Should undercover police be allowed to stop and arrest people randomly?

Not only fired ... but also go to jail for aggravated assault and possibly hate-crime charges. Then they and the department get to face the civil penalties. The fun is just beginning.

 

T

Except if you don't know they're cops since they're not in uniform.

 

No, there's no buts.

 

I'm pretty sure this has been litigated, in a fashion, before.
It used to be unmarked police cars could pull people over, all the cop(s) had to do was pop a blue light on the dash or on the roof and people would stop.
Then criminals got an idea and someone wanting to rape a person, would spot a single person in a car on a lonely stretch of road, throw up a blue light, then go to town.
It happened, more than once, and now unmarked police cars can't pull people over.
Hanging a badge around your neck and calling yourself a cop is the same as a blue light on a dash.
No guarantee the person is who he says he is.
If the plainclothes cops saw someone acting oddly, they should have called for a squad car and had them handle it.
Incredibly stupid on the cops part.

 

We are just getting one side of the story. They identified themselves as police. The guy shouldn't have ran. No time to call for a squad car if someone runs.

 

Yeah, and if they aren't cops, what happens when you stop long enough to allow them to catch you?

 

It was dark. The kid probably couldn't see the badge hanging from the cops neck.

 

The story is the beating, not his running away.

They were not in uniform and he had no way of knowing they were cops.

It's irrelevant.

 

I'll be interested to hear the cops' side of the story; if they choose to testify at their criminal trial, that is.

 

They could use the "He tripped and fell defense"

 

Unfortunately, Pittsburgh has a history of this kind of thing. See Johnny Gammage case, etc.

 

The kid didn't run, he was walking down the street. Call a squad car, keep an eye on the kid and let a marked car, with a uniformed officer handle it.

The kid ran because three dudes jumped him.

Stitch, I assume you are white.

If you are walking by yourself, in an area that is poorly lit, and three black dudes, jump out of a regular car and aren't wearing police uniforms, and one throws up a piece of metal, you might not be able to see clearly, I mean the cops confused a Mountain Dew bottle with a gun, and say "police."

Do you honestly stand there or do you run?

Now, the story doesn't say if the cops had their guns/tasers out, but if they did.

If three black guys with guns in their hand, do the exact same thing, does that change your response?

I know what I would have done.