Mr. Fusion says:

So what if tensions were high !!! The Mayor, of all people should understand, the accused is innocent until proven guilty. There can be no excuse for hitting a defenseless person.

The police are there to enforce the law, not to make it.

scotty says:

Wow, the mayor is a ignorant.

Isn’t one of the pillars of our country that the POLICE can not identify people as guilty? Isn’t every person the police arrest innocent, until a court proves otherwise?

Sheesh, and WHO CARES what happened in the minutes before the video started… once a person is handcuffed, in control, and complying, there is NO REASON to hit or assault the person. WHO CARES what the guy was saying to the cops as he was calmly getting into the car. If a cop can’t keep his emotions in check, he should NOT BE a cop. This attitude is why police make lousy friends — they are biased against ALL non cops.

Jennifer Emick says:

Sadly, this is not uncommon.

“If a cop can’t keep his emotions in check, he should NOT BE a cop.”

Amen to that- we should certainly hold the police to a higher standard than the criminal.

fisticuffs says:

The handcuffed man didn’t flinch an inch. The cop’s “hit” was a miss. NO brutality, NO abuse, NO hit.

What we saw was an act of God. The handcuffed man got away without being hurt, though, most probably he spat out a few expletives to the police officer thus making himself feel powerful. And, the cop got a little bit of anger and stress out of the situation by “hitting” a defenseless handcuffed man which prevented the cop from abusing an innocent like kicking his dog when he got home. Everybody wins except the haters who are watching this video and want to make an issue where no body got hurt.

Joshua says:

I read these comments and I’m wayyyyyyyyyy more afraid for the future of this country than I was when I got up this morning.

I have, on many occasions when watching a report of somebody committing a crime and wanted to just kick the crap out of them, but the difference between me or another civilian thinking those thoughts and a cop is that we civilians won’t ever actually have an opprotunity to do what we think, where as the cop does……he/she is supposed to be a trained professional, who’s job it is to protect the citizens, arrest the bad guys and investigate the crimes……not bestow street justice on someone. They are supposed to be trained well enough and mature enough to keep their emotions in check, and do the job they are paid to do. This is the kind of justice we see in countries like Venezuala, Iran, Burma, Egypt and the former communist countries…..it’s not what we are supposed to see in a country based on the rule of law.

Dallas says:

Nothing new here. Do the math and imagine how often this happens if you factor in the minuscule amount of video being recorded.

I can see how blacks, gays, jews and others are brutally assaulted by police thugs.

Think about it – what type of people drawn to a position where you can wield power over a weaker person, a weapon ? Hate mongers, sicko’s, bigots, republicans, etc

Sounds The Alarm says:

The big reason for the cop to keep his cool, is often actions like the one we saw can be the reason a bad guy goes free

Gary Marks says:

Anyone who has a deadly weapon as a tool of their trade should have better control of their emotions than what this video seems to indicate.

When policemen act properly in the first place, they find they have fewer reasons to lie in court when giving sworn testimony.

OhForTheLoveOf says:

#6 – France has come up with an interesting way of dealing with these types of things: they are banning the filming of public officials on duty.

France is a barbaric and primitive nation because they do not have the First Amendment, which protects citizens who record public events, like police activity.

England lacks that basic cornerstone of civilization too, but since you have a camera pointed at every square inch of cold and rainy real estate on the island, it sort of works out in a bizarrely Orwellian way.

I’m rarely a patriotic flag waver. The United States is worthy of a lot of criticism. Real Americans know that having no prohibition against dissent is the true power of our union. One thing, however, that I’ll put my hand over my heart for is the Bill Of Rights and particularly The First Amendment, which separates civilized people from packs of wild dogs.

The First Amendment is the national institution that in this case will bring justice to this cop.

flyingelvis says:

that guy got what was comming to him. I’d have it him too. worthless piece of crap.

Ben Waymark says:

17. OhForTheLoveOf One thing, however, that I’ll put my hand over my heart for is the Bill Of Rights and particularly The First Amendment, which separates civilized people from packs of wild dogs.

As is often the case, I agree with you. A proper Bill of Rights is very important, although even more important is the independent judiciary that can in-force the Bill of Rights.

In fairness to France and the UK (not that the either deserve much) there is a European Charter or Fundamental Rights (see: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/default_en.htm). Unfortunately, its a bit ambiguous as to whether this is an immutable law that is hard to change, or a collection of good ideas that European nations should follow….

While there is protection in the charter for free speech, I don’t know if there is anything guaranteeing state independence from religion (and vice versa). Which is too bad, because there should be.

Angel H. Wong says:

I think this video would have been a lot better if they used the “Smack my bitch up” song by Prodigy in the background.