On Wednesday, New Jersey police released bodycam video which sheds light on the viral beating of a young girl by a beach officer.
Wednesdays footage of a cop punching a young girl in the head as he holds her face-down at the beach and the confrontation which preceded the sandy grappling serves as a compliment to the video which made headlines over the last few days.
In the nine minutes of additional context, Wildwood police are seen engaging 20-year-old Emily Weinman as she soaks up sun with her 18-month-old daughter, a friend, and her daughters father.
After discovering alcohol near her beach blankets, an officer orders her to take a Breathalizer test. I know that didnt come up positive. I didnt take a drink of anything, she says.
One of the cops states shes going to have to pour out her alcohol.
Off-camera, either she or her friend explains, We didnt even drink alcohol. Youre allowed to carry alcohol if youre under age. You are. Youre not allowed to drink it. And were not drinking it.
The officers tell the girls theyre guilty of possession/consumption. Open display you can see [the alcohol].
Okay, you can see it, one of the girls admits. And were not drinking it.
The video goes silent for several seconds, seemingly muting more than just names.
Emily states what she clearly believes are her rights:
I didnt do anything to disrespect you. You cant lock me up. I didnt disrespect you. I didnt do anything to you. Youre mad because you thought we were drinking.
Then more exchange between Weinman and the cop:
Wheres your aunt?
Shes on her way. You can wait here.
Whats your last name?
You dont need my last name.
The boys in blue arent particularly impressed:
Okay, thats it. Im done with you. (to the other officer) Do you have cuffs on you?
Dont touch me!
Youre about to get dropped.
She backs away.
Dont f***ing touch me! What are you doing?
She appears to push at the officers chest as he closes in on her.
The video then cuts to the maybe-100-pound-girl girl screaming as the cop mounts her and is holding her by the hair. She yells, Theyre choking me!
After more struggle, the cop warns, Thats it, and begins fist-smashing her in the head.
Both the puncher and the punched are cursing.
Weinman now faces multiple charges, including two counts of assault on a police officer.
I can only imagine people are going to have very different opinions of the video. So much so, that I dont want to even give mine. Id prefer to simply read your thoughts in the Comments section below.
Ill share my view, nonetheless, as a catalyst:
Firstly, in my opinion, the girl comes across as a self-entitled brat who could probably use being taken down a few notches. Secondly, the cop appears happy to abuse his power and beat a young girl in the head.
This is not the job of law enforcement. It is not their charge, place, right, or job to teach people a lesson. Their job is only to enforce the law. With as little force as possible. In this case, at issue was a citation. Nothing more. Emily Weinman may be obnoxious. But that is not the business of a public servant who is paid to bring only his best to his position.
The longer this went on, the more I was hoping someone would accidentally kick her in the head two or three times or just light her up with a Taser for a half-hour or so.
I would never have the patience to be a cop and deal with these assholes constantly.
The video had "this is not going to end well" written all over it.
It includes such favorites a "girl tells cop what the law is", quibbling about "we can carry alcohol if we're not drinking it", refusing to empty the bottle, not giving her name, cursing, and walking away. Then BLAM! It all goes to shit.
Right at the moment to put her hands up to push the cop's face or hit him weakly on the face to fend off his lawful arrest. As soon as she so much as tried to push his face away open-palmed, it became an assault on the police, possibly battery. And resisting arrest. On top of refusal to identify a lawful request for ID or a name and a minor in possession of alcohol. They could probably go after her for child endangerment as well since she was asleep/passed out with her infant nearby.
After pushing at his face to avoid the cuffs, it really went downhill.
Recall that mouthy bitch on the subway in L.A.? She was on her way to meet the DMV so she couldn't give ID. And this one has an aunt who is "on the way", supposedly the owner of the booze. This "aunt", if she exists, caused this situation directly by not taking her booze with her when she left the beach (assuming any of that stuff is true).
I don't blame the cops for investigating. You have a woman laying unconscious (sleeping or passed out) on the beach, alcohol containers near her, and an infant not being watched by anyone apparently as the baby daddy was way off down the beach somewhere, as we saw when she kept screaming for him to come help her and she clearly had no idea where he was.
A reminder of the Subway Cunt and her Cuntish Co-protector getting arrested, being filmed by the Gay Male Cunt Cameraman. (Yes, we do get to use the word 'cunt' any time we want now. Samantha Bee made it all part of the social conversation.)
As soon as she so much as tried to push his face away open-palmed, it became an assault on the police, possibly battery. And resisting arrest. On top of refusal to identify a lawful request for ID or a name and a minor in possession of alcohol.
Yep. 100%. But you know they're going to drop all the charges to make it go away. Then people like Deckard will conclude that the cops had nothing, were in the wrong, and are bullies.
I say we start charging people and make them go to court. Being nice to them by dropping the charges obviously isn't working.
By the way, did you read that study that showed that accusations of police brutality dropped 93% since body cams were installed? The money saved in out-of-court settlements more than paid for the cameras.
But you know they're going to drop all the charges to make it go away. Then people like Deckard will conclude that the cops had nothing, were in the wrong, and are bullies.
Depends on whether his superiors and the D.A. have any balls. Even just having the videos out there on YouBoob may help deter some bad behavior at those beaches. Most police chiefs are focused on reducing crime to a low level, not in trying to utterly eradicate every breach of the statutes.
So the D.A. or police chief might say, yeah that video shook people up a little and now we're down to only a handful of complaints about alcohol on the beach per week. And if they'd had a dozen complaints a day previously, they could legitimately consider it a success.
The purpose of law enforcement is not to eradicate crime but to reduce it as much as possible without forcing the citizens to live in a police state.
By the way, did you read that study that showed that accusations of police brutality dropped 93% since body cams were installed?
I thought it was amusing that on a forum where we can find someone to disagree with anything, body cams seemed to enjoy uniform support here among LF posters. Everyone seemed to think it was a good idea, for lots of different reasons. A lot less of the he-says-he-says in court, protecting good cops from malicious accusations of brutality, protecting the public from bad cops abusing their authority, etc. We see how the bodycams are paying off in countless cases.
And now the crooks know about those bodycams and they are a lot less likely to try dumb stuff, tell easily disproved lies at their trials, etc. So when they go off to Crook College (prison), they learn to anticipate that their interactions with cops will be filmed and it will rarely help them instead of the cops. Which means the smart move for crooks is to think through anything you do that the cop's camera will record.
I wouldn't be surprised in coming years if cops come to think of bodycams as the best thing to come along in some years. But it is a process overall. We give them the cameras but it takes a while to see the real result as the implications of those cams sinks in with criminals of various types.