Re:Good Samaritan Backfire
by pdonis on Sunday March 30, 2014 @11:14PM
(#7499374)
Under no circumstance was a single order to "move" followed by an arrest the fastest or most probably successful method of addressing the situation.
What happened was more complicated than that. See below.
There's a reason why most cops are polite, professional, and (comparatively) slow to escalate: it's the best way to encourage in-kind behavior. It's pragmatic.
And there's a reason why prudent citizens are careful when dealing with cops, particularly cops that appear not to be aware of the pragmatic truth you have just stated: it's the best way to avoid having the cops decide that you're a target instead of a bystander. It should have been obvious after the first interaction with the aggressive cop, when she told him to leave immediately, that further interaction was wasted on her.
I didn't switch subjects...If they had more important things to think about, they wouldn't have gone and picked a fight
Yes, you are switching subjects. When the cop told the bystander to "Move", she wasn't picking a fight--that didn't happen until later. At that point the cop did nothing else but order the bystander to move. And that, the time of the first order, is when the cop had more important things to think about.
It was not until later, after the bystander had (a) not moved, (b) been told a second time to move and not moved, and (c) said that the other bystander, whom the cops had pulled away from the injured woman (I suspect because they weren't sure whether he was helping her or trying to do something else, like rob her--remember this all happened very quickly and chaotically), was his friend, that the cops actually arrested him. Then they picked a fight.
What happened was more complicated than that. See below.
There's a reason why most cops are polite, professional, and (comparatively) slow to escalate: it's the best way to encourage in-kind behavior. It's pragmatic.
And there's a reason why prudent citizens are careful when dealing with cops, particularly cops that appear not to be aware of the pragmatic truth you have just stated: it's the best way to avoid having the cops decide that you're a target instead of a bystander. It should have been obvious after the first interaction with the aggressive cop, when she told him to leave immediately, that further interaction was wasted on her.
I didn't switch subjects...If they had more important things to think about, they wouldn't have gone and picked a fight
Yes, you are switching subjects. When the cop told the bystander to "Move", she wasn't picking a fight--that didn't happen until later. At that point the cop did nothing else but order the bystander to move. And that, the time of the first order, is when the cop had more important things to think about.
It was not until later, after the bystander had (a) not moved, (b) been told a second time to move and not moved, and (c) said that the other bystander, whom the cops had pulled away from the injured woman (I suspect because they weren't sure whether he was helping her or trying to do something else, like rob her--remember this all happened very quickly and chaotically), was his friend, that the cops actually arrested him. Then they picked a fight.