UNT NAACP President arrested in Detroit

[All About UNT]

he and his brother were arrested after getting into a slugfest with two police officers. Guy has a case imo.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/23284012/brothers-charged-with-assaulting-detroit-police-say-they-were-assaulted-first?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=924969

[UNTFan23]

he and his brother were arrested after getting into a slugfest with two police officers. Guy has a case imo.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/23284012/brothers-charged-with-assaulting-detroit-police-say-they-were-assaulted-first?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=924969

I never knew that if a cop touches you and you do something in self defense such as a swim move to deflect being pushed that it is automatically an assault of a police officer. Basically you have no choice but to let the cop man handle you.

[KRAM1]

WOW...from watching the tape here...and just the tape, it appears that these officers were trying to start something. Now, have no idea what went on before they entered the restaurant that would cause these two policemen to follow them in, but you have to wonder if this is not a case of profiling or simply two overly aggressive officers?

Would like to have Emmitt's assessment of this situation.

[Green P1]

I never knew that if a cop touches you and you do something in self defense such as a swim move to deflect being pushed that it is automatically an assault of a police officer. Basically you have no choice but to let the cop man handle you.

Sounds like we could use some cops on our offensive line!

[UNT90]

Sounds like we could use some cops on our DEFENSIVE line!

Fixed

[ntmeangreen11]

NM

Edited September 6, 2013 by ntmeangreen11

[UNT90]

Cops abuse and violate your rights on a daily basis. What's the news here?

Right. I mean it happens so much we see video of it EVERY DAY! I mean, thank god for cell camera's, surveillance cameras, police in-car cameras, and all other cameras that allow us to see multiple stories of police abusing power daily.

Oh, that doesn't happen?

So...

[North Texas Shep]

Those last two punches thrown by that one police officer were just cheap shots... He already had the guy under control. Wish there was more video, so we could get the whole story.

[ntmeangreen11]

Right. I mean it happens so much we see video of it EVERY DAY! I mean, thank god for cell camera's, surveillance cameras, police in-car cameras, and all other cameras that allow us to see multiple stories of police abusing power daily.

Oh, that doesn't happen?

So...

Right. I mean it happens so much we see video of it EVERY DAY! I mean, thank god for cell camera's, surveillance cameras, police in-car cameras, and all other cameras that allow us to see multiple stories of police abusing power daily.

Oh, that doesn't happen?

So...

Okay.

[NT03]

Charges dropped

[bleedgreen4ever]

Those last two punches thrown by that one police officer were just cheap shots... He already had the guy under control. Wish there was more video, so we could get the whole story.

Those last two punches thrown by that one police officer were just cheap shots... He already had the guy under control. Wish there was more video, so we could get the whole story.

Looked like that same police officer was the main instigator and aggressor.

[KRAM1]

Charges dropped

Excellent...now maybe they should file a suit against the cops. My guess...they would win! Just a dumb move by these cos...who probably should find a new career field. If not, we all may just her from these guys again!

[emmitt01]

I never knew that if a cop touches you and you do something in self defense such as a swim move to deflect being pushed that it is automatically an assault of a police officer. Basically you have no choice but to let the cop man handle you.

What you refer to as a "push" is actually a palm heel strike. It's taught nationwide as a defensive tactic to avoid suspects walking up on you. That was completely within the force continuum of pretty much every major department.

But that's where the legitimate force ends.

The punch to the face by the officer that started the brawl was cowardly. So, too, was the reaction of the brothers of turning this into a four man melee.

What you have here is two officers who APPEAR to approach these two young men without a reason (there is no tape of what occurs before they entered the restaurant). And then two young men who react defensively in their speech, posture and actions. Both sides came into this just a little too amped up.

I get that these two young men have a good grasp on their rights. I also see that they were hell bent on challenging these officers with that fact. There is a calm way to explain that you are well within your rights and then there's the "Why?!! I ain't done nothing wrong, why you harassing me?!!" way. Again, the level of force used against them was unjustified in my opinion (I know of no dept that teaches a punch to the face as a response for defensive resistance). They just didn't help to de-escalate things with their attitude.

If you think you've been profiled there is a time and place to address this. Standing in the middle of a restaurant in an aggressive posture isn't it. Did they have an obligation to show these officers their ID? No. Would doing so and then requesting a supervisor to the scene or contacting the Detroit IAD have been much better reactions? Yep.

As for suing the department I'm not sure how far you'll get with that. Again, the officer was wrong to punch the young man. But the "victimization" stopped when both brothers reacted as if this were a street brawl.

I am ALL for reigning in bad cops. I too am for putting an end to the "I know my rights so anything goes" mentality amongst some citizens.

[emmitt01]

Right. I mean it happens so much we see video of it EVERY DAY! I mean, thank god for cell camera's, surveillance cameras, police in-car cameras, and all other cameras that allow us to see multiple stories of police abusing power daily.

Oh, that doesn't happen?

So...

I honestly wish I could give you all of my +1's to erase whatever fool decided to -1 you. The idea that officers are on a concerted campaign to abuse the citizenry would be laughable if it wasn't in poor taste to laugh at the mentally deficient. Police officers have MORE oversight than ever before, not less. Somehow, though, even with all of the YouTube morons who record what they think is "abuse" the local news just can't seem to find an example of police brutality to lead their broadcast daily.

[UNT90]

I honestly wish I could give you all of my +1's to erase whatever fool decided to -1 you. The idea that officers are on a concerted campaign to abuse the citizenry would be laughable if it wasn't in poor taste to laugh at the mentally deficient. Police officers have MORE oversight than ever before, not less. Somehow, though, even with all of the YouTube morons who record what they think is "abuse" the local news just can't seem to find an example of police brutality to lead their broadcast daily.

Yep.

Let's just think about one police department. For giggles, we will make it Dallas. I would assume that Dallas Police Officers have at least, what, 5,000 citizen contacts per day? And that is being VERY conservative. So, 5,000 x 365 = 1,825,000.

That's 1,825,000 citizen contacts in a year (conservatively), and we get, what, maybe one instance of this a year from DPD? If that?

Do the math, stupid people of the world. You have the better chance of winning the powerball than getting beat up by a cop for no reason.

Some people need to be reminded daily that what they see on TV series and in the movies isn't reality. Also, all those stories told by your friends about being "harassed" is most likely a bunch of crap. Cops have far better things to do than pick on law abiding citizens.

I'll share a story. There was a police officer who worked for a very large police department in the metroplex. He stopped a lady for speeding. It was a normal contact in which he wrote her a ticket. Imagine his surprise when he was called into his supervisor's office and accused of calling her every racial slur imaginable to man. Easy fix. The contact was recorded by an in car camera. The video showed exactly what that officer had told his supervisor. There was no racial slur of any kind and the stop was extremely routine. But the officer made one mistake. On the way back to his car after issuing the woman a citation, the officer spit out a sunflower seed that had been in his mouth. No big deal, right?

Wrong.

That violated a very obscure and never used policy of the department against having anything in your mouth during a civilian contact, a policy the was obviously targeting tobacco products. That didn't matter. The officer was given a written reprimand that was placed in his permanent discipline file for the policy violation. All so a supervisor with no backbone could tell the liar that something had been done to the officer.

Events like the one above happen FAR more frequently than excessive police force on innocent civilians.

Good news is that officer saw what a crappy department he was working for and went somewhere else.

[KRAM1]

Thanks for the response, Emmitt.

[JesseMartin]

Based on the backstory, they're still guilty of DWB. Profiling whaaaat? There may be some other random thing that exonerates the officers, but if not...hey, Detroit is bankrupt, so I can think of a couple of salaries they could do without (and save money on lawsuits in the process). I do think it's funny that the ONE other dude in there doesn't try to call anyone (911 or otherwise) to report it, he just looks for the best time to scoot to the window and then the door. "Gimme my burger...I'm OUT!"

All jokes aside, during the "conversation", there was plenty of opportunity to provide an explanation of ANY reasonable suspicion OR probable cause and those guys did NEITHER. Even a BS Lenny Kravitz-style attempt at "you fit the description of..well, somebody" would have been better than that. And if you missed it in the first angle, watch the scene from the second angle. Apparently, he's guilty of talking with his hands too much, because that's all he was doing when the first contact took place.

You guys are right that this happens VERY rarely in the overall spectrum of police work, but any time it turns out that someone was just looking for trouble, it's deserving of a critical review. Poor examples such as this help to create a negative public image that hurts those who are doing their job right.