Watch the video as Phoenix Police officer Patrick Larrison uses what a former police officer calls “justifiable force” to “subdue” an intoxicated young woman who is walking away from him:
From the report by ABC News:
Phoenix Police are investigating the arrest of a 15-year-old girl who was seen on tape being slammed to the ground by the arresting officer.
Officer Patrick Larrison has been placed on administrative leave while police carry out both an internal and criminal investigation into the arrest.
A YouTube video captured the Jan. 25 arrest on camera, but police didn’t become aware of the video until this Tuesday. Someone in the police department saw the video and reported it.
Apparently the girl’s mother was pinning her to the ground in a parking lot after she was expelled from a Charter school for drinking. The girl struggled to get away from her mother, who nearly pulls the girl’s shirt off before the young woman pushes her mother off her. Shortly thereafter the Phoenix Police arrive. Here is a more complete version of the video beginning with the moment the mother has the girl pinned to the ground:
The young woman has been charged with aggravated assault of a school official, which allegedly occurred at the school earlier on the same day (I’m sorry there is no video of that incident). She is also charged with making threats to the officers, though I cannot see her making any threats on the video.
The incident occurred back in January but the video only recently came to light. The Phoenix police are now investigating Officer Larrison’s conduct:
The video was uploaded to YouTube on March 20, two months after the incident reportedly occurred. It did not come to police attention until Tuesday night, when a department employee spotted the video on the Internet and notified a supervisor, Crump said.
“It is surprising to us this incident was not brought forward to us (earlier),” he said, especially because there were numerous people on the scene, including staff members of the girl’s school and at least one other police officer.
Police will investigate whether other officers at the scene knew of the incident and whether they reported it accordingly, Crump said.
I love that last sentence: Police will investigate whether other officers at the scene knew of the incident and whether they reported it accordingly, Crump said.
It’s obvious to me that whether or not any other officer present reported this incident, it was only after the Youtube video came to light showing Larrison using the girl as a tackling dummy that the Phoenix Police were forced to address the matter. So, either none of the other officers reported Larrison’s use of excessive force or, if any of them did, that report was suppressed. Officer Larrison has now been suspended pending the results of the investigation. I’m not usually a betting man but I would bet that no criminal charges will be brought against the officer, though because of the publicity he may face some form of internal discipline. Maybe.
I guess the only good thing about this is that the girl wasn’t tasered after she was handcuffed, as some police officers have been known to do..
charging him criminally would set a bad precedent for law enforcement, Steve.
Well Steven,
the fuckers have this inconvenient video problem covered too.
Talk about setting a bad precedent!
Wow. There’s a topic.
What is this? Syria? Libya? China?
They can spy on us all they want and we can’t even record them beating our own asses?
Yeah, I would say that Bin Laden gets the last laugh. The militarization of the police began before 911, but since then they’re on the fast track to wiping out all our civil means of protecting ourselves.
A lot of people think it’s hyperbole to say that the U.S. is a police state. But you see shit like this and it’s tough to come to any other conclusion.
Yeah. It depends. Where I live, we don’t even have any police. Something happens we call the State Police. And we’re near an access road to the turnpike so we get a light flow of Troopers coming through, but it’s kind of amazing that people can live together without a police force. Makes me wonder where the tipping point is where cops become necessary. We’re not that low-density here. We’re low on the diversity scale, but not that low. It’s really socioeconomic. There is not much cheap housing in this township. On the other hand, from what I can gather, there is no shortage of drugs being bought and sold around here. And there are tons of nice houses to rob. Yet, I haven’t heard of a drug-related crime or a robbery since I moved here.
It’s a hell of a lot different than my old pad in Philly, that’s for sure.
Two things about that Illinois law that puzzle me.
First, thanks to then state senator Barack Obama, it is now state law that all police interrogations and confessions must be videotaped. Add the fact that I work in the local jail and there are video cameras all over the lockup area and it leaves one to conclude that apparently its only OK to videotape if its done to protect the police.
Secondly, in Illinois a class 1 felony is one step below a class X felony, which is as high as you can go as far as I know.
The cops will argue that:
a) by walking away from an officer who almost surely told he to stop, she was refusing to follow the orders of a police officer. That in itself is a chargeable offense.
b) by walking away further she is resisting arrest, by definition, and other chargeable offense.
c) by being intoxicated she is recognized as more dangerous as intoxication reduces the judgment and increases the aggression of people.
For the cops safety, they will argue, they don’t want to risk getting into a wrestling match with her… as she just did with her mom. Especially since they don’t know if she is armed or might have needles.
I think most, but not all, cops are assholes… based on personal experience.
I’ve had my ass kicked by cops.
I think they have been given “rules of engagement” that far too quickly throw all reason and civility out the window.
I also know the general public has lost a huge amount of civility, and have a lot more weapons every day. It is hard to argue that cops don’t need to be trained and able to take down people as quickly and safely as possible. But judging when the threshold for that kind of force seems to be the most critical and difficult thing.
And I know that a 15 yr old girl coming to school drunk and fights in a parking lot with her mom has some serious issues that she needs help with. That’s a shame and it is sad it came to the point where the cops had to be there at all. More than anything I hope she doesn’t wind up charged and in jail for her “resisting” the cop. That won’t help her.