Brickbat: Up Against the Glass

Former Wilmington, Delaware, police officer Samuel Waters has been sentenced to probation after being found guilty of assault, official misconduct, and evidence tampering. Security video showed Waters enter a convenience store and confront Dwayne Brown, who had just made a purchase. Within seconds, Waters smashed Brown's head into a plexiglass wall several times. Prosecutors said nothing in the video justified that level of force. They also said Waters' description of the incident in his report differed from video evidence. Brown was initially charged with harassment and resisting arrest, but those charges were later dropped.

Comments

[Rick James]

This was all Trump's fault!

[AT]

When will cops and suspects learn.

Suspects - comply with orders. Don't stand there questioning or protesting or seeking answers. Just comply. Resolve it after the confrontation has been diffused.

Cops - try to exercise a little restraint. Especially when the suspects are clearly indicating compliance over resistance. They're rightfully upset at what's happening, even if they were just caught red-handed committing a crime.

Suspects - I get it. Sometimes cops go overboard. I'm not making excuses for them, but this nation has put them in a really tough spot when it comes to doing their job. Try a little understanding and empathy. (And don't make sudden movements.)

Cops - I get it. Sometimes suspects refuse to help de-escalate. I'm not making excuses for them, but this nation has foolishly trained its citizens to complain instead of comply. Try a little understanding and empathy. (But make sure you can clearly see their hands first.)

ACAB always wants to blame the cops. MAGA always wants to blame the suspects. Fact is, BOTH need to be a little less prejudiced and a little more observant of what they're seeing and what the criminal justice system deals with in this regard.

[Dude 2]

Suspects - sometimes cops go overboard and smash your face into plexiglass, sometimes into concrete pavement. I get it, that hurts, but the pain will subside. Try to understand, the evil in their souls doesn't make them do this, neither do the steroids they take, America makes them do this.

[AT]

Scroll back up to the first "Suspects - ".

[Fist of Etiquette]

Brown was initially charged with harassment and resisting arrest, but those charges were later dropped.

And without video?

[Liberty_Belle]

Without the video:

In court Friday, McBride said Waters' reports contained more "fiction than fact," but used "standard" police language that "struck me to my core."

He said Waters lied in his reports, seeking to create a "fictitious character" and a "stereotype of a Wilmington criminal" to justify his use of force. He told the judge he has been a prosecutor for more than a decade and regularly relies upon the written statements of police officers in litigating against criminal defendants.

"It made me question everything I ever read in every case," McBride told the judge.

---(Deputy Attorney General Dan McBride, who heads the state Attorney General's Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust)