An honest assessment please...

[mrbongo01]

Yesterday, an off duty L.A. police officer was involved in an altercation with a teenage boy. The whole incident was petty and should have been avoided on both parties, but once it elevated to the next level that is where I have to back the officers play on the whole incident. The actual video is about 9 minutes and can be found on YouTube. But here is a link to the story from the Orange County Register with the short video embedded in the article. You will get the just of the incident.

http://m.ocregister.com/articles/officer-744688-duty-juveniles.html

First and formost, I am not involved in law enforcement. I am however involved in a pretty heated debate about rules of engagement and protocols.

I feel IF the officer did in fact identify himself as a law enforcement officer and this juvenile still resisted arrest, it would have been hard to show proper identification ( badge & I.D.) to someone who is resisting arrest.

I also feel the officer exercised a lot of restraint by not taking this kid to the ground and subduing him earlier.

Once the other juveniles joined in and rushed the officer, then assaulted him; I think the officer was just in drawing his concealed weapon.

I could be 100% wrong but that is why I am asking for some of you folks to read the article, watch the video and provide some feedback.

Thank you very much in advance.

[Squirly]

I didnt see the backstory but it should not have gone that far. Imho drawing the weapon after being attacked by other kids was very poor conduct. his discharge was also very excessive. He should have taken control much earlier . not acceptable imho. Sorry.. He was out of control

[Ron-Solo]

Being trashed about in Off Topic.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=1306549

[el_pistolero]

In my unprofessional opinion the officer was justified in drawing his weapon. He was punched in the face, and had been backed into a corner with potentialy hostile people surrounding him. THAT BEING SAID, my issue with the situation isn't whether he was right in drawing his weapon or not, but rather his conduct and decision making that led to that outcome. I feel as if though the situation could have been de-escalated and thus avoided.

[DNA]

In my professional opinion. Everyone's got one. Some are more qualified than others to hold thier opinions. Some hold their opinions in high regard.

If you weren't there, you don't know, regardless of how many episodes of SVU or COPS you've seen. Speculating is just that. But then again, in this present society the false narrative of "Hands up, don't shot" is indicative of "a larger culture of police abuse."

Dan

[CBR_rider]

What a mess.... The juice wasn't worth the squeeze.

There are really two points to this incident, I think: #1 LAPD officer should have handled it differently to try and avoid the outcome that we have here #2 once he is being assaulted by a group of people he has a right to defend himself. And his department has the right to potentially try and throw him under the bus and the kids family has a right to try and sue him like I'm sure they would...

[TOM_ONE]

Was he justified in pulling his weapon out? Sure, he's surrounded by a bunch of hostile people.

Did he put himself in the situation? Sure did.

Old Sgt would always talk about **** like this in briefing. If you step in front of a vehicle and that person tries to go forward, are you justified in shooting them? Sure. But, did YOU not put yourself in that situation?

[DNA]

Y'all forget issue #3 the lynching/attempted lynching of his detainee.

Per PC 405a - the taking by means of a riot of any person from the lawful custody of any peace officer is a lynching. -Felony

Dan

[TOM_ONE]

Y'all forget issue #3 the lynching/attempted lynching of his detainee.

Per PC 405a - the taking by means of a riot of any person from the lawful custody of any peace officer is a lynching. -Felony

Dan

What was the lawful reason he had to detain him?

[DNA]

422pc. Criminal threats. The 13 year old said something to the effect that he was going to kill him with a firearm. You know, the charge that he was charged with after actually being arrested by APD. But hey, let's blame the victim right?

http://ktla.com/2017/02/22/cellphone-video-shows-anaheim-struggle-between-13-year-old-boy-and-off-duty-lapd-officer-who-fired-weapon/

Dan

[TOM_ONE]

I highly doubt the 422 PC will stick. The victim needs to believe he/she is in immediate danger of the threat being taken out. He didn't look like he believed he was in immediate danger, because if he did he would have taken his firearm out immediately after the threat was used.

If he did not show proper identification after the fact he was detaining his suspect, lynching cannot be brought up either because how is someone supposed to know he is an LEO besides him saying he is.

[eta34]

This officer was out of control and an embarrassment to the profession. He acted like a moron from the beginning, trying to "educate" these kids (who were morons as well). He could have disengaged well before it became physical, but chose not to. Now he will lose his job and have to move. For what?

[eta34]

The 422 won't stick. No way.

[DNA]

What is irritating is that the current vein of society is to let these out of control youth run wild with absolutely no repercussions. They've gotten so used to it, their defense against anything is, "well I'm a teen you're a grown up. Deal with it."

This all starts up with a property issue, the lack of respect for another person's property and escalates from there. In the end the focus is not on the instigators of the incident (cause if they stayed off the dude's property, there'd be no issue) but of the actions of the home owner (aka dude paying mortgages and taxes).

Why is it that the home owner has to always defer to these out of control teens? Why does the home owner have to call the police on something that would normally be fixed by addressing the issue? Why do we have to waste the time of the police to tell teens to act right? Why don't the parents see that these out of control teens ARE the problem?

Just cause a charge won't stick doesn't mean it's a legit charge. Hell, if you've been in LE any period of time you know exactly what I mean when suspects plead out to lesser charges or some prosecutor decides the wasn't enough evidence for a charge because an actual written confession was not enough.

Meh. When I was a kid, grown ups were generally to be listened to. There'd be reprocussions for talking back or threatening one. I'm tired of snowflakes /Rantoff

Dan

[eta34]

I've been a cop 17 years. I have routinely seen unaccountable youth act this way because their parents did nothing to curb their behavior.

But look at the big picture. Was it worth it to this cop to act the way he did? Sure, he confronted these disrespectful punks. But now he is going to lose his job. He will have to move or be a target. He was correct in addressing the issue. But are we pretending he didn't act unprofessionally? He's the adult. He's the professional peace officer. I expect and demand him to hold to a higher standard. He chose not to, and there are consequences.