Buckhead IHOP/Cop vs woman fight (Atlanta, Roberta: attorney, houses, salaries)

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

The track record of that officer might tell us if he has a history of inappropriate or overly forceful reactions. If he does, then that's a different story.

I've seen both of these officers around town and they seem like pretty nice, responsible guys to me.

It's a pretty tough situation to be dealing with a gaggle of loudmouthed fools in an environlment like that. You know you're not going to draw your weapon so you've got to handle the situation by hand to hand means. And you're in a very awkward position physically, where you can't even get a hold of the woman without reaching over several others.

And of course the officer is getting zero support from his fellow citizens, who seem to be enjoying his predicament. Apparently they were more interested in getting their 30 seconds of YouTube fame than in defusing the situation.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

I agree totally 100%

This whole episode is just a sad example of how our society views incidents like this as "funny" or as "entertainment".

Thomas Jefferson is rolling in his grave right now...

I'm not sure the onus is on our society, but maybe the problem is technology. Look at all the attention this video has gotten just in a city-data thread...I would bet more people around the city have seen this than not, and it's not even 12 hours old. 20 years ago it would have taken a week for word to get around - and that depended on the news media picking up on it.

I kinda miss the days of not knowing everything that happens every minute of the day.

[LAB6120]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

We really don't get to see what led to this mess. Without knowing the full situation, it's hard to make a sound judgement.

And this is why I am hesitant to pass judgement on any of the parties involved. The video started out showing the cop trying to arrest the first woman-who was saying "I did nothing wrong" and pulling away. Then it looks like her friend was trying to calm the officer down, but she made the mistake of touching his shoulder and the officer overeacted, then all hell broke loose.

[DTL3000]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Valid points, waronxmas.

I'm always amazed at how many folks will sit around laughing and joking and enjoying the show while things like this are going on. Whatever happened to the day when menfolk (as well as women) would jump up and say, "Shut up and sit down, baby sister, this is a public place and you're WAY out of line."

The failure of citizens to bring peer pressure to bear and to demand decent conduct dumps the whole mess into the lap of the cops. They're then put in the position of being an isolated force with no backup or endorsement from the community they're trying to help. Why didn't Boba Fett or some of these other dudes jump and tell these screaming loonies to chill out? As Willie T. said long ago, "Let me put this cheeseburger down."

Amen bro. People just want to see the spectacle. The crazier the better. This reminds me of "Marta Girl" a couple years back. Why didn't somebody just stand up and say "Chill?" When dealing with cops, you only make the situation worse by being beligerent towards them. The guy could be the most crooked cop on the force but if you show him the respect warranted by his position, he may cut you some slack and let you go depending on the circumstances. Instead, at least two of these fools probably were arrested.

The idiot that was decked was antagonizing the officer by shoving a camera in his face and grabbing him. Had a man done that he would have received the same or worse treatment. I don't advocate hitting ladies but ladies don't start swinging on cops when they are trying to handle an already bad situation.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

I'm not sure the onus is on our society...

The onus of decent behavior is always on society. That's why we call it civil society.

Sure, there will always be nitwits who try to ruin things for the rest of us. But idiocy and bad behavior should never be viewed as the norm, and something that can only be controlled by police power.

All of us have to accept responsibility and act accordingly. Let's bring the full collective weight of our good values to bear, instead of waiting for a cop to show up and then second guessing him on YouTube.

I agree that there are plenty of instances where policemen have used excessive force. I also agree that they should be trained to always use the least amount of force necessary, and that they should be called out when they go too far. Those are important elements of a free and civil society as well.

But we can't simply throw these guys to the lions and expect them to carry the ball while the community sits around chuckling at their predicament.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by arjay57

The onus of decent behavior is always on society. That's why we call it civil society.

Sure, there will always be nitwits who try to ruin things for the rest of us. But idiocy and bad behavior should never be viewed as the norm, and something that can only be controlled by police power.

All of us have to accept responsibility and act accordingly. Let's bring the full collective weight of our good values to bear, instead of waiting for a cop to show up and then second guessing him on YouTube.

I agree that there are plenty of instances where policemen have used excessive force. I also agree that they should be trained to always use the least amount of force necessary, and that they should be called out when they go too far. Those are important elements of a free and civil society as well.

But we can't simply throw these guys to the lions and expect them to carry the ball while the community sits around chuckling at their predicament.

Oh, I agree that we should all be personally responsible for our actions. I was just saying that just a few years ago there wouldn't have been such an uproar about this incident...it's doubtful that it would have even been widely discussed outside of the small group of people in attendance. It seems like technology exacerbates these situations with instantaneous widespread video and knowledge, and has resulted in a certain entertainment value that comes out of some personal tragedies such as this.

[oakhurstlauren]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

It seems like technology exacerbates these situations with instantaneous widespread video and knowledge, and has resulted in a certain entertainment value that comes out of some personal tragedies such as this.

There is an inherent value in situations like this being filmed though. Not doing anything wrong? Don't need to worry about it. Abusing your power? You're gonna end up on the internet, it's not a big surprise.
There is no excuse for either party in the video, however, officers are not trained to ESCALATE situations, and time and time again you see things like this that did not have to end up that way. If someone was supposed to take the higher ground here, it was the officer, not the drunk women at IHOP which were in no way a physical threat to the officer in question. It's their JOB to deal with drunk and crazy. Don't like it? Find another line of work.

[MisterNY]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

I agree totally 100%

This whole episode is just a sad example of how our society views incidents like this as "funny" or as "entertainment".

Thomas Jefferson is rolling in his grave right now...

Originally Posted by oakhurstlauren

There is an inherent value in situations like this being filmed though. Not doing anything wrong? Don't need to worry about it. Abusing your power? You're gonna end up on the internet, it's not a big surprise.
There is no excuse for either party in the video, however, officers are not trained to ESCALATE situations, and time and time again you see things like this that did not have to end up that way. If someone was supposed to take the higher ground here, it was the officer, not the drunk women at IHOP which were in no way a physical threat to the officer in question. It's their JOB to deal with drunk and crazy. Don't like it? Find another line of work.

Well said!!!!!!

[jp01358]

Lots of emoticons!!!!!!!! Removed by moderator - DON'T.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by oakhurstlauren

There is an inherent value in situations like this being filmed though. Not doing anything wrong? Don't need to worry about it. Abusing your power? You're gonna end up on the internet, it's not a big surprise.
There is no excuse for either party in the video, however, officers are not trained to ESCALATE situations, and time and time again you see things like this that did not have to end up that way. If someone was supposed to take the higher ground here, it was the officer, not the drunk women at IHOP which were in no way a physical threat to the officer in question. It's their JOB to deal with drunk and crazy. Don't like it? Find another line of work.

I'm not sure how you can know that the women were no threat to the officer or the restaurant patrons. We can assume this is true, but it's not totally off the map for normal-looking people to carry guns. In a situation like this, I'm happy that he took it seriously and didn't just shrug it off as a silly group of drunken women. You never know.

I'm also not sure it's wise to jump to the conclusion that he abused his power. I saw him diffuse a volatile situation that could have escalated, but I guess we'll have to wait for more information to come out.