Now, You See My Fists?

[Abra]

80. Okay, good answer. I carefully reviewed the tape and have changed my opinion about this incident.

Even if we stipulate that the initial officer was a douchebag (and he certainly seemed that way to me), the real issue and question here is not what happened prior to the use of force, but rather was the use of force necessary, and if so was it excessive?

In this case we have a gruesome and gut wrenching tape we can study. After reading so many people's comments here I decided to review it more carefully:

In it we see the suspect ignore the officer's instructions. The officer, for his own safety, wanted the guy to sit a certain way, apparently so that he could search him (note that he is putting on gloves at this point in the tape). The suspect, who seems lucid but argumentative, complies briefly. The officer then leans over him and begins talking smack (aka warning him that he is going to "fuck him up if he doesn't start listening&quot . The suspect tells the officer, "Start punching dude", and that "He is tired of playing games" with him.

The suspect then leans back, removing his hands from his knees, and when the officer grabs his arm the suspect stands aggressively. The officer pulls his nightstick and his backup comes forward, also with his nightstick drawn.

The officers begin ordering the suspect to get on the ground. They warn him three times to "Get on the ground" before striking him even a single time. The suspect ignores all three warnings, and instead continues to try and leave the scene. One officer strikes the suspect in the leg (I believe he connected) but the suspect continued to try and leave. They tackle him and begin attempting to restrain him. The suspect, while yelling that he is sorry and what not, continues to fight, he continues to try and get back to his feet, he refuses to allow the officers to restrain him.

This is all clearly visible on the tape.

The suspect continues to beg and plead, all while fighting, and the officers continue to try and wrestle him into submission. This goes on for just over TWO MINUTES, with the two officers fighting to control and restrain him and the suspect continuing to resist.

After two minutes of fighting, two additional officers arrive on the scene.

The FOUR officers now attempt to try and apply restraints to the suspect. He continues to fight them off. After another minute of this one of the officers applies a Taser for the first time, and another officer calls for additional backup.

A fifth officer arrives approximately 45 seconds later and joins in the efforts to restrain the suspect. Up until this point, in MY OPINION, the officers on scene did nothing particularly wrong. They were using appropriate force, with little effect, to try and subdue a very dangerous suspect who was continuing to resist their combined efforts to subdue him..

At approximately 19:28 (on the youtube video) in my opinion we see the first real use of what appears to me to be excessive force .

The suspect is still fighting (the now six officers) and one of the officers on the suspects back draws his flashlight and begins wailing on the suspect with it. I believe I counted five blows. We do not know where he was striking, but his injuries suggest that the blows were to the suspects face and head. A blow like this is always potentially lethal, and with the number of officers on scene it was (in my opinion) unnecessary. I believe, based on the tape, that these were the blows that killed him.

It was at this point that the suspect begins calling for his father, becoming increasingly less combative and coherent as time passes. By 22:30 the suspect is simply moaning and no longer appears to be actively resisting. By 24:30 the suspect is no longer even moaning and the officers on scene are realizing just how seriously injured the suspect is. Mr Thomas apparently never regained consciousness.