What do you consider excessive force?

[primalclaws1974]

I had a friend a few years back that was driving a car in a big city, while he was under suspension. He was driving at night, and a cop started following him. He turned into an alley, shut off the car and ran. He got about six blocks away before they found him. He wasn't carrying anything illegal, and wasn't drunk or high. They through him to the ground even though he stopped on the sidewalk, and had not tried to run farther. Then three of them put their body weight on him, including a knee on his head, pushing his face into the concrete. He obviously went to jail for what he had done. I am not saying that he should have got away with it, but when he is showing he is surrendering, does the "rough stuff" not seem excessive?

 

[greensat]

Yeah it does seem a little excessive, but your friend should be glad that the cops weren't hitting him or doing anything that would potentially harm his life or well-being (assuming your friend was not injured and is still alive after that ordeal, of course). Seeing as the recent events of today's society, people are lucky not to get injured by the police.

 

[Rainman]

Cops are but human. They'll get angry when you run off and will try to pay you back for that without having to be too rough. In an incident like that, then the cops were not supposed to use that kind of force to make the arrest. It was uncalled for since the person they wanted to arrest had [already] surrendered.

 

[primalclaws1974]

Cops are but human. They'll get angry when you run off and will try to pay you back for that without having to be too rough. In an incident like that, then the cops were not supposed to use that kind of force to make the arrest. It was uncalled for since the person they wanted to arrest had [already] surrendered.

"Pay you back"? He didn't do anything to them personally. It's not like he hurt one of them and ran off. But even if he had, what kind of professionalism is that? They are supposed to be impartial, and protect and serve. I don't see anything of the kind when you are getting roughed up for simply running away from them. This is clear evidence that police in America have too much power. They should arrest people the same way (unless of course, if the perp is violent first), and give out the same punishments to everyone that breaks the law in the same way.

 

[mrsbright]

It is excessive force in my book, and entirely uncalled for, and it completely sucks that people think we should be grateful if we only get "a little bit roughed up" or that we somehow deserve it. I don't care to hear how "cops are but human" if this means that they then treat suspects and potential criminals like animals. They don't owe it to anybody to "pay back", their job is to serve and protect and it is not their place to serve some extra justice when there is no danger present. If he ran, then his punishment will be made official by the court, and it was, since he got arrested etc. I do not stand behind any extra punishment the police forces think is best to deliver according to their judgment. It's just not their place and it breeds dislike and lack of trust in communities to hear and see such stories.

 

[primalclaws1974]

I agree that if an officer roughs a person up unnecessarily, that person will clearly have animosity. They are going to tell others, and combined with their own experience, it leads to hate for police authority. I am not saying that there aren't justified times that police must get rough, and I am not saying there are not other reasons people hate police--like getting caught, but being more violent than necessary is the mistake of the police.

 

[Mackmax]

That is definitely excessive if he did not fight back at all and posed no physical or verbal threat to the officers. There are such things as self-defense, in which you are defending your body from physical harm by any means necessary, retaliation, where someone hurts you, so you hurt them back, and just plain bullying-in this case, brutality- where the other person has done nothing to hurt you, but you hurt them. Cops NEED to know the difference between these 3, and need to know when to use what. In your friend's case, the police were using brutality.

 

[stevesxs9]

As long as the police's life is not in danger, and the perpetrator is cooperating and surrendering without incident, then any physical force that has the possibility of harming the suspect, should be considered excessive in my opinion.

 

[LitoLawless]

Excessive force would be anything more than is needed to handle a person or people. When an officer (or anyone for the matter) is using excessive force, they risk injuring someone or even killing them. It would definitely depend on the situation, but for the most part excessive force is anything beyond what is needed to take control of a situation.

 

[Muthoni]

That is very excessive; he stopped when he discovered that he could not outrun the police. I guess excessive force comes in when the arresting officer gets mad when a suspect wastes their time. I once saw a man being dragged on the ground by a police officer when he refused to walk to the police car. The rule of thumb is not to resist because one can get physically hurt.

 

[primalclaws1974]

Thanks for the recent answers. I wasn't there, but it seemed like they were angry with him and wanted to punish him. This is a mild case, considering how some people end up. This is especially true if a person in custody has harmed another officer. I can understand that police are brothers-in-arms, and they are going to have emotions if someone harms or kills one of their own, but it doesn't clear them to take matters in their own hands. As with my friend, they let loose their anger. Yes, he should not have ran, and he got another charge (and hurt) for it, but that doesn't give the police the right to rough him up.

 

[goldenmaine]

Excessive force was surely used on your friend and this should not be practiced by officers of the law because it is very offensive to people. Even though he has done something wrong, he shouldn’t have been treated that way. My older brother was also caught by the police at one time because he was driving an unregistered car, because he forgot to register the car and was long overdue for registration. Fortunately the officer did not use excessive force, but used a firm and loud voice to show authority. He ordered my brother to step out of the car and lie down facing the ground, but force was not used. This is the appropriate way for officers to do in these situations.

 

[dyanmarie25]

That is considered as excessive force. Your friend has already surrendered, plus he's not carrying anything with him. What's the excuse of these cops for using violence against him? Nothing.

 

[Gabe]

I think it wasn't excessive force but reasonable force, given that he had run six blocks, it was likely he would try to escape again or attack them. No reasonable person runs six blocks to escape the police. It also depends on his build and other factors, but they restrained him, but didn't hit him. Reasonable force is used when a suspect has tried to escape. If he had run one block and then stopped it may not have taken three officers, but he seemed as if he was hiding something and to be honest the officers wanted to make sure he was secure as I am sure they didn't enjoy running six blocks and wanting to do any more.