Police brutality: would you intervene?

[Saulkar]

As a rule, footie fans are pretty much always up for a good rough and tumble anyway. So I doubt most of their motives were altruistic.

I personally agree, I am happy that, that cop got a good beat down but I would have immensely preferred that it never have happened in the first place. They had several guys tackle him and hold him down, that was good enough. Why could it have not ended there? The pinned man clearly posed no physical threat and even if he said something obscene it is the cop's job to take it and continue on as if nothing happened.

 

[White Lightning]

Depends, what did the guy getting beaten up get arrested for?

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

I'd find something sharp and kill the policemen before they could kill the innocent. Hey, I always wanted to be an assassin that fought for truth and justice, may as well start there.

In that case, after killing the police, you should turn yourself in to the local authorities. And then get ready to receive the same exact treatment that the guy you tried to save received, but far worse. The police don't take kindly to someone murdering other cops. Which is what you would have done. Good job, Champ! You're a regular superhero.

Why would I turn myself in to the cops exactly?

You seriously don't understand how killing cops (even ones who are beating a person) is wrong? Yeah... I don't think there is anything to gain in continuing this conversation. Goodbye.

And you seriously don't think injustice is wrong? Besides, I was only joking. Realistically in that situation I would turn tail and run for the hills.

 

[Natasha_LB]

Kinda of. As a photographer I always have my DSLR with me, and I would always film of photograph anything I felt was wrong (Even though I believe that's actually illegal over here now)

I have only intervened to stop brutality on one occasional. My partner was being sectioned because of her mental health problems, and while it was not an arrest (Though they could have arrested her if they'd wanted too) she did have to be cuffed. She resisted the cuffs, and tried to get away, so it all had to get a little physical: And I felt that there use of power was over kill and consisted of brutality.

They were hurting her far too much in their attempts to get the cuffs on her, so I threw one of them off and tried to take care of it myself. I of course got thrown back again, but after I tried it a second time, they left me to it. I was able to calm her down, and agree for the officers to put the cuffs on her. By intervening I was able to stop someone from getting hurt (cos she would not have stopped until someone was seriously hurt).

However, in all fairness to the officers, while I feel they did use overkill, both of us could have been prosecuted for assaulting them, but they didn't do so: I assume because they knew she was too ill to control herself, and they realized that I knew I could do a better job of getting the cuffs on (Ie: Do it non violently) than they could, and threw them off to prevent anyone getting hurt. I later phoned the station to leave my thanks, as I have never dealt with police officers who were so good before.

If I ever see anyone who is being put in a unnecessary amount of pain by the police, I will always intervene, even if I am hopelessly outnumbered. I always stand up for what I believe is correct.

 

[Something Amyss]

Film them, that is all.

They have body armor. I don't.

They have billy clubs. I don't.

They have guns. I don't.

Take the fight to the public arena...where you're most likely to win.

Especially since the situation is really stacked against you.

 

[CATS FTW]

Well, that's a f**king shame - and I'd say brutal and corrupt police officers are very rarely held to account for their actions, police unions sticking up for their own, etc.

The moment they commit such acts, they should cease to have the legal protections of an on-duty officer of the law. It's not how it is, but it's how it should be.

Well the problem then becomes 'who gets to decide that'? Life as an LEO is hard enough without some legally ignorant citizen up and deciding that you are not a police officer anymore and are now fair game.

The answer is not that police officers become fair game, but that it no longer becomes a crime to assault them when they are committing acts of brutality or corruption. Or maybe another work around could be that they are exempt from the charge "assaulting a police officer in the line of duty"- as their duties surely do not include beating a subdued prisoner to the brink of death.

There are so many absurdities built into the law which mean that crooks in uniform continue to "serve" for a very long time.

Ah but see here's where you're wrong, it's illegal to assault anyone, even a known criminal attacking someone that isn't you. It's kind of stupid but it's also really smart because then two people who didn't like someone could just say they were protecting each other and kick the shit out of innocent people that they simply didn't like very much. True vigilantism doesn't attract cool people it attracts men like the one that killed Treyvon, misguided assholes with a penchant for violence and god complexes.

 

[CATS FTW]

Depends on the circumstances.


Ohh-h-h-h fuck yes-s-s-s-s!

*ORGASM*

What's wrong with you, and everyone else who 'loves' this video, that you think it's okay or admirable to attack someone doing their job? Those police officers (if they are cops instead of stadium security) could easily and quickly been murdered by the mob, esspecially the one who was surrounded by ten or more people punching and kicking him.

I don't personally love this video, in fact I hate it because it forces me to reflect on the issues of being human although I do believe that it was right to stop those police officers fro possibly giving that guy brain damage I also began to cringe at the sight of the cop laying on the ground getting mobbed, violence is simply never correct but I'd rather some obviously out of line cops get sent to the hospital than some dude running around with a poster. It makes me sad that you have to choose the lesser of two evils but these are obviously not good cops, neither are these extremely volatile people though. It's a shame, I do remember my own grandfather getting the shit kicked out of him by a cop though and it was completely out of the blue the cop was ticketing him while he was walking down the street at night for some random bullshit (this is when my gramps was around 50 btw) and he calls the cop on this shit and gets fucked up by him and his cop buddies. This was in SanFrancisco in the nineties by the way pretty liberal town late into the 20th century I can only imagine what shitty bits of the midwest are like. Cops kind of drool dude, that said no one deserves to get hurt.

 

[Heinrich843]

In the UK they don't. Also, if you live in the USA you likely have access to guns anyway.

The odds could easily be balanced out with a solid melee weapon with decent reach.

Also, this is about a life or death situation. The handcuffed person will die if you don't intervene.

Unless you live in a dictatorship where it's acceptable to beat a handcuffed man to death, the best you can do is film it and warn them.

There's plenty of reasons why you don't just take up firearms against cops.

1. You don't shoot cops, you will fail, you'll go to jail.

2. You don't shoot cops.

3. You don't freaking shoot cops.

4. You don't physically assault cops.

You'll just make them the victim. I'm an excellent marksman and I own firearms, and many people anger me. Why don't I shoot them? Forgetting any moral implications or social penalties, it doesn't make any sense. If you can make the police out to be the baddies, why wouldn't you. Just like I can make the person who nearly causes an accident look bad by doing nothing but driving normally and avoiding that accident.

Unless....Hans? Are we the baddies?

This topic seems kinda silly OP. Any sensible person would respond as the second poster did.

 

[Yopaz]

Trying to challenge a group of people trained in physical combat?

Of course not. I couldn't really do a thing against that.

 

[superbatranger]

Film them, that is all.

They have body armor. I don't.

They have billy clubs. I don't.

They have guns. I don't.

Take the fight to the public arena...where you're most likely to win.

In the UK they don't. Also, if you live in the USA you likely have access to guns anyway.

The odds could easily be balanced out with a solid melee weapon with decent reach.

Also, this is about a life or death situation. The handcuffed person will die if you don't intervene.

Don't say things you don't know. Yes, one can buy a gun in the US, but that does not mean every single house and every single person has access to one. Hell, most places have a 15-day waiting period and a thorough background check before you can get one.

Also, the notion that if you had a melee weapon you could take on a group of police officers is laughable. It's you against a group of trained police officers, so unless you know how to defend yourself against 3,4, maybe even 5 or more police officers armed with batons, you're going to end up on the ground just like the person you were trying to protect. The notion of wanting to protect them was brave, but the method was foolish and only puts your life at risk.

Like previously mentioned, one's best option is to film it and take it to the police, the news, the local papers, anyone who can and will investigate the actions of the officers.

 

[Auron225]

I'd make sure someone was filming it (if not then hand someone my phone and tell them to) - and... well, I wouldnt charge up to them and try fighting but rather get their attention somehow and let them know they're already in deep shit and not to make it worse for themselves. If they carried on doing it and the person they're beating would die... I think then I'd try fighting them off.

 

[MetalMagpie]

I would film them and make it obvious that I was doing so (by shouting if necessary), but I wouldn't physically intervene. I am a 120lb woman. If I start a fight with two adult men, I will not win!

 

[bjj hero]

Sounds like the perps got it coming. Ill grab the popcorn, maybe ask if they need any assistance.

 

[ablac]

In the UK I think that if the police are breaking the law in their work then you are aloud to use reasonable force to stop them depending on the situation. If they search you without following procedure then they arent viewed as police as they arent behaving within code and therefore you can resist without it being viewed as resisting the police if that makes sense. The problem with any intervention would be with the police themselves as they have shown that they help each other out when they get in trouble like this. I would say film it and dont tell them or tell them to stop followed by intervention, though this would only apply in my country because the law allows it. If you tell them your filming they will take your camera and might charge you for some made up crime. If you cant do that then tell the police and the media one will most likely listen, but keep your identity secret. Nothing is granted when the law breaks the law.

 

[Fiad]

Film them if I can and then turn it into the police and the press, but not before putting it on Youtube first just as a backup. I would not get involved directly at the time, as two trained cops could beat the shit out of this 110 lb white kid without breaking a sweat.

 

[verdant monkai]

Depends you can generally tell if the person who is being beaten, deserves it or not (what they just stole is generally lying right next to them).
If the person was starting to bleed I would say "Heyahheyah was goin ohhhn", I mean "hey dont you think you should lay of them a bit".
If it was someone vulnerable like an old person or a kid, or some poor girl. I would probably shout at them to stop, then if they didnt try and pull them off. Then most likely get tazed.

Luckily there is not much crime where I live, in the daytime anyway.

 

[loc978]

Film them, that is all.

They have body armor. I don't.

They have billy clubs. I don't.

They have guns. I don't.

Take the fight to the public arena...where you're most likely to win.

Very reasonable.

Hell, I have body armor (well, flak/handgun proof stuff) and guns, and I still say just film them. Also, call other cops and describe the situation. Assaulting a police officer, even when said officer is completely in the wrong and you can handle him/her like a child, is never a good idea.

 

[Vampire cat]

So... a fan runs over the field where he isn't allowed to be, gets subdued, he gets four rather soft punches with a baton (compared to what you actually can do with these) probably because he's resisting arrest, maybe he's even biting/hitting and suddenly everybody turns against them?
What a fine move from these players indeed...

First of all, what can the guy really do to harm with 4 police officers on top of him? He would barely have been able to kick and scream.

The police should NOT exact violence unless they HAVE to to protect themselves or others. There is no real risk for violence in the situation, and absolutely no need for a beating. It's the courts task to give the guy his punishment, and it's allowing law enforcement to "get away" with things like this that spark the bigger police brutality cases anyway.

...

But of course it's easy to forget that policemen are people just like us too, completely unfit to be policemen XD.

 

[x EvilErmine x]

Film it discreetly but making sure to get as much detail as possible. That shit is getting uploaded to the net asap. That's about as much as I can do individually, if I were to try and stop them on my own I'd likely be able to take one down, maybe two...before getting stomped into a mushy red paste on the ground by the others.

Also to the people who are saying stuff like "I'd film it and let them know it was being filmed"
I have to ask...Are you fucking nuts? You think that theses self same police officers who are currently beating seven kinds of snot out of some poor dude are going to say "Gee guys, we better stop this now, that bloke has a camera". No no they are not, what will happen is that thing will be confiscated faster than you can blink.