good cop

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Tom Doody

middle-age American living in New Jersey near the Lincoln Tunnel «« Emily Weinman is the woman whose arrest on a Wildwood New Jersey beach went viral. The cocking back of the male officers right arm then releasing toward Emily Weinman’s head left many watchers including me saying the cop was wrong . . . with additional info including bodycam: the cop was not perfect and a punch does not progress directly to apprehension, but the cop was very near perfect. The cop was as close to perfect as the public should expect police officers to be. In this country we have laws, and we send people out with guns to enforce those laws bravi to the police. »» about me 302-990-2346 contact us

About Tom Doody

middle-age American living in New Jersey near the Lincoln Tunnel
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6 Responses to good cop

  1. Mike Gallagher says:
    June 1, 2018 at 2:57 am

    There are a lot of components that occur during this incident which lead to the controversy. The officers handle everything correctly up to the issuing of the citation, which in and of itself is non-arrestable offense. The female at that point is under legal obligation to identify herself, which as we can plainly see, she refuses. At this point the situation changes and becomes an arrestable offense. The video then clearly shows her walking away to evade being arrested which now adds a resisting arrest charge to the matter. This escalates further when she shoves the officer when he attempts to apprehend her ( as well as spit at the other), moving from a few misdemeanors now to a felony assault. (I did not see the officer getting kicked as he claims (body cam angle), so I wouldn’t bother to address it.) At that point, the general rule is using the force necessary to effect the arrest. (I’m unfamiliar with that department’s exact use of force policy.) I can see that she did continue to actively resist the officer’s commands which naturally continues to escalate the situation and the officer’s physical response. The onlookers on the beach now add to the situation with their excited response further agitating the situation. Should the officer have used a non-lethal secondary weapon, such as a taser, instead of punching the female? It certainly would have been less damaging to the female, but would it have caused crowd interaction that might have lead to a bigger and more potentially dangerous outcome for all on scene? That is the problem with Monday morning quarterbacking decisions that officers have to make in a split second. Cries of outrage often come from those with no law enforcement background and with plenty of time to review a fluid & ever evolving situation which is quick in its development. Were there other ways of handling this scenario? Of course there were. Would I personally handled it that way? Probably not, but then again I probably have more time on the job than every officer on the scene added together. The experience of the officer combined with the resistance of the female are the prime factors here. However the one indisputable fact of the whole matter is simple. If the female would have merely provided the information the officer requested, this incident would have never ended the manner in which it did. This conversation would not have been necessary and a lot of grief could have been spared to everyone involved.

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  2. Mike Gallagher says:
    June 1, 2018 at 12:39 pm

    Been in law enforcement for the past 24 years Tom. In fact I will be retiring in the next year. I leave it off of my FB profile for privacy and safety reasons (concerning my family).

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