go skateboarding day: cop v.s. skaters

by purplesofa 54 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  littlerockguy

  The way I see it, there are 3 sides (4 if you want to throw the video in) to the storey; the kids side, the cops side, what the video shows and what really happened. There is still a lot about what happened that the camera did not show. I can believe what that the video shows but not what the kids say really happened since they already lost their credibility for their lack of respect for anybody but themselves, lack of respect for the law or authority figures as evident as the kids wanted to argue with the cops instead of cooperate and one of them just ran after told to stay where they were. Had they cooperated the cop probably wouldnt have lost his cool but some of the kids were already on house arrest and this is not their first run in with the law.

  What would have happened if one of the kids slammed into an elderly person walking down the street as there are a lot of elderly people in Hot Springs since Arkansas is a very popular state for retired individuals. It is also not good for the businesses in the area or the tourists. That is probably one of the reasons why skateboarding in that area is banned.

  I dont care for the quality of law enforcement here (most of them in Arkansas are arrogant pigs) but I can understand why the cop reacted the way he did.

  LRG
• 

  purplesofa

  LRG,

  They were just skateboarding!!!!
• 

  purplesofa

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT6z0dQ_-pg&mode=related&search= part 2(uncut)
• 

  Tigerman

  This video shows the mindset of many cops ( no, they haven't earned the right to be called 'Officers' ) as if they are saying, " If you don't do exactly what I tell you to do and if you disrepect me in any way, I'll choke you out or I'll spray you in the face with an immobilizing agent ! This cop over reacted and he's the one that should be arrested. Hopefully these kid's parents will sue the cop and the police department.

  A message has to be sent across the country that P.D's everywhere need to hire QUALITY people; people that have a good education, understand the meaning of " common sense ", and are trained to have the internal concept that they - the police officers - are first and foremost on the job to HELP people. When any society has people like this animal in a police uniform " serving and protecting " that society it won't be long before anarchy will raise it's ugly head . . .and that society will only have itself to blame.

  As to whether or not this cop was set up . . .so what if he was? Government, be it national, state or local, spy on its citizens 24/7 . . .sometimes it's justified, sometimes not.Welcome to the REAL world you bonehead cop and city officials.
• 

  rwagoner

  "they were just skate boarding"

  Just skate boarding ? As I posted last night...skate boarding cost each taxpayer in my community an additional $50,00 a year in taxes to repair and replace the damage caused. Now you may choose to pay $50.00 a year on your taxes for kids to destroy public property but the great majority of taxpayers in my city wanted to do no such thing. We DID invest in a skate park for kids to skate all they want...even asked them how to build it to meet their needs.

  The tens of thousands of dollars that skateboarding cost my city did not include the damage to private businesses and property nor did it include the legal and medical expense of the several pedestrians that were knocked down buy the kids who were just skate boarding.

  I understand kids wanting to have fun but if they are damaging property and injuring other people then it becomes a problem. Many cities try to help with the problem by building skate parks like we did and limiting where kids can skate...not to be mean or heartless but to protect the other citizens, protect property and to give the kids a place to express their sport and culture WITHOUT VIOLATING THE LAW.

  These kids were not a poor group of sweet innocent kids just looking for a play to have fun, they knew they were violating the law and were ready to videotape the consequences. Some had already been arrested and some on the tape could be heard using extremely foul language and getting in the officers faces so close that you could see thei spit flying. This was a set up plain and simple and they accomplished what they wanted. They provoked some cop, just trying to do his job and go home, into losing his temper and putting himself into a position of being disciplined for his actions. Abuse of authority and brutality is never justified. Should the officer have reacted better? Probably, but I wasn't there and the tape doesn't show the whole story.

  Communities have voted to limit where kids can skate board, if you don't like it get the law changed. Until then, obey the law and don't try to twist things by intentionally provoking an incident and then saying, "poor kids, they were just skate boarding".
• 

  purplesofa

  Something I did not pick up on at the beginning of the video is when the kid says, "this cop just choked him and I got a picture of it," and then he takes off running. The cop then chases after him. This may have been when the whole thing escalated.
• 

  purplesofa

  rwagoner Why did the cop try to arrest so many of the kids at the same time by himself? purps
• 

  rwagoner

  It is part of their training. We will have parties with 30 or 40 underage kids drinking and only 4 cops and they will try to arrest them all....LOL sounds totally silly but they are so scared of what will happen (liability wise) if one gets away.

  Say there are 10 skate boarders and 1 gets away from the cop and while they are running away they knock over an old lady and she breaks her hip or the skater bumps a toddler into traffic....that cop and the department and the city will all be sued because he didn't stop that one person that got away.

  CLEARLY there are bad apples in all parts of society but the cops are SOOOO brow beaten about liability it makes them overreact sometimes.

  We are sued if we act and sued if we dont act..it is a hard place to work sometimes. Even in the communications center where I work...1 wrong..or misunderstood...word or comment and I lose my job and could be sue civily and potentially lose my house. pension, kids college money.

  We get calls from people who have people breaking into their house and the caller asks us if they should get their gun....if we say yes and they use it incorrectly, we are screwed...if we say no and they end up getting hurt or killed...we are still screwed. The cops are the same way...there is no right action anymore...no matter what they do, someone is going to find fault and they face discipline, lawsuits, termination....

  I honestly have no beef with skaters....it is not about skating....it is about enforcing the law and it is already a difficult job and when I see people intentionally trying to set someone up to get a reaction...on tape...and nowdays very quickly on youtube....it just makes everyones jobs that much harder.
• 

  gymbob

  That cop was a jerk.

  I've worked with some cops at the high school where I work and most are pretty cool. One of the things about being a cop these days, especially at a high school is, (yes, there are policeman assigned to work at each school these days) they are treated badly by the far majority of students. Know why? Because they're cops.

  I've worked at a high school for 20+ years and i'm friends with alot of kids, but most skaters I know BRAG about stuff they have destroyed while skating.

  Skate And Destroy. Ask any skater what it means....but like I said THAT cop was a jerk...
• 

  delilah

  CLEARLY there are bad apples in all parts of society but the cops are SOOOO brow beaten about liability it makes them overreact sometimes.

  It's a case of, "damned if you do, damned if you don't". Where I live, they have built a skate park, and there are signs posted all over downtown, "No Skateboarding", and yet, every day you see kids skateboarding down the hill on the main drag. My worry is, that one day, a kid is going to wipe out on his/her board, and land in the path of a car, my car.....then what? Do I, as a driver, get charged, for not having control of my vehicle? Even though the kid is in violation of the bylaw?