cop slams eldery lady with knife

[Disclaimer]

I'm teasing, I know you didn't mean anything by it. I just like stirring the pot.

I just wanted to see if you'd squirm and crack under the pressure of Aerik and ChickOn2... who I would've hoped would've played it up and made you feel really guilty before j/k'ing you.

[kawi kid]

I'm teasing, I know you didn't mean anything by it. I just like stirring the pot.

I just wanted to see if you'd squirm and crack under the pressure of Aerik and ChickOn2... who I would've hoped would've played it up and made you feel really guilty before j/k'ing you.

everyone knows im never serious about anything it works in my favor alot

[Mynameismud]

I have been an LEO for 17 years and I see no problem with slamming anybody wielding a knife, if youre stabbed and killed by an old person you wont be any less dead than being killed by a young person. The problem is something like this occurs while your adrenaline is pumping and the ambient noise and other confusion is going on, then when its over everybody wants to take thier time and go over a video for hours and analize every second. Life has no rewind so when you make a decision thats it.

[Whitey1]

I have been an LEO for 17 years and I see no problem with slamming anybody wielding a knife, if youre stabbed and killed by an old person you wont be any less dead than being killed by a young person. The problem is something like this occurs while your adrenaline is pumping and the ambient noise and other confusion is going on, then when its over everybody wants to take thier time and go over a video for hours and analize every second. Life has no rewind so when you make a decision thats it.

Let me watch it again and I will get back to you on that one mud.

[Whitey1]

I believe the cop acted correctly to defuse the situation. You must realize that as this officer trained it was mostly likely with a larger male to get practice for anything that she may encounter. If anything the cop most likely was surprised herself at how easily the lady dropped and she immediately tended to her care as soon as she was in control. I feel she did a great job. Yes it is unfortunate that the elderly lady got injured in the process. Yes I am sure she is sweet and it is someones grandma, however at that moment she wasn't thinking clearly and was obviously a risk to herself and others around her.

[TwiztedRabbit]

think of the options . manually take suspect down.. possible injury to both LEO and to suspect. Taze the suspect.. not knowing if elderly suspect has a heart condition or pacemaker.. pt could go into cardiac arrest as well as hurt herself falling from tazer shock. eg. suspect could die and last shot suspect.. always the last resort put could potentially die from wounds to werever the shot is at.pt on blood thinners or just being elderly making her more suceptable to injury. working in the medical field myself.. would you rather tend to a broken bone and bloodtrauma from an impact.. deal with performing CPR (breaks the sternum when done correctly) while waiting for EMS to revive pt if she went into cardiac arrest or needs the paddles.. or well dies from either tazer shock or gun shot?

in the end the best for the LEO and the suspect is what was done...

[Rod38um]

That could have definately been handled better. The old woman wasn't poking the knife in the cops face or anything. They could have given an 87 year old woman the benefit of the doubt. Who knows if she could hear that well or even comprehend what was being shouted at her. If a couple cops cant disarm a non threatening, frail, 87 year old woman with a cane, without slamming her to the ground!!! they dont need to be on the force!!!

Just my opinion!

[Whitey1]

That could have definately been handled better. The old woman wasn't poking the knife in the cops face or anything. They could have given an 87 year old woman the benefit of the doubt. Who knows if she could hear that well or even comprehend what was being shouted at her. If a couple cops cant disarm a non threatening, frail, 87 year old woman with a cane, without slamming her to the ground!!! they dont need to be on the force!!!

Just my opinion!

http://whitehallpolice.com/

Perhaps they are hiring?

[Disclaimer]

Could've been worse:

[Rod38um]

http://whitehallpolice.com/

Perhaps they are hiring?

I should hope so after that video has been out!

[Mr Anderson]

I think the people that let that old lady out of the ol' folks home should also be speared to the ground by Terry Tate.

Who's turn was it to watch her?

I think Terry Tate should have speared her.

[InyaAzz]

As a white person I find this video totally acceptable.

[alab32]

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2009/06/05/06052009waccops1.html

So should someone have thought this 13 y/o, since he was just a small innocent 13 y/o walking down the street wasnt a threat? Being a Police Officer myself, i owuld have done the same thing. Not a chance anyone, ANYONE, with a weapon who is not heeding my orders will not be slammed, tazed, sprayed or otherwise dealt with. Rod38um, how long does it take to raise your hand? Split second right? So why should the old lady have to have been pointing the knife at the officer before an action needs to be taken. I got into an altercation with a 115lb female who was unbelievably flexable and strong. Why? Because she had a lot of adrenaline going through her. I didnt know that because it was a simle traffic stop. You never underestimate anyone in any situation. Thats how officers get killed. I agree with Mud, you cant rewind life. You get one choice in a situation like that. The officers choice, if gone the other way, could have got her stabbed and killed if she didnt react the way she did.

Edited August 12, 2009 by alab32

[Rod38um]

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2009/06/05/06052009waccops1.html

So should someone have thought this 13 y/o, since he was just a small innocent 13 y/o walking down the street wasnt a threat? Being a Police Officer myself, i owuld have done the same thing. Not a chance anyone, ANYONE, with a weapon who is not heeding my orders will not be slammed, tazed, sprayed or otherwise dealt with. Rod38um, how long does it take to raise your hand? Split second right? So why should the old lady have to have been pointing the knife at the officer before an action needs to be taken. I got into an altercation with a 115lb female who was unbelievably flexable and strong. Why? Because she had a lot of adrenaline going through her. I didnt know that because it was a simle traffic stop. You never underestimate anyone in any situation. Thats how officers get killed. I agree with Mud, you cant rewind life. You get one choice in a situation like that. The officers choice, if gone the other way, could have got her stabbed and killed if she didnt react the way she did.

I dont doubt your words in most situations. But when you see someone so old and so frail, using a cane, looking confused and doing the feet shuffle thing like such old people do. One would think a little discretion could have been used. I just watched it again on Fox news this morning and apparently I'm not alone on this as my thoughts were the same general concensus of all those in discussion on the news show.

I dont doubt that cops have a job that can pose immediate danger and often have to act first in such situations. It seems though that the modern mentality of law enforcment is to OVER react as evidenced by the many videos of cops tasing people for no apparent reason other than its just fun to yell taser, taser, taser as your squeezing the trigger on the thing.

Listen, I dont have a problem with force when its warranted but you still have to be human, you still have to look at each situation as it comes at you. If you have to cover every situation and every person with a blanket policy of 100% immediate compliance or you start slamming them to the ground or tasing them. Then you are no longer a public servant, you are a public abuser. Blanket policies dont work! They may protect you but they make you inhuman and you would not tolerate the same treatment if it was applied to you!

http://regretfulmorning.com/2009/07/smell-like-alcohol-you-get-tazed-bro/

[JudgeDredd]

Great job.. Perfect.

Shes lucky she didnt get shot or tazed.

[MeefZah]

The things I would point out are first, it is never the cops choice to put himself in that situation. He is there because he has to be - having received a 911 call to a request for assistance.

Having that obligation to respond means one of three things is going to happen:

-Cop arrives and the situation is one where no one needs to be detained or go to jail or the suspect has already left;

-Cop arrives and determines that someone is going to be arrested or detained for investigation and the arrest takes place without incident;

-Cop arrives and makes that same determination but the fight is on.

Mentality of the offender is a non-issue. The only issue is if the law was broken or not, and if public safety has been breached.

A rational human being who has been exposed to news media and fictional portrayals of police officers would expect nothing less that to have force used against them if they resist or fight officers, or brandish a weapon. Does anyone who is reading this, male or female, big or small, black or blacker (just kidding, seeing if you are paying attention) not know what would happen if you stood in a parking lot with a knife and refused obvious orders from a uniformed cop to "drop the knife"?

So, in this scenario, the cop is sent to Wal Mart on a report of a woman threatening others with a knife. The cop arrives in response to the request for help and sees a woman with a knife. Bystanders confirm, yes, this is the woman we called you about, it is not some other random woman wandering around looking for a bottle of A1. Cop determines woman is at the very least going to be detained for further investigation, and orders her to drop the knife. The woman fails to comply, several times over. The officer, who has to take steps to complete her task of detaining the woman while also considering her safety and the safety of others, takes the suspect to the ground and disarms her.

It took longer to read than it did to happen.

At what point does the officer have time to determine if the woman is mentally capable of processing what is going on? A doctor in a clinical setting might take hours or days to return with a diagnosis of dementia or mental illness. It is unrealistic to expect that a cop should risk his or her own safety to try and slow the action down to figure out if Aunt Lulu is off her meds or not.

It's simple, really. Don't do wrong shit and you won't deal with the police in this fashion. Do wrong shit and you will. Do wrong shit because you don't know better or are crazy or have dementia, well that sucks, but you get dealt with the same way as if you do wrong shit for any other reason - because it is not the cops job to play social worker nor is it reasonable to expect that the cop takes uneccessary risks to deal with a situation.

Recall the fireworks stand fire started by a retard (really, a retard) with a lighter, killed 8 people a few years back? Are those people any less dead because a retard started the fire? Should they have let him wander around with a lighter because "aw, it's just Corky with a Zippo, how cute...". What if a known arsonist walked in flicking his Bic? Would those people have handled it differently? Now the question - if they treated the retard like they did the arsonist, would they be dead now? If you need me to spell that out for you, I'm going to suggest you leave the little helmet strapped on and don't take any strolls into fireworks stores or Wal Mart lots.

[cmoosego]

it was overblown by everyone there, first of all she was repeatedly ordered to comply with the request to put the knife down, second they didn't "beat up" anyone, third is was "check day" in whitehall.... I don't care how old or what sex, if you pull a knife on cops you deserve whatever you get.... my cop friends deserve to go home every night... no questions asked... and sorry if it offends but those welfare folks need to mind their own f-n business all they did was make a tense situation worse...

[shittygsxr]

It was 15 seconds from the time the cop approached her to the time she threw her down. Using force is supposed to be a last resort, correct? She tried really hard to talk to her or find her daughter. Fuck that cop and all of you that support her actions.

[JudgeDredd]

It was 15 seconds from the time the cop approached her to the time she threw her down. Using force is supposed to be a last resort, correct? She tried really hard to talk to her or find her daughter. Fuck that cop and all of you that support her actions.

This is why you could never be one. Sometimes if you wait.. people get hurt or worse. Text book actions by her.. could not have been done better.

Deadly force is a last option.. not a simple take down.

Her actions were perfect.. had it gone a different way like her resisting.. Then mace or tazer.. last option had she started stabbing action towards officer would have been deadly force.

See what I mean

[ChickOn2]

It was 15 seconds from the time the cop approached her to the time she threw her down. Using force is supposed to be a last resort, correct? She tried really hard to talk to her or find her daughter. Fuck that cop and all of you that support her actions.

+1. That cop is a bitch. Don't they teach you in 3-day cop school how to know if someone can't understand your instructions? And don't they teach you how to disarm someone without drawing blood? Especially an adversary clearly as dangerous as this one?

*enter Jeff Foxworthy*

IF YEWWWW leave negative rep without SAHNIN' it, then YEWWWWW maht be uh panty waste coward. HERE'S YER SIGN.

That is all.

[alab32]

I dont doubt your words in most situations. But when you see someone so old and so frail, using a cane, looking confused and doing the feet shuffle thing like such old people do. One would think a little discretion could have been used. I just watched it again on Fox news this morning and apparently I'm not alone on this as my thoughts were the same general concensus of all those in discussion on the news show.

I dont doubt that cops have a job that can pose immediate danger and often have to act first in such situations. It seems though that the modern mentality of law enforcment is to OVER react as evidenced by the many videos of cops tasing people for no apparent reason other than its just fun to yell taser, taser, taser as your squeezing the trigger on the thing.

Listen, I dont have a problem with force when its warranted but you still have to be human, you still have to look at each situation as it comes at you. If you have to cover every situation and every person with a blanket policy of 100% immediate compliance or you start slamming them to the ground or tasing them. Then you are no longer a public servant, you are a public abuser. Blanket policies dont work! They may protect you but they make you inhuman and you would not tolerate the same treatment if it was applied to you!

http://regretfulmorning.com/2009/07/smell-like-alcohol-you-get-tazed-bro/

It wasnt quite as the bloke commenting on the video made it out to be. Judging off of the walk and turn alone i would say the rest of the tests would have gone bad as well. There were 2 points just in that portion which were failure points. As for the taze, he was being uncooperative and pulled/pushed away from the cops. The fact that we have tazers is awesome! It results in less contact with suspect therefor having less risk for both parties. Yes, getting tazed sucks for the 5 sec ride but every cop that is certified on it had been hit by it. Its better to taze someone into submission than put them in an armbar and dislocate their shoulder.

Everyone is always quick on telling a cop how to do their job from the comfort of their home. However you dont have that when you are the cop in the situation. You have the knowledge that has face value. A grandma with a knife is the same as a 25 y/o with a knife. It is taken at face value. The 25 y/o may have pulled it out to cut a string from his pants but the 87 y/o may have had a nervous breakdown and then intends to stab the guy in the parking lot. The cops will take it at what they see and then interpret what they have to do.

I will almost always have the side of the cop. Everyone will be a critic until the cop needs to help them. Then suddenly the cop is awesome! Thats not quite how the "game" is played.

[JudgeDredd]

+1. That cop is a bitch. Don't they teach you in 3-day cop school how to know if someone can't understand your instructions? And don't they teach you how to disarm someone without drawing blood?

.

I mean... are you serious lol.

Wow. Just wow.

[alab32]

It was 15 seconds from the time the cop approached her to the time she threw her down. Using force is supposed to be a last resort, correct? She tried really hard to talk to her or find her daughter. Fuck that cop and all of you that support her actions.

A cop can get stabbed or shot in 1 second. People are lucky if i give them 15 secs before I react. Especially with a weapon in the picture. It would take me less time with a knife in my hand inside of 15 feet to reach a cop before they get their gun out. You dont take that risk. You deal with the situation before it gets to that point. If a cop tells you to do something then you do it first time no questions asked. A court is where you fight the LEO not the street. If you choose the latter than you deserve what you get.

[fusion]

+1. That cop is a bitch. Don't they teach you in 3-day cop school how to know if someone can't understand your instructions? And don't they teach you how to disarm someone without drawing blood? Especially an adversary clearly as dangerous as this one?

*enter Jeff Foxworthy*

IF YEWWWW leave negative rep without SAHNIN' it, then YEWWWWW maht be uh panty waste coward. HERE'S YER SIGN.

That is all.

[ChickOn2]

I mean... are you serious lol.

Wow. Just wow.

Well.. I figure if YOU PEOPLE are going to negative repp me all day for thinking it's a little HARSH to pop an alzheimer's patient's skull on the concrete, then clearly being a little harsh is OK here. Have a nice day:rolleyes:

And for a little more honesty, I will go ahead and say that the lack of compassion, aggression and *yeah* racism exhibited by people on here claiming to be in the law enforcement occupation is quite disturbing, and warrants a psychiatric evaluation.

"Oh, well Ah gottuh make sure Ah make it home every naht." Well the job is to Serve and PROTECT the public. Not "preserve yourself." If you can't serve and protect without needlessly injuring people (ESPECIALLY the elderly), go work at the mall.