A Seattle Police Officer Is Caught On Tape Hitting a 17-year An African American Teenager Girl

by Scott77 236 Replies latest social current

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  Justitia Themis

  James Kelly, chief executive officer of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattleduring a news conference Tuesday with African-American community leaders, called Walsh's punch an overreaction. "The provocation by this 17-year-old kid may have presented a confrontation situation, but the use of violence in the form of a full punch in the face was just plain wrong," he said in a statement...Kelly said he wanted to be clear that what the 17-year-old girl had done Monday was wrong and that her actions "only helped escalate an already tense situation. ... I am making no excuses for her. But two wrongs don't make a right."

  Watch the black leaders speaking on video and you tell me how balanced they sound.

  http://www.kirotv.com/video/23912731/index.html
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  Justitia Themis

  From betterdaze:

  The incident happened at Martin Luther King Jr. Way South near the arterial's intersection with Rainier Avenue South, in the vicinity of Franklin High School.

  A Seattle transportation department plan released in 2006 called for Seattle police pedestrian-safety patrols to target jaywalking, particularly near Franklin High and north of South McClellan Street by the Lowe's hardware store.

  Between 2002 and 2006 more jaywalkers were hit by vehicles on Rainier Avenue South than in any other corridor in the city.

  During that period, 61 pedestrians were struck while jaywalking on Rainier Avenue South -- nearly double the number of accidents on Aurora Avenue North, which had the second highest number of jaywalkers hit with 35, according to Seattle Transportation Department records.

  Also during that period, 23 other jaywalkers were hit in the South End, on Martin Luther King Jr. Way South and on Beacon Avenue South. Those roads also accounted for 126 pedestrian accidents at intersections.

  There were six jaywalking accidents on Aurora Avenue North in the several blocks south of North 125th Street between 2002 and 2006, tying that short stretch of roadway with Rainier Avenue South between South Hudson Street and 39th Avenue South for the highest number of jaywalking collisions in the city.

  http://www.seattlepi.com/local/421842_cop16.html
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  Think About It

  He wasn't just a cop picking on people for a minor offense. The police dept. was requested by the local school leaders to stop the jaywalking in that area and stop the high incident of people getting hit by cars. The school leaders wanted the jaywalking offense enforced and for that to encourage people to use the pedestrian bridge located right there. If the police never responded they could be liable. The officer already was "talking" to a guy about his jaywalking, when the girls did it right in front of his nose. At that point he was under obligation to confront the girls about their jaywalking offense. What could have been a mere warning or no more than a minor citation escalated to the incident, because of the girls attitude, disrespect for the law and their assault on the officer.

  Think About It
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  ldrnomo

  let em jay-walk. If they get hit by a car then watch the Urban league complain that the police aren't doing there job to prevent these people from jay-walking

  No matter what the police do they will be critiqued by the public. Especially if the perp is "African American" and the cop is "some other continent American"

  LD
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  MsDucky

  Seattle is Already Being Sued For a Previous Jaywalking Stop Gone Bad

  The video was disturbing, yeah. But as Nina reported earlier, there's a long history among Seattle cops of jaywalking enforcement turning ugly. And depending on the outcome of a pending trial, that history could cost the city financially.

  According to the ACLU, Monday's incident is part of a broader pattern. They examined audits of the Office of Professional Accountability and found that as early as 2003, auditors were pointing to Seattle cops seeming inability de-escalate situations. From the 2006 report:

  "It is distressing to see how many of the excessive force complaints begin with minor street confrontations: over jay-walking, possible impound of a car, or even, in one case, refusal to show an officer a "receptacle" for disposing of dog waste. Citizens often do not show officers respect or attention when confronted over such minor offenses. When they verbally challenge or disregard orders given, it often leads officers to respond more harshly than warranted.

  Yvette Gaston, a one-time King County juvenile probation officer, is currently suing the city of Seattle for a 2008 incident that seems to parallel the most recent one. According to court documents, Gaston had just dropped off one of her clients at his Central District home after escorting him to buy back-to-school clothes. Minutes later, he called her to say that he'd been stopped by the cops for jaywalking and that they were accusing him of stealing the clothes.

  Gaston says she drove back to produce the receipt for the clothing. Upon arriving on the scene, she found her client in handcuffs. And at some point during incident, one officer shoved her, she claims. Gatson's client was eventually taken into custody, while she was later charged by then-city attorney Tom Carr with obstruction and assaulting a police officer. The obstruction charge was eventually dropped. And in 2009, the trial court cleared her of the assault charge.

  Gaston filed a civil rights suit against the city in February. She's being represented by NAACP head, James Bible. The same guy that called for Diaz to step down in light of the now infamous punching incident. The case goes to trial next April.

  Tags:

  seattle police http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2010/06/seattle_is_already_being_sued.php
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  MsDucky

  No matter what the police do they will be critiqued by the public. Especially if the perp is "African American" and the cop is "some other continent American"

  I agree and to add to your scenario "a white girl gone missing". Makes the news every time.
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  not a captive

  As a private individual I would punch or do whatever I had to if attacked. This was not a private altercation. If I had behaved even a little bit like this at home, my Dad would have decked me. And I would have known why and learned. But this school has had other problems like this. This is a bigger problem than a punch can fix. And it may even make the basic problem worse.

  But here's what I don't understand: The city police were long aware that there was a critical problem with jay-walking there. The officer didn't have a random traffic stop and a guy with a deer rifle. This jay-walking problem was a situation with a long history. He lived in Seattle and knew the kind of issues (that we can find doing a google search) at Franklin High School where these kids all came from. Think about it. Punching the kid is just pissing an ocean of trouble there like it is in a lot of inner-city schools. Do I think it's going to turn those girls' lives around--no. They're just alittle harder today than they were before this happened.

  If they have DROVES of kids crossing there they've got kids that don't care about the law. Do you know how much these girls probably fight and punch each other in the face--probably plenty. That video shows me girls acting like WWF characters. If you talk to girls like that (these had rap sheets going already) their weekends frolics are probably a series of illegal acts. And now there's this: someone above posted that the punch was announced as an overreaction of the officer. Holy shit--I won't want to cover that beat now--especially if I were that officer.

  Great outcome?

  I'm going to say it again: The girls needed to be taken down-Hard. I suggest viewing a video of a volatile scenario like this one at an Orlando, FL high school last Friday. Police called in on a fight where such a mob had gathered that no one stepped aside for them or listened to them after they tackled one student. They whipped out pepper spray and it totally dispersed the crowd. Gave kids rashes and a lot of pain in their eyes and throats. Highly effective.

  Lesson learned for all.

  Police ARE public servants dealing with some sudden and terrible craziness. But I think we need to step back and reflect that the problems are bigger than ourselves. This isn't an Andy Griffith world where he might have punched her, too, And Aunt Bee might have explained to her why she got treated like that. I think Andy would have been smart enough to use pepper spray if he had been there in Seattle.
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  purplesofa

  Watch the black leaders speaking on video and you tell me how balanced they sound.

  http://www.kirotv.com/video/23912731/index.html

  Seattle has some real problems, seems to go very deep.

  The one guy is really painting this girl as defenseless waif.

  I can't imagine acting out like that girl and having such a score of

  people coming to my defense.

  How did this become a race issue?

  Most people that need to catch a bus walk out of the way to get to a crosswalk,

  There are laws for motorists and laws for pedestrians.

  FOR THE PROTECTION OF ALL.

  Wow, what a dramatic mess.

  purps
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  purplesofa

  Why doesn't the NAACP teach their children of colour to respect the laws?

  They are putting all the responsiblity of the violence of the girls on the cop.

  I guess seeing and knowing what happened before the video would be helpful.

  purps
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  Think About It

  That NAACP press conference was total bullshit. Where were they at when this girl (who the officer had no idea how old she was) was punching and robbing black boys in the neighborhood? You can't have the officers taking that kind of abuse and being handled that way, because people could easily pull a knife or suddenly take the officer down.

  Think About It