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In reply to the discussion: Cop Slammed Emory Professor's Head Into Concrete, Then Charged Her With Battery [View all]EndlessWire
(6,624 posts)to be interfering with the arrest. While she did not touch anybody, she leaned down to interrupt whatever they were doing. That's why that one cop rushed over and made her get down. He probably didn't know what else she was going to do. She misjudged what she could do here.
I am totally against these out of control cops who think they can do what they want to your body during an arrest, but there is at least a little bit on their side here. But, no, they were excessively rough with her, not even giving her a chance to comply before they were roughing her up. And no, there was no battery on any of them.
I once heard that, during an arrest, if you so much as tensed a muscle you could be charged with resisting arrest. That is their go to charge, always. I do not think that many, if any, people can avoid tensing a muscle when they are being thrown around like that. During the 60s, groups used to teach how to let your body go limp during arrest, but I think that nowadays it doesn't matter what you do, because the cops make the arrest violent all on their own.
I saw this clip, and I am on this teacher's side. She probably didn't realize what that was going to look like to a cop. Certainly, after he grabbed her, the cop didn't let her peacefully surrender, but he did do what he had been trained to do, unfortunately. She got jerked around by the cops. I have often thought that if I were being arrested, they would probably injure my shoulders badly, as I don't think I could comply with putting my hands behind my back while lying on the ground like that. I think they would pull your arms out of their sockets just to insure that they got you. And, I have seen my brother arrested, and cops are unnecessarily aggressive out of excitement and fear.
Again, I want to make it clear that I wouldn't convict her in court, but she should have stood back from them and yelled, not approaching them. That's where she went wrong. You can't expect violent people to be nonviolent. And, they have guns and tasers, and they are dangerous.