Why do cops attack innocent people crossing the road, dont they have other crimes to solve?

Question

Professor arrested for jay walking
http://officer.com/article/article....tion=1&id=34345
also on www.copwatch.com

Atlanta Officer Defends Arrest of British Historian

In this cellphone photo, the Tufts University professor is surrounded by Atlanta officers after he was knocked down and arrested for jaywalking.


A British historian was handcuffed, thrown to the ground and taken to jail after he refused to use a crosswalk as directed by a police officer, who said the man ignored his orders and tried to walk away.

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin asked the police chief to investigate the incident to make sure procedures were followed.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, 56, was arrested Jan. 4 while in town for the American Historical Association's convention. He has said he was assaulted while crossing the street by a man he did not realize was a police officer.

"Where I'm from, you don't associate young gentlemen in bomber jackets with the police.

with the police. But he was extremely upset I had questioned his bona fides," recalled Fernandez-Armesto, a professor at Tufts University in Massachusetts, former professor at Oxford and expert on colonial history.

But the officer, Kevin Leonpacher, said he was in uniform as he directed pedestrians to use crosswalks in front of the downtown Hilton Hotel. He said he asked Fernandez-Armesto not to cross the street away from the crosswalk and - after the historian did it anyway - why he did not follow the instructions of a uniformed officer.

The author then shrugged him off, walked away and repeatedly refused to show an ID after the officer told him to stop and warned him he would have to arrest him, police said.

"He was swinging, kicking wildly," Leonpacher said, adding that backup officers arrived almost immediately to help him handcuff the historian. In the incident report, he quoted the professor as saying, "Well now I believe that you are the police."

Fernandez-Armesto

Fernandez-Armesto said he suffered a gash on his forehead and a bruise on his wrist in the scuffle. He spent eight hours in custody.





God help you criminals with bages.
You are shameful and disgusting.

Answer 1

Refusing to comply with an officer's directions is unlawful in itself, and the officer may then use what force is necessary to gain compliance.

Answer 2

In principle I am with the police on this. Jaywalking is a joke to many people but in fact in large cities like Atlanta it is a serious safety issue. Imagine a city where there is much traffic and the inevitable traffic jams. Now add to this people not obeying the rules such as not crossing at a crosswalk or ignoring the signals. Not only are they placing themselves at risk of injury or death they are also disrupting the flow of traffic. I think you can see where this leads. It's easy to fault the police and the officer in Atlanta may have overreacted but the principle is sound. Imagine if a large number of people driving failed to follow the rules of the road? Carnage and gridlock would be the result.

Answer 3

He simply failed to comply with a lawful order of a Police Officer. What do they do in the UK when that happens. Do those weak kneed weenies simply say " Cheerio". Other, less intelligent people who travel around the world have no trouble recognizing a Police uniform. Perhaps the Prof thought he was above the law.

Answer 4

Because if I stop paying attention to jaywalkers I might have to go after bank robbers. They shoot at us cops and that is too friggen dangerous. I would rather deal with the professor that is too stupid to follow a police officers order and arrest him for Resisting and Obstructing!

Answer 5

If the an officer arrested someone, then he was doing his job. Not all cops go out and solve big cases and all that. People on patrol, do exactly that. They patrol the streets for people braking traffic or criminal laws, and respond to calls.

Answer 6

The whole idea behind all this is to get people use to a police state, or martial law.

Answer 7

cops suck