A video making the rounds show a Fort Collins, CO cop in a physical confrontation with a mini-skirted college coed. As the Police Chief points out in a subsequent statement, the video shows a small portion of the encounter” and is not representative of all the events. Video-shows-cop-body-slamming-high-heeled-college-student-to-ground.
Fighting women is a pain in the ass. People stop being rational and lose sight of the fact that, “No matter how beautiful they are, some guy someplace is tired of their shit.” They gave her the opportunity to walk away; she didn’t have the ability to do so. When cops are handling a disturbance situation, there can only be one party in control, and that is the cops.
People have this TV concept that cops have to fight fair. That to be fair, the fight has to be mano a mano, two evenly matched opponents. Bull! Cops know that they have to fight to win. The longer a fight continues, the greater the possibility something will go wrong. Cops know that a firearm is involved in EVERY phyical confrontation. They bring the gun to a fist fight and because they do; they must fight every battle one handed to protect their weapon. Our motto, when faced with a noncompliant suspect, was; “Six to Sixty, blind cripple or crazy put them down on the ground.”
Watching the video, I will admit that is one of the most impressive “face plants” that I have seen. It should have ended the fight right there. However, within seconds she is attempting to get up for round two. It was not to be, and two officers were able to control her and end the confrontation. I would hazard a guess that had the first officer tried to treat her as, “sugar and spice and everything nice” four officers would not have been enough to control her.
The video represents a situation where public perception and the requirements of the law will probably never achieve a consensus. The officer is entitled to use force when and to the degree necessary to overcome resistance. Had the police used mace or a taser the outcry would still be there. Not because of the justified use of force, but because it was a pretty girl. Take a look at the Manson girls; they were all pretty, once.