“The pregnant woman was clearly upset, and she shouldve been. How would you feel if you get into an altercation, police were called, the other party is asked a few questions, but you are the only one asked to produce ID?”
How does she know the other woman didn’t have to produce ID? It appeared that they were interviewed separately, and that she would have had no idea what the other lady said. At least that’s how I remember it from the video. Plus, there is no telling what happened before the video started. And didn’t they just ask her for her name?
In the cops’ eyes, she was clearly guilty… of “contempt of cop.” How dare was she to defy their orders? Except there is no such crime, and she did not have to identify herself. The cops simply did not have a cause for her arrest. Periodically, I see people screaming and yelling obscenities at cops downtown Seattle. Our cops are no saints, but they don’t pounce on every person who gives them the finger if there is no real threat to public safety.
One possibly positive thing that came out of this ugly situation is that body cams on cops do work. Now, if only those cops could get punished for their despicable behavior…
Ok but m2ck it sounds like you technically comitted a crime and thus could be arrested. So I ask again ** what crime did she commit that led to her arrest? **
Refusing to give id isn’t a crime. Calling your boyfriend isn’t a crime.
I’d have thought pro birth people would be all over this. After all, aren’t you supposed to do whatever possible to protect the fetus?
The officer probably did not ask the first woman for her name because the first woman gave her name to the dispatcher when she called the police (they do ask).
The policeman clearly says to the white woman, “no crime has been committed here” but says he will write up a report. (why? to make her feel better?) He doesn’t ask her name or ask her for ID. He tells the black woman she has 2 minutes and then grabs her arm while she’s on the phone after only about 20 seconds. He handled it very, very badly. Why try to handcuff her to just get her name when no crime was committed? It is both racist and illogical.
I hope she sues them. It’s unfortunately the American way and probably the only way to get the local police department to take these things seriously and change their tactics.
I’m a little conflicted. On the one hand you don’t want police asking for ID when they shouldn’t be. So maybe it’s your civic duty to resist something like that.
On the other hand, what’s the harm in telling a cop your name and being civil? One path leads to handcuffs, arrest, and lawyer’s fees. The other path gets you on your way in 2 minutes.
Until police realize there is bias in they way they police, we will continue to have these encounters. It is not limited to the police either. Everyone has bias, how you handle it will determine the outcome of any situation.
Last weekend, my husband and I were shopping for flowers at Meijer. We had one of those double flatbed carts loaded up. There were flowers in the garden area but also on the outside for purchase. We walked to the outside to look at more flowers. An employee rushed out to tell us, that we could not buy flowers from the cart on the outside. Now seriously, why would she do that? Well there is only one answer to that question. There were no less than 5 other shoppers placing flowers in their carts outside, but she didnt stop any of them. My hubby said, " and youve said this to these other people?". Then she said well Ive have to go in the back and check. Check my #$@, she thought we were stealing. Needless to say, I was heated! When youve been slighted like this, on a regular basis, one gets tired. Yes, pregnant woman was animated, but so what? Ive had a parking lot altercation, and yes tempers flare. There was no reason to arrest that woman. Im just glad she delivered her baby unharmed.
I’ve heard of two other cases of pregnant (third trimester) woman being manhandled by police and those were also black women. In one case, a driver was tasered while her child was in the backseat of the car. She did tell the policeman she was pregnant and she was tasered anyway. (she was pulled over for a minor traffic offense).
In the other case an 8 month pregnant woman was slammed forward onto a counter to be handcuffed. She had committed no crime but was questioning them about why they were taking someone else away. Questioning = resisting? Only to cops who want to escalate a situation with a POC it seems. She also told them she was pregnant in case they had missed the obvious. Didn’t matter.
Standing up for one’s rights can be done in a more civil and legally airtight way. She could have calmly asked if she was free to go or was being detained and then proceeded from there. Instead, she seemingly did all she could to be annoying and act guilty even when she was not, and the officer overreacted (does not justify the overly rough treatment, of course). That seems to be a way of going through life in constant conflict with others, not just police (e.g. the other woman in the petty dispute who seems like an excessive complainer).
Re #25
The officer probably had to write a report for any incident when someone called the police.
The harm is that it confirms in the cop’s mind that it’s OK to behave illegally toward a civilian, which in turn confirms their belief that they can behave abusively toward a civilian if an illegal request is not complied with.
I agree she doesn’t look pregnant. I can’t imagine being 8 months pregnant and not really showing, where does she put it?
It’s interesting that the school didn’t have a security officer who was available to intervene, and don’t cops always ask for ID? I didn’t realize you didn’t have to give it to them.
Although I can’t imagine refusing, if they had a reason to ask.
But I agree cops don’t know/follow the law.
My mom called 911 because she wanted me to get mental health treatment, when I arrived home after seeing her, I was handcuffed without being even read my rights, let alone doing anything wrong.
I asked them how they could arrest me without reading me my rights, but I was afraid to begin arguing with them about what was happening, in case they labeled me " volatile".
~X(
She looked pregnant to me and she delivered a month later so she clearly was.
I can’t even believe that whether or not she “looked” pregnant is even being discussed. She was arrested and roughly handled for not complying with a request she didn’t have to comply with.
She probably has a darn good reason for not complying with something most white people would probably comply with… Like a lifetime of being looked at suspiciously and being treated like a suspect.
Eta by the way I was born in mid January and pictures around Christmas barely show her pregnancy. People are different.
Whether or not she “looked” pregnant, she clearly told him when he first tried to lay hands on her.
When she was approached, she was standing there looking perfectly normal. She only started screaming and fighting when he, for no apparent reason, decided to lay hands on her. As she told the bully, she did not have to give him her name.
He was completely guilty of escalating the situation. I can assure you that I would not take it calmly if some cop decided to lay hands on me after I said I would not give him my name.
Ok but m2ck it sounds like you technically comitted a crime and thus could be arrested. So I ask again what crime did she commit that led to her arrest?
[/QUOTE]
I didn’t commit a crime. It wasn’t a misdemeanor. It wasn’t arrestable.
@romanigypsyeyes and I thought everyone is supposed to protect the fetus if the mom wants to be pregnant - presumably this woman did. I didn’t know that the pro-choice crowd wouldn’t do everything possible to protect in that case as well. Oh well, live and learn. :rolleyes:
“The harm is that it confirms in the cop’s mind that it’s OK to behave illegally toward a civilian, which in turn confirms their belief that they can behave abusively toward a civilian if an illegal request is not complied with”
Trying to teach a cop a lesson is really not the best of ideas. Especially if you follow it up with screaming and non compliance. She didn’t even know the law, as that was why she was trying to call her boyfriend, supposedly, to ask him.
“I can’t even believe that whether or not she “looked” pregnant is even being discussed. She was arrested and roughly handled for not complying with a request she didn’t have to comply with.”
Since the title of this thread is about cops assaulting a pregnant woman, it is relevant whether she looked pregnant or not. If the fact that she was pregnant should mean that they should treat her gentler, and if they can’t tell that she is, how could they know? I sure couldn’t understand what she was screaming.
“Walking away is not a crime. I think a lot of people are forgetting THAT part, including those cops.”
Are you sure? If the cops are trying to question you, can you just run? If they think you have committed a crime, don’t they have the right to stop you? If you have been harassing and threatening someone, and banging on their car, is that legal? Should we all just flee if we get stopped when the cops think we were speeding? Refuse to show ID? I’ll tell you this, anyone who is telling their kids to refuse to talk to a police officer when they are questioned, to run away when detained, to flail and scream because they are entitled to, is a completely crappy parent.