[JAKraig]

it is quite possible that the filming witness comes upon the arrest scene after the arrestee's violence has been damped down, but resistance continues. E.G., Rodney King.

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What?

There are courts to punish lawbreakers, that is not the cops job. The cops are trained to handle violent arrest resistance without hurting the suspect. They know how to do it. Did Rodney King deserve what he got? Yeah he probably did but that is not the job of the cops. What the cops did to him was wrong. There is never a time when it is right for you hit someone who is held down. If the cops filmed every minute of what they did then there would be no worry about selective editing. I would hope that all states pass laws that dismiss a case if there are minutes of an encounter missing. I have seen too much of harassment by our men in blue, I'm tired of it. Those guys have a job that is occasionally hard to do, occasionally. They don't need to fly off the handle and get revenge, a court can do that.

[Kenny Bunk]

I earnestly suggest you research the case. Rodney was fighting those cops every inch of the way. What was shown on tape was not even a 1/3 of the action that went down.

Could the cops handled that a bit better? You bet. Neither am I suggesting that arresting officers act as judge, jury, and executioner. OTOH, they are entitled to vigorous self-defense, even as you and I.

Do the cops use excessive force? Are they bullies. Yup. And they are punished for it (from time to time. All I ask is that we don't misplace our sympathies too readily. Take the news with a grain of salt.