This is the real answer. The cop was not under any duress or wasn't defending himself from an attacker nor fearing for his life in any way. There were like 4 cops carrying this girl. He was well protected and completely outnumbered her. She drunkingly open hand smacks him and he retaliates with a close fist right to the face... Uhhh. Yeah that's fucked up. He isn't drunk so he has no excuse as to his disproportional retaliation. I would say the same thing if the drunk person was a dude. A drunk dude wildly swinging should be detained, not propped up on shoulders so his hands are free to keep swinging. These cops are idiots for how they didn't detain the girl and when she goes for a swing, they retaliate like animals.
But that's exactly what he was doing, by definition. The fact that she was drunk and/or outnumbered doesn't make her less of an attacker. Drunk people can still be dangerous (even without use of a vehicle). The situation was anything but benign. She could have easily injured his eyes, for example. Hell, the blows themselves didn't even have to be directly dangerous. She could have landed one that did nothing other than cause him to lose his balance. Falling backwards on cement steps is no joke.
That being said, I do fault these cops for not restraining her hands via cuffs/ties. Preventing these kinds of scenarios is exactly why they're trained to do it in the first place. Had they done what they were supposed to do, the situation never would have escalated.
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u/irishbosworth Nov 05 '17
Did she deserve it? Maybe she deserves an additional charge or something, but let's be honest, that cop reacted out of anger, not of any moral stance.