2 African Americans attacking white officer in Nashville

[ShinyUmbreon189]

https://www.wsmv.com/story/31709806/2-arrested-in-attack-of-metro-officer-in-east-nashville

A metro police officer witnessed a man hitting a female so the officer tried to confront him and arrest him for assault charges. The man then shoved the officer down and starting hitting him injuring the officer. As the fight was taking place another African American attempted to attack the officer once the officer had the upper hand. Shortly after this the attackers both fled the scene but were later arrested and are now facing charges.

https://www.facebook.com/Fox32Chicago/videos/10154575771588797/

Here's the video after the officer was taken down.

What are your guy's thoughts on this? Did the officer have the right to deadly force since his life was in danger, but instead tried to handle it without condoning to violence? What do you think would of happened if the officer drew his weapon and killed the attacker? Would the officer be facing murder charges and the black community protesting if it was justified in court like past events, or would it be justified by the community? What do you think would of happened if it was the other way around, a black cop and a white attacker?
In short.. Would it of hit nationwide news as another "racist" police officer if the attacker was murdered?

 

[Midnight shadow]

What a mess. First all of, the officer was completely in the right intervening on the outset. However, watching the video and seeing the officer straddling the other man punching him in the face doesn't fill me with confidence, and I'm not surprised if there is a backlash from the African-American community about that. A lot of people won't even take the whole story into account. They will just watch the video, see a white officer beating up a black guy, and then another black guy stepping in to help his friend. Doesn't exactly help the officer's cause much.

In my opinion, the officer was right to intervene but perhaps the way he did it, ending up tussling on the ground, was the wrong way to go about it. I don't know exactly what he did at the beginning of the confrontation, but seeing a video like that screams of lack of control and poor training, and that is how the majority of people will see it. If he had pulled out his gun that would have been even worse.

I don't know what kind of combat training the met police get but there are plenty of ways of fending off attack and subduing an opponent without ending up on the group rolling in the dirt yourself, even if the opponent is a lot bigger and stronger than you. At the very least I'd hope the met higher-ups will take a look at this case and adjust their methods in the future (probably won't happen though). The press statement at the end of the article doesn't fill me with confidence either. Increasing police presence in the area isn't going to help much. Sure it may prevent more fights but in turn it will increase the tension and animosity towards the police force.

 

[Kanzler]

The man the officer was punching in the face should have submitted to the arrest for beating the woman but instead attacked the police officer. He continued to resist arrest, and the fight got onto the the ground, so I'm not surprised that the officer would punch him in the face.

I think what the officer did was appropriate given the situation. He was attacked by the perpetrator, no time for back up, and now the perpetrator has not only assaulted someone, he has also resisted arrest and assaulted an officer. The arrest should have been made. I'm glad he didn't resort to lethal force, and I'm glad that both perpetrators were eventually arrested.

The thing to realize about fighting is that given enough time, all fights end up on the ground eventually. No matter what kind of self-defense style you learn, that's something that you will be taught. If you have experience fighting as a kid in school, you'd understand. If you've done a grappling martial art, you'll understand. If you don't believe me right now, I'll ask you to present a case for how he could've avoided ground fighting. Otherwise, take me at my word as someone who's done martial arts who's been taught by people more experienced than I am.

In jiu-jitsu and judo, the aim is to get your opponent in a pin. I'm sure we agree that's what an officer ought to do when subduing an attacker. That's a lot easier to do when you're not allowed to throw punches and kicks. I'm not surprised that the officer struck him back, and given the officer's legitimate goal of subduing him, I don't know what else he could have done.

 

[Midnight shadow]

The man the officer was punching in the face should have submitted to the arrest for beating the woman but instead attacked the police officer. He continued to resist arrest, and the fight got onto the the ground, so I'm not surprised that the officer would punch him in the face.

I think what the officer did was appropriate given the situation. He was attacked by the perpetrator, no time for back up, and now the perpetrator has not only assaulted someone, he has also resisted arrest and assaulted an officer. The arrest should have been made. I'm glad he didn't resort to lethal force, and I'm glad that both perpetrators were eventually arrested.

The thing to realize about fighting is that given enough time, all fights end up on the ground eventually. No matter what kind of self-defense style you learn, that's something that you will be taught. If you have experience fighting as a kid in school, you'd understand. If you've done a grappling martial art, you'll understand. If you don't believe me right now, I'll ask you to present a case for how he could've avoided ground fighting. Otherwise, take me at my word as someone who's done martial arts who's been taught by people more experienced than I am.

In jiu-jitsu and judo, the aim is to get your opponent in a pin. I'm sure we agree that's what an officer ought to do when subduing an attacker. That's a lot easier to do when you're not allowed to throw punches and kicks. I'm not surprised that the officer struck him back, and given the officer's legitimate goal of subduing him, I don't know what else he could have done.

Oh don't you worry, I got into a lot of fights in school, but I'd expect an officer of the law to have more restraint than that. Again, we only have half the story to go on here so assumptions have to be made and I'd be very interested to see how the fight started. That aside, there are ways of dealing with them without trying to pin them to the ground. The style of fighting I learn is designed specifically to break a person's grip and use their strength against them, no matter how strong they are. The main principle behind the way I'm taught is that muscles mean nothing, because muscles can only contract when met with resistance. If you don't supply any resistance and instead redirect the opponent's energy, they can be as strong as an ox and it wouldn't matter. I find that far more effective than trading punches or grappling.

Anyway, regardless of how it happened, by biggest problem is how it looks on the video, and subsequently, how it is seen by the general public. When you think of the police you think of upstanding role-models who protect people and keep them safe. Then you watch the video and see a police officer rolling around in the dirt like kids in the playground. No matter how the fight started, people will see that and immediately lose respect for the police.

 

[Kanzler]

Oh don't you worry, I got into a lot of fights in school, but I'd expect an officer of the law to have more restraint than that. Again, we only have half the story to go on here so assumptions have to be made and I'd be very interested to see how the fight started. That aside, there are ways of dealing with them without trying to pin them to the ground. The style of fighting I learn is designed specifically to break a person's grip and use their strength against them, no matter how strong they are. The main principle behind the way I'm taught is that muscles mean nothing, because muscles can only contract when met with resistance. If you don't supply any resistance and instead redirect the opponent's energy, they can be as strong as an ox and it wouldn't matter. I find that far more effective than trading punches or grappling.

Anyway, regardless of how it happened, by biggest problem is how it looks on the video, and subsequently, how it is seen by the general public. When you think of the police you think of upstanding role-models who protect people and keep them safe. Then you watch the video and see a police officer rolling around in the dirt like kids in the playground. No matter how the fight started, people will see that and immediately lose respect for the police.

It was mentioned in the article (and other articles on the event) how the fight started: one of the perpetrators was assaulting a woman in the neighbourhood, which the officer saw, and the officer proceeded to make the arrest. The perpetrator resisted arrest and started hitting the officer, and another black man jumped into the fray before they both ran away and were eventually arrested, possibly thanks to witnesses and tips.

I did jiu-jitsu for a while, and it would've been a lot easier for me to pin down my opponent if I could club his head in, and it'd be a lot harder for me to pin my opponent if he could club my head in. It's also pretty hard to avoid a tackle and avoid contact with your opponent once they have you in a clinch. For the self-defence aspect we were taught to GTFO if possible, and if not, punch them in the face and GTFO. Sadly, police officers do not get to GTFO. Bottom line is that fights are complicated and unpredictable and once you fail to redirect someone's blows you'll have to resort to other methods.

I agree that the biggest problems is the optics. But I don't think it's going to blow up on the news because it's not obviously racist. I'll might be proven wrong on both counts, but I'm optimistic for now.

 

[Midnight shadow]

It was mentioned in the article (and other articles on the event) how the fight started: one of the perpetrators was assaulting a woman in the neighbourhood, which the officer saw, and the officer proceeded to make the arrest. The perpetrator resisted arrest and started hitting the officer, and another black man jumped into the fray before they both ran away and were eventually arrested, possibly thanks to witnesses and tips.

I did jiu-jitsu for a while, and it would've been a lot easier for me to pin down my opponent if I could club his head in, and it'd be a lot harder for me to pin my opponent if he could club my head in. It's also pretty hard to avoid a tackle and avoid contact with your opponent once they have you in a clinch. For the self-defence aspect we were taught to GTFO if possible, and if not, punch them in the face and GTFO. Sadly, police officers do not get to GTFO. Bottom line is that fights are complicated and unpredictable and once you fail to redirect someone's blows you'll have to resort to other methods.

I agree that the biggest problems is the optics. But I don't think it's going to blow up on the news because it's not obviously racist. I'll might be proven wrong on both counts, but I'm optimistic for now.

I know what the article says, but that only gives us a general idea of what happened. What did the officer do at the start of the confrontation? Did the perpetrator grab the officer and throw him to the ground immediately or try to punch him first? Not that it really matters but I'm curious to see what happened at the start of it. Unfortunately for the officer the only things caught on film were him punching the perpetrator on the ground, which when taken out of context (as many of these things are) could be seen as a racist attack. They shouldn't be as the scenario probably would have played out the same regardless of what race the offender was, but unfortunately we live in a world where some people believe everything bad that happens has discrimination behind it.

 

[ShinyUmbreon189]

I know what the article says, but that only gives us a general idea of what happened. What did the officer do at the start of the confrontation? Did the perpetrator grab the officer and throw him to the ground immediately or try to punch him first? Not that it really matters but I'm curious to see what happened at the start of it. Unfortunately for the officer the only things caught on film were him punching the perpetrator on the ground, which when taken out of context (as many of these things are) could be seen as a racist attack. They shouldn't be as the scenario probably would have played out the same regardless of what race the offender was, but unfortunately we live in a world where some people believe everything bad that happens has discrimination behind it.

I don't think it matters what he did. I've read articles about this officer and he made officer of the year last year by saving a woman during a shoot out or whatever in the same neighborhood. The black dude just thought he was above the law and thought fuck this cop. Seems like to me you're trying to justify it or by saying the officer is lying when it's clearly not the case. Witnesses get questioned too you know...

 

[Midnight shadow]

I don't think it matters what he did. I've read articles about this officer and he made officer of the year last year by saving a woman during a shoot out or whatever in the same neighborhood. The black dude just thought he was above the law and thought **** this cop. Seems like to me you're trying to justify it or by saying the officer is lying when it's clearly not the case. Witnesses get questioned too you know...

That's not my intent at all. I'm sure the events happened as stated in the article and the black person was clearly in the wrong. However, I still would have liked to see the whole thing to see exactly how the officer ended up on the ground with the offender. Even though the officer needed to react there, he might have been able to resolve the situation better so that he isn't caught on film seemingly punching the hell out of the offender, which sheds a bad light on the police force.