Brickbat: Pounding the Pavement

Providence, Rhode Island, police captain Stephen J. Gencarella was sentenced to one year of probation after pleading no contest to simple assault. Gencarella and another officer arrested Armando Rivas after he refused to move his vehicle from the travel lane of an interstate on-ramp. Rivas struggled with the two officers. After they finally got Rivas handcuffed and on the ground, Gencarella lifted his head up by the hair and slammed his face into the pavement. City officials have begun the process to fire Gencarella.

Comments

[Vernon Depner]

But the important thing is the officers went home safe.

[sodeba5734]

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[Fist of Etiquette]

Hey, we found a prosecutor who doesn't overcharge.

[Adans smith]

Maybe the cops found out he didn't take the jab?

[Naime Bond]

".....The threat (of a man with hands cuffed behind his back being held down by two police officers) is not over until someone is searched and secured and placed in a cell.", said the Captain's attorney, arguing that the use of force (grabbing the hair, pulling back the head 90 degrees and then slamming it into roadway) was reasonable....'

[Wizard4169]

Searching and securing the guy would be reasonable. Violence that could potentially inflict serious injury would not.

[Bubba Jones]

Dude was deliberately blocking an on ramp?

He deserved it.

[bobby oshea]

I have very little sympathy for anyone involved in this case. But why would anyone just block a travel lane? Why would you continue to block the travel lane when a police officer shows up and asks you to move? Why would you then fight with the police? No one should have to deal with such ridiculous stupidity. Tough for a society to function if people can't do some basic behavior.

[Vernon Depner]

If that's what actually happened.

[bobby oshea]

Yes, of course. It sounds like the guy was trying to watch a fireworks show from where he was parked?

[Wizard4169]

Sounds like Rivas was definitely out of line. He deserved a citation and even an arrest. He didn't deserve to be beat up after he'd already been subdued. Any private citizen who forcibly defended himself from an assault but then continued to use force after the threat had been neutralized would likely face charges. Call me crazy, but I think the people charged with enforcing the law should be held to at least as high a standard as anyone else.