I disagree with you, Androw. You cannot taze someone because they are telling you the police are blocking her way and she cannot move her car forward. Listen to the video. They could have given her more time to move the car - they were far too quick to use that tazer thing on her and the flood of curse words was just unbelievable! Calling her a dumb blank? Really? !
Those officers should be fired. She should be given an apology for the entire event.
You have the right to be wrong.
Until you prove that there were in fact police officers standing directly in front of her car, when they told her to pull forward.... a claim not a single other person has supported or even alleged... then you are just making up crap.
I have watched the video now, a dozen times. It's not going to magically change because you keep telling me to listen to it again.
They don't need to give her 'more time'. They ordered her to pull forward. I have been stopped by police numberous times. In one such instance, I was given a direct order to pull my car over to the side, off the road. I said "Yes sir". Without needing "more time", I did exactly as I was told RIGHT THEN.
What I did not do, was say "are your telling me I can't record?" "Nobody going to tell me I can't record" "Ok I'm going to park elsewhere instead" "Ok I'm recording all of this".
I did not argue with the officer. I did not bicker with the officer. I did not just do whatever I wanted and ignored the officer. I did not taunt them with "you can't tell me...." or "I'm recording all this....".
I just simply did EXACTLY WHAT I WAS TOLD RIGHT AWAY.
She absolutely deserved everything she got, and in my opinion should have gotten a ton more.
You support the criminal. I support the police. I get that. You have the right to defend a criminal. I have the right defend the police.
If you can actually PROVE that crap that there was a police officer directly in front of her car when they told her to pull forward, feel free. I'd love to see it. Even then, that would only make the case both were at fault, because again, if she hadn't be parked in the middle of the road taunting the police with "no one can tell me I can't record!", none of the rest would have happened.
Oh for heaven's sakes, Androw! Fast forward the video to 1:20 please! She has a recording of the police walking in front of her car! She says, how can I move my car when the police are right here! She is letting them know that she cannot move the car until they get out of harms way! Now do you see what I am seeing? Police walking in front of her car through her front windshield you can see it. THIS is why they dropped the charges. The video proved she didn't move the car so how in the world could she have tried to run down police officers with it? They are telling a lie! She didn't try to hit anyone with her car.
I am not making anything up. I am telling you what I see on the video. Could someone please fast forward to 1:20 on this video and tell me what they see and what she says and how quickly - within seconds they are screaming at her and attacking her with a taser? I'm not wrong. This was a clear cut case of the officers involved overstepping their authority. I do not condone police acting like this and cussing at a woman! They are wrong and should be told to apologise to her!
I can't see enough in the video to say if there were police blocking her, but you can clearly hear her say, repeatedly, "I'll pull up, I'll pull up.". Then she asks how she can pull over with the police in the way, followed almost immediately by the sounds of physical altercation.
It's not conclusive, but certainly doesn't sound good.
No, the officer told her very clearly to pull forward... the light is green. Implication... she was parked in the middle of the road, at a green light, not moving.
*SHE* decided that instead of doing what she was told.... PULL FORWARD, that she was going to do her own thing, and park.
There were cops along the road. I personally do not believe there were police directly in front of her car. I believe there were cops along the road, where SHE decided she wanted to park.... instead of PULLING FORWARD.
When she refused to obey the officer, and bickered with him over 'are you telling me I can't record?'.... that's when she was ordered to park, and the problem happened.
If she had done what she was told... or better yet, not been stopped in the middle of the road to begin with... I do not believe anything would have happened.
People get this idiotic idea that if you start recording an officer, suddenly they can ignore what the officer says, and you can bicker with them.
You just do what they say. If you really believe the order was wrong, or there was an issue, file a complaint or take it to court, and you generally will be treated fairly.
But in the moment.... you are dealing with an officer of the law. They have been given the authority to enforce the law, and you need to respect that... SHUT UP... DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD. It's really that simple folks.
There's another video of a guy with a conceal carry, and the officer didn't know it. They pulled him over, and were talking with him, and finally he blurted out that he had conceal carry, and had a gun right on his hip.
The officer completely freaked out, and was screaming and yelling at him.
But........... he was not tazed. Was not hit. Was not cuffed. Was not attacked. Not shot, not maced, not kicked.... nothing.
Want to know why? It's real simple. The man did EXACTLY as was told. He didn't scream back. He didn't resist. He didn't taunt. He didn't provoke. He was not sitting there "nobody can tell me I can't carry" or bickering with the police. He did everything he was ordered to do, and even though the officer was completely enraged, he was not harmed, beaten, tazed, or anything.
It's just that simple..... Officers do not just randomly attack people. You provoke them, and then cry about getting tazed.
Your argument hinges on your belief that the woman was lying about officers being in front of her car. You don't believe what she said. That's fine, but is certainly not objective evidence. Maybe there was someone in front of her car, maybe not. If things happened as Jeremiah described (officers took her phone, deleted the recording, she later retrieved it from cloud storage, all charges were then dropped against her) it does not paint a picture of proper conduct by the officers involved.
As a general rule, yes, it is best to follow the orders of a police officer. However, you come across sounding as though any order given by a police officer should automatically be followed without thought. That is absolutely not true. Police officers are fallible humans like the rest of us and perfectly capable of giving unlawful commands. The fact that a police officer tells you to do something does not automatically mean you are under legal or moral obligation to follow that command.
Do I think that, in most cases, it is better to follow the orders anyway? Probably. It's dependent upon the situation, though. If an officer wants to enter my home without a warrant, without showing any sort of probable cause, do you think I am obligated to allow it? If an officer stops my car and wants to search it, without a warrant and without offering any probable cause, do you think I should allow it? Those sorts of things do happen, and perhaps more frequently than you believe.
And his argument hinges on taking her statement as divine truth without objective evidence.
"However, you come across sounding as though any order given by a police officer should automatically be followed without thought."
If it is a legal order........... YES. Of course! Dude... what part of "Police are given authority" do you not grasp?
I'm not a big fan of the ACLU, but read what they say.....
What to Do If You re Stopped By the Police ACLU of Maryland ACLU-MD
Your Responsibilities:
- Do stay calm and be polite.
- Do not interfere with or obstruct the police.
- Do not lie or give false documents.
BE POLITE. DO NOT INTERFERE. DO NOT OBSTRUCT. DO NOT LIE.
IF YOU ARE STOPPED FOR QUESTIONING
Stay calm. Don't run. Don't argue, resist or obstruct the police, even if
you are innocent or police are violating your rights. Keep your hands
where police can see them.
Ask if you are free to leave. If the officer says yes and you wish to
leave, calmly and silently walk away. If you are under arrest, you have
a right to know why.
DO NOT ARGUE. DO NOT RESIST. WALK AWAY.
IF YOU ARE STOPPED IN YOUR CAR
If you are given a ticket, you should sign it if directed to do so by a police
officer. Signing a ticket is not an admission of guilt, and you can contest
the ticket in court later.
DO WHAT THE OFFICER SAYS. SIGN THE TICKET IF ORDERED TO SIGN THE TICKET.
IF YOU ARE ARRESTED
Do not resist arrest, even if you believe the arrest is unfair.
The safest course of action is to obey the officer's directives. Not every
order by a police officer is lawful, and police may not lawfully arrest
you in Maryland for failing to obey an order unless the order is lawful,
and aimed at averting some imminent illegal conduct. It is difficult to
know at the scene whether the order is proper, and failing to obey may
result in an arrest, even though the arrest may not be proper.
DO NOT RESIST. OBEY THE ORDERS OF AN OFFICER.
IF YOU ARE GIVEN A DIRECTIVE BY THE POLICE
Police may order you to stand a sufficient distance away so that you
are not interfering with their activities.
DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD.
IF YOU FEEL YOUR RIGHTS HAVE BEEN VIOLATED
Remember: police misconduct cannot be challenged on the street.
Don't physically resist officers, complain on the scene, or threaten to
file a complaint.
File a written complaint with the agency's internal affairs division or civilian
complaint board. In most cases, you can file a complaint anonymously
if you wish, though doing so may make difficult or impossible
to conduct a thorough investigation. If you have been charged with a
crime in connection with the incident about which you are complaining,
speak to your lawyer in your criminal case before filing a complaint.
YOU CAN NOT CHALLENGE POLICE ON THE STREET. DO NOT RESIST. DO NOT COMPLAIN. DO NOT THREATEN IN ANY WAY.
Again... I'm not a huge fan of the ACLU, but even they can figure this one out. You don't screw with police officers on the street. You will lose. DO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD TO DO, and if there really is some big issue with their conduct, file a complaint, or civil court suit later.
This chick, no matter how many ways you look at it, was asking for a problem, and created it herself. That's all there is to it.