Yeeper wrote:
chaparral wrote:
trail wrote:
mattbk wrote:
That all arrests should be a pleasant experience for all parties involved?
No, but, again not speaking about this case specifically....cops should generally engineer confrontations so they're in complete control of the situation. If they're not in complete control or are losing control *and* the suspect is probably not an imminent threat to the public, then it could be argued that could let them go and do better to control the situation next time.
I do admit this should be rare, though, as you don't want to incentivize trying to create chaos during an arrest attempt.
But there's probably a line somewhere, as in the high-speed chase.
My initial feeling is this case doesn't meet that line.
Simply being non-compliant is an additional crime, which comes with additional penalties. Let alone fleeing. So let them flee, they will be punished for it, by a court.
So people saying that if the police don't violently assault people they are arresting, then everyone is fleeing, are talking nonsense. They are basically saying, "the majority of people don't see prison as a sufficient deterrent to committing a crime." Which if they truly believed that, well they should have some serious problems with the criminal justice system as a whole.
Are people honestly suggesting that prison is not a deterrent for people? Then why do we have longer prison sentences for more sever crimes?
How many times do we “let them flee?” What if the person is a violent offender? Every day they are not in custody the public is at risk. Assault, robbery, drunk driving, rape, murder, etc...those are all back on the table if we just “let them flee.” What evidence is there that they will at some point come quietly? We rely on the honor system?
At some point we weigh the risks. The person of attention has presumably made the choices that led to the attempted arrest. Theyve weighed the risks, and chose violence.
So by letting them flee, we prioritize the risk to the criminal over the safety of the public. And compound that with notions that we shouldn’t have guns in households. We are very cavalier with the public’s best interest.
What happens when someone is murdered or raped by a suspect who should have been apprehended? Police dept is sued. “Should have pursued.” “Where was the training?” Etc,
I dont see the benefits of a “let them flee” approach.
If the person is an imminent threat to others, than obviously violence is justified.
Just look at this incident, a non violent offender, they were willing to use violence to keep him from fleeing. There was no reason to suspect that he was suddenly going to be violent. Unless you are under the assumption that anyone could commit further crimes, but then that logic just results in violence, so it is absurd.
Or look at Derek Chauvin, he was handcuffed with his hands behind his back on the ground. What the fuck were they accomplishing by sitting on him? Preventing him from running away slowly? How far is he getting like that. Once again this violence results in a person dead.
We are protected from the police using violence by the 4th amendment. Not like all rights, there are limits and times where the state can put limits on your 4th amendment rights, just like all rights including the 2nd amendment. But that is a big step and should not be taken lightly, like you are doing. We all have those rights and when a cop uses violence, it should not be taken lightly. For it is the state putting limits on your basic rights. That is not prioritizing criminals over public safety, that is prioritizing our rights under the constitution and about public safety. Because the due process that a cop uses when resorting to violence is very very thin, I don't think our rights should be constrained with that little due process. It is one person, with very little oversight in this country, taking actions to limit your rights and with possible life long consequences for you. Not just death, but also injury. That is an extraordinary power you are giving the police, so should be looked at with extraordinary scrutiny and be extraordinary rare. The constraints on the police to use that power should also be extraordinary.
If the person flees, then it is up to court, which is a much more robust due process, to put limits on your 4th amendment rights.