Last week, the video below was posted to YouTube claiming to show Bossier City Police officers arresting a man outside a local store. The video appears to show the officers insisting with the suspect to stop resisting arrest, to which the suspect and the person filming reply that he is not resisting.
While the arrest seems justified – the woman filming admits he stole some items from the store – there are some that will view this as police officers using excessive force to subdue to suspect. At certain points the officers can be seen punching the suspect repeatedly and kneeing him in the head as he is on the ground. They are commanding him to put his hands behind his back, but this seems somewhat impossible as one of the officers has his left arm held to the ground, prohibiting the suspect to comply with the command.
Take a look for yourself:
The main question that arises from this is “How could this incident been avoided?”
A few weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal published a story about cops using body cameras on duty. In Rialto, CA, where the entire police force are now fitted with body cameras, the use of force by officers declined by 60%; and citizen complaints against police fell by a whopping 88%. The type of transparency created with these devices is a victory for both citizens and law enforcement, who need to be able to do their jobs without the worry of what side of the story will be most popularly reported.
The other way to prevent acts like this from happening is much more cost effective: when an officer of the law gives you a command, don’t be an idiot.
