Originally Posted by sperbonzo

I was a reserve deputy sheriff for a year and a half, and that perspective gives me a certain sympathy for what cops go through and deal with everyday. However, in this case it looked to me that they said something to the cop that really pissed him off, maybe about his mother or something, who knows. He clearly then looked around, to see if there was a supervisor nearby, and when he didn't see one, he starts in on them with his baton. He was counting on the fact that cops are trained to back each other up when the shit starts, and then when things are under control, to THEN figure out what exactly happened. This is because in crisis situations, there isn't time to stand around and find out what is what. You may have only a second to react, get things resolved and back under control, and THEN find out what exactly happened. This cop knew all this, and knew that once it started, the other cops would initially back him up. It looks like he stopped only when a supervisor appears at the end. In short, this cop was a total asshat and should never have been provoked to use violence, no matter what was said to him. In fact, I'm sure that in the morning briefing, they were specifically warned that people would try to provoke this reaction in order to make the cops look bad, so there is no excuse for the cops behavior. This idiot is just not professional enough to be a cop. He needs to be disciplined, fined, retrained, or fired IMHO.



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