Cops corner guy after chase, then proceed to beat the crap out of him

Only problem is that there was a TV helicopter overhead, and it caught it on tape.

Video captures police beating suspect in New Hampshire - The Boston Globe

Oops.

I get that LEOs are in high-pressure, intense jobs. I can only imagine the emotions involved in that situation. But you gotta keep your cool -- and you gotta be smart enough to realize that if you're chasing a guy for an extended period of time, there's probably a camera nearby.

 

1991 called and wants to know, can't we all just get along?

 

There need to be a few firings after that.

 

Twenty-five years on, and cops still can't figure out that they might be on tape. I guess they've been too busy attending their Mensa meetings.

 

Big deal. They smacked him a few times to make sure he wouldn't fight back. He had it coming.

 

I'll be a bit of a snob on this.

Having been a news reporter for the last decade, I've dealt with plenty of police and sheriffs. Have enjoyed solid, professional relationships with the chiefs, sergeants, sheriffs and chief deputies.

Yet I've also met so many knuckleheads, usually guys under 30, who work patrol or on crime scenes.

I am not as unapologetically pro-police as in the past as I've had too many off-putting interactions with too many of them the last seven or eight years. I get that it's a high pressure job at times where you're constantly dealing with the same trouble spots each weekend.

 

Sounds like a classic high speed pursuit syndrome case. Officer's adrenaline gets jacked up during the chase and they become more likely to respond violently when it ends.

Good departments will have some checks and balances in place to try to prevent it.

 

Yep. When I dealt with police the majority were great. Some were hyper-aggressive dipshits looking for a fight from anyone they spoke to. The dipshits were almost all under 30, usually with buzz cuts and sunglasses.

 

Why does the camera pull away as the beating went on? It comes across as protecting the police.

 

Probably just a knee-jerk reaction when it started getting ugly. Most chopper photos are conditioned to widen the shot if they think something bad is about to happen while live on TV -- for example, you don't want to show a clear view of someone getting shot. In this case it wasn't necessary, but they'll be pretty quick to get off a tight shot.

 

You would almost think that beating the crap out of a defenseless guy with a fist or a kick is taught at academies.

 

Do suspects sometimes fake like they're going to surrender to get the police to let their guards down, then attack the police?

If so, are the police trained to see if that's what the suspect is doing?