Background: students were protesting (apparently both Israel’s treatment of Gaza as well as the construction of a police training center near Atlanta). Some of the protesters were getting arrested when the professor showed up and inquires what goes on. Looks like she touches a cop on the back which leads to another her cop to come in, grab her, and take her to the ground. Another cop comes over to help pin her down and cuff her.
All caught on video which will probably lead to some paid leave for the cops to think about what they and for the tax payers to foot the bill on a lawsuit. Sigh.
Background: students were protesting (apparently both Israel’s treatment of Gaza as well as the construction of a police training center near Atlanta). Some of the protesters were getting arrested when the professor showed up and inquires what goes on. Looks like she touches a cop on the back which leads to another her cop to come in, grab her, and take her to the ground. Another cop comes over to help pin her down and cuff her.
All caught on video which will probably lead to some paid leave for the cops to think about what they and for the tax payers to foot the bill on a lawsuit. Sigh.
It appears your link does not work. This one might. Seems a bit aggressive.
Robert Mackey on X: “It is worth watching this CNN video from the moment Emory Econ Professor @CarolineFohlin came across the violent arrest of a protester on campus and asked the police, with shock, “What are you doing?” That’s all that prompted an officer to hurl her to the ground and handcuff her. https://t.co/uYpXwKuc8D” / X (twitter.com)
In related news Texas also had an aggressive response against some peaceful protestors. State troopers in riot gear came in and arrested 57 of them to much media coverage.
Charges against all 57 of them have been dropped.
Charges dropped against all 57 people arrested in UT protest (statesman.com)
Probably not a good idea to insert yourself into a chaotic melee and come up from behind and put your hand on an officer trying to subdue and handcuff someone. Professor of Econ is not a professor of common sense.
Probably not a good idea to insert yourself into a chaotic melee and come up from behind and put your hand on an officer trying to subdue and handcuff someone. Professor of Econ is not a professor of common sense.
No, that’s not a good idea. But it also seems like it might be an excessive response. The video doesn’t work for me, but the description sounds like it might be short of what can be demonstrated as assault in a courtroom. If that were the charge. Possibly some sort of “interfering with a public officer” type of charge…
Probably not a good idea to insert yourself into a chaotic melee and come up from behind and put your hand on an officer trying to subdue and handcuff someone. Professor of Econ is not a professor of common sense.
No, that’s not a good idea. But it also seems like it might be an excessive response. The video doesn’t work for me, but the description sounds like it might be short of what can be demonstrated as assault in a courtroom.
I watched the video and thought the Econ professor’s physical demeanor was pretty good and appropriate. She looked normal and was not moving quickly and did not appear like any kind of a threat. But I think I heard her say “what are you doing?†repeatedly and she was insistent about inserting herself into an arrest and she touched the arresting police officer.
As a person who has gone to quite a few protests and have been fearful of police as well as appreciative of the protection offered by police at protests, I think she screwed up. Body language, sound, and whether you contribute to chaos make a difference, and I have fairly strict ideas about how I behave. To be helpful to a cause is the point, and her value as an observer/witness, supporter of free speech, supporter of a political viewpoint, and upstanding member of the community is compromised when she increases chaos.
That said, arresting her while she’s face-down on the ground seems a bit excessive.
The history of protest and effective ways to protest should be offered by high schools. I think it would be good for everyone, including Jan 6 wanna-be’s and normal people of all political persuasions.
Probably not a good idea to insert yourself into a chaotic melee and come up from behind and put your hand on an officer trying to subdue and handcuff someone. Professor of Econ is not a professor of common sense.
No, that’s not a good idea. But it also seems like it might be an excessive response. The video doesn’t work for me, but the description sounds like it might be short of what can be demonstrated as assault in a courtroom. If that were the charge. Possibly some sort of “interfering with a public officer” type of charge…
I agree with you. There will be a minor charge or no charge but during the chaos it’s not surprising that they brought her down and handcuffed her. See if this works for you.
Poor judgment by her, but not a crime. Tapping a cop on the back or shoulder is not hindering. The cop didn’t stop in his efforts to arrest the person on the ground; indeed it seems he barely noticed her. Insisting that you’re an economics professor is annoying, but not a crime.
Poor judgment by her, but not a crime. Tapping a cop on the back or shoulder is not hindering. The cop didn’t stop in his efforts to arrest the person on the ground; indeed it seems he barely noticed her. Insisting that you’re an economics professor is annoying, but not a crime.
I can’t argue with what you say. She showed poor judgement; her arresting officer showed poor judgment.
So long as her arrest didn’t cause her any harm, I think this is not a terribly big deal. I hope she modifies her behavior just a little bit at future protests/ arrests and wears this arrest like a badge of honor.
You know I was arrested at a protest once? Mine was a very cordial one by a nice woman officer, thankfully. I did not suffer the indignity of being put on the ground, but my arrest was not in a chaotic, loud scene. I took my time trespassing and the officer took her time warning and arresting me.
One thing I noted about the short video clip of the Econ professor was that she did not seem rushed. Her movements, including when she reached out and touched the offer who was arresting someone else, looked like a woman walking through a farmer’s market. Her voice was annoying and her speech was irritating. I’d give her a B. If she had resisted touching the officer and had used a lower pitch, she’s get an A.
The officer who arrested her gets a C- because his action and chaos sped up significantly with his involvement. If he injured her, he fails (F). The optics and potential cost of a lawsuit are bad. Even if diverting her was necessary for the health and safety of people in the first arrest, he executed the diversion very poorly.
that first cop needs to be fired and charged with assault. His response was way over the top. Why couldn’t he just ask her to move away and explain why; instead of grabbing her. She was no threat whatsoever.
Need to make cops personally liable for the mistakes they make; or at least their union - so the rest of us don’t end up on the hook for financial settlements when they screw up.
Thanks for the story. Glad you can laugh about it now. I bet that professor doesn’t think it’s too funny yet, but she’ll probably enjoy telling the story when a little time has passed.
Probably not a good idea to insert yourself into a chaotic melee and come up from behind and put your hand on an officer trying to subdue and handcuff someone. Professor of Econ is not a professor of common sense.
No, that’s not a good idea. But it also seems like it might be an excessive response. The video doesn’t work for me, but the description sounds like it might be short of what can be demonstrated as assault in a courtroom. If that were the charge. Possibly some sort of “interfering with a public officer” type of charge…
I agree with you. There will be a minor charge or no charge but during the chaos it’s not surprising that they brought her down and handcuffed her. See if this works for you.
Thanks for the story. Glad you can laugh about it now. I bet that professor doesn’t think it’s too funny yet, but she’ll probably enjoy telling the story when a little time has passed.
I felt like people were incredibly supportive of me, and I hope people reach out to her to support her. I remember receiving letters and actual money. I had no idea!
Going to a protest takes courage, just like speaking up anywhere takes courage. It’s okay if it goes a little sideways. I love when people are invested in politics and civic life. Making an effort to improve the world deserves some support. While I appreciate police who work for pay for public safety, volunteering time and energy via protest to improve public safety (in the Middle East or the USA) is commendable.
Probably not a good idea to insert yourself into a chaotic melee and come up from behind and put your hand on an officer trying to subdue and handcuff someone. Professor of Econ is not a professor of common sense.
No, that’s not a good idea. But it also seems like it might be an excessive response. The video doesn’t work for me, but the description sounds like it might be short of what can be demonstrated as assault in a courtroom. If that were the charge. Possibly some sort of “interfering with a public officer” type of charge…
I agree with you. There will be a minor charge or no charge but during the chaos it’s not surprising that they brought her down and handcuffed her. See if this works for you.
The video looks like she should be charged with resisting arrest?
I agree it looks like she’s resisting. I’m not a fan of the idea that a person can get tagged for resisting arrest when they shouldn’t have been arrested - which, from my perspective, she shouldn’t have been - but it was also a dumb idea to insert herself in the situation.
It seems like resisting arrest should only hold if there is an initial charge that warrants an arrest and is upheld. If it’s not upheld, resisting charge is dropped because an arrest shouldn’t have been made. Exceptions if there is battery or something beyond resisting, but that would be a separate charge. That seems reasonable.
This was a unique circumstance. I’ve seen many videos of an officer with back up arresting someone and a few family members getting unruly. This was different and the response rightly so in my opinion. It was a mob of people that were swarming and far outnumbered the police. They weren’t in riot gear and the police officer that was down on his knees attempting to handcuff and restrain the person was very vulnerable to have one of the mob come up and hit him on the back or head. What she said and did besides being illegal could have precipitated others to be emboldened to attack. The other police literally had his back. Under those circumstances there is no room to demur
Mix of police types. Appears there were Emory police, perhaps Atlanta police and even the Georgia State Patrol (light blue uniforms). Lotta turmoil at Emory to include Israel-Palastine and Atlanta building a new Public Safety Complex which brings a different set of protesters to join the fray and increased police presence to this normally “chill†campus.
Yep she was agressive, interfered with an arrest, Physically reached out to another officer, who had no idea if she was armed or what her intent was. Would not follow instuction, kept screaming at the Police as if she had authority because she was a Professor of Economics.
When asked to move she repsended with agression, nort sure what the Police are meant to do othert than restrain her
The problem is the outside agitators that showed up that are not students. They all had the same tents, were highly organized and placed there to create chaos. Now they are going to protest on Morehouse’s campus because Biden is speaking at their graduation. Luckily these are private Universities that can remove outsiders off their campus for trespassing.
The video looks like we have a police force who have absolutely no training in de-escalation and resort to brute force every time they are given the opportunity. How can one watch this video and say yup, she got what she deserved? That officer was itching for a confrontation and took it out on an old lady. Pathetically feeble.