Police brutality?

[WriterDom]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1yUsYIk2EM&feature=related

I know females should search females but if they resist are all bets off?

You should probably say no when asked if you have ever had thoughts of harming yourself as you are getting booked in.

Can any cops or ex-cops chime in?

 

[h_i_s]

.....

 

[@}-}rebecca----]

First reaction is revulsion when I viewed that footage. Interesting to me if you remove the sound, the officers involved appear to be acting slowly & methodically. seems like they could have stopped, calmed her down, informed her of what was going to take place or given her the opportunity to co-operate and preserve her dignity somewhat in a very tenuous situation.

Cuffed, face down with several bulky male law enforcement officers pinning her to be still, I can imagine why the fight reflex kicked in. Is the whole story out there, did she give them due course to expect she wouldn't comply. It's not civilian etiquette when you get to that point , minimizing risk to law enforcement officers has to be factored.

All my direct interactions with Police here have been positive, they don't appear to have policy that supports such heavy handed protocol as is is portrayed in the US. Damned if I know, if it's accurate as media & litigating husband present ( yes there is a degree of cynicism in that comment ) , something clearly was wrong. I hope Evil Geoff weighs in with some insight. I'm 50/50 on this one.

 

[00Syd]

I'm by no means an expert on Police Department policy, but I'm sure this isn't routine procedure.

Watching the video just made me sad, like the videos of people being tasered at political events.

Maybe there were things we didn't see in this news report, or information about her arrest that we don't know, but either way that woman was not treated the way someone in police custody should be treated.

 

[mynameiskate]

...

That's just ridiculous.

 

[myinnerslut]

simply, thats sick.

 

[Betticus]

I classify that as a gang rape.

WTF? She was the victim of an assault and her cousin called the police for help. So they arrest her, throw her in a cell and rip off all of her clothes.

Make her sit in the cell naked for six hours, parade her through the jail in only a flak vest to be booked and then charge her for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

I see an entire sheriffs department that needs to be disbanded and to have their jurisdiction handed over to another law agency.

 

[YourCaptor]

Well, cops are taught that if other cops cant handle a situation they must help out, male or female it doesn’t matter.

So procedure would say, if the victim is threatening herself or someone else, and the female cops need assistance, everything in that video is perfectly legit.

I’m not a cop, but I have gotten to know how they are allowed to respond to a situation. Its good to remind them at times.

 

[Betticus]

Well, cops are taught that if other cops cant handle a situation they must help out, male or female it doesn’t matter.

So procedure would say, if the victim is threatening herself or someone else, and the female cops need assistance, everything in that video is perfectly legit.

I’m not a cop, but I have gotten to know how they are allowed to respond to a situation. Its good to remind them at times.

Have you "ever" thought of harming yourself?

"Now or in the past"?

Oh fuck, we gotta gang molest this chick and strip her for her own safety. She was just the victim of an assault but she might try to hang herself with her panties. While we are at it we will handcuff her and seven of us will hold her down and rip off her clothing.


So yourcaptor, I'm guessing that you've never been harassed by the police? Or illegally detained, threatened, etc...?

 

[rosco rathbone]

That Inside Edition, with the white cop trying to cuff the black chick is on youtube too. It's totally fucked up, but also very hot.

 

[callinectes]

I had to force myself to watch. That poor woman. I am truly ill.

WD, as much as I didn't want to see that, I am glad you shared it with us.

 

[YourCaptor]

Have you "ever" thought of harming yourself?

"Now or in the past"?

Oh fuck, we gotta gang molest this chick and strip her for her own safety. She was just the victim of an assault but she might try to hang herself with her panties. While we are at it we will handcuff her and seven of us will hold her down and rip off her clothing.


So yourcaptor, I'm guessing that you've never been harassed by the police? Or illegally detained, threatened, etc...?

I never said it was right, I just said what the rules are. Personally from what I saw, I don't think she was a threat to anyone or herself.

 

[WriterDom]

It's too bad you only get one side of the story here. And I'm not taking sides. If they were completely out of line I'm sure she'll get a settlement that will make six hours of nudity worth her time.

 

[Betticus]

I never said it was right, I just said what the rules are. Personally from what I saw, I don't think she was a threat to anyone or herself.

She was an assault victim who's cousin called the police for help. She's the wife of a schoolteacher, no record whatsoever.

This could have happened to the wife, girlfriend, daughter, mother, sister of any of us. This woman wasn't a criminal, was assaulted and was trying to cooperate with the cops who went butternut fucking insane.

 

[LilyBart]

Here's an article from the Salem News...I found it bizarre that no mention was made of the original assailant. I don't mean that I doubt that it happened but where is any discussion at all of what happened to the bad guy (or girl, in this instance?) It may have been mentioned in the video, but honestly, I didn't have the heart to watch it all the way through. Left in the jail cell for 6 hours, naked, just about did me in. Rapists and murderers get better treatment....


Couple sues over Stark County incident

By LARRY SHIELDS, Salem News staff writer


SALEM — A Salem couple cited Stark County commissioners, the sheriff, a deputy and 15 unnamed John and Jane Does in a federal lawsuit claiming violations of their rights under the Fourth, Eighth and 14th Amendments to the Constitution.

Hope and Greg Steffey filed the action last October in the United States District Court in Cleveland.

Greg Steffey is the athletic director at Salem High School.

According to court documents, Hope Steffey claims assault, battery, unreasonable seizure and deliberate indifference by failing to provide adequate medical care, while both claim damage from “unreasonable governmental actions by the defendants.”

Named as defendants are Sheriff Timothy A. Swanson, the three commissioners, Deputy Richard T. Gurlea, along with John and Jane Does numbers one through 15.

The Stark County Sheriff reportedly denied the allegations.

The narrative of court documents said that on Oct. 20, 2006 Hope Steffey was allegedly assaulted by another woman on Weimer Dr. S.E. and Gurlea responded, questioned Steffey and asked for identification and she “mistakenly” produced the driver’s license of her dead sister, which she kept as a personal memento.

She immediately recognized her mistake and asked for it back, but Gurlea allegedly refused.

Documents say she “begged” for the return of her license but it wasn’t returned.

The deputy then ran a computer check of the right license and Steffey’s cousin noticed a bald spot on her head from the assault.

The cousin “reminded” the deputy that Steffey was the victim while advising Steffey of the hair loss which made her visibly upset.

The documents alleged Gurlea failed to call for medical assistance despite knowledge Steffey was injured.

Gurlea the, documents allege, warned Steffey to calm down and Steffey replied she was upset and could exercise her freedom of speech and her cousin again attempted to remind the deputy that Steffey was the victim and she had been knocked unconscious by the assailant.

The deputy allegedly refused to acknowledge her injuries.

Court documents said that after searching Steffey’s car, he turned to the two and questioned the cousin when Steffey asked for her sister’s license back.

Gurlea allegedly turned angrily and responded “shut up about your dead sister.”

Steffey pointed her finger at her sister’s license in the deputy’s pocket and said, “she was here, she was someone” and Gurlea allegedly, suddenly exploded into a rage and allegedly slammed her face into his cruiser breaking a tooth, and pinning her against the cruiser, allegedly saying, “are you going to stop?”

The documents allege Gurlea then threw her to the ground causing cuts and bruises and with the weight of his body on her she could not breathe.

Steffey was then handcuffed and told to sit in the cruiser.

At the county jail, court documents allege she was knocked to the ground with male deputies/guard/staff present.

She was questioned and allegedly strip searched without authorization, pursuant to law and policy.

Steffey was allegedly held to the ground and stripped completely naked and left inside the jail cell for six hours without a blanket and “in order to try to keep warm, and regain dignity” she “wrapped herself in toilet paper to prevent the Sheriff’s deputies/guards/staff from seeing her naked.”

The documents allege she was not permitted access to a telephone; was not “booked” for six hours; didn’t receive “reasonable” medical attention for six over hours; repeatedly called for help; went without clothing; spent the entire night in jail naked; and was “eventually” advised by a guard she was charged with resisting and disorderly conduct.

The documents allege she was physically and emotionally brutalized while Gurlea and the John and Jane Does “sought charges against” her to cover up their “unreasonable acts and omissions.”

Greg Steffey claims to have lost the love, society, affection and consortium of his wife as a direct result of the actions and inactions of the defendants in one of the six claims for relief.

The 16-page complaint notes in the fifth claim for relief that the sheriff produced thousands of pages of requested records, but “specifically failed to produce the videotape of the strip search.”

It added, “The available public records indicate the videotape camera that would have captured the incident was functioning.”

Since the October filing, Cleveland television Channel 3 WKYC obtained and posted a video clip of the strip search at: http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=82447

The Cleveland station featured the incident on its Thursday night news program and also was to air a second part Friday night.

The couple demands a trial by jury with damages for medical care, incurred bills and future expenses, while demanding judgment in an amount in excess of the courts jurisdictional minimum; punitive damages to be determined at trial; equitable relief; attorney’s fees, costs of action and other associate costs; and any and all other relief the court deem equitable, necessary and just.

 

[YourCaptor]

She was an assault victim who's cousin called the police for help. She's the wife of a schoolteacher, no record whatsoever.

This could have happened to the wife, girlfriend, daughter, mother, sister of any of us. This woman wasn't a criminal, was assaulted and was trying to cooperate with the cops who went butternut fucking insane.

I don’t know, maybe I’m desensitizes. When your neighborhood is known for 4 year olds getting gunned down as a form of blood in, you rather prefer that the cops question as many people as possible. Also if the victim hit the other person, even for self defense, they have to take her in.

 

[Betticus]

I don’t know, maybe I’m desensitizes. When your neighborhood is known for 4 year olds getting gunned down as a form of blood in, you rather prefer that the cops question as many people as possible. Also if the victim hit the other person, even for self defense, they have to take her in.

You should probably be a lawyer.

 

[YourCaptor]

You should probably be a lawyer.

Ha ha ha, then they would have to strip search and molest me for attempted suicide!

 

[Betticus]

If I were the cop the strip search would have been the kind you see in naughty movies. Fun and hot, not like this thing.

 

[EmpressFi]

I don’t know, maybe I’m desensitizes. When your neighborhood is known for 4 year olds getting gunned down as a form of blood in, you rather prefer that the cops question as many people as possible. Also if the victim hit the other person, even for self defense, they have to take her in.

I live in the area of the country with the highest number of murders in the country and that scene STILL made the bile rise up in my throat. Her ordeal started with the deputy who made a mistake and assumed that she wasnt the victim... a reluctance to listen when being corrected and quickly escalated to places that are just unbearable to watch.

Just because you're surrounded by violence doesnt mean you have to be heartless and make jokes about what she went through

Ha ha ha, then they would have to strip search and molest me for attempted suicide!

 

[Homburg]

She's acting like an ED, so she is going to get treated like an ED. Emotionally Disturbed people routinely fuck cops up. A 120# woman hopped up on PCP, meth, or just plain messed up in the head, can cause brutal and horrific injuries with nothing.

She was asked if she had tried to hurt herself. When she responded in a way that did not give them happy feelings, they're going to strip her to make certain that she does not have some sort of weapon or tool capable of harming herself or others. I've been a demo dummy for weapons searches, and got searched (not stripped, of course) by an ex-cop. By the time he was done, he'd removed six of the items the instructor placed on me. Once he was done, he was given the chance to search me again. I pulled another nine items (three of which were razor blades) off my person, and the intructor had to remind me of a tenth that I'd forgotten about. All of these items were hidden on my person with no special preparation in about 5-10 minutes, and I had them on me for over an hour in class.

It's easy to hide stuff on your person. And when you have someone who fits the profile of an ED, you don't take chances. That screaming was horrible, yeah, but she wasn't screaming in pain. She was screaming because she was flipping out. They didn't have a bunch of people on her because they were assholes, she was struggling.

I'm not a cop. Never have been. I worked (corporate and private) security* and had to deal with ED's, and have friends that are LEO's and dealt with them all the time. I know guys that have nasty scars and permanent injuries given to them by that friendly guy that's a little off, and decides to flip out one day and start trying to stab people with a broken beer bottle.

Was it excessive? Maybe, but if I had someone screaming enraged like that on my hands, and my fellow deputies needed help restraining and searching her, I'm going to help.

It sounds like a screwed up situation, and it's really easy to villify a room full of armed deputies bearing down on one unarmed woman, but there are two sides to every story. Personally, hearing that noise, I would be ready for anything from that person. And regardless of all the talk about the police officers should have calmed her down, SHE should have listened. When the lady with the badge tells you to calm down and sit still, do it. If you're so innocent, you'll eventually make out fine. If you continue to act out, the lady with the badge will bring in her friends, and they will have the authority legally to force you to sit down and be still, even if it requires escalation. Smart people play nice with police officers. ED's, however, freak out, scream like mountain lions, and keep on resisting even when it is hopeless.





* - Not trying to make myself sound like a badass. It was a convenient job for a college student. Well, except for facing down feral dog packs, creepy homeless people, and drunk knuckleheads. Okay, it was a stupid job *shrug*

 

[madetotakeit]

I watched both parts of the videne thing mentioned in the second part is that on scene she leaned against the officer. Without seeing her state at the time, it is hard to judge how that would have been taken. If she was acting in the way she displayed on the clips, chances are the officer would have taken that as an unsafe situation with the possibility of escalation. This started with a domestic disturbance. That is second only to traffic stops in which officers are killed, but first in resulting injuries. In evaluating threats, officers look to who seems most unstable.

The reaction most people have is to her screaming. It is obvious that she is in distress by what is happening. However, if you watch the officers, their actions are methodical. They are maneuvering her without using excessive force. They are moving quickly and efficiently. I agree, six hours is a long time to spend in the holding cell without clothing. However, there is no mention of how long it took for her emotional state to calm down. She gave an answer to whether or not she felt like harming herself that, while may not have been intended to do so, obviously sent off warning bells in the minds of those booking her. At that point, they have to make sure there are no dangerous items, and yes, clothing can be a dangerous item to someone who intends to self-harm. It is not like the movies where they simply take away your belt and shoe strings. As to the number of officers and the fact that some were men...the number that were present speaks to how uncooperative she was being. They are not going to pull every available officer for a person that two or three could handle. The make up of public safety is far more masculine than feminine.

She was involved in a domestic (no mention of the condition of the other party.) The 911 call came in from a relative (It is amazing how skewed those calls can be. Important information such as the assault is a result of a reaction, not unprovoked.) She gave false ID (yes, it was her sisters, but ID's are the property of the state that issued them. Accident or not.) She leaned on the officer on scene. She was in a heightened state of emotion. Her situation is unfortunate. Once calm has set in, it is easier to get the big picture. These officers did not have the luxury of waiting for that. They have to react to what is happening at that second and ensure escalation does not occur.

Would I want to go through what she went through? Of course not. However, I can be very positive I will never have to. I don't place myself in situations where an officer will have to intervene. If I happen to come into one, I know that cooperation and remaining calm are paramount. Yes, there are bad cops out there just as there are bad doctors, teachers, etc. Having been in Public Safety for 10 years, I know that the good outweigh the bad.

 

[Homburg]

This started with a domestic disturbance. That is second only to traffic stops in which officers are killed, but first in resulting injuries. In evaluating threats, officers look to who seems most unstable.

I forgot to mention that, thanks. I can remember dealing with drunk couples as nightclub security. You move in to stop wife beating on hubby, and hubby gets pissed that you're telling his wife to stand down.

 

[madetotakeit]

I forgot to mention that, thanks. I can remember dealing with drunk couples as nightclub security. You move in to stop wife beating on hubby, and hubby gets pissed that you're telling his wife to stand down.

It's amazing how quickly a spouse can go from being assaulted by their partner to defending them violently when the cuffs come out.

 

[Homburg]

It's amazing how quickly a spouse can go from being assaulted by their partner to defending them violently when the cuffs come out.

Exactly, which is another reason why I was suspicious over the idea that she was the victim in the initial call and this somehow affected her claim against the deputies.