Student-officer scuffle spawns $1M suit

[deadparrot]

GREENWOOD, Miss. - A videotaped scuffle between a black teenager and a white police officer who twice pulled his gun in a crowded high school hall has prompted a $1 million lawsuit, accusations of racism and calls for the officer's dismissal.

The Dec. 6 school surveillance tapes that show the officer pointing his gun at the back of the unarmed teenager's head were released Jan. 5 as part of discovery in student James Marshall's lawsuit.

Marshall, an 18-year-old senior at Greenwood High School, said that during the scuffle Officer Casey Wiggins "was cursing, saying he was going to kill me."

But the officer's attorney, Mitchell Creel, says the student was "acting up."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_re_us/school_scuffle

[Richard Steele]

1. ONE SENTENCE in that article tells me all I need to hear:

"Wiggins arrested the student for simple assault, but police never filed charges"

Conclusion: the TRAINEE cop was in the wrong.

[Heywood J]

2. "Acting up" means

"pull your gun"? At the very least, this cop has questionable priorities on when he draws his gun, which makes him unfit to carry one. A gun is used in a lethal or potentially lethal situation, and ONLY that. Pointing it at an unarmed person is a no-no, as is pointing it at the back of his head.

The man has no business carrying a gun, which would mean at best a desk job.