Let’s be clear, I am not taking sides, but, does the story hold up? Here’s what we get from Cassandra Rules at The Free Thought Project
A video was uploaded to Facebook on Friday of a Mesa, Arizona police officer repeatedly punching and attacking a 15 year old girl as her mother begged them to stop.
The young girl, who was reportedly a runaway, was screaming that she couldn’t breathe as her mother attempted to explain to the officers that she has mental problems as well as asthma.
Luis Paul Santiago, the witness who filmed the violent encounter stated that police attempted to delete the video, and the second officer on the scene explained that the officer “behaved correctly†and stated that “if she needed to, she could have shot her dead.â€
Let’s see that video
Is it just me, or did I miss the punches? I heard both people in the car filming say that they saw the punches. But, the video doesn’t seem to show them. I have replayed it 4 times. Both Raw Story and Addicting Info follow right along, as do all the folks in the comments. What do the police have to say?
A 15-year-old girl punched and kicked a Mesa police officer Friday after the female officer tried to get her attention, police said.
Mesa officers responded to a call Friday afternoon near 86th Street and Broadway, where a mother said her daughter had left their vehicle and was beginning to walk away. The teenager had a history of running away, police said.
According to a police statement, the female officer, whose name has not been released, attempted to stop the girl by reaching for her arm after three attempts to talk to the teen were ignored.
The teen then turned and assaulted the officer by kicking and punching her, police said. The officer then arrested the girl as the fighting continued, police said.
Both the officer and the girl suffered slight injuries, and the girl was voluntarily committed for a psychiatric evaluation.
So, what’s the reality? It seems, especially in light of recent events (some of which shows officers in a bad light, some of which are being falsely spun to show officers in a bad light), that some are more than willing to Blame police officers. But, does the officer deserve the blame in this case?
Crossed at Right Wing News.
I see no punches to her face. I see an out-of-control female being restrained with the least force possible.
The mother was not in a panic mode I think she would have been in if the police had been assaulting her daughter.
However, I see no possible reason for the statment “she could have shot her if she wanted to”. Had she shot this girl, it would have been murder by police.
Looks to me like the officer did only what was necessary to get this girl under control.
At this point, I would discount the eyewitnesses claim of face punching, and rely of the testimony of the mother and the guy in the white shirt, both of whom seem relatively calm and appear to be trying to help the officer.
But I wan’t there, so I’m only opining.
To be perfectly honest, in the first 2 seconds of the video the girls head does snap back as if being punched/slapped. With that being said, there is no way to know what happened beforehand. Did the girl slap/hit the officer first? In the state the girl was in I would guess yes, something happened before the video started.
If this officer was really out to just beat this girl for no reason she would have continued to hit her and she didn’t. She subdued an angry, out of control teenager and did it using as minimal force as possible.
Without knowing what happened before the video started there is no way to know if what the officer did was out of line. Of course, that won’t stop people from vilifying this officer.
Please show me the punches!!!!! As people want to try to catch someone doing something wrong. So the cops should come and write you a citation on your driving skills. Please show everyone the punches as we are waiting. All any one sees is the girl taken to the ground and acting like a brattttttt!!!!!! So the next time you feel that you have a clip that helps make sure it doesn’t show you doing something wrong.
BIG HELPER.