WTF? White Cop Maces Black Food Worker for giving "wrong change" (Video)

[dhinojosa]

http://www.fungod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=19&pos=44

This is shocking, appalling, and awesome at the end.

:) Good morning everyone!

[MissMillie]

1. the cop was CLEARED of wrong-doing?

that's messed up.

At least she got some $$$ out of it.

She should have had his badge.

[dhinojosa]

8. Totally nt

[RPM]

12. i guess he had probable cause to arrest

I think this guy is an asshole, but he has a colorable argument for probable cause, giving him the legal right to arrest. She resisted arrest and thats where things got ugly.

Fact is, she wouldnt have gotten convicted on the basis of the manager's testimony and the camera - it's pretty clear she was right there

Where she was wrong was resisting arrest. The judge and jury are the factfinders - not the cop or the employee.

Yes the cop's an asshole, but he had probable cause to believe that a theft by deception had occurred and he had a right to take the person into custody.

[dhinojosa]

16. Yeah, I don't buy it.....

Why can't he bring up a complaint to the establishment like all the normal people?

[RPM]

18. Let me step you through it

1. While there may be a conflict of interest, an officer has the right by law (and duty by oath) to arrest a person who commits a crime (either felony or misdemeanor) in the presence of the officer when that officer has probable cause.

2. Probable cause exists where an officer has reasonable trustworthy knowledge of the facts and circumstances comprising a crime have been committed

3. Theft by deception exists where a person obtains property by reinforcing an impression that something is worth less than it actually is.

Here - the officer seems to have believed that he had tendered a $20; Generally, a cashier's act of acting as if a $20 is a $10 constitutes the requisite reinforcement of an impression that the value of the money tendered is less than it truly is; With the elements of an offense satisfied and the officer having reasonable (albeit, ultimately incorrect) personal information of the circumstances, he is vested with probable cause to arrest.

The court's job then is to determine the facts and circumstances of the events and arrive at what is the truth. But the officer's right to arrest is based on reasonably believing that the facts existing provided him probable cause.


As to why he doesn't bring a complaint like "all the normal people" (which by the way is a very interesting insinuation that cops are not normal people...) is that normal people may not affect an arrest for a misdemeanor (the theft of $10 would be a misdemeanor, not a felony). If someone feloniously stole from you you WOULD HAVE the power to arrest them.

Ultimately - the cop is an asshole and handled it poorly.
1. he should have spoken with the manager (he may have - was that film edited for TV - let's not assume facts)
2. he should have explained to the woman what he suspected her of and that she was going to have to come with him, rather than just barking "get outside and into my car"
BUT - at the end of the day these things are not required by law - only probable cause. He had probable cause to affect an arrest, and she resisted arrest. Courts have upheld the use of non lethal force (including mace) to affect a lawful (note lawful doesn't have to mean correct) arrest. The resistance was her only wrongdoing. But if she had co-operated, a court would likely have exonerated her - she made her troubles worse than they had to be.

SO - YOU wanted to know why he was found not to have engaged in wrong doing.... that is why. Piss and wail about it all you want, but that's the law as applied to the facts we can see here.

[MostlyLurks]

22. Yeah, except for one thing:

"reasonable trustworthy knowledge of the facts and circumstances comprising a crime"

A normal, reasonable person would assume it was a *mistake*, not a crime.

Mostly

[RPM]

24. Yeah, Except for one thing

some jury or tribunal thought it was reasonable.

you asked how it could be held that he was cleared of wrongdoing.

that's your answer - some body (be it a hearing board, jurt, or whatever) found his belief to be reasonable.

that's your technical explanation of why/how... don't blame me - i'm jsut explaining it to you.

[dhinojosa]

25. Yeah, you are right as far what happened in the courtroom

and legally she was resisting arrest. But the whole thing started with a $10 bill.

[RPM]

27. well - thats the difference between legal truth and factual truth

sometimes those differences don't sit well, but there are reasons...


btw - i hope that $60k was out of that assholes pockets. yet, i fear the fine people of Dayton sprung for that escapade.

[China_cat]

36. It looked to me like he DID

lodge a complaint with the manager first...remember, the manager came back and looked in the register and found no $20's there at all. The camera clearly shows her putting the bill in the register, not her pocket.

Sorry, but this is a scam that some guys pull a lot. They think it's funny to see some waitress, bartender or other server end up having to pay them. Being a cop is no proof against being one of these and his subsequent actions just pile on the evidence.

Quite frankly, I get a real bad feeling about what might have happened to her if she had gone to the car with him. If you look closely, he was shaking that can of mace before he ever told her she was under arrest...doing it when he first said 'where's my money?'

[donheld]

34. Cops are always cleared of wrong doing

At least she punished them to the tune of $60,000

[Demit]

2. She got the last laugh though--$60K for the cop's "no wrongdoing".

What a career move for that cop! Caught totally on tape. Stupid shithead.

[dhinojosa]

7. What an asshole, macing for a financial disagreement.

With all the financial disagreements at the stock exchange they'd all be blind.

[RPM]

15. this is why people get pissed at courts - they dont understand the law

the macing was not for a financial disagreement, it was for resisting a (probably) lawful arrest.

[jobycom]

3. Cleared of wrongdoing?

What a world, what a world.

[sniffa]

4. what's awesome about the end?

:?

[dhinojosa]

5. The award....

but you know I didn't hear about the cop's "no wrongdoing" that is just screwed up

[xultar]

6. Why was the cop cleared of any wrong doing? That is the real problem

she accepted the money in leu of the cop being responsible.

The cop shouldn't have maced her. That was wrong. He was using his police powers in a personal matter.

That tape makes me sick.

[RPM]

9. dayton OH

fucking figures

[gmoney]

17. meaning? (n/t)

[RPM]

19. i have dealt with police there

they suck badly

[ET Awful]

10. The cop should be unemployed right now.

Whoopie, she got 60k, but how long until this cop flies off the handle like that again?

[dhinojosa]

11. We don't like your post.......

So therefore we will mace you.

Courtesy,
The Dayton Ohio Police Department

:)

[ET Awful]

13. Oh yeah, well I spent the last 10 years building up an immunity to mace

so there!

:evilgrin:

[RPM]

14. BTW - your subject line is inaccurate

it should read: White Cop Maces Black Food Worker for resisting arrest

it would be accurate if he had pulled out the mace and maced her immediately upon receiving his change. THat's what i expected to see when i read the line.

[sniffa]

20. exactLy

god forbid, the cop Look any worse here. :eyes:

[Demit]

21. No, it should've read "Me cop. Me have badge. Arrest anyone I want."

"Don't matter what you say, what tape say. Me cop."

[dhinojosa]

23. It's all linear

Cop thought he got bad change -> Sop Bullies worker -> Cop says he will arrest worker -> Workers says no -> Worker gets maced -> and so on.

So my title is correct.

[RPM]

33. i guess...

but A -> Z is linear, and a lot of important shit happens in between...

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

28. Actually, he takes out the mace and starts shaking it BEFORE saying

your under arrest

[Kraklen]

30. It should read-

"White Man Arrested for Assault After Attacking Black Woman."

[dhinojosa]

31. I wish.

:beer:

[Tsiyu]

26. malicious abuse of process

some cops are control freak asswipes, but that gal is laughing all the way to the bank for his macho actions.

Bet he thinks twice about it next time....

[dhinojosa]

32. Well he was cited for not doing anything wrong.

Not even a slap on the wrist.

[Xithras]

29. The pepper spray actually wasn't the problem in the video.

Technically the officers actions in macing her were correct. He had placed her under arrest, she was refusing to comply, was being verbally abusive (borderline hysterical), and they were in a tight physical location that likely had slippery floors, hot grease, and other physical hazards nearby that would have made a manual takedown hazardous for everybody. His use of mace WAS perfectly justified.

His $60,000 mistake was that he shouldn't have been involved in the arrest in the first place. I have friends and family in various LEO roles, and I know for a fact that police officers in almost every jusrisdiction in the country are trained to call in OTHER officers when they are personally the victim of a crime, because their personal proximity tends to cloud their judgement and makes getting convictions for the crime extremely difficult. Standard procedure in most of the country would have required the officer to call in another officer, who then could have questioned the drive thru worker himself and decided whether an arrest was warranted.

A firing probably wasn't warranted, but the officer certainly should have been disciplined and the entire department should have reviewed its arrest policies. And the girl deserved every penny of that $60,000.

[Zuni]

35. The Cop was completely out of line

she did give him the correct change. And the manager confirmed it and the tape confirmed it.

arresting a fast food worker over a small mix up that involved 10$ with no evidence? When she refuses to be bullied by that cock, she is maced

That is one fucking dickhead cop

[sniffa]

37. what i never understand

how peopLe can automaticaLLy defend a cop because he's a cop, and they know cops, their cousin's a cop, and not aLL cops are pigs, and what wiLL the freepers say...

[Nikia]

38. I am glad that didn't happen to me when I worked fast food

There were a couple of instances where that happened. I made the mistake one time of giving a man the change when he said that I made a mistake. The drawer was short and the manager filed a police report against the customer. After that, I followed protocol, "We are sorry, we'll take your name and number and call you if there is the said discrepancy in the drawer." That is what the manager told us to say. That is what we said. In all 10-15 cases I was aware of, there was never that discrepancy. Even if there had been, it was assumed that it would be an error on the cashiers part. If a store as a camera, it would be evident if the cashier pocketed it.
Low paid service workers shouldn't have to deal with stuff like that. She was just doing her job. Maybe she didn't handle it the best, but he is certainly didn't and no one expects to be arrested at work for just doing their job.

[dhinojosa]

40. Damn right! Great post....

I never worked fast food but that was a good post.

[nytemare]

39. These types of assholes give all cops a bad name

He should have just waited for the manager to count the drawer, and said it was his bad. The ones that always have to be right are the ones who are often wrong.