Bill Greenwood wrote:
Being from N Colo. you may know of a recent case that shows what I mean. An off duty cop is working at a parking lot at a supermarket in Longmont? A lady drives into a handicapped parking space. The white cop angrily confronts the Black woman. She answers him back angrily, they both swear. She has the proper permit, but now he is mad so calls another cop too. The don't want to give the driver a parking ticket, they want combat. They knock her down, may have shot her with a Taser, and also attack her 12 year old daughter, breaking her shoulder. So how old do you have to be to be attacked by an adult male cop? Apparently 12 is enough. Of course the two are arrested and charged with resisting, disturbing the peace, etc. anything they can come up with. The charges are dropped in court. A sorry situation. The real shame of something like this is not that some people in some situations go bad, but that too often other cops and the system cover up the bad apple rather than trying to get rid of it. And the lady may win a civil suit, but guess who pays the cost? It is the taxpayers not the person who committed the violence.
Bill I think you added this after I responded. I believe this happened in the Denver Metro area. I followed that incident with a grain of salt. It was tried in the media. Because of the media's portrayal of the woman and her daughter as "victims", it's possible the DA dropped the charges as it would be impossible to get a conviction at trial even if they were guilty. But I would have to read the actual reports to make a decision if the officer was right or wrong.
I don't believe they won a civil suit. It was settled out of court. Government agencies often do this no matter how right or wrong an employee is in order to avoid paying attorney's fees. I've seen this happen with my own department even though the officers acted correctly and appropriately. The city just figured it was cheaper to settle then to go to trial and win.
Doug