Reply #29: The pepper spray actually wasn't the problem in the video. [View All]

[Xithras]

Technically the officers actions in macing her were correct. He had placed her under arrest, she was refusing to comply, was being verbally abusive (borderline hysterical), and they were in a tight physical location that likely had slippery floors, hot grease, and other physical hazards nearby that would have made a manual takedown hazardous for everybody. His use of mace WAS perfectly justified.

His $60,000 mistake was that he shouldn't have been involved in the arrest in the first place. I have friends and family in various LEO roles, and I know for a fact that police officers in almost every jusrisdiction in the country are trained to call in OTHER officers when they are personally the victim of a crime, because their personal proximity tends to cloud their judgement and makes getting convictions for the crime extremely difficult. Standard procedure in most of the country would have required the officer to call in another officer, who then could have questioned the drive thru worker himself and decided whether an arrest was warranted.

A firing probably wasn't warranted, but the officer certainly should have been disciplined and the entire department should have reviewed its arrest policies. And the girl deserved every penny of that $60,000.