State troopers from Mass., N.H. arrested and charged with assault after video showed officers punchi

The Washington Post ^ | 7/19/16 | Mark Berman

[Faith Presses On]

Full title: State troopers from Mass., N.H. arrested and charged with assault after video showed officers punching driver

Authorities in New Hampshire said that they had arrested two state troopers and charged them with assault for their actions during a violent arrest captured on video earlier this year.

The arrest occurred after a long police chase that began in Massachusetts and ended in New Hampshire, after which at least two officers were seen on the video repeatedly punching the driver who had led the pursuit.

After video of the incident began to spread online, Joseph Foster, the New Hampshire attorney general, launched a criminal investigation into the episode. The New Hampshire State Police and Massachusetts State Police each pulled a trooper involved in the incident from duty while the investigation was carried out.

On Tuesday, Foster announced that the two troopers — Joseph Flynn, 32, of the Massachusetts State Police, and Andrew Monaco, 31, of the New Hampshire State Police — were arrested and charged with simple assault for their use of force during the arrest.

[Faith Presses On]

At this point, I'm more on the side that these police officers are being vilified.

- A recent poll said something like 80% of drivers admit to becoming enraged behind the wheel.

- Parents and spouses get enraged. People get enraged over injustices.

- The police here were dealing with their adrenaline pumping. From what I recall, the driver was going upwards of 100 mph. He was risking the lives of everyone along the route he took, including no doubt some children, as well as the officers chasing him. That is enough to have the police chasing him physically "pumped up" and enraged at him, and justifiably so.

- IIRC also, the driver stopped only because he went down a dead-end street.

- He got down on the ground, but given the extreme lengths he'd gone to to flee - he was apparently dead-set against be arrested - who is to say he wouldn't make a move against the police when they approached him, or that he wasn't possibly armed and waiting their approach. They needed to neutralize his threat quickly and overwhelmingly, and without hesitating to deliberate what to do.

- His flight was a very violent thing, in that he seriously imperiled people all along the way, without regard for life.

- How much can be expected of people who likely weren't "the smartest kid in the class," and probably would admit as such. They have jobs of physical abuse to their bodies (e.g., see how one officer physically took down Alton Sterling before he was eventually shot), as well as extreme stress and uncertainty, and they need to be diplomatic, be able to take abuse, and also make quick decisions that they'll be second-guessed for, especially by above-the-law politicians and arrogant, self-pretentious college graduates who have never tried and never will try anything so difficult as being a police officer.

[darkwing104]

police tried to stop a pickup truck driven by Richard Simone of Worcester, according to the Massachusetts State Police. Simone, 50, was the subject of warrants for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, larceny and failure to stop for officers, authorities said.

Kama

[TexasGator]

“He got down on the ground, but given the extreme lengths he’d gone to to flee - he was apparently dead-set against be arrested - who is to say he wouldn’t make a move against the police when they approached him, or that he wasn’t possibly armed and waiting their approach. “

He got out of the truck obeying each command by the officers. There were about seven big dudes on him.

[Vaquero]

Geeeze.....everyone has cameras going all over, all the time. Take em back to the precinct and beat em in the back room if you must. ( some guys need beating. If he led them on a long dangerous high speed chase he needs a reminder. Now he’ll make millions)

[Faith Presses On]

Also:

The pursuit began when Simone refused to stop for local police in Holden. He was wanted on multiple warrants for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, larceny, and failure to stop for police. (snip)

The chase went through several towns at speeds exceeding 100 mph, with the pickup truck “making abrupt lane changes as the (suspect) continued to try to evade capture” and crashing at least once, said Dave Procopio, a state police spokesman. But spike strips laid out by police eventually took their toll as the pickup truck rolled to a stop on Hughey Street in Nashua, New Hampshire.

WBZ-TV’s helicopter video showed the truck stopped next to a utility pole on a dead-end street before police officers surrounded it with their weapons drawn.

[Faith Presses On]

“He got out of the truck obeying each command by the officers. There were about seven big dudes on him.”

So? Like I said, he triggered a physical response from them, a very physical one.

People aren’t robots. We have ALL had physical responses triggered. Have you ever gotten angry? Very angry?

How about someone leading others on a 100 mph chase endangering countless lives.

People right now also seem to think this is happening in virtual reality, or is fictional.

This man also had a serious arrest record, and had tried to escape police before.

Given all this, he triggered a very physical reaction in them. They mentally prepared themselves for a physical fight with him after an intense physical chase.

Now, we all know the difference that makes.

If you’re just eating quietly in a restaurant, you’re at peace. But if suddenly someone starts a disturbance and you believe you might seriously have to physically defend yourself, you are mentally and physically going into a different physical mode, one you can’t just snap back out of.

[NorthMountain]

Sooooo ....

All this blather about “do what the cops tell you and you won’t get hurt is bullshit. Lies. False propaganda.

You’re sitting at your computer, proudly proclaiming that the cops can kick your ass and get away with it, and you think that’s OK.

Amazing. This is the kind of crap that gives cover and credibility to the Black Liars Movement. It’s NOT acceptable.

[Blue Jays]

"...next to a utility pole on a dead-end street..."

---

It makes me feel...like I'm headin' down...a one-way, dead-end street...there's no way out, no way out!

[TexasGator]

Polite explanation of why the cop was out of control ...

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

Anyone who involves himself in a police car chase, endangering the lives of others, deserves a good whoopin’ before actual arrest. They should have beaten him silly.

[Faith Presses On]

"All this blather about “do what the cops tell you and you won’t get hurt is bullshit. Lies. False propaganda."

NO, it ISN'T propaganda!

He DIDN'T DO what the police told him to do.

And that could have been you and your family out on the crowded four-lane highway as he sped by on the right shoulder (perhaps at 100 mph or more) with police chasing.

Link

He could EASILY have killed 5 or 10 people, and police could have been killed chasing him.

And NO, I'm not going to even-handed in a process that isn't even-handed, but is adversarial.

I've read and debated with white liberals on the "police brutality" issue, such as at Salon, and they have horrible opinions of police, that most are bad, stupid, ignorant, hateful, and even that there's not much risk with their job. One even pull out statistics of "risky jobs" and because "police officer" wasn't at the top of the "most killed" list, he said I was wrong that it was a risky profession.

Where a whole profession is being PROSECUTED, then it is necessary to be like a DEFENSE ATTORNEY, who advocates for the defendant.

And what I'm saying here isn't far off. People want to rake police officers over the coals, and say "they just want the BAD cops dealt with," which are the cops who never get seriously questioned about anything controversial. THOSE cops, the ones that the politicians, media and Twitter find guilty instantly, are the BAD ones.

Any cop that isn't PERFECT, either, is potentially a BAD cop, if the media and politicians try that cop and find him to be.

PERFECT is now the standard for police, because it's a perfect world, and everyone else is perfect. We just need to be hiring perfect people.

Now, right now the public debate is so skewed, I'm not primarily concerned about going too easy on police.

This man had no respect for the lives of others. He recklessly endangered hundreds of people, and only stopped when he was stopped. He provoked and upset police.

That he was treated harshly might have been avoidable, but it isn't the clear-cut, he was just loitering and refusing to leave somewhere when police attacked him. THAT would be clear abuse. This ISN'T that!

[Faith Presses On]

Have you chased someone at over 100 mph down the right shoulder of a busy highway?

[DaveA37]

“Take em back to the precinct and beat em in the back room if you must. ( some guys need beating. If he led them on a long dangerous high speed chase he needs a reminder.”.....

I had an uncle (now deceased) that was a St. Paul police officer. He told me that inside the St. Paul police station/jail, there was an elevator between the first and second floors (jail on floor #2). That particular elevator had a serious fault, it would get “stuck” between the two floors and “attitude adjustments” were often handed out for those so deserving.

[TexasGator]

Several cops have the situation under control when the cop in the light blue shirt runs up to the front, holsters his weapon and then jumps on the guy.

[zzwhale]

deservedly so

JUST CANT OBEY POLICE ORDERS

now you tell me how is a cop supposed to know WHY IS THIS AHOLE not pulling over....

MAYBE JUST COMMITTED A FELONY...???

[TexasGator]

“Given all this, he triggered a very physical reaction in them. “

Only the one in the light blue shirt that came running up after he was flat on the ground.

[03A3]

Nah they were always looking at my tailights. Course if you got caught you knew an ass whoopin was coming.

[JoeProBono]

[small farm girl]

When will WLM start protesting ANYWHERE over this?/s

Kind of goes to show to a couple points I have been making all week in personal conversations: perhaps sometimes, a person needs to be thumped before/during arrest, maybe the police can make an error of judgement or and actual mistake and shoot someone- just as long as they are not of color ;)

[Yollopoliuhqui]

Cops think that a dangerous chase gives them the right to be judge, jury and hangman. I don’t care how much adrenaline you got squirting into your brain or how many near death experiences the fleeing perp puts you through, you get the guy on the ground and cuff him, read him his rights and put him in the cruiser. You want to take out your frustrations, go chop wood later that evening. A badge is not a license to punish.