(Phoenix)Caught On Tape: Cop Pushes Teen Girl Into Wall

[JonLP24]

PHOENIX -- A Phoenix police officer has been placed on administrative leave pending a use of force investigation.

Police officials say the department has initiated both a criminal and internal investigation of Officer Patrick Larrison's actions.

They say the use of force incident occurred Jan. 25, but wasn't brought to the department's attention until late Tuesday night.

Police say a video shows a Phoenix police officer pushing a juvenile girl forcefully to the ground. They say the girl was walking away from an altercation with one of her parents in the parking lot of Ombudsman Charter School

http://www.kpho.com/news/27780264/detail.html

No video at the link yet but they got a good slideshow.

I found the video at Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOvncjLzPLo&feature=channel_video_title
(the shove is towards the end)

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. wow. that was totally uncalled for. Officer Patrick Larrison is a thug

[TheMadMonk]

6. Difference between uncalled for, and "justified", about 1/2 a second.

While obviously we're unlikely to know for sure now, it does look like the girl was taking that backwards glace which always seems to precede "legging it". If that cop had waited the half second or so for her to take that first long stride (assuming she was going to run), we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Part 1 most definitely looks like someone attempting to restrain the girl without injury, why? Reason enough certainly to stay to answer a few questions before departing.

[JonLP24]

7. He was already charging after her

before she turned around. He certainly looked like he was going to commit excessive force.

A Phoenix police officer found this video on youtube and reported it to his supervisors. The Phoenix police is speaking out against his actions and say they don't want that as an image for how they operate.

[TheMadMonk]

11. Oh, because he jumpped the gun, he was very much in the wrong.

I was simply noting the very fine line which can exist between a "good/fair cop" and excessive use of force.

The girl might not have bolted, but to my eye she gave every indication that she was about to. If the cop read it the same way, his actions may only have been excessive, because they were premature.

We also do not know what (if any) lip she might have given him as she walked away. It does not excuse, but it may explain why he was already coming at her hard. In my time, I have known more than a few people who have found themselves on the wrong side of both the law and rough justice of this nature and as a general rule, even as they call the cops nine kinds of arseholes, they cheerfully admit to both being in the wrong AND doing everything possible to "wind up the pig". They want the cops to overreact beacause it gives them a better chance of a "walk".

The copper placed himself in the wrong by failing to wait until the use of force was warranted. However, absent further evidence to the contrary, it looks a lot more like a bad call, than malice.

[readmoreoften]

14. Yeah, she really didn't look like she was "winding up the pig"

What's that? Street talk from 1967? Kinda like how women wear those skirts to "wind up the guys" and then cry rape when they're assaulted. :sarcasm: It's called self-control and police are supposed to have it. Can you imagine this being acceptable in 1954? No. Me neither. Okay then...

[TheMadMonk]

19. I do not know whether or not she did anything towards winding him up.

I am simply aware, from my owm aquaintances, that those who make a habit of attracting the attention of the law, all to often also make a habit of issuing what would be "fighting words" if they passed between you and me. And whether or not violence is ever justified, the deliberate issuance of inflamatory words will always carry the risk of triggering it.


And while I would in fact suggest the specific purpose of "those skirts" is in fact to "wind guys up" in a playful way, I take bloody great offense at your suggestion that I would believe they are a license to rape. I am probably just as vocal as you when a piece of lowlife scum claims "Just look at her. She was asking for it." His words only help explain his behaviour, they can never excuse it.

[JonLP24]

34. I hate to admit it

but when I was 17 I actually took off running when I seen police(It was for no reason, they weren't even there for me but I was drunk) and they weren't half as rough as that. Just a simple tackle. The cop could have done many things differently even if she was running.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. k&r - the shove is NOT at the end, it's in the middle

[JonLP24]

3. Sorry

I actually saw this story on the local news(which showed only the shove but explained the girl was in a altercation before the shove). I was going based on the Youtube comment "wait towards the end and see what the phoenix police do to the girl instead of"

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. No problem. Wanted people to sit. It's a horrifying shove. Glad the cop's being

investigated and the world sees his name.

[provis99]

5. ugh. The you tube comments are disgusting.

You tube must be populated by nothing but fascist authoritarians.

[reggie the dog]

16. no, those are just average americans on youtube

our country is THAT bad.

[blueamy66]

25. You should see some of the comments on FB...

KTAR radio AZ posted the link on FB and some of the comments are in support of the cop. But, most condemn him....so there are some enlightened people still left here in AZ. :-)

[beevul]

8. Nothing short of criminal.

That thug with a badge needs 5 years to think about it.

Sure, it may have been a "simple assault", but it was also abuse of the public trust, and abuse of authority.


K & R

[Oasis_]

9. WTF?

The girl walking away was also being assaulted, as it appears from the video.

The officer needs to be removed from the force, period.

Obviously, the officer was attempting to gather information, but she posed zero threat, and could have been stopped sans the incredibly violent tackle.

Oasis

[beevul]

10. I guess I should have been clearer.

I was referring to the thug officers actions, not those of the girl.

There is no excuse EVER for that kind of treatment of a girl by someone with a badge wearing a uniform, in that situation.


On edit:

As far as I am concerned, those charged with upholding the law and granted powers toward that end, should be held to a MUCH higher standard and punished much more harshly when it comes to them breaking the law and abusing that authority.


I hope that clears things up.

[earthlight101]

24. there is always someone looking to start a fight somewhere

whether it is a roided-up big city cop or some denizen of an online forum...

[TheMadMonk]

12. Or was being restrained for a valid reason.

The OP does mention that there was an altercation with a parent. And it is fairly clear from the video that neither of the "combatants" wanted to hurt the other. What I saw was an attempt to restrain, not an assault per se.

Furthermore, while the cop was definitely premature (and thus wrongful) in his lunge, it does appear, from body language, that the girl was about to break into a run.

The backstory would also go a long way towards illuminating the situation. However, it really is none of our bloody business. Give him a desk to drive, put him through a training review, go back over his past arrests, by all means investigate fully, kick his arse from archives to the chief's desk, but let's just wait a bit before we condemn him entirely.

[readmoreoften]

15. So if you think someone is going to run, you smack the shit out of them?

No, thanks. I'll "rush to judgment." He is wrong. It's unjustified use of force and we need zero tolerance for police brutality.

[TheMadMonk]

20. No! Which is why I said he was premature and in the wrong to act BEFORE...

...she did in fact run.

What MIGHT have been justified moments later, was and is entirely unjustifiable under the circumstances.

And given what I know and have already said about people who routinely attract the unwanted attention of the police, and the propensity for the general public to read the worst into any "questionable" police encounters, I really do have to wonder how much of bad police behaviour can be put down to "living up to exectations".

Consider this, police tend to reflect the community they serve. What exactly do America's police have to have to say about their communities?

[beevul]

35. It appears we may differ .

"the propensity for the general public to read the worst into any "questionable" police encounters"

I tend to be of the school of thought, that the public SHOULD read the worst into police behavior - and in doing so, leave a very narrow path for them - one not to be strayed off so much as an inch.

What we have today - in terms of the path they walk - is far from that, aproaching the opposite of it.

[reggie the dog]

17. I didnt see that at all

I see a girl walking away listend to music on earphones i think, and tucking the mp3 player into her bra as she sees some skinhead running at her.

[TheMadMonk]

23. So did you miss the two minute of her mother trying to restrain her?

Having some backstory would make a huge difference here. But it's not really our business.

Without a backstory, I go with what seems a likely scenario. Which in this case would seem to be a mother attempting to restrain a child she was called into the school to remove and who did not want to go home to face whatever music might be awaiting her. It appear the mother lets her daughter go when the cop arrives. Perhaps because he tells her she's over the top. And perhaps a few seconds later the kid verbally demonstrated exactly why Mom was being "over the top".

All speculation and supposition I know, but I would suggest at least a little more likely than a cop crash tackling a girl in front of witnesses just for shitz and gigglez. Don't you find it at least a little curious that the mother who saw everything didn't make a complaint at the time? While she did not deserve what happened, it does seem rather likely that she had done something to seriously blot her copybook in the lead up to the events in the video.

[reggie the dog]

29. so her mom was holding her down

does that give justification for the cop to be so violent?

[TheMadMonk]

37. As you are PERFECTLY AWARE I have repeatedly said that ...

...under those circumstances he was not justified in his actions. That he MIGHT, I say MIGHT, have been justified under slightly different circumstances.

And finally I observed, the girl had likely done something to piss off her mother to the point that SHE might have thought the crash tackling deserved.


The cop should not have been so violent. There is no question on that. However, that he was violent, is not an automatic indicator of any deliberate malfeasance on the part of the cop.

[grahamhgreen]

18. It's child abuse. I don't care what clothes he's wearing.

[blueamy66]

26. Correct. It is child abuse.

So she was walking away. That gives that ass the right to body slam her? He's easily got 125 lbs. on her. He could have handled the situation MUCH differently. And that is why he is being investigated.

What was her crime anyway? Rolling in the parking lot with her mother on top of her?

And if she was arrested, she gets to spend some time with sheriff joe and the mcso. That will def cure her - NOT!

[beevul]

36. And it should also be felony assult, abuse of public trust,

abuse of power under color of law...and probably a host of other things I can't think of right now.

Until examples are made of assholes like that - and by examples I mean something that strikes genuine FEAR into those with that power to abuse - events such as this will continue.


On edit:

How about in addition to firing him, and marking him in some way that he can never be in law enforcement ever again, we make the punishment actually FIT the crime:

Blindfolded and made to walk next to a concrete wall, and roided out "professional wrestlers" do to him what he did to the girl, say...50 times or 100.


The same people that claim what the officer did was justified, would be the first ones to call doing that even once "unfair".

And thats something to really think about.

[Iggo]

13. '...removed from the force, period...'???

Um, no.

Removed from the force, prosecuted, and imprisoned.

[alcibiades_mystery]

21. 5 Minute Major for Boarding

:evilgrin:

[octothorpe]

22. eeeek, his rushing in seems a bit hard to defend.

While it may look like she was about to run before he rammed into her, think what you would do if you turned around and saw someone (cop or not) barreling toward you. You would instinctively try to get out of the way. There would have to be way more to this story to even come close to justifying that. Why not run in front of her? I'm betting even if she did run, an in shape officer would be able to out run the girl in the end. :/

[Kingofalldems]

27. Both cops look like they are on steroids--that could be the problem

[FLAprogressive]

28. Clearly this cop needs to be fired. I can't think of a justification for slamming her to the ground.

[reggie the dog]

30. skinhead on a roid rage beating a mexican teenage girl

that is what i see

[FLAprogressive]

33. Yep.

[AdrianInOcala]

31. Having just moved to the UK from the US

I'm amazed at the difference in the way police officers here treat 'suspects' (With a good bit of respect, as long as it's returned) vs Police in the US who seem to hit/taze/shoot first, as questions later.

[LibertyLover]

32. Wow, is all I can say

From what I saw, the girl does not look back at the officer until after he begins running after her. That was a vicious push that he gave her. I'm glad that the Phoenix PD is investigating this incident and Officer Larrison is on leave.

[beevul]

38. Pfft. Why can't they just describe it as what it is?

"Police say a video shows a Phoenix police officer pushing a juvenile girl forcefully to the ground."

No, the video shows a Phoenix police officer VIOLENTLY shoving a minor into a wall (you can see her head bounce off it if you look) after which she crumbles down to the ground like a sack of potatoes.



Downplay it much?

And people wonder why police aren't trusted.

On edit:

It appears the language in the link has changed, but IF the "police say" part was true, what I said applies.

I do note that Crump was better in describing it as it was (likely after seeing there was no weasling it into something less than it was)




"Larrison is a 6 ½ year veteran of the department and is assigned to the Central City Precinct."

I'm sure he just made a mistake in judgement and has NEVER done anything like this before... :sarcasm:

[zinnisking]

39. Video removed.

Wonder why.