made (can’t see the video), it doesn’t sound like that at all.

  13. It’s the result of inexperience and very bad training and was too much force for the situation, and the person.
    Not only should have been treated like a drunk, diabetic, (slow to respond, not comprehending instructions fully and right away) . He had already gained control before breaking her face.

  14. Sigh. “Not only should should the suspect have been treated like a drunk, diabetic, (slow to
    respond, not comprehending instructions fully and right away), but he had
    already gained control before breaking her face.

  15. It makes no difference whether it was intentional or not. There is no excuse for it. They performed sloppily at best. It is telling that at least one of them is under indictment for what happened and I’m willing to let the chips fall where they may.

  17. The cops screwed up and she screwed up. The cops are increasingly using the maximum possible force in every situation. They only have 2 speeds, off and GETDOWNMOTHERFUCKER. Now they have SWAT teams for EPA violations, and beatings for failing to comply instantly and with sufficient bowing to the badge. What would you have said if the same head injury resulted in an intracranial bleed and she subsequently died? We are mere subjects, not citizens.

  18. Yes, it DOES matter if it’s intentional.

    If they INTENTIONALLY slammed her face into the ground, that’s one thing. It’s assault and battery.

    If her face slammed into the pavement because they didn’t have a sufficient grip on her as she squirmed around, it’s nowhere near as serious.

  24. I’m still wondering what she looked like before she started hitting the cops after getting out of the handcuffs.

    She did drive her car THROUGH A HOUSE.

    It might have inflicted some trauma.

  26. They asked her for a breath test – what she agreed to – and then she wanted to talk about a prior issue, apparently.

    Which didn’t matter to the police or her at that moment.

    And then she slipped out of the handcuffs – which means she wasn’t secured or subdued, and she fought them after freeing herself.

    I’m not seeing a lot wrong here from their perspective.

    And “playing along’ with a drunk person goes only so long – apparently they’d already been there, done that and she was drunk and had forgotten.

  27. No, it’s really not. It’s the result of a drunken, disorderly, and entitled snowflake.

    She was treated as a drunk.

    Notice the screaming doesn’t start until they put her in the car the final time. THEN she’s angry.

    They did a pretty good job, all in all, with someone that violent, drunk, disorderly, and entitled.

  28. But when someone is drunk and flailing, things can quickly get out of control.

    Yes.

    And when someone is getting belligerent and escapes from handcuffs?

    In close proximity and able to grab weapons?

  29. Yeah, I’m open to arguments that they shouldn’t have gotten into that situation. But once someone is grabbing an armed police officer where she was grabbing…that’s dangerous stuff!

    I’m curious to hear how people who think this was brutality think the officers should have responded to her. They didn’t punch, kick or otherwise hit her or repeatedly slam her into the ground or anything else.

  31. I don’t pretend to know what happened. That’s for a court and a jury to decide. But I am a little surprised to read what appears to be an endorsement of police tune-ups for uncooperative citizens,

  32. That is why it is NOT police brutality. Getting thrown down for grabbing at an officer arresting you is a given.

    The situation is the issue (I do not see it as a career ender or criminal matter, rather it is going to be an issue in a potential civil case and as an administration issue).

  35. She was wrong for resisting arrest, but so was one of the officers. The clincher for me isn’t the injuries sustained. It’s that point at which the one cop smashes her into the pavement, hard. Way more force than needed. I’m glad the camera caught this, and I hope the officer who smashed her down doesn’t continue to have a law enforcement career.

  36. I dunno…That doesn’t look like he’s throwing her into the ground. It looks more like she falls as they struggle. I don’t see his weight shift or any exertion like he’s pushing her or throwing her towards the ground. It looks like the officers are simply reacting to her lurch, not causing it.

    As she goes down, you can see her arm / elbow above her head, which gives me the impression that the officer’s right hand has her wrist, which you’d expect if he were trying to put handcuffs on her. I see her moving to her left and then her weight sliding off of the trunk.

    And he seems especially delicate after she’s down, mostly concerned with keeping her hands under control.

  37. Sorry, but there behavior was criminal and they are under indictment for it. Clearly the Grand Jury disagrees with you and we will see what comes out of the trial. If the evidence says they acted intentionally, then to prison they go.

  42. Hey thx for the response! He doesn’t throw her, true. But while she’s on her way down, at 8:40, it looks to me like he takes his left hand and shoves her by the back of her head, accelerating her trip to kiss the ground. After she’s down he may be especially delicate b/c he knows he lashed out and effed up royally.

Comments are closed.